Cows or no cows

[Bob the beef]

Worth googling “sustainable food trust thistlyhaugh farm”
2 brothers down in northumberland very good and interesting. Were in a similar situation to yourself few years ago

 

[zero]

do old tractors wear tyres less than new ones?

Sort of. Manufacturer's often fit tyres to suit themselves and they don't alway last as long as they should.

 

[hoyboy]

do old tractors wear tyres less than new ones?

No but the one not being used to put out slurry, haul grass etc will wear them less

 

[hoyboy]

I would say the machinery side of it maybe isn't such a huge cost yet but looking ahead it could get expensive to replace equipment like for like. Having had 200hp+ for the past 15 years we've ended up running with a few bits of kit that would struggle on smaller tractors. Forage wagon (got some hills to go up, 5f plough, 4m one pass. It could be downsized for all we're doing but the bigger kit hasn't been that much dearer to buy. Sometimes the opposite, you'll buy a decent 4m one pass for less than a 3m since less people want them. It would be pretty ridiculous to replace our big tractor like for like. It's doing less than 500 hours a year. It is bigger and fancier than we need but It was bought at right money £40k with low hours on and it's equivalent new today would be around £150k.

We seem to spend a hell of a time and diesel to grow what we need to keep what we've got going through the winter. 60 acre of barley, 40 acre neeps, 150 acre silage, then we might have 30 or 40 acre of grass in re-seed too so there is a fair bit of stuff turned over. I probably burn 20 to 30,000 litre of diesel. It seems excessive for all that we're producing. I might fatten 60 cattle, the rest stores and replacement heifers. Cull cows might go on ad lib barley to flesh them up a bit too if needed. Might finish 250 hoggs. The ewes will take most of the neeps. Did get some lifted this year and fed to cattle. There is some odd bits of contracting done but it's a small percentage of our own workload.

Maybe getting rid of cattle completely is a bit drastic but I'd like to see the place in a position where the livestock are turning a small profit before taking SFP into account. Incase that's where we're heading.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I would say the machinery side of it maybe isn't such a huge cost yet but looking ahead it could get expensive to replace equipment like for like. Having had 200hp+ for the past 15 years we've ended up running with a few bits of kit that would struggle on smaller tractors. Forage wagon (got some hills to go up, 5f plough, 4m one pass. It could be downsized for all we're doing but the bigger kit hasn't been that much dearer to buy. Sometimes the opposite, you'll buy a decent 4m one pass for less than a 3m since less people want them. It would be pretty ridiculous to replace our big tractor like for like. It's doing less than 500 hours a year. It is bigger and fancier than we need but It was bought at right money £40k with low hours on and it's equivalent new today would be around £150k.

We seem to spend a hell of a time and diesel to grow what we need to keep what we've got going through the winter. 60 acre of barley, 40 acre neeps, 150 acre silage, then we might have 30 or 40 acre of grass in re-seed too so there is a fair bit of stuff turned over. I probably burn 20 to 30,000 litre of diesel. It seems excessive for all that we're producing. I might fatten 60 cattle, the rest stores and replacement heifers. Cull cows might go on ad lib barley to flesh them up a bit too if needed. Might finish 250 hoggs. The ewes will take most of the neeps. Did get some lifted this year and fed to cattle. There is some odd bits of contracting done but it's a small percentage of our own workload.

Maybe getting rid of cattle completely is a bit drastic but I'd like to see the place in a position where the livestock are turning a small profit before taking SFP into account. Incase that's where we're heading.

That was the kicker for us - it's all "energy" whether you're buying steel or fuel or fert or anything manufactured

-these systems were designed around this concept that we had "energy to burn", and when there isn't, those systems will fizzle out.

It's happening.

We took a redesign-it approach mainly to make it easier to use, but also to save our cows which we're remarkably attached to keeping.

Redesign now means no silage to make, no fert or fuel to buy.
Not much machinery to wear out, and certainly no need to worry about replacing any of it.

It's very basic but it really is coming into its own now some of the other systems are showing up their weaknesses - energy consumption is probably THE problem of our time

 

[Nearly]

Would selling calves as stores work?
Our 35 go at weaning.

 

[TripleSix]

Don't sell anything.

Get a few pigs.
Maybe some hens too.

A little bit of everything makes a resilient farm....

 

[ritchiekirkland]

Did I read some where you can sell your cows and avoid tax? Just once though?
maybe I made that up

Entrepreneurs relief ???

 

[No wot]

Rather than getting rid , work out a system that makes the work load easier for yourself, even if you have sell a few cows to help fund it , investing in infrastructure now and you'll be for ever grateful when you're older and not so swift ,

 

[hendrebc]

What type/breed of cows are you keeping?

 

[2wheels]

I don't know how 100 cows would ever pay for a 150k tractor. Could I afford it? Probably but it wouldn't be the cows that bought it. Sure It be nice to have for a little while then once it's 6 or 7 years old it'll need tyres at £4k, maybe a £12k gearbox rebuild. Or I could change it for a new one that will be good for another 6 or 7 years I'd maybe get 75k for the old one and now the new one will now be 200k. I suppose all my old machinery doesn't cost much other than time and welding rods but it does get a bit stressful at times. I reckon if I was to replace everything I have for a brand new equivalent it'd be upwards of 1.5m worth of kit so that won't be happening. Only thing we change regularly are quad bikes.

i think you should take a holiday if possible and come back with refreshed eyes. it's so easy to get bogged down with day to day worries and not see the longer view. apologies if that sounds patronising.

 

[Lazy Sod]

Spend a bit on getting a good consultant in to totally evaluate your business. It could be a great help.

 

[toquark]

The ground would miss the cattle. I'm going the opposite way, currently all sheep, thinking about putting on some store cattle, not necessarily for the profit, mainly as improvers and to help clean the pasture, a lot of which has been all sheep for a long time.

 

[teslacoils]

If you're in a good financial position, but you enjoy the cows, then keep them. Life's to short. You'd only be wanting a hobby or something to spend the sheep money on anyway. ...may as well be a few moos.

 

[Rossymons]

Disappear for a weekend or a couple nights away. Different surroundings, some sun and come back and have a look then.