- Location
- Scottish Highlands
There’s a heck of a difference between 20 pence and 1/4 pence.
Is Now The Time To Exspand
- Thread starter wooly619
- Start date
Slippery Slope
Member
Give them a moment, they’ll work out what your on about in a minute
Party Pete
Member
We are surrounded by dairies of all sizes here in sw Scotland , don’t see too many getting much bigger but most seem to be spending money on making life easier at the moment .
I personally wouldn't budget on a price in the 40's if i was planning on expanding production. I would imagine the price will be back in the 30's before long as farmers will increase supply and sort the high price out. That said i think labour is going to be the biggest factor in increasing milk production or milk production full stop before long.
Farmer Keith
Member
- Location
- North Cumbria
Labour would appear to be the biggest barrier to expansion and the problem with labour right now is we simply don’t pay enough, be interesting to see where the milk price goes in the next couple of years but it dropping back is not going to solve the issue of replacing cheap skilled Eastern European workers with expensive home grown workers.
frederick
Member
- Location
- south west
I think this post may actually highlight now is the time to expand.
As dairy farmers it appears we have finally succumbed to the pressure of producing cheap milk and now understand the consumer and government don't actually want us.
But if you think both things have changed the era of supermarket power is seriously diminished and people are beginning to value the importance of food and then add in 80% of farmers are disillusioned with milk going forwards the future could be very positive.
However the days of squeezing on 20 more cows are gone. If your expanding you will need 6 months slurry storage, good sheds and good milking facilities to attract staff and all this in a higher interest rate environment.
As dairy farmers we are all on the hamster wheel if continual investment to stand still. You either keep the wheel spinning or step off and sell the cows.
As dairy farmers it appears we have finally succumbed to the pressure of producing cheap milk and now understand the consumer and government don't actually want us.
But if you think both things have changed the era of supermarket power is seriously diminished and people are beginning to value the importance of food and then add in 80% of farmers are disillusioned with milk going forwards the future could be very positive.
However the days of squeezing on 20 more cows are gone. If your expanding you will need 6 months slurry storage, good sheds and good milking facilities to attract staff and all this in a higher interest rate environment.
As dairy farmers we are all on the hamster wheel if continual investment to stand still. You either keep the wheel spinning or step off and sell the cows.
Continual investment is a habit for nearly all business, even a white van man has to replace his van.
serf
Member
- Location
- warwickshire
Cure for high prices is high prices ......Oh here we go typical dairy farmers finally starting too see half a decent price and first thing they think is “christ we should put some more cows on and this time next year Rodney we will be millionaires “
Same in every industry. Just look at the sh1tshow in the holiday industry right now, and most other industries as well. No one can get anyone to work even when they think they’ve thrown obscene amounts of money at the problem. The holiday industry can’t even get the original British workers back because they’ve found something better to do.
You’ve just made the case for packing the job in. Not sure that was your intention.
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
There’s a shortage of milk in the uk ,so processors are having too pay more to get the supplies they need, now has this happened because there’s a shortage of cows or because people aren’t pushing there cows to milk the marginal litres.
I’ve just added up that I’ve produced 15000 lts more milk to June than last year and 24000lts more than same period in 2020,and that has been done on less cake and a lot less fertiliser
If the cost of inputs come down are we going to see a big lift in production and with sexed semen there must be a big amount of heifers to come into the uk herd which should be genetically bettter milkers than there mums so increasing milk production.
Anyone know what cow numbers were last year ,the year before and now
Mid/late nineties a lot of dairy farmers sold there herds and packed up ,but the numbers of cows stayed the same
I’ve just added up that I’ve produced 15000 lts more milk to June than last year and 24000lts more than same period in 2020,and that has been done on less cake and a lot less fertiliser
If the cost of inputs come down are we going to see a big lift in production and with sexed semen there must be a big amount of heifers to come into the uk herd which should be genetically bettter milkers than there mums so increasing milk production.
Anyone know what cow numbers were last year ,the year before and now
Mid/late nineties a lot of dairy farmers sold there herds and packed up ,but the numbers of cows stayed the same
How have you.increased production, more cows or more yield per cow?
Really we should be talking FPCM or kg milk solids but that's another level of complexity...
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
Better feeding and better /less cows and culled crap cows
Turning cows out in mid January upped milk output massively compared to silage feeding
Turning cows out in mid January upped milk output massively compared to silage feeding
For many farms (ours included) there's more mileage in optimising the system than just doing the same with 10% more cows.
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
It’s surprising when you get rid of a dozen cows and your milk doesn’t alter ,it shows how bad that dozen were
Or how those extra cows were holding the others back (longer milking, less feed space, less pasture etc.)
200 hp tractor now is for the hayBob only, everyone seems to be aiming for 300hp now
Jdunn55
Member
- Location
- Helston, cornwall
Fuels cheap200 hp tractor now is for the hayBob only, everyone seems to be aiming for 300hp now
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
Most likely we have found a new normal higher base price for inputs but are experiencing what will be a short lived peak in output values....