Life after cows

deere 6600

Member
Mixed Farmer
4th bot will push the job to the max when she's fully loaded
Maybe try to get someone part time I know easier said than done but might work. I remember a chap spoke to local agri contractor and one of his guys helped out when the contractor was quiet or vice versa if you can get a full timer and loan him out to drive a tractor . Seems simple I know it isn’t
 

Hanspree

Member
Location
Lancashire
170 acres, 150 cows flying herd. 3 robots. Job done. I bet you spend as much time on ys as you do cows, @pappuller is 3 bots and 150 cows flying. He seems to have time to think
Thought about flying herd, you still have beef calves to feed, and the price of cows at the moment is scary.
pappuller has family labour old enough to be helpful. ( hope I’m right)
Staff is a big issue, there are people who can milk cows in a parlour, but finding someone to look after cows in robots ?? You have know about cows.
Beginning to think the robots are the problem, on call 24hr and £2000 a month service contract is a wage.
When robots were put in I had parents on site to help.
 
I stopped milking 17 years ago,and have never really adjusted. Not a day goes by that i miss them and milking,the life discipline they bring,and obviously the milk cheque/cash flow. I would go back in tomorrow if i could get a milk buyer. The only benefit i had was spending much more time with my two kids,as had them later in life. Just got sucklers and sheep now,but still regard myself as semi retired for these last 17 years.
how do the sucklers compare to dairy profit wise?
 

pappuller

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
M6 Hard shoulder
Thought about flying herd, you still have beef calves to feed, and the price of cows at the moment is scary.
pappuller has family labour old enough to be helpful. ( hope I’m right)
Yes this is a big help
Staff is a big issue, there are people who can milk cows in a parlour, but finding someone to look after cows in robots ?? You have know about cows.
Beginning to think the robots are the problem, on call 24hr and £2000 a month service contract is a wage.
This would concern me, our 4 will be £1050 a month
When robots were put in I had parents on site to help.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
So, another related question.If you had no succesion, and wanted / were able to leave the farm to an organsation that would guarantee to maintain it as a farm and use it like a tenant farm to give keen youngsters a chance to get on the ladder ... which organisation would you choose / trust? I''ve read of people who have left estates to the National Trust with conditions attached re hunting etc, who's wishes have then been ignored / overturned or the estate sold for the cash .. so who would you trust? some that spring to mind .. Addington Fund .. RABDF... Duchy of Cornwall .. RABI...
Try The National Farmland Trust
 
Spent less than the cost of 1 robot in a parlour that milks 200 in less than 2 hours
We are flying and spend 6 hours a day max doing necessary stuff
There are ways of dairy farming and having a life

I agree, there are farms that seem to have plenty of time to do other things. Others spend hours and hours doing what I would call the routine work. That's ok if you enjoy it all I guess but people do need to value their time against the cost of a contractor.
 

Rossymons

Member
Location
Cornwall
Resurrecting this thread as getting into bit situation, maybe not the best place to post, but I have read the Dairy farm for sale thread and there is some scary thoughts from people on there.
We are getting to a stage where wondering what to do, own 170 acre, rent 100acre, rear our own youngstock, milking 150 cows through 3 robots and just me and the misses both 46 and 2 young kids of 11 and 7.
Both my parents have passed away in the last 4 years so it is just the 4 of us trying to run a farm and spend time with the kids to have a life.
While everything on the farm is going well we are working hard to do it and are at breaking point as I have a family to look after and bring up as well.
So many people are telling me to pack in milking and slow down and get a life before something gives, your only here once.
The scary thing is this is all i've done and its worrying thinking about finding another job out there.
Do we rear hfrs?
Rent the farm out?
Or do we sell the farm buy a nice house and enjoy life?
Other than ring Samaritans any thoughts??? thanks

From the outside 150 cows through 3 robots and some youngstock should be relatively easy but that's easy for everyone other than you to say sat behind a screen. What's going on? What does a typical day look like?
 
Location
East Mids
He said 'the 4 of us' but by my reading, that includes 2 kids and his wife. If one of them (not being sexist but probably his wife) is also cooking the meals, doing all the housework, getting the kids ready for school (doing a school run?), keeping an eye on them outside school hours, then that is a massive ask. Who is doing the books, is there a farm secretary/book keeper, or being done in-house?

I am not surprised you are run ragged, even with the robots. Definitely need some help or to restructure - hard thinking on what you all want out of life. Can you offer a youngster an opportunity to get a foot on the ladder/buy into some cows, on say a 5-10 year agreement (after a trial period) which would clear the way for kids IF they want to farm in the future?
 

Scholsey

Member
Location
Herefordshire
Thought about flying herd, you still have beef calves to feed, and the price of cows at the moment is scary.
pappuller has family labour old enough to be helpful. ( hope I’m right)
Staff is a big issue, there are people who can milk cows in a parlour, but finding someone to look after cows in robots ?? You have know about cows.
Beginning to think the robots are the problem, on call 24hr and £2000 a month service contract is a wage.
When robots were put in I had parents on site to help.

Sell any youngstock more than 3 months from calving and cash in any bareners whilst price is good, buy yourself some thinking time.
 

O'Reilly

Member
Try keeping a diary of how you spend your time, might give an idea of what could be altered. For example, there a few things about the layout of our farm that waste a lot of time, and will be changed, eventually. Or, get someone in to follow you round for a bit, they may pick up on issues that you just get used to putting up with. It's very difficult to give much advice without seeing the farm, or knowing how your finances look, which I wouldn't want to ask about on here.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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