serf
Member
- Location
- warwickshire
Kick in the bollox !
There's 2 more ...
There's 2 more ...
The urge to grow
- Thread starter Dan Powell
- Start date
- Location
- Limousin
Years ago I remember a French farmer asking me why is the first thing Brit farmers want to do when they buy a French farm is to try and buy even more land, until they get to such a point they can't farm it properly.
- Location
- Limousin/Charentes toad land
Years ago I remember a French farmer asking me why is the first thing Brit farmers want to do when they buy a French farm is to try and buy even more land, until they get to such a point they can't farm it properly.
TBH, every one of my French neighbours, without exception, rents extra ground
- Location
- People's Republic of South Yorkshire
All depends what you want from life I guess.
Some want fancy cars and holidays to Dubai and such places, so need go earn more to get that.
Others prefer less work and less fancy stuff.
I drive a 04 plate Nissan pickup...
Oldest vehicle by at least 10 years on the school run.
- Location
- People's Republic of South Yorkshire
Inputs can definitely be cheaper with scale. Taking a bit more land on and working with a neighbor has dropped my fert costs.
I can now buy it and get it spread cheaper than I could buy it before.
So less cost and less work.
oh..!! gosh you know Billy aswell then
- Location
- Ceredigion
My mate laughed out load yesterday when i told him id put in for planning for a New 160 x 80 seed shed
Hes said i thought you were retiring
No i can take it with mw but if i love doing it who am i harming
Hes said i thought you were retiring
No i can take it with mw but if i love doing it who am i harming
Been there, got the T-shirt, then got a life as I got older. Or maybe I was just not keen or good enough??
Kids and the need for a "bit more money" to pay for a new house and then more land in 1995, pushed me to take on odd bits of land, but to be honest looking back, I am not sorry that I was 2nd in a Tender for a large block of land years ago!
I was better off concentrating on the core beef and arable business, some small scale pony paddock contracting, and being about at 4pm when the kids came in from school and I'd cut them a sandwich or buttered some tea loaf to have with a drink.
Drifting at the moment... semi retirement looking ever better, but need to solve the issue of livestock. Love having them about, hate the tie!!
I like good kit, and keep it that way. An over tractored farming lifestyle is a bad habit, but boy does it make life easier.
My preferred vehicle for tootling off and about, is the old 2009 Hyundai i10 shopping trolley... A 1300cc motor in a tiny chassis means it goes... quite well, and is a doddle to park, yet will take 15 bags of feed with the seats down. I was asked why I don't use the Ranger? My response explained it was big, thirsty, a pig to park and bags get wet if it rained!
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- Location
- Scottish Borders
Personally I take a huge amount of enjoyment from growing and progressing a business.
I tend to get a bit bored and lose interest without the challenge of something new. That could all change in 20 years though as life progresses.
Life would be a bit dull if everyone was perfectly content with what they've got?
I tend to get a bit bored and lose interest without the challenge of something new. That could all change in 20 years though as life progresses.
Life would be a bit dull if everyone was perfectly content with what they've got?
For me, much to Herself's deep unhappiness, it has been starting and growing a sheep flock.
Coming at it with just a base level knowledge of sheep, and learning more (often here on TFF) on a daily basis, has been actually quite enjoyable.....
Maybe a tad old mind to start such an enterprise, so quite possibly it is the onset of senility?But you don't necessarily have to grow to progress surely?
Sadly they are linked too often, but I think that's part of the problem.
Whatever it is, you are not alone.
Nearly
Member
- Location
- North of York
The definition of a treadmill.
There is an inference that progress is good, but you can only determine making progress if you know the destination. Progressing toward what exactly?
- Location
- Scottish Borders
No you're right I don't. But I have an incredibly fragile ego which makes me want to be the biggest fish in the pond.
Scale and increased turnover also opens up opportunities for non-farming ventures along the way.
It's not a new phenomenon, Leo Tolstoy wrote a wonderful short story about a Russian peasant, and his all consuming greed for more land:
How Much Land Does a Man Need?
It's not a long read, but it is a fantastic story; and the answer to the question is found at the very end.
ollie989898
Member
Lexion1000
Member
If you gave 100 farmers £1,000,000, I reckon at least 95 would spend at least a large proportion of it on more land/sheds/machinery/cows. I think it’s a completely unique industry in this regard. It’s a funny crossover between a job and a lifestyle. I think it’s addictive and it’s easy to lose sight of a real work/life balance. So people just end up doing more and more of it. That and the fact that margins are tightening and you think you need more acres/cows etc to make a decent amount of money. (Unless you’re doing something v intensive/diversifying).
Expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for farmers published
Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer from July will give the sector a clear path forward and boost farm business resilience.
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024
Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024
Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...