bull sh!t
Can a very small farm pay its way
- Thread starter Robt
- Start date
this is only when you don't set up a family budget, or is it that the family budget is running the farm , which would bring us to another point , what is the av farm budget in your country , the other french farmer here would back me when i say farm family is better set up in france than in other country's ,
is you farm able pay you a wage or do you live off what is left , which in most is nothing , is your farm stealing from your home , have you one bank account or 2 , and like most farms with the wife working outside of the farm the wife is running the home and the farmer is putting in nothing and she is putting a car under him as well
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
John 1594
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
bear in mind that arable farming is one of a number of "pies i have my finger in" The 75 acres on its own would not keep me in the way im accustomed too. But, its a good showcase for my work and people can see the standard of it, the place is always tidy, the tractors are spotless whenever they go out on other farms.
This in turn attracts work from other people, such as what im doing at the moment, doing all the sparying and spreading on a neighbouring unit
And yes i have PA1/2 before you ask, had them since i was 17.
The drainage board mowing contract makes up a significant amount of my income, but it only lasts for a quarter of the year, so i have to find other things to do in the meantime.
As such, small scale on site machinery repairs, breaking old tractors up for spares, buying, restoring and selling rare models also makes the numbers up.
I have the time to do this over winter as we are a predominantly spring cropped farm due to the soil we farm, we have the art of spring barley production for malting down to a fine art, at a low cost.
The most cruical part of the arable side is this, we have to make every acre pay, thus we dont take chances with "gamblers" crops, such as peas or rape, which are very suceptible to pest damage, we need to take a crop off every square foot, hence no border strips, grass margins or anything else. Although next year peas are in the rotation again to get N levels back up, as all or straw is baled and sold every year. The pea straw will also be sold when the time comes.
I even mow the top meter of the dykesides after harvest and bale it up for hay, its all money after all!
hope that gives an insight into my little world!
This in turn attracts work from other people, such as what im doing at the moment, doing all the sparying and spreading on a neighbouring unit
And yes i have PA1/2 before you ask, had them since i was 17.
The drainage board mowing contract makes up a significant amount of my income, but it only lasts for a quarter of the year, so i have to find other things to do in the meantime.
As such, small scale on site machinery repairs, breaking old tractors up for spares, buying, restoring and selling rare models also makes the numbers up.
I have the time to do this over winter as we are a predominantly spring cropped farm due to the soil we farm, we have the art of spring barley production for malting down to a fine art, at a low cost.
The most cruical part of the arable side is this, we have to make every acre pay, thus we dont take chances with "gamblers" crops, such as peas or rape, which are very suceptible to pest damage, we need to take a crop off every square foot, hence no border strips, grass margins or anything else. Although next year peas are in the rotation again to get N levels back up, as all or straw is baled and sold every year. The pea straw will also be sold when the time comes.
I even mow the top meter of the dykesides after harvest and bale it up for hay, its all money after all!
hope that gives an insight into my little world!
- Location
- Lincolnshire
We are like that. And it suits us fine. I wouldn't want too much to do, or end up not giving things proper attention and having an untidy inefficient place. People who are ignorant wonder what I do all day on a couple of hundred acres, but if you attend to everything that needs it, you are always busy.
John 1594
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
i couldnt be doing with the " modern way" of having 6m border strips round everything etc. Yes you mag get paid good money for it, but it looks so bloody untidy!!!
not to mention the carry over of grass weeds from the border strips to the main field
Yes if you have massive kit, they are an advantage in som cases, but i have small kit and farm right into the corners, when we used to have beet the field corners were drilled with a hand drill, chopped out and lifted by hand before the harvester came in, even if you got a ton per corner, that 4 ton you wouldnt have had if you handnt drilled it!
not being in any of the "bunny hugger" schemes, i mow both sides of our ditches every year without fail, all the field drains are easily checked, and funny enoug we dont have any wet holes, even as heavy as the land is
but hey, im stuck in the last century right???????
not to mention the carry over of grass weeds from the border strips to the main field
Yes if you have massive kit, they are an advantage in som cases, but i have small kit and farm right into the corners, when we used to have beet the field corners were drilled with a hand drill, chopped out and lifted by hand before the harvester came in, even if you got a ton per corner, that 4 ton you wouldnt have had if you handnt drilled it!
not being in any of the "bunny hugger" schemes, i mow both sides of our ditches every year without fail, all the field drains are easily checked, and funny enoug we dont have any wet holes, even as heavy as the land is
but hey, im stuck in the last century right???????
I would go as far as to say that small well managed farms have done much better particularly over the last 12 months.Watching some of the real big outfits round here,they have really struggled to get work done because everything is working at or beyond its limits,throw in some prolonged atrocious weather, there simply has not been enough time to do the work.Small,well managed farms have been able to keep up.
John 1594
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
in a word, No. I have worked on places with ELS and the list of do's and donts quite frankly takes the p**s. Why should i not be allowed to mow both sides of my ditches out right to the bottom every year, or trim hedges boths sides every year to keep them under control.
There are more than enough border strips on neighbouring units, if i took even 3m strips off of my 75 acre it wouldnt be worth farming would it?
Now if i had 1000 acres and neither the time nor the staff to farm it properly then maybe drilling 6m strips and taking corners out would be an easy way of making money for nothing?
il stick to keeping everything tidy i think
- Location
- Limousin, France
Couldn't get post to work earlier, wanted to say- I have googled farm size and its telling me the UK average is 54 Hc. and the French average is 56 Hc, that was a surprise as all you here about is the UKs big efficient units. Probably shows just how many family farms are out there
John 1594
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
maybe its just that the owners of the big "efficient" units can shout louder than the small farmers, as they are convinced that big is best
a wise head sits on quiet shoulders, guess that makes me very un wise then?
still, while im turning a profit, to hell with it il keep going!!!!
John 1594
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
cant take it with you, why should i slog my guts out just to pay more taxes what the government spend on foreign wars?
I take as little as i can get away with from the farm, ive not got a mortgage, or any sort of loans, ive got a roof over my head all i need to do is pay the bills and feed myself, and leave a bit of beer money for the weekend, im my own boss and can do what i want when i want
I could probably contract the land out to somene and go work full time somewhere else, id be a lot richer, but i bet i wouldnt be nowhere near as happy!!
John 1594
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
to be fair, i dont class the farm as a buisness, i see it as more of a hobby, always have. Its just a hobby what makes me a bit of money.
multi power
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
economy of scale is a myth
not if you look at eastern block farms
John 1594
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
id rather have what ive got and owe nobody than have 10 times more and sit waitng for the bank to call my overdraft in!!!