Career in farm services

[benny102030]

Was thinking of a career for myself ( I'm leaving school). Would a business that had services like cattle and horse foot trimming and sheep and cow scanning be a profitable business? I'm in Northern Ireland and I haven't heard of many people doing these things.

 

[benny102030]

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[M-J-G]

I think as time goes on there will be less in the way of full time jobs on farms and outside help will be dafted in to do work at busy times.

From what I see around here it's becoming more common, but farms in NI tend to be smaller scale and family units that do a lot inhouse.

Whatever you decide, make sure you provide enough services to keep you year filled.
I know some guys who make pretty good money by doing a couple of lambing, silage work leading on to harvest. Not quite farm services, but you see what I'm getting at.

I know one scanner who was mentored by an older scanner man who was nearing retirement, he got to cut his teeth under the older guys supervision and got some experience under his belt, rather than getting a name for making amateur mistakes early in his career. He pretty much took over the old guys client list in the years following.

Personally I would stay clear of horse foot trimming, it's a bit of a minefield.

 

[Sandpit Farm]

Cattle foot trimming can be profitable but it takes time to get any good and it is really really hard work. The kit is expensive. If you fancy it, go out if your area.... perhaps come to England and work for foot trimmer for free. You will get a feel for it.

Scanning is similar.

 

[Newby]

Cattle foot trimming can be profitable but it takes time to get any good and it is really really hard work. The kit is expensive. If you fancy it, go out if your area.... perhaps come to England and work for foot trimmer for free. You will get a feel for it.

Scanning is similar.

Do you know of a cattle foot trimmer in England that would swap a bit of free labour for experience?

 

[Nh6050]

You need to be qualified to trim horses feet. And as already said its a mine field trust me I'm in the trade and hate it.
Cow foot trimming but takes time and experience to get good and build up clients.
Is your heart set on livestock services ? Or would you look into other services on farm

 

[It was already broken.]

Can you trim a horses foot for payment if not a farrier? You can't put a shoe on a horse unless a farrier ora vet I think.

Edit: Sorry @Nh6050 wires crossed there.

 

[Nh6050]

You still need to be qualified even if for payment or not for payment it's the law. And quite a hefty fine can be handed out in court for it too.
There's a governing body we all have to pay into every year it's a joke to be honest but it's the rules.
Glad I farm aswel to get away from all the hassle.

 

[Sandpit Farm]

Do you know of a cattle foot trimmer in England that would swap a bit of free labour for experience?

I can't help you myself I'm afraid. I sold my business. Have a look on the NACFT website. They have a mentor scheme but contact somebody in the first instance.

You'd then need to go on a contractor course. You must then trim about 500-1000 cows and must then embark on a mentoring scheme and consider taking your diploma. You then have to take CPD training every few years. All in all it will cost you a few thousand.

You will be trimming about 10-15 cows per day to start with and that is not enough to make a living. The key thing is not to build up too quickly as it is most important to get it right. After 6 months or so you may get to 25 per day. This will be your sticking point as you'd need to invest in a decent crush to get the throughput higher. You may then get up to 40 per day. The best and quickest trimmers may get to 70 per day but in my opinion, it is difficult to do 70 cows well especially if there are problems with those feet.

Your first couple of years will involve you taking on farms other trimmers don't want. Farmers who are bad payers or who give you what can only be described as 'cruelty cases'. You learn a lot.

I can't stress enough, it is not easy. On the other hand, your earning potential is very good. 40 cows would yield an invoice around £500-600

 

[bovine]

Cattle foot trimming I think has been covered. The good guys are members of NACFT, have the diploma and go for their check days. Be aware that there are a lot of people out there with crushes doing a pretty crap job of things. I've shot cows wrecked by foot trimmers on a number of occasions. If you go down this route make sure you spend time with the good guys.

Anyone can simply trim horses feet:

http://www.farrier-reg.gov.uk/registered-farriers/farriers-faqs/who-can-carry-out-barefoot-trimming/

Again standards vary wildly.

Scanning is governed by the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 as an invasive procedure and to scan cows you need to do an approved course under the supervision of a vet. It's illegal to go out with a scan man and have a go. My impression is in the UK cattle scanners are getting few and far between as farm vets have gotten better and embraced ultrasound. Vets have the advantages of being able to treat empty animals etc. None of our clients use lay scanners now, we have taken on all the work over the last 15 years. Vets didn't embrace ultrasound quickly enough and I understand how the niche opened up. Research your market carefully to ensure it exists and can make you money. I was talking to a couple of vets in NI and they told me there were lots of vets scrapping over limited clients and undercutting each other on things like PD cost.

To train and equip as a foot trimmer you'd be spending £10-20,000.

To train and equip as a scanner £10,000. If you want to do sheep too then you can probably double that figure.

 

[Sandpit Farm]

As an extra, foot trimming crushes:

A basic WOPA box on a trailer will do to start with but to be taken seriously and to keep things safe for you, you will need a basic second hand contractors crush. This will cost £10k (£8k if you're lucky).

A decent contractors crush will cost you £20k-£40k. That's a lot of cows.