getting out of sheep

The trouble with you is that you are anti UK livestock farming as they come which is very strange given you job is in the farming industry!

What the hell are you on about? Seriously now. You are a complete mystery to me I am afraid.

I am not 'anti-livestock farming' whatsoever. What gave you that impression?

I am against the idea that people should be able to farm as a lifestyle, or doddle along without absolutely any physical or business acumen and expect the UK tax payer to shore up their activities, or that there is some kind of God given right to farm, or that government trade or economic policy should revolve around a collection of sheep farmers who want protectionist measures put in place because they are unable to compete on the world market.

Are you for real? You must realise that there are some serious players in many sectors of the industry who are very good at what they do, and that they have worked hard to get there. This thus presents something of a problem for those who believe they should be able to do whatever it is they do and just make a handsome profit automatically each year regardless?
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
what part of the country are you in? this will make a big difference
North wales. Plenty of rain and wet fields but fancy having a go leave them out and move them before they lake a mess and keep moving them somwere else. Feed hay or silage on the ground. Straw is bloody expensive and i think my 25ish sucklers would save me a lot if they were out. If i cant do it i can always bring them in anyway. Nothing to lose by trying and maybe a lot to save.
 
Vv

I think he would struggle with that concept or thought

I have discussions like this from time to time.

Farmer has X acres of the roughest old pasture you can imagine, thistles as tall as me.

Me: 'that land there, fekked innit? You don't want to me putting expensive fertiliser on that'

Farmer: 'yeah it's tired but [add random excuse for not reseeding]'

Me: 'OK, so it's knackered. I know what you can do. Let farmer Y grow wheat on there, you take the straw as payment, he grows the crop and harvests it. He will have to plough, have to control all those weeds (very easy in wheat with modern chemistry) and sort the combining himself. All you have to do is arrange a baler and collect the bales up. Afterwards, you will have a clean stubble and can scratch some seed in, easy'

Farmer: 'oh oh oh oh [insert random lame excuse here]'


It's only pride getting in the way.
 

digger64

Member
I have discussions like this from time to time.

Farmer has X acres of the roughest old pasture you can imagine, thistles as tall as me.

Me: 'that land there, fekked innit? You don't want to me putting expensive fertiliser on that'

Farmer: 'yeah it's tired but [add random excuse for not reseeding]'

Me: 'OK, so it's knackered. I know what you can do. Let farmer Y grow wheat on there, you take the straw as payment, he grows the crop and harvests it. He will have to plough, have to control all those weeds (very easy in wheat with modern chemistry) and sort the combining himself. All you have to do is arrange a baler and collect the bales up. Afterwards, you will have a clean stubble and can scratch some seed in, easy'

Farmer: 'oh oh oh oh [insert random lame excuse here]'


It's only pride getting in the way.
I had several of those chats to , wont spray thistles on own land enter hls then hire grass elsewhere then moan about the rent and having to buy forage ,
 
I had several of those chats to , wont spray thistles on own land enter hls then hire grass elsewhere then moan about the rent and having to buy forage ,

Classic! Can't afford to sort out their own dirt, weeds and carp growing everywhere, phosphate and lime through the floor, so goes and pays £130/acre per year for land up the road!!

The reverse is also true: owns lots of land, can't be assed or won't pay to improve any of it, has to farm the entire lot whereas matey down the road is growing more stuff/keeping more beasts on half the area.
 

digger64

Member
Classic! Can't afford to sort out their own dirt, weeds and carp growing everywhere, phosphate and lime through the floor, so goes and pays £130/acre per year for land up the road!!

The reverse is also true: owns lots of land, can't be assed or won't pay to improve any of it, has to farm the entire lot whereas matey down the road is growing more stuff/keeping more beasts on half the area.
See alot of the 2nd one , dairy farm next door put arable into rape as £350 ton then screwed up everybody for miles around trying to hijack their regular straw deals straw has cost more ever since
 

Doc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hi @Bossfarmer. I'm not Wanting to offend you, nor come across as any particular guru/know all.
You read as a real 'glass half empty' farmer who focuses on problems rather than solutions, clinging to traditional practice and particularly subs as a crutch to your operation and think no one else understands 'your situation'.
So many industries have undergone very radical changes with instant communication and the digital era in the last decade. Way more challenging and radical than what farming has faced. Those who adapt and are prepared to accept the changes, move on and look forward, survive and even thrive. Shed your prejudice/negativity and open your ears, eyes and thoughts to novel ideas, science and practices, be positive and embrace the advice and experiences of others.
Not all ideas may not suit your operation or particular aspects of it, but everyday is a school day and you never know- cherry pick but take risks too. Good advisors, not only save but also earn you money. The best advisors also recognise their limitations and direct you to others to integrate/augment their advice.
Tiresome but true cliche: if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got- minus £70/ac.
I'd enjoy the challenge of you as a client in my sphere,but you are too far away.
 
Hi @Bossfarmer. I'm not Wanting to offend you, nor come across as any particular guru/know all.
You read as a real 'glass half empty' farmer who focuses on problems rather than solutions, clinging to traditional practice and particularly subs as a crutch to your operation and think no one else understands 'your situation'.
So many industries have undergone very radical changes with instant communication and the digital era in the last decade. Way more challenging and radical than what farming has faced. Those who adapt and are prepared to accept the changes, move on and look forward, survive and even thrive. Shed your prejudice/negativity and open your ears, eyes and thoughts to novel ideas, science and practices, be positive and embrace the advice and experiences of others.
Not all ideas may not suit your operation or particular aspects of it, but everyday is a school day and you never know- cherry pick but take risks too. Good advisors, not only save but also earn you money. The best advisors also recognise their limitations and direct you to others to integrate/augment their advice.
Tiresome but true cliche: if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got- minus £70/ac.
I'd enjoy the challenge of you as a client in my sphere,but you are too far away.
I am always looking at new ways of doing things so your comment is not strictly true, i am not a glass half empty person i am positive but i am a realist i understand there is a limited amount of things you can do with land in scotland to turn a profit and limited guaranteed markets to sell the produce, thousands have tried different things up here and many different ways of growing crops/raising livestock but it doesnt work, if it did we would all be doing it, niche enterprises can work in the right location but are rarely sustainable or will last a generation
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
I have discussions like this from time to time.

Farmer has X acres of the roughest old pasture you can imagine, thistles as tall as me.

Me: 'that land there, fekked innit? You don't want to me putting expensive fertiliser on that'

Farmer: 'yeah it's tired but [add random excuse for not reseeding]'

Me: 'OK, so it's knackered. I know what you can do. Let farmer Y grow wheat on there, you take the straw as payment, he grows the crop and harvests it. He will have to plough, have to control all those weeds (very easy in wheat with modern chemistry) and sort the combining himself. All you have to do is arrange a baler and collect the bales up. Afterwards, you will have a clean stubble and can scratch some seed in, easy'

Farmer: 'oh oh oh oh [insert random lame excuse here]'


It's only pride getting in the way.
I cannot like this comment enough.
It's just another variation on the same game you catch a lot of people playing
(not just farmers)
I call it the "oh, yes, but" game.

My wife's friends will ring her for a moan and play the game for an hour if she lets them.
It is a game that has no end, because when one player tires of providing solutions that are rejected, the person will ring someone else and moan to them, and it continues.
It is usually symptomatic of an acute courage deficiency.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
AKA Spina Diffida
:ROFLMAO:
I'm not saying that people who gripe are just wimpy
But it takes a real leap of faith to change a set of habits that have worked well enough in the past. Most all of us are addicts of the past but that's not really where we ate headed as food producers.
The real crux of the matter is that the quick-fix farming methods are really attractive to look at, so are assumed to be the only way to go, and farmers under pressure just end up intervening more and more until they hit the wall.

All that you actually need to grow a crop is something to plant it, something to pick it, and a space to do it. The rest are luxury items, and the future will likely reveal that as fact, as it has done here.
Fungicides pesticides herbicides are all part of a group that are occasionally necessary, but they seem to go in the annual budget as fixed costs- this indicates something is wrong with a system.
If a household had an annual £4000 budget for medicines and sticking plaster and doctor's visits, then you would hopefully have someone point out that you need to look at what's going on in your house.

Rolling field ruts down indicates that you got it wrong, it is not the weather's fault, you are not forced to drive heavy machinery on wet soils.

"Oh, but it's different over here":facepalm:
Except it isn't.
Farmers grow fantastic crops in the tundra of North America, frozen to great depth for much of the year, just not guava and bananas, and not with 20 ton machinery
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
But @Kiwi Pete NZ can grow wheat yield long 16.51t/acre or whatever it is...... only joking..

@hendrebc @exmoor dave i know people who outwinter a lot of cattle in woodland/forests. Also a big sheep farm east of snowdonia has a few thousand ewes in the forest and then feeds them each morning across the edge of the tree line

Woodland wintering sounds great! Bet the environmentalistas love that :LOL:
We've done it with cattle in the past
 

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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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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