300 acres starting from scratch

[Baling Hay]

Thinking out loud here, how about:

• Autumn calving dairy herd milked once a day, flying herd with all cows put to beef bull.
• Calves left on the cow but separated for 22 hours of the day in a creep area with meal provided.
• Stores then grazed in summer and sold before 2nd winter

 

[Foxcover]

Thinking out loud here, how about:

• Autumn calving dairy herd milked once a day, flying herd with all cows put to beef bull.
• Calves left on the cow but separated for 22 hours of the day in a creep area with meal provided.
• Stores then grazed in summer and sold before 2nd winter

I don’t know much about cattle at all but sounds like with that plan you’d be doing some long days 365 days of the year, especially if you do your own silage and corn.

 

[neilo]

I don’t know much about cattle at all but sounds like with that plan you’d be doing some long days 365 days of the year, especially if you do your own silage and corn.

Why would he be working long days? The lazy bugger is only going to milk them once a day, which won’t take long as their calves will have had half of it….

 

[madscientist]

Thinking out loud here, how about:

• Autumn calving dairy herd milked once a day, flying herd with all cows put to beef bull.
• Calves left on the cow but separated for 22 hours of the day in a creep area with meal provided.
• Stores then grazed in summer and sold before 2nd winter

There is so many details missing here to give a viable suggestion. It is so easy to get sucked into the trap of cutting wood to make sawdust. We have got into the mindset of try breakeven and try for profit next year. I do believe it's hard to make a bottom line of £100/acre when bills paid. I stopped milking 4 years ago. I wasn't making a wage to justify my hours invested. So many unexpected costs, setbacks and over 20 years working alone I got fed up And realised we are being asked to work foolishly to feather nests of milk companies and beef cartels. Basically I have noticed in 20 years farm gate has doubled. Inputs have tripled. So to pull a wage 100 cows needs to go to 150. Milk beef sheep no matter. That change involves investment to buildings. Slurry storage. Then nitrates dictates effectively lower stocking rate so rent more ground which your neighbor needs cos he is thinking like you. Soon if not already ground will be £200/acre to rent. But if I claim sfp it's only £100. But where does the money come from to generate the new £100. The already tightened margins. I changed over to beef heifers. Transitioning to suck cows. I relief milk. Sell my calves in autum. Buy little meal. Clamp 500 tons of silage for sale. Spreading the risk of business. My neighbor think the same done the same and we own our silage plant etc by now.
If you have been blessed with 300 acres. Rent most of it for a few years. £50000 rent is easy money for now Keep maybe 50 acres for growing and feeding foundation stock rent a cattle shed to winter and grow without borrowing heavily.

 

[More to life]

Thinking out loud here, how about:

• Autumn calving dairy herd milked once a day, flying herd with all cows put to beef bull.
• Calves left on the cow but separated for 22 hours of the day in a creep area with meal provided.
• Stores then grazed in summer and sold before 2nd winter

calves at foot at scale is a terrifying thought,