Would you take it? (40ha of payed grazing)

Boso

Member
Some might already know or remember, people usually pay me to arrange grazing of their property. I currently graze/manage around 40 hectares under contract. All within 5 miles from our home farm, ten minutes by car.
Grazing is done with sheep, cattle will have a role in the future.

A client has offered me another 45 hectares to manage.
should I take it?

Some specs:
Of the 45 half will have to be managed with sheep, the other half with cattle.
The 45ha is divided over 5 different locations. 4 within a 20mile radius, 1 is 50 miles (1 hour) away from the farm.

The sheep are usually contained with electric netting or 2-4 wires depending on the amount of dogs etc.
Cattle would be in permanent fencing and 1-2 strand electric to subdivide.

Cattle will probably be just a few dexters to start with and breed them to something bigger.

45ha will mean I will have to invest another €20k in livestock (125 ewes, 10-15 cattle, maybe a dog). Infrastructure is present (tractor, lorry, handling, fencing etc).
Pasture quality is poor.

I will probably get 12k a year to arrange everything.

Would you take it?
 

Mc115reed

Member
Livestock Farmer
Some might already know or remember, people usually pay me to arrange grazing of their property. I currently graze/manage around 40 hectares under contract. All within 5 miles from our home farm, ten minutes by car.
Grazing is done with sheep, cattle will have a role in the future.

A client has offered me another 45 hectares to manage.
should I take it?

Some specs:
Of the 45 half will have to be managed with sheep, the other half with cattle.
The 45ha is divided over 5 different locations. 4 within a 20mile radius, 1 is 50 miles (1 hour) away from the farm.

The sheep are usually contained with electric netting or 2-4 wires depending on the amount of dogs etc.
Cattle would be in permanent fencing and 1-2 strand electric to subdivide.

Cattle will probably be just a few dexters to start with and breed them to something bigger.

45ha will mean I will have to invest another €20k in livestock (125 ewes, 10-15 cattle, maybe a dog). Infrastructure is present (tractor, lorry, handling, fencing etc).
Pasture quality is poor.

I will probably get 12k a year to arrange everything.

Would you take it?
Most folk would pay some f**ker £12k for it never mind get payed £12k to do it 😂
 

Boso

Member
Most folk would pay some f**ker £12k for it never mind get payed £12k to do it 😂
However you can't spread any fert (manure or from a bag) it's not your average pp. (Dogs, dogwalkers, city folk etc)
I would say no. Too spread out, too far away. Imagine getting a phone call late Sunday evening about sheep out on the block 50 miles away...
My concern as well however the 50 mile one is a permanently fenced cattle location.
Although, permanent fencing can be cut....
 
Last edited:

Turnip

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
Would you have to graze it, maybe put the 50 mile one to hay and graze the rest. Sounds like a good deal if you can sort it out with the person offering it. Maybe ask for 2 years up front to cover your investment and give them a 4k discount on the total amount. That way your investment is covered and they have a 2 year commitment from you.

When my mum and dad married they got some land from her parents which combined with the farm my dad had from his parents. One field was about an hours drive away on which we had beef cattle. It does help if you know and trust the people living next to the field, but these days I would rather have livestock closer.
 
Last edited:

Boso

Member
What is your location? Travel costs can be worked out using HMRC rates together with your time to build a build a business case.
I don't fear it will not work financially however I agree with everyones hesitation about breakouts 50 miles away.

I'll check if excluding it from the deal and take the 4 other sites (total of 35ha) which are much closer (20miles max). Or investigate if haying that particular site is possible.

The fifth site, 50 miles away, will only generate €3k maybe slightly more per year from grazing it. Just that those hiring me would like to have one single farmer taking it all.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
@Boso , what are your plans for the future? Do you want to expand your operation, perhaps to the point of employing someone? Will managing these blocks be likely to open doors to fill in the gaps, to the point you could be running a big operation on lots of sites spread over that 50 miles?

Personally, I’d need a lot more to look after 10-15 cattle 50 miles away, life’s too short.
 

Mc115reed

Member
Livestock Farmer
You could always take it on and then the powers of TFF would probably have somebody who’s not a bell end that could graze it for you …. And they might even pay you for it if there stupid enough
 

dairyrow

Member
Upto you if you can handle it. One Teagsac farm in Ireland think the guy lived over an hour away from the farm and more or less just turned upto milk.
 

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