Leaving the office job for full time farming - any experiences?

Panch18 · 27-02-2020 7:35pm

kerryjack wrote: »

I work 7 am to 12 noon Monday to Friday in a local builders yard. Great job with the farm and I am not killed. Your out and about meeting people and the few euro come in handy as well. No point in slogging lads life is too short.

you've a good gig going there - are you in beef?

kerryjack · 27-02-2020 11:13pm

Panch18 wrote: »

you've a good gig going there - are you in beef?

Planted the worst of it and keep a few sheep and make some hay if weather permits.

older by the day · 28-02-2020 1:28am

You will have to discuss this first with your parents. I worked full time and farmed with my father until he was not able anymore. If I had stayed at home with him fultime we would have murdered each other. Do your parents want money to retire, is there more in the family watching the value of the place. Don't make no change until you have a plan in writing. You would need professional advice when it comes to starting up.

Keepgrowing · 28-02-2020 9:40am

Mach Two wrote: »

He's always mad stressed, always busy and his salary isn't amazing - say maybe €85k. On the flipside, he gets 1-2 days a week off, but I don't believe that he can every truly switch off from the stress of it all.

€85k. If you think that's a modest income. There isn't too many earning that on dairy farms I would think. Don't expect to get rich from farming. As for the stress. I would think that every dairy farmer has tonnes of it.

Not sure I’d agree on your point re stress.
There’s no major stress on a dairy farm and if there is it usually stems from personal relationships and or bad financial planning.

There are however periods of work pressure and busy bursts but I see that organisation is the key to keeping stress out of these periods.

As for the OPs question, I can’t comment on leaving a good career to commit to dairy farming I can however caution against doing a solo run on this.

I can see from your posts your a very considered person and it’s essential that your life partner and your business partners are on the same page. I had what I considered a once in a lifetime opportunity 4 years ago to up sticks to a farm that would have accommodated all our stock on one unit. I was all out to purchase, however my wife and kids weren’t as keen.

They could see the business sense of the move but their roots were in deep. In the end the move didn’t happen, the business continued and my wife, family and I are very happy. My wife would’ve moved had I pushed it but her concerns made me pause for thought.

All the best with your decision

Keepgrowing · 28-02-2020 9:47am

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Your income is likely to fall dramatically if you give up the job and work on the farm.

Best option i would think is to keep on the job, or find a better one if possible, and then lease out the farm and entitlements so that you are earning an income from it but have no need to concern yourself with the day to day ins and outs and headaches of it. You just collect rent regardless of whether the farm is performing well or whether the tenant is gone to the wall. There is no such thing as work life balance with dairy. Just work. And no thanks for any of it.

If per chance you did decide to lease your farm, please don’t do it with this frame of mind.
3 key points of leasing
Good tenant
Good solvent tenant
Good operating solvent tenant

stanflt · 28-02-2020 11:10am

I left a very well paid job around 12 years ago now- came home to dairy farm with my brother and my father-I hated Sunday evening dreading of going back to work the next morning- I had no Ag qualifications and still don’t have any- at the time I had no kids so it was a fairly easy thing to do and the oh didn’t mind what I was doing as long as I and her were happy- we didn’t have to move thou as we had already built a house on the outblock- never jump into anything unless it suits all parties involved- a year before I came home my other brother was tying with the idea of coming home but my father wasn’t ready to take a back seat so he went to New Zealand where he is absolutely lovely dairying there now- within the year my father slowed down considerably and by chance there was an opening for me- things could have been so different but I would suggest grab an opportunity when it’s in front of you (if it suits all parties) because time can pass you by

Green&Red · 28-02-2020 11:35am

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Your income is likely to fall dramatically if you give up the job and work on the farm.

Best option i would think is to keep on the job, or find a better one if possible, and then lease out the farm and entitlements so that you are earning an income from it but have no need to concern yourself with the day to day ins and outs and headaches of it. You just collect rent regardless of whether the farm is performing well or whether the tenant is gone to the wall. There is no such thing as work life balance with dairy. Just work. And no thanks for any of it.

IMO I think this post completely misses the point completely.

I am in a slightly similar position to the OP. A few years ago I took over the farm, we used to be dairy and when my dad had a heart attack we moved to sucklers. I was working away from home. In the last three years I’ve moved home and made the decision to go back into dairy. When I first floated it at home my parents were 100% against it – why would you give up a well paid job, you’ll be tied to it, its pure hardship etc, etc. I said it to my GF at the time, my now wife, she was all for it, she sees that I’m happiest farming, that I don’t consider it work and that it would be a great way of life to bring up a family.

I’ve eventually talked my parents round, my mam in particular was against it but has come around to how I would run it. The loans went through and the parlour is nearly fitted, bought my first heifers last weekend.

I’m lucky enough that I’ve gone back into pharmaceutical construction and there is work reasonably locally. I commute for an hour each way and work a 10 hour day but I dread it. It does however pay great and as I’m a contractor the accountant has set it up so that the farm company owns the engineering company. I pay myself a modest enough salary and the rest of the money I earn from engineering can be left in the farming company. It means when I do pack it in I should have enough to pay off the loans I’ve taken out or even better if some land came up that I’d be in a great position to buy it. The trouble for me will be giving up the construction work but I suppose I’m thinking that it will come to a natural end and that will make that decision for me but in the absence of that I’ll just have to set a deadline for myself.

Id agree with whoever said the first thing to do is to sit down with the people involved, it’s a massive decision for everyone and its quiet daunting.
On another note, there are plenty of people milking that will give you advice, make sure and listen to them, about somethings at least

Best of luck

GrasstoMilk · 28-02-2020 11:44am

Height of calving season here and all our yard work done by 10 am. Off now for a few hours before dinner to bring my daughter swimming and visit my sister in her new house.

Now we still have lots of field work that could be done but it's to wet so I'll take the opportunity while it's there

It's as busy as you make it.
From reading your posts it sounds like you're in a unique position with a very sizeable block of land and not too much borrowings?
Sounds like an ideal position to me.

Mach Two · 28-02-2020 12:40pm

If a person has never experienced a certain situation then it is very hard to advise them. If you could, go part-time farming before your father retires and see if it is for you or not.

Everyone's situation is different.

[Deleted User] · 28-02-2020 1:09pm

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Height of calving season here and all our yard work done by 10 am. Off now for a few hours before dinner to bring my daughter swimming and visit my sister in her new house.

Now we still have lots of field work that could be done but it's to wet so I'll take the opportunity while it's there

It's as busy as you make it.
From reading your posts it sounds like you're in a unique position with a very sizeable block of land and not too much borrowings?
Sounds like an ideal position to me.

I think the above is lost on some people. Even the busiest full time farmers I know are still above to be free during the day for things when they need to, you are based at home which makes a big difference for doing say a school pick up compared to an hour away at work where regardless of how flexible things are you won’t be able to get away to do a pick up.

We have never had dairy just suckers and sheep so there is the extra element of having to do morning and evening milking (but the guaranteed cheque too) and like any job it’s busy periods and quiet periods and outside or calving/lambing you can manage your time to suit you unlike a job working for someone else. Even nowadays with calving cameras etc you aren’t tied to the yard like one time.

It’s not easy but to me if enough of a salary can be got from the farm that when added to a wife’s off farm income you are comfortable then I think it’s certainly worth serious consideration.

In some ways working full time and farming part-time is worse, I love the farm so wouldn’t give it up but when my farther is older and can’t do most of the work I’ll be needing to use a weeks holidays for things like silage, Saturdays will always be a full day on the farm, evenings will often need to be used on the farm etc.

Mach Two · 28-02-2020 1:46pm

A lot of the problem with farming today is all the paperwork. Regulations and inspections. The fun has gone out of it. It has now become "work".

Castlekeeper · 28-02-2020 2:42pm

Do ye like working with animals? Have ye good stamina? Do ye like the farm and living in the countryside?
Ye'll make plenty out of that much good land if you've the interest, no need for big debt, avoid the McMansion if you really want things comfortable. If you're an expansionist, there's plenty scope too, just do what suits.

onrail · 08-03-2020 11:25pm

Thanks for the replies - really appreciate it, and they all focused the mind!

Thinking at this stage that I'll hold off for a year or so until the new baby madness has died down, then hopefully move close to home.

Once there, if it's feasible, I think I'll try for part time working leaving my options open when a call needs to be made. For all I know, the economy could make the decision for me, and I'll be back to the farm with a redundancy payment in my back pocket!

Siamsa Sessions · 09-03-2020 1:42pm

onrail wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - really appreciate it, and they all focused the mind!

Thinking at this stage that I'll hold off for a year or so until the new baby madness has died down, then hopefully move close to home.

Once there, if it's feasible, I think I'll try for part time working leaving my options open when a call needs to be made. For all I know, the economy could make the decision for me, and I'll be back to the farm with a redundancy payment in my back pocket!

Best of luck with the new arrival anyway - that'll change everything in its own right!

Re my post on looking at how herself will cope: make sure you consider yourself too. You're not thinking about moving for no reason.

Keep us updated anyway and keep reading the various threads on here. If you had any rose-tinted glasses on before, they'll certainly be removed by following the realities of farming on boards.ie

Leaving the office job for full time farming - any experiences?

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