Complexity kills small businesses?

Judgement presently clouded by yet another weekend lathered in oil and grease doing the tractor brakes. It just never ends with an old fleet. If I was retired and it was a hobby it would be OK but relying on it for your living is tiresome.

Tie it all up and work for your cousin? Tinker with old machines in the winter if you want to do a bit of that in the off season?
 

Poncherello1976

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Oxfordshire
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently.
If all I did was grow one particular crop or concentrate on one particular enterprise then my life would be whole lot easier and most likely more profitable.
I think this is what has changed re small mixed farming businesses. Whether it’s sheep, cattle, cereals or break crops, it’s nothing like as simple as it used to be. You need health plans, integrated pest management, better storage etc etc. Each facet of the mixed farm has become a specialism itself, and TBH it’s easy to become Jack of all trades, master of none.
What’s the answer? Collaboration with other specialists? Let parts of the farm for different cropping specialisms? Or solider on spinning a lot of different plates at once?
I get the agronomic benefits of mixed farming, I really do, but commercially and logistically I find it harder to make it stack up especially if you want any time off at all.
Bring in diversification as well, and that will really take up your time!
 

Grass And Grain

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Yorks
@DrWazzock I was speaking to someone a couple of years back, think he had a 200 acre farm, and did contract fym/slurry spreading. Had all his own kit for his cereals.

Sold most of his old and inefficient cereals kit, made one phone call to a good contractor for stubble to stubble work. He concentrates on the muck/slurry spreading full time.

Replace muck/slurry spreading with anything you fancy, e.g. working for your cousin, fencing, walling, truck driving, b+b pigs etc.

Essentially specialise your own time/labour into a single enterprise, then let contractor fo your field work. Put a proportion in 2 year legume fallow stewardship for OM and N building. If you want some variety, then keep old tractor, hedge cutter, do a bit of maintenance on drains and buildings etc. So keep interested, keep inheritance tax sweet, enjoy your farm.

Alternatively, put the whole lot in stewardship, get part time job, enjoy your farm and life.

I should listen to my own advice, but sort of have done with 40% stewardship, less labour peaks, bit more assured income, more wildlife, can do a more off-farm or diversification work.

All that said, i don't spend that much time doing fieldwork. Greatest % is maintenance, ditches, admin, record keeping, lots of little daft jobs which swallow time.

I enjoy variety. Doing what you enjoy is important.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
I’ve never been too concerned about the three crop rule, I think I counted 7 last time I bothered.
I grow a variety of forage crops, winter & spring cereals, a bit of beet, and grass (of course). I do most of the work myself, other than combining, along with running a couple of sheep enterprises. I have a healthy rotation, which is leading to steady increases in soil OM.

However, I would be far better off financially to specialise more. I have pondered putting the whole lot down to grass, dropping some winter forage crops in prior to reseeding, and going orgasmic (to claim the conversion money).
I know I’d be better off financially, with less capital tied up in machinery, less money going out, but with a less diverse farming environment.

Should I simply follow the money, or accept higher costs/lower profit in order to farm more sustainably?
No doubt the ‘no arable’ option could also be made to tick more C boxes, if that is going to be financially worthwhile too…
 

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

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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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