Do Scottish suckler farmers need support??? Here are the figures

[CharcoalWally]

Damn!! I wanted to write the 1000th post!!!!

 

[M-J-G]

Damn!! I wanted to write the 1000th post!!!!

You wrote the 1000th reply, now stop complaining!

 

[hillman]

Damn!! I wanted to write the 1000th post!!!!

Sleep at the wheel unusual for you to slip up

 

[CharcoalWally]

You wrote the 1000th reply, now stop complaining!

I suppose I did start Page 51 , so hahaha @M-J-G ,

 

[CharcoalWally]

Sleep at the wheel unusual for you to slip up

Well I think this shows who's the competitive one that always has to write the 1000th post @hillman ........

 

[M-J-G]

Well I think this shows who's the competitive one that always has to write the 1000th post @hillman ........

Oh aye, sat in a day for it.
It comes at a price though!
Too much too young!
Could go to your head.

 

[CharcoalWally]

Oh aye, sat in a day for it.
It comes at a price though!
Too much too young!
Could go to your head.

I'll beat ya next time.....

 

[M-J-G]

I suppose I did start Page 51 , so hahaha @M-J-G ,

The 50 last pages could be condensed into 5 if the st!te was removed, but it's a mighty good laugh to read.

 

[Henarar]

may still be here messing about at 2000

 

[M-J-G]

I'll beat ya next time.....

I wouldn't bother, its over rated!

 

[M-J-G]

may still be here messing about at 2000

Ssshhhhh, keep it to yourself!!!

 

[CharcoalWally]

The 50 last pages could be condensed into 5 if the st!te was removed, but it's a mighty good laugh to read.

I love subs!!!

I hate them!! They should be banned!!

You're wrong , we need them.....

No , you're wrong , it's an opportunity......

You're deluded then , you don't understand......

No , you don't understand , you'd be freed to explore other avenues......

I hate you , you're a pig.....

Hate you more , you smell......

Hang on , why don't we all just get on......

OK.......

The End.....

 

[Henarar]

I wouldn't mind betting that Boss has one of the best if not the best reply rates to threads he starts
yet loads on here ridicule him
sad for some

 

[M-J-G]

I wouldn't mind betting that Boss has one of the best if not the best reply rates to threads he starts
yet loads on here ridicule him
sad for some

I think @Bossfarmer is great, I just don't agree with him all the time, but if you agree with someone all the time, there's probably something wrong with you.

 

[Doc]

They say everything is cyclical. This and other similar sub threads proves it.
Usually about every 3rd page...
I'm starting to think Subs 'are' farming and the stock or crops have nowt to do with it or are at least incidental.

 

[Farmer Roy]

all this talk about beef, supermarkets, the Brit public, buying habits etc

I know its a long time ago now, but I did live in the UK for 3 years.
Being a lowly farm worker who preferred to spend most of my spare cash on socialising, beer & petrol, I didn't ever have a lot of spare cash for the weekly grocery shopping

I hardly ever ate beef much anyway - for an Aussie it was too expensive. When I did buy it, it was mostly only the cheapest mince . . .

When I did buy steak ( generally in a restaurant ) it was ALWAYS grass fed Scottish beef. Apart from my own personal preferences, it was always promoted as being a premium product.

So, what has happened in 25 - 30 yrs ??

 

[Henarar]

all this talk about beef, supermarkets, the Brit public, buying habits etc

I know its a long time ago now, but I did live in the UK for 3 years.
Being a lowly farm worker who preferred to spend most of my spare cash on socialising, beer & petrol, I didn't ever have a lot of spare cash for the weekly grocery shopping

I hardly ever ate beef much anyway - for an Aussie it was too expensive. When I did buy it, it was mostly only the cheapest mince . . .

When I did buy steak ( generally in a restaurant ) it was ALWAYS grass fed Scottish beef. Apart from my own personal preferences, it was always promoted as being a premium product.

So, what has happened in 25 - 30 yrs ??

you moved back to Aus and now drink swill instead ?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

What.the.actual.fudge!

Sending threatening or abusive communications is illegal and should be reported to the forum staff.

That someone like KP has been threatened is a disgrace.

To be fair I say things that are out of line myself, in the heat of the moment - do you remember the first PM I sent you, and what that was about?
(I wasn't even drunk, and still had a hissy fit, so karma is a bitch....)

A sincere apology has been received and accepted, these things happen.

I know it may seem that us upside-downers all gang together but it is likely just how we have adapted to suit our environment and how that change has in turn influenced our beliefs and values and economy - everything really is as interrelated and interdependent as it seems.
No more so than when distortion is in play, it is reasonably easy to see in UK agriculture that all farming is dependant on other farming practices and sectors to a much greater degree than it is down here: lack of bought in inputs and competition for acres means each farm is much more "standalone" is one of the big contrasts I see.

So, in the likely outcome of environmental payments replacing area payments how does the suckler job adapt to suit?
Do lighter carcasses and more of them make sense, or does Tb make that even more risky than lesser numbers of more valuable stock?

As a bit of an aside, there currently are large numbers of animals moving to where the feed is - notable because it is the reverse of the usual seasonal pattern here - is moving stock to where the food is a more sustainable activity than moving food to where the animals are?
As in nature, where ruminants migrate to follow food.. is that something that needs to be investigated "once the Tb is controlled"

My main recipe is to source store stock from hill farms and bring them down here to finish, hardly astrophysics but very cheap and efficient... but if I needed to get them fit to market under your grids and markets it would be much less profitable for me, whereas the hill farmers would simply put the cattle out in the tussock over the winter.

Like @Bossfarmer, I dont have a big tussock covered hill block so that isnt an option for us, nor can I outwinter big cattle without major flow-on effects from compaction...

That brings me back to the EUROP grading grid - is it for for purpose in the future for cattle, for lamb even?
Those last kilos are the expensive ones if it takes corn

 

[Treg]

all this talk about beef, supermarkets, the Brit public, buying habits etc

I know its a long time ago now, but I did live in the UK for 3 years.
Being a lowly farm worker who preferred to spend most of my spare cash on socialising, beer & petrol, I didn't ever have a lot of spare cash for the weekly grocery shopping

I hardly ever ate beef much anyway - for an Aussie it was too expensive. When I did buy it, it was mostly only the cheapest mince . . .

When I did buy steak ( generally in a restaurant ) it was ALWAYS grass fed Scottish beef. Apart from my own personal preferences, it was always promoted as being a premium product.

So, what has happened in 25 - 30 yrs ??

I don't know what's happened in the last 25-30 yrs but I do remember my grandparents telling me about "cousin jacks" (cornish descendants in Australia ) sending food home to cornwall because the harvests here had failed & there were no fish!? Not sure what date in time they were talking about.
I would say food has got cheaper & more plentiful in the last 30yrs & is so easy to get hold of its taken for granted.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

To be fair I say things that are out of line myself, in the heat of the moment - do you remember the first PM I sent you, and what that was about?
(I wasn't even drunk, and still had a hissy fit, so karma is a bitch....)

A sincere apology has been received and accepted, these things happen.

I know it may seem that us upside-downers all gang together but it is likely just how we have adapted to suit our environment and how that change has in turn influenced our beliefs and values and economy - everything really is as interrelated and interdependent as it seems.
No more so than when distortion is in play, it is reasonably easy to see in UK agriculture that all farming is dependant on other farming practices and sectors to a much greater degree than it is down here: lack of bought in inputs and competition for acres means each farm is much more "standalone" is one of the big contrasts I see.

So, in the likely outcome of environmental payments replacing area payments how does the suckler job adapt to suit?
Do lighter carcasses and more of them make sense, or does Tb make that even more risky than lesser numbers of more valuable stock?

As a bit of an aside, there currently are large numbers of animals moving to where the feed is - notable because it is the reverse of the usual seasonal pattern here - is moving stock to where the food is a more sustainable activity than moving food to where the animals are?
As in nature, where ruminants migrate to follow food.. is that something that needs to be investigated "once the Tb is controlled"

My main recipe is to source store stock from hill farms and bring them down here to finish, hardly astrophysics but very cheap and efficient... but if I needed to get them fit to market under your grids and markets it would be much less profitable for me, whereas the hill farmers would simply put the cattle out in the tussock over the winter.

Like @Bossfarmer, I dont have a big tussock covered hill block so that isnt an option for us, nor can I outwinter big cattle without major flow-on effects from compaction...

That brings me back to the EUROP grading grid - is it for for purpose in the future for cattle, for lamb even?
Those last kilos are the expensive ones if it takes corn

Good post Pete.

Environmentally it must make more sense to move a 400kg beast to where several tonnes of fodder is growing than the reverse.

We are in the "wrong" part of the UK to be producing beef apparently (too dry here) but then we don't have to haul bedding straw half way across the country as it's plentiful here. We carry less stock because we are in a low growth area (unless I can get this regenerative farming scam to work for us ) so it's a case of doing what works and playing up your advantages rather than trying to ignore your disadvantages.