Countryside Productivity Small Grant scheme rejection

[som farmer]

Sorry for repeating myself from previous grant threads but decide what you NEED, then look and see if there is a grant available.
Do not think, oooooo that would be nice and buy something that is a white elephant or more money , higher spec that will cost over the grant gain.


Watch for cheap milking robots in a few years time cause bought as there was a grant not because they were needed or a good fit

sid is dead right, all the talk about increasing technology, new systems, grants for this, and that, it's all very nice, and tempting to do, but, it has to be paid for, and, at a time when most farmers( not sheep ) are complaining about prices of end product. But, a lot of those product prices, are strongly influenced by world prices, and we can moan, grumble, all we like, that is only governed by world supply/demand. So, if we wish to increase the amount of end price, that stays in our pocket, COP has to be reduced, a majority of farmers have production costs well under control, which means savings have to come from else where, and those are the hardest to achieve. So, you can get a grant of 40% on something, you have to fund 60% your self, you really have to think, will the increase gained from your 40% grant, cover the 60% you have funded, I think, in many cases not, and all you have achieved, is an increase in COP.
Wonder what the price of second hand robots will drop to ?

 

[Sid]

sid is dead right, all the talk about increasing technology, new systems, grants for this, and that, it's all very nice, and tempting to do, but, it has to be paid for, and, at a time when most farmers( not sheep ) are complaining about prices of end product. But, a lot of those product prices, are strongly influenced by world prices, and we can moan, grumble, all we like, that is only governed by world supply/demand. So, if we wish to increase the amount of end price, that stays in our pocket, COP has to be reduced, a majority of farmers have production costs well under control, which means savings have to come from else where, and those are the hardest to achieve. So, you can get a grant of 40% on something, you have to fund 60% your self, you really have to think, will the increase gained from your 40% grant, cover the 60% you have funded, I think, in many cases not, and all you have achieved, is an increase in COP.
Wonder what the price of second hand robots will drop to ?

And also it's the maintenance of these items as time goes on.
It all very well finding the capital, but the repair costs can be significant.

 

[Farmer Keith]

sid is dead right, all the talk about increasing technology, new systems, grants for this, and that, it's all very nice, and tempting to do, but, it has to be paid for, and, at a time when most farmers( not sheep ) are complaining about prices of end product. But, a lot of those product prices, are strongly influenced by world prices, and we can moan, grumble, all we like, that is only governed by world supply/demand. So, if we wish to increase the amount of end price, that stays in our pocket, COP has to be reduced, a majority of farmers have production costs well under control, which means savings have to come from else where, and those are the hardest to achieve. So, you can get a grant of 40% on something, you have to fund 60% your self, you really have to think, will the increase gained from your 40% grant, cover the 60% you have funded, I think, in many cases not, and all you have achieved, is an increase in COP.
Wonder what the price of second hand robots will drop to ?

Don’t kid yourself that there’s a fortune to be made in sheep, my lamb cop is above the average market price for the last 5 years whereas my milk cop is significantly below.

completely agree on your second point though, constantly hearing how there’s going to be big changes over the next decade and tech is the solution, but in some cases I’m afraid it’s going to be the problem. Chaining your business to expensive dealer support would concern me big time when over the past decade milk prices have been all over the place.

 

[som farmer]

Don’t kid yourself that there’s a fortune to be made in sheep, my lamb cop is above the average market price for the last 5 years whereas my milk cop is significantly below.

completely agree on your second point though, constantly hearing how there’s going to be big changes over the next decade and tech is the solution, but in some cases I’m afraid it’s going to be the problem. Chaining your business to expensive dealer support would concern me big time when over the past decade milk prices have been all over the place.

after seeing the amazing prices for sheep, at the moment, I thought you wouldn't be moaning ! No problems with the price you get, you need it, but those prices are reflected by supply demand, and, at the moment, you are getting some welcome bonus. What would worry me, over sheep prices, is if livestock markets closed, s/mkts will immediately want to drop prices.

 

[Farmer Keith]

after seeing the amazing prices for sheep, at the moment, I thought you wouldn't be moaning ! No problems with the price you get, you need it, but those prices are reflected by supply demand, and, at the moment, you are getting some welcome bonus. What would worry me, over sheep prices, is if livestock markets closed, s/mkts will immediately want to drop prices.

Im not moaning, it is what it is, still a heavily subsidised sector in reality. The prices are a welcome bonus for anybody who has lambs left to sell but if you have lambs left at 11 months old you need every penny

 

[foxbox]

Sorry for repeating myself from previous grant threads but decide what you NEED, then look and see if there is a grant available.
Do not think, oooooo that would be nice and buy something that is a white elephant or more money , higher spec that will cost over the grant gain.


Watch for cheap milking robots in a few years time cause bought as there was a grant not because they were needed or a good fit

Totally agree Sid; we were looking at tagging it on the end of a grant but in the end decided that none of it stacked up at that point so haven't done any of it. Your point about ongoing maintenance costs is a good one too

 

[pappuller]

Sorry for repeating myself from previous grant threads but decide what you NEED, then look and see if there is a grant available.
Do not think, oooooo that would be nice and buy something that is a white elephant or more money , higher spec that will cost over the grant gain.


Watch for cheap milking robots in a few years time cause bought as there was a grant not because they were needed or a good fit

Not convinced youll see many cheap robots, the number of machines that were grant aided is a lot lower than the numbers that were applied for, our lely centre has/is only installing around 10% of the machines that were applied for, but that said they also say that a majority of the rejected applications are no longer looking at robots. That tells its own tale.

 

[Barmyfarmer]

I see that previously auto id was down for funding, does that mean complete auto id for a milking parlour or just auto id linked to a segregation gate?

 

[stablegirl]

We had the full allocation on the first round, and the items have fitted very well, we got two things we were looking to do anyway and the grant sped the process up and they have both complemented the farm well.

Will there be a third round?

 

[pappuller]

We had the full allocation on the first round, and the items have fitted very well, we got two things we were looking to do anyway and the grant sped the process up and they have both complemented the farm well.

Will there be a third round?

Possibly been talked about, be interesting to see if 1st round applicants are able to apply for round 3