Buying land is a hindrance to business development

B R C

Member
Arable Farmer
I would say in most cases absolutely true. If you are using the business income to pay for it, it will eat large amounts of cash which you could otherwise use to develop/grow your business. Ok if you have good profits that you are happy to invest long term or are prepared to have a potentially lower drawings, or as l have done brought some as a pension which I shall be more than happy to sell again in the future, and paid for with diversification and other non farming business. No way I could have done it otherwise.
 
Last edited:

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
If you're at the "buy land" bit then you have clearly run out of other bits of the business to develop. The "growing crop on freshly bought land" is the l worst paying bit in farming.
 

RhysT

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Swansea
Our main business is selling haylage. We make approx 1200 round bales a year and bought in approx 700 others. I’d love to buy more land to make more bales but I don’t think it’s feasible. I worked out at approx £7000 an acre it’s approx 11 years to pay back the field not including the costs to make the bales in the first place!
I can buy them for 25% more than it costs to make it in the first place.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Our main business is selling haylage. We make approx 1200 round bales a year and bought in approx 700 others. I’d love to buy more land to make more bales but I don’t think it’s feasible. I worked out at approx £7000 an acre it’s approx 11 years to pay back the field not including the costs to make the bales in the first place!
I can buy them for 25% more than it costs to make it in the first place.
You can buy haylage most years cheaper than you can make it
 

Agrivator

Member
You can buy haylage most years cheaper than you can make it

But making hay, haylage or silage has a massive benefit in grassland management and in evening out grass supplies over the whole year.

How do you manage your grass if you buy in all your forage? In the days when upland farms had dairy cows and actually worked for a living, the aftermath from making hay was the one thing that gave cows (and the farmer) a boost and stood them in good stead for the rest of the year.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
But making hay, haylage or silage has a massive benefit in grassland management and in evening out grass supplies over the whole year.

How do you manage your grass if you buy in all your forage? In the days when upland farms had dairy cows and actually worked for a living, the aftermath from making hay was the one thing that gave cows (and the farmer) a boost and stood them in good stead for the rest of the year.
I do make haylage , but cutting haylage drains the soil don't add anything , costs me a fortune to replace what it takes off , no way could I buy land and make a margin selling Haylage , selling Haylage is beer money and nothing else , can make more letting the dairy farms take the grass
 

Spencer

Member
Location
North West
I do make haylage , but cutting haylage drains the soil don't add anything , costs me a fortune to replace what it takes off , no way could I buy land and make a margin selling Haylage , selling Haylage is beer money and nothing else , can make more letting the dairy farms take the grass
I think some people are better at it than others....
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 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

  • 1,291
  • 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/
Top