Farmer Roy's Random Thoughts - I never said it was easy.

Deerefarmer

Member
Location
USA
Hmmm... the bosses market force thread got me doing the deep thought stuff... like if there's no money in farming why does one keep doing it and wanting the gov to finance the job... 2.... do big businesses get on forums as such or do they change their marketing strategy, or do they just say it's not working and close the doors ...

Hope things work out well for you @Farmer Roy
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Hmmm... the bosses market force thread got me doing the deep thought stuff... like if there's no money in farming why does one keep doing it and wanting the gov to finance the job... 2.... do big businesses get on forums as such or do they change their marketing strategy, or do they just say it's not working and close the doors ...

Hope things work out well for you @Farmer Roy

Sadly, that's a continuing theme through all of the Boss's posts
Such a self entitled pr`ick, his arrogance is staggering . . .
 
Last edited:

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
I really hope you do get the "hobby block" as it is clearly something that you feel close to.

Thanks.
The bank is fully supportive & think it is a good idea. They only deal in agriculture & do take the long term view. Finance / money / changing the loan is all approved & ready to go, no difficulties there.

We have made an offer in the hobby farm which was accepted, contracts drawn up etc.
We are just trying to get some answers re the existing shed & council consent etc etc which may affect us in the future putting in a DA to build a house. Zoning etc is all good, but if existing stuff isn't compliant it could make things difficult . . .

If it all gets too hard we'll just walk away.

4 weeks before we move out, worse case scenario we will just rent somewhere short term or put a second hand donga up & live there till something else comes up for sale
 

texas pete

Member
Location
East Mids
Hmmm... the bosses market force thread got me doing the deep thought stuff... like if there's no money in farming why does one keep doing it and wanting the gov to finance the job... 2.... do big businesses get on forums as such or do they change their marketing strategy, or do they just say it's not working and close the doors ...

Hope things work out well for you @Farmer Roy

Farming is a way of life/hobby for many I think. The fact you can (sometimes) make a living out of it is often a bonus.

The Gov't has financed the job one way or another since the war I suppose...a lot of the sentiment expressed is still a hangover from that....Oh and people often don't like having things taken away from them that they have got used to having.

Big business's generally lobby governments, either as a collective or individually if they are large enough. It can be effective too, just look at the eat lancet mafia.

Our industry could do with a good collective lobby group, something that could really influence decision makers, maybe even get some positive news on the good ole BBC too. A union of farmers perhaps, a national one even.:unsure:
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Sadly, that's a continuing theme through all of the Boss's posts
Such a self entitled pr`ick, his arrogance is staggering . . .
he has his opinion on how AG should be supported which is up to him
I got a similar accusation thrown at me by some know it all in NZ, he got the wrong end of the stick but still carries on the same way
as I said on another thread let all those that don't take or use any government money or services or infrastructure start complaining
funny that I don't here anyone cos you all do
there are plenty of private households pickup far more subsidy than our farm does I will tell you that for nothing
 

Sharpy

Member
Livestock Farmer
I see the TFF collective are now all hoping for a heatwave . . .
Seems only a month ago they were all complaining about how hot & dry it was
A goldfish has a better memory than these Mensa hopefuls
I wasn't one of the whingers about that dry spell, but starting to get wet underfoot here, grass growth tailing off, cattle getting hay to try to fill them as wet grass is running through them. Its an ill divided world. However it is forecast dry next week so fingers crossed.
 

Pond digger

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
East Yorkshire
hi
selling that house was always part of a longer term plan - that's why we built it.
However, the reason / intent behind selling it has changed
I am unhappy about the reason for selling it & the fact that I am having to make these decisions, but it is good that it is sold, it is still working toward my survival plan & that I have accepted what needs to be done. It is neither good or bad. It is what it is . . .
Part of the original motivation to building a house in town rather than on the farm ( which was always a bit of a pipe dream & ultimately doomed to fantasy ) was to separate assets, not to have all the eggs in one basket & to provide a bit of security if it all turned pear shape & we lost the farm.
Bear in mind, this isn't a rash knee jerk reaction to a short term cashflow situation - we built the house 5 years ago, bought the land for it a year earlier etc etc
The theory was, even if we lost the farm, at least we would still have a family home. This house was never meant to be the "forever" home, which is why we built a fairly generic house that would appeal to most, rather than anything too personalised or polarising.
Nothing is ever guaranteed, we are all only really a hiccup away from homelessness or poverty. Always good to have a Plan B ( or even C, D, etc ) or an escape route for everything in life.
Anyway, it has become clear that although living in town is hugely convenient for school, my wife's work, sporting & social activities etc etc - it is not where we ultimately want to end up.
So - we are looking at buying a small farm about 25km away, about 10km the other side of Curlewis, from where my farm is located. This small farm is worth less than the house we sold, so we are effectively moving our home loan sideways & not increasing our borrowings. It is a grazing block, so there is potential for income from it, compared to a home in town.
There is no house, but a fairly new shed with one end closed off for living accommodation. Will be a bit of a shock going from a 5 bedroom / 2 bathroom / 3 toilet house to a shed corner . . .
From that point, there are two scenarios
1) within a year or 2 seasons turn around, we still have the main farm & we will build a modest, small house on the "hobby farm", while also increasing its value
2) comes to the end of the year / next year & we make the decision that we cannot keep digging a bigger hole & borrowing more money with no sign of income, then we sell the main farm, clear our debts, build a small, modest house on the "hobby farm" & revaluate our lives . . .

money, or material possessions, or other peoples perceptions, aren't that important to me. What IS important is a "connectedness" with land & country. I really don't want to sell / lose that connection with land. At times I think I would rather die out there by my own hand, than turn my back on it. . .
However, decisions need to be made & the harder or more unpalatable the decisions are, the more important it is to make them. That sorta comes back a bit to what @Kiwi Pete was saying elsewhere about having mentors & constantly questioning what we do. No point "hoping" things will improve . . . We need to take control. I believe that so much of the reason for rural depression / anxiety / mental health / drug & alcohol problems is because people feel they have lost control of their own destiny & feel powerless. So many posts on TFF reflect this. At least by making the unpalatable decisions, you are regaining control . . . If we don't have anyone to point this out to us, we need to have a good grasp on "self awareness"
I used to be a big fan of the HBO series "The Soprano's". The script writing & performances were so good, it just drew me in. Tony Soprano was an interesting, multi faceted character. Repulsive & charming at the same time. There is one line from all those years ago ( what is it 15 or 20 years now ? ) that has always stuck with me, more so than any bible passage or motivational quote. I cant remember the exact situation - another gang was trying to take over their turf, or they had to kill someone ? Anyway, the boys couldn't agree on the best course of action or what was best to do, until Tony said "any decision is better than indecision. We need to take control". or, was it "the wrong decision is still better than no decision" . . . ? something like that anyway :)
I know myself, at times I can be virtually paralysed with indecision & stress & anxiety, because I don't know what to do & am unwilling to consider the "difficult" option. The funny thing is, once you make that "difficult" decision, its amazing how that clears your mind & relieves a huge burden . . .

Sorry - getting all "Farmer Roy" on you & side tracking a bit

Farm wise - well, I do have a portion of my cool season cropping area planted, on the only fields that had any subsoil moisture under them. Chickpeas & barley. Still a long way from harvest yet, should manage to harvest something but yield prospects are not great.
Our whole farming system revolves around zero till, retaining as much groundcover as possible & conserving as much soil moisture as possible. Our crops rely on stored sub soil moisture as much / more than they do on in crop rainfall. We have very deep soils with very high moisture holding ability. Rule of thumb is, we don't plant a crop unless we have a metre of soil moisture ( due to our harsh & unpredictable climate. Just another facet of Risk Management, an attitude that is part of every operation & decision we make ) - the trouble is, once our soils are dry ( I don't mean dry on top. I mean DRY right through the profile, with cracks that are metres deep & a surface that is turning to powder & losing its structure ) they take a LOT of water to wet them up. That is why floods can be so beneficial to us, afterall, we are on an alluvial floodplain & the whole environment has adapted to that cycle of floods and drought. So have our farming systems ( hence the zero till, ground cover & moisture conservation ) to an extent. The trouble is we have never faced one like this before, the extremes are getting more extreme & the climate is generally getting hotter & drier.
I mentioned groundcover. Crucial. Our soils consume groundcover fairly quickly, which is great when you are regularly growing crops & leaving residue. However, with no crops growing ( or even "weeds". At the moment Id be happy for any vegetation ), high temps, strong winds & a brittle environment, it is very difficult to maintain ground cover as eventually it is consumed or just oxidises away . . .
Back to topic.
We have 2 cropping seasons a year, so next planting opportunity would be warm season crops ( dry land cotton, grain sorghum, sunflowers, mung beans ) from say October to December. ( in the past, that has always worked for us, by splitting the main incomes & expenses throughout the year, but also from a production risk perspective. If we lose or miss out on one crop, the next potential chance is 6 months away, not 12, like it is for most cropping areas south of here who only get 1 season a year ).
However - as stated we have no profile of soil moisture. You certainly wouldn't "dry sow" any summer crops here. We would need at least 200mm before youd even consider putting a seed in the ground. We NEED that soil moisture. Next few months forecast to be dryer / hotter than average with little chance of rain. Many people have already written off our summer cropping season & are already looking towards next winter instead ( May - July 2020 ) . . .
If we cant stay in the game long enough without increasing our borrowings - then the farm is for sale. Simple as that.
I will retreat to the "hobby farm" ( assuming we buy it, that is - nothing signed yet ), lick my wounds, & potentially do what I did this year - work away from home for 4 months to earn as much money as 12 months here in a low paid labouring job . . .
My wife has a job & we aim to be much more self sufficient & modest in our living
How do you measure your “metre of soil moisture”?
 

Cowcorn

Member
Mixed Farmer
PS - thanks
Man you could set up a consultancy business dishing out good old fasioned " tough love " to the bewildered and dazed folk who think the world owes them a living . Since i first encountered your thread you have given me food for thought and made me question what im at . My auld fella farmed hard through the fourties fifties long before subs and when direct aid came in he said real farmers would rue the day that evenelopes replaced market returns . He had a saying ^ the truth is an ugly colour " and like most of his wisdom its correct .
PS h
He was a blunt but not uncharitable man and he would have LOVED you a fellow traveller of the hard road .
 

I have not met any of them, but regually drive past “Cows sh!t Me To Tears” place as I am currently having my 1961 Falcon ute being fixed up in Berrigan and I drive past his place to get there.

I’m hoping to do a trip up through northern NSW to Qld in the next couple of months and will see if I can drop in at Roy’s on the way past.

We had our local farmers agronomy advice group meet today at my place and we evaluated a couple of my crops. The wheat we looked has a potential of 4.5 t/ha and still has a little moisture, but not much. That paddock is my best wheat this year and is still has a long way to go.
The Barley crop was thicker with 700 stems/m2 and a lot of potential, but we could not even auger into the ground to look for moisture as it’s to dry. It has no moisture and everybody was suprised it still looks good, so the main decision is when we put the sheep in.
There is no rain on the forecast for here in the next two weeks and the weather is starting to warm up. One warm windy day and most crops will start dieing. We again have 0% water allocation so there is not much we can do. I think we will be putting sheep on most crops and having a quiet spring.
 

CornishTone

Member
BASIS
Location
Cornwall
I have not met any of them, but regually drive past “Cows sh!t Me To Tears” place as I am currently having my 1961 Falcon ute being fixed up in Berrigan and I drive past his place to get there.

I’m hoping to do a trip up through northern NSW to Qld in the next couple of months and will see if I can drop in at Roy’s on the way past.

We had our local farmers agronomy advice group meet today at my place and we evaluated a couple of my crops. The wheat we looked has a potential of 4.5 t/ha and still has a little moisture, but not much. That paddock is my best wheat this year and is still has a long way to go.
The Barley crop was thicker with 700 stems/m2 and a lot of potential, but we could not even auger into the ground to look for moisture as it’s to dry. It has no moisture and everybody was suprised it still looks good, so the main decision is when we put the sheep in.
There is no rain on the forecast for here in the next two weeks and the weather is starting to warm up. One warm windy day and most crops will start dieing. We again have 0% water allocation so there is not much we can do. I think we will be putting sheep on most crops and having a quiet spring.
That was a like that wasn't a like!

Heard from my lot in SA last week. They had a good dose of 50-60mm a few days before but are still a way down from where they need to be. It's going to be another tight year in a few places there.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Farming is a way of life/hobby for many I think. The fact you can (sometimes) make a living out of it is often a bonus.

The Gov't has financed the job one way or another since the war I suppose...a lot of the sentiment expressed is still a hangover from that....Oh and people often don't like having things taken away from them that they have got used to having.

Big business's generally lobby governments, either as a collective or individually if they are large enough. It can be effective too, just look at the eat lancet mafia.

Our industry could do with a good collective lobby group, something that could really influence decision makers, maybe even get some positive news on the good ole BBC too. A union of farmers perhaps, a national one even.:unsure:
There was actually good money in farming in the early to mid 1970's (just before the main EU schemes came in).
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
There was actually good money in farming in the early to mid 1970's (just before the main EU schemes came in).
Just saw this.
OneShot_20190820_192923.png
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
well that's progress isn't it ?
running so much faster to stand still
This is the problem.

A story from me today.

Today my father had a phone call from a local ‘retired’ farmer in his 90’s who has 19 ewes and their lambs.

He had been let down by his shearer guy to the point he had to try something else.So this is where I get volunteered.We had a bunch of sheep in the pen however straight after lunch we went the 3 miles to where his sheep are with mobile pen,generator,shearing machine and stuff.

This guys grandson who is my age was also helping however his brain has been pickled by drugs and he has seizures/fits occasionally.

So first of all we do the running like idiots thing around the paddock to try and get the flaming things in,eventually they are in the pen.So I spend the next hour or so shearing them.Everything went well however after having to hear the repeated stories from my father and the other guy finally we get to pack up and go.

You might be thinking what’s the point,where’s this going?

The point is I spent basically shearing someone else’s sheep which took the best part of half a day which I have not got,the reward for this was £40.

I know guys who 10 years ago would not get out of bed for less than £100 per day and this didn’t include an extra pensioner,spare children to run and £30k of kit.

But the fact is commercially £40 is way too much to shear 19 sheep but it seems this afternoon I made a loss.

However this guy is one of the generation who farmed through WW2 to provide food,he is a proper village elder and if you cannot spare an hour or two to help someone who has given so much then you basically are a sh1t.

Ends. (Still won’t get back that half a day of my life though.)
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.3%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,287
  • 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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