- Location
- Devon
Does no one else think its not healthy wanting guaranteed 60 hours/ week year round?
Can we all carry on farming?
- Thread starter mountfarm
- Start date
- Location
- Ceredigion
Because owning land over the last 20 years as earned farmers more than anything else they have done
You would be amazed the amount of low income people that need to do a minimum of that to even try to keep their heads above water….. some enjoy working reasonable hours. Some have to
- Location
- northumberland
Still lots of shiny kit going out of dealers yards tho
- Location
- Lincolnshire
You can’t spend it though. Its theoretical, doesn’t pay running costs, and if you cash it in it would soon be gone.
Nearly
Member
- Location
- North of York
I may have to open a field up for camping.
Well, that is a surprise, as the sun is usually shining as I head into town... Probably polishing day!I keep it in a shed, where I can keep it shiny and polished. It’s sometimes a bit of a rush to get it out in the field for viewing when I see a neighbour heading out.
The Seeker
Member
Always makes me laugh when folk say ha you farmers and in for a shock , you alllllll drive range rovers and shoot all week, sadly for 90% this couldn’t be further from the truth, it’s hard bloody work, love it when young ones say “pha let me farm , I’ll show upon how to get on without subs and make proper money. Honestly always makes my day as I can’t stop laughing
- Location
- Devon
No I wouldn't.
Quite understand many do long hours, and need to to keep afloat. Been there myself for many years.
But £47k a year isn't a low income person doing what they have to.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
I don’t know if we can carry on.
Not that we don’t want to.
The combine is 40 this year.
The splines on the half shafts have actually worn out. One side sheared them completely last year and we lost drive. Replaced with a part from a scrap yard but only half of the joint so won’t last long.
The engine is blowing as much exhaust gas out the breather as the exhaust when you open her up and despite all efforts with cooling system etc she tends to run hot. Spool valve block is leaking internally so won’t keep drum speed. John Deere want £5000 for a new block so hawking it round the independent hydraulic specialists is only hope.
Forget buying a replacement machine. Secondhand out of our league.
I’d say we are getting near to end of farming it ourselves.
And buying fertiliser for next year??!!!
Normally we buy in June but this year I reckon it will cost us £40k for a 200 acre arable farm if we do it “properly”. £200 an acre on fertiliser?
Not really sustainable on grade 3.
If commodities remain high we could cover the increased costs maybe even make a good profit but it’s suddenly become a very high stakes game where if it goes wrong we’d be looking at a forced sale rather than a dip into our own reserves.
What to do? Crop half, let some? Do another job? Get a contractor in? Let the lot to my cousin? Carry on till the combine finally blows?
Not that we don’t want to.
The combine is 40 this year.
The splines on the half shafts have actually worn out. One side sheared them completely last year and we lost drive. Replaced with a part from a scrap yard but only half of the joint so won’t last long.
The engine is blowing as much exhaust gas out the breather as the exhaust when you open her up and despite all efforts with cooling system etc she tends to run hot. Spool valve block is leaking internally so won’t keep drum speed. John Deere want £5000 for a new block so hawking it round the independent hydraulic specialists is only hope.
Forget buying a replacement machine. Secondhand out of our league.
I’d say we are getting near to end of farming it ourselves.
And buying fertiliser for next year??!!!
Normally we buy in June but this year I reckon it will cost us £40k for a 200 acre arable farm if we do it “properly”. £200 an acre on fertiliser?
Not really sustainable on grade 3.
If commodities remain high we could cover the increased costs maybe even make a good profit but it’s suddenly become a very high stakes game where if it goes wrong we’d be looking at a forced sale rather than a dip into our own reserves.
What to do? Crop half, let some? Do another job? Get a contractor in? Let the lot to my cousin? Carry on till the combine finally blows?
- Location
- Ceredigion
I've been told it's a 12 month wait for a JCB handlerStill lots of shiny kit going out of dealers yards tho
- Location
- northumberland
Should've ordered it last year then
ollie989898
Member
Global shortage of axle wedges I understand.
Tarw Coch
Member
- Location
- Bottom of Wats Dyke
That’s property ownership in general, the same can be said for anyone who has bought their own hone. Yet it doesn’t put money in the bank to pay the bills, could well be still be paying a mortgage on it.
A good investment no doubt but maybe not as good as the numbers alone suggest, inflation means everything else around has increased in price too.
Back to agriculture
How many tons of fertiliser to buy an acre of land today?
How many 20 years ago
Thinking a bit more on this, we bought this farm nearly 40 years ago, I remover at the time petrol was 75p gallon. A couple of years later I started drinking and lager was 73p a pint.
Today the farm is easily worth 4 times what we paid for it, quite probably 5, but not that different to the inflation in beer and less than the inflation in fuel.
We had the opportunity to buy another house with the farm for 35k but that would have stretched finances too much, today that house is easily worth 10 times what we could have bought it for, indeed another house just over the road, which I’d guess would be worth similar money has just sold, the asking price was a whopping 625k !
Meanwhile current milk price for standard litre here is 32ppl, it would have been approx half that 40 years ago when a decent living could have been made on less than 100 cows.
I’m not convinced farms have been a particularly good investment when looking at it like that, the fact that owning a farm looks better than anything else the farmer has done over the years isn’t so much down to the fact that land has been a good investment but down to the way farm produce prices have fallen comparatively to most other things over the years.
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fieldfarmer
Member
Well mine shows up on my accounts at the same price I paid for it, hasn't risen a penny and who knows what it will be worth in the future.
- Location
- South shropshire
Same here, often stand up on the bike on way into Monty just to see what’s going on in the land of milk and honey
The Seeker
Member
To try tnn on get the input cost across vs return , there’s a reason why taxi drivers have Skodas and not Ferraris it’s the running cost that is going to break us
ollie989898
Member
And with the changing political winds there is no guarantee someone won't try and tax agricultural land somehow!
- Location
- Ceredigion
Only way is up they way they are planting ,
Only planting the best land as well
- Location
- south norfolk
I’m sure there is a huge amount in similar situation and on less acres
nick...