Can we all carry on farming?

steveR · Feb 27, 2022

Exfarmer said:
Nato reckons Russia has 13,000 battle tanks

How many modern ones??

I did see one report in a newspaper where it described the Russians "rolling into the Ukraine in their T64 tanks".... which was a surprise, as they are very old now...

Now I know they will probably have a few of these in stores and warehouses, but even if they are useful, low tech machines, they would still need maintenance and would be very vulnerable to modern ATGM.

Mind, I haven't seen many images of what the Russian army has gone in with... I must ask my Lad.

Humble Village Farmer · Feb 27, 2022

Flatlander said:
Property tax has been here long since I was here. My bill to the local authorities was just over 52k last year. Fir that I get gravel roads graded occasionally and snow ploughed. Rubbish I take to the dump and pay to leave behind. Only thing I can really say I benefit from is the school system. Either way it’s a bitter pill to swallow.

I believe the tax rates in poorer countries are much lower if you prefer.

Flatlander · Feb 27, 2022

Humble Village Farmer said:
I believe the tax rates in poorer countries are much lower if you prefer.

One move of country in a life time was enough. To old to start again. If kids don’t show interest in carrying on only then would I think about retiring down south where it’s warm year round.

steveR · Feb 27, 2022

Flatlander said:
One move of country in a life time was enough. To old to start again. If kids don’t show interest in carrying on only then would I think about retiring down south where it’s warm year round.

Canadian Snowbirds....

Does this happen, as from my recollection, S Canada is still rather chilly?

Kidds · Feb 27, 2022

Farming is a business, you should treat it as such.
If you can't make enough money by doing it you are not a good businessman if you just keep doing it.
Would you expect a cafe owner to keep their cafe owner open by working 80 hours a week and continuously losing money? They don't, they close the cafe and think of a different way to make a living. I expect if the cafe owner had property worth as much as a decent sized farm they would just sell it and not work at all.

What I am trying to say is that there is nothing to stop you from selling up and putting the money to better use.
We stopped farming and have been selling up over the last three years. With my bit of the money (there were 6 partners) I have made as much profit in the last years than I did in 3 decades of farming.
My sector of agriculture had been in decline for a very long time and I think the rest is rapidly catching up, especially now the crutch of subsidies is being taken away.

Hilly · Feb 27, 2022

ollie989898 said:
Sounds fine to me, tax is the price of admission to a great society.

You dont pay any then .

digger64 · Feb 27, 2022

DrWazzock said:
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?

Stop whingeing- get a contractor or cooperate with someone it is that simple . FREE UP LOADS OF TIME , bit of company etc- potentially better crops and lower costs- LESS WORRY .
Your potential repair bill will pay for most of the 1st year(contractors have costs too ) ,put the scrap money towards a bigger decent trailer perhaps? Then treat your harvest bill as a crop variable cost if it doesnt stack up plant something else , fallow or whatever .

ajd132 · Feb 27, 2022

jondear said:
Big has always been beautiful in farmers eyes !

1000 acres of arable could quite easily be done part time by one person with a bit of help at harvest.

Hfd Cattle · Feb 27, 2022

ajd132 said:
1000 acres of arable could quite easily be done part time by one person with a bit of help at harvest.

.....not in some of our field . You would spend half the harvest taking the header on and off

ajd132 · Feb 27, 2022

Hfd Cattle said:
.....not in some of our field . You would spend half the harvest taking the header on and off

Make the gateways wider! Used to be loads of little gateways around here, hedged the little ones up and made a few wider.

Derrick Hughes · Feb 27, 2022

steveR said:
How many modern ones??

I did see one report in a newspaper where it described the Russians "rolling into the Ukraine in their T64 tanks".... which was a surprise, as they are very old now...

Now I know they will probably have a few of these in stores and warehouses, but even if they are useful, low tech machines, they would still need maintenance and would be very vulnerable to modern ATGM.

Mind, I haven't seen many images of what the Russian army has gone in with... I must ask my Lad.

Tanks are you useless in modern warfare

steveR · Feb 27, 2022

Derrick Hughes said:
Tanks are you useless in modern warfare

All down to location...

But the latest AT missiles are rather good...

jendan · Feb 27, 2022

ajd132 said:
1000 acres of arable could quite easily be done part time by one person with a bit of help at harvest.

What gear do you use?

ajd132 · Feb 27, 2022

jendan said:
What gear do you use?

I do more than that, but can get decent wide stuff second hand for no tilling, I think it’s quite do-able.

jendan · Feb 27, 2022

ajd132 said:
I do more than that, but can get decent wide stuff second hand for no tilling, I think it’s quite do-able.

Cant you just name your gear? Tractor hp etc. and how many?

ajd132 · Feb 27, 2022

jendan said:
Cant you just name your gear? Tractor hp etc. and how many?

It’s abit of a mish mash at the moment as we are in the process of joining two farms together for labour and machinery. Extremely high crop prices and inflation have kind of scuppered some of the ideas of 18 months ago.
1 big tractor, 3 normal ones, a trailed sprayer and an older self prop, 2x 12m drills one 3 years old one 7, a lexicon that’s 2 seasons old and an 8 year old jd combine on a stripper header, some trailers, a twin leg mole and an old subsoiler.
like I said we are in the middle of sorting it all out, I didn’t want to cut too far because a spreadsheet said to then realise we needed to buy back into something.

jendan · Feb 27, 2022

ajd132 said:
It’s abit of a mish mash at the moment as we are in the process of joining two farms together for labour and machinery. Extremely high crop prices and inflation have kind of scuppered some of the ideas of 18 months ago.
1 big tractor, 3 normal ones, a trailed sprayer and an older self prop, 2x 12m drills one 3 years old one 7, a lexicon that’s 2 seasons old and an 8 year old jd combine on a stripper header, some trailers, a twin leg mole and an old subsoiler.
like I said we are in the middle of sorting it all out, I didn’t want to cut too far because a spreadsheet said to then realise we needed to buy back into something.

How many hp are your big tractor and 3 normal ones?

ajd132 · Feb 27, 2022

jendan said:
How many hp are your big tractor and 3 normal ones?

400 and 240 smaller ones

Cowcorn · Feb 27, 2022

digger64 said:
Stop whingeing- get a contractor or cooperate with someone it is that simple . FREE UP LOADS OF TIME , bit of company etc- potentially better crops and lower costs- LESS WORRY .
Your potential repair bill will pay for most of the 1st year(contractors have costs too ) ,put the scrap money towards a bigger decent trailer perhaps? Then treat your harvest bill as a crop variable cost if it doesnt stack up plant something else , fallow or whatever .

Ahh hold on a minute !! The Doc is not whinging he just worries to much !!!
Fact is the Doc is one serious machinery man with skills that should be the envy of many on here .
Look at the many repairs and rebuilds he has tackled successfully on many threads .
Truth of the matter is when many of the " hot rodneys " on here have reverted to dd with a horse because the Fendt elected a pope and the cant afford to fix it as the parts and labour are more than the value of the harvest the Doc will still be diesel powered and his old combine will still be chugging away

The US air force removed cannon guns from their F1- 11 fighter bombers during the Vietnam war to stop pilots from strafing trucks ...
Their logic was that it didnt make economic sense to use a 10 million dollar aircraft to attack a five thousand dollar truck !!!!
Many farmers are going to have to apply this form of logic in the future to stay afloat ....

digger64 · Feb 27, 2022

Cowcorn said:
Ahh hold on a minute !! The Doc is not whinging he just worries to much !!!
Fact is the Doc is one serious machinery man with skills that should be the envy of many on here .
Look at the many repairs and rebuilds he has tackled successfully on many threads .
Truth of the matter is when many of the " hot rodneys " on here have reverted to dd with a horse because the Fendt elected a pope and the cant afford to fix it as the parts and labour are more than the value of the harvest the Doc will still be diesel powered and his old combine will still be chugging away
The US air force removed cannon guns from their F1- 11 fighter bombers during the Vietnam war to stop pilots from strafing trucks ...
Their logic was that it didnt make economic sense to use a 10 million dollar aircraft to attack a five thousand dollar truck !!!!
Many farmers are going to have to apply this form of logic in the future to stay afloat ....

Absolutely and if i was a farmer near him he could come and drive /look after my combine and take it with a trailer for a day or two to do his crops to mutual advantage . If give and take doesnt work or decisions cant be agreed to where and when- toss a coin !
No need for all this stress

Can we all carry on farming?

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Up to 25%

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100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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