- Location
- S. Staffs
I'd like to join in with those who would like a thread by @teslacoils about his past experiences in contract farming, and the transition back to 'our own farms' . There is always something to learn from others both good and bad.
It takes guts to make your sensible decision.Mental health.
I found running a business which had high working capital requirements, while at the same time the main factor in the success being the weather, to be quite a mental drain. Heavy land, a working window that had me working every hour I could physically be in the seat and awake.
My eldest son has a September 2nd birthday. He started secondary school this year and this is the first year I've been to his birthday.
Costs of keeping "in the game" with machinery etc were just getting silly. We'd figured the farms were in decent order, and have been taken on by another local outfit, and could do it with time so neither the new contractor nor customer were inconvenienced.
I'm 40 this Christmas, although to look at me you'd think I was closer to 50. It was never really planned to get as big as it got, and although I've enjoyed having the big gear and all that, it's time to try a different approach. I'm staying farming my bit, and in agriculture generally. But much lower intensity, and hopefully something a bit more manageable.
Anyway, nice to have ended it with some nice heaps of wheat.......even if I have most of it left to sell. Oops.
12,000 acres??There is a contractor that is contract farming 11,000 acres using the biggest kit available , but treating his staff like robots ,due to the hours they have to work. What is the ultimate goal of a person that runs that type of business??
There is a contractor that is contract farming 11,000 acres using the biggest kit available , but treating his staff like robots ,due to the hours they have to work. What is the ultimate goal of a person that runs that type of business??
12,000 acres??
One near here like that , and heard they just got another big chunk , would like to know what spray nozzles and how Averdex lands in some of the wind they go in , but saying that they do a tidy job , but never stopped , a wet year will test themThere is a contractor that is contract farming 11,000 acres using the biggest kit available , but treating his staff like robots ,due to the hours they have to work. What is the ultimate goal of a person that runs that type of business??
Please don't think I'm criticising you in any way.Maybe things we've heard or been taught are wrong? It's not a nice place to be when rents, hp, etc obligate you to plant to make a smaller loss, while at the same time you have to hope for worldwide misfortune to hope the crop you have to look at every day is ravaged by the weather.
Don't get me wrong, we've done some cool stuff:
Farmed 100 hectares.
Farmed 1000 acres.
Farmed 1000 hectares.
Owned some fancy kit.
Bought a farm at 25.
Sold s farm at 29.
Grown some crap crops.
Grown some 6t/AC wheat crops.
Sold wheat at £55/t and at £230/t
I think it's been more fun that farming the same land a distant relative bought for £3 an acre, or stubbornly carrying on just on the basis that stuff is "bought and paid for" and family labour is free on a distant profit.
It's allowed me to, albeit with a kind bank, to own my own ring fenced farm. And if I cashed it all in, I suppose id not have to work again.
But (tin hat on) it is just a job. Farm workers, managers, move on to different things. Fifteen years in one job is rare I think now.
There are changes coming to farming that are both inevitable and unavoidable. You'll hear the words "public goods" a lot. We will loose a whole heap of chem. We will have heavy restrictions on nitrogen, muck and slurry. A reducing direct subsidy, and potentially open to cheap imports. Any notion of a reduction in red tape you can forget now.
Thinking about generations, and remember the protective hat is still on, I'm going to say that the UK needs fewer farmers who have barely set foot of the home farm, and we should all strive to sit down at the end of the year and ask if it was worth it both financially and personally. And if you ever have family employed, pay them the proper wage and never ever have any of your children under any moral obligation to carry on.
Life
Liberty
And the persuit of happiness.
It looks like the guy on the Quaker Oats box.I think it's extremely brave to make a substantial change to your business, and wise to recognise that personal fulfilment is not just about the number at the bottom of a spreadsheet. We're all too focussed on being the most efficient to the detriment of our own personal sustainability.
Good luck for the future @teslacoils - I would also like to hear about how you move forwards from here. Who is the person on your most recent avatar?
View attachment 832330
It looks like the guy on the Quaker Oats box.
Please don't think I'm criticising you in any way.
I have great respect for your seeing things as they are, and choosing quality time with your family over trying to keep ahead in what is basically an unfulfilling dick measuring contest.
It looks like the guy on the Quaker Oats box.
It's George Fox, so almost. I did find an ace one of Jesus, but thought that might be a bit too far.
Not at all. It's always difficult to judge tone on the internet but I don't take any offence!
Now the willy waving is quite interesting. I must admit that the service received from dealers, merchants, etc is much better when you farm many acres. And as a contract farmer there is often an agent involved to do the shouting for you.
Family farms are going to bear the brunt of the hassle in future despite what consumers and government say. They will have to get used to the box ticking and form filling that larger farms are more disposed to.
I used to look at large farming outfits as cowboys, land rapists etc but as I went on you see that the big boys are expanding because they know how to sweat the assets but also the attention to detail is fantastic. And they will expand more. If your new tractor is seven percent dearer next year, you need it doing right percent more work.
And once you get to the size where you have someone to do the accounts, fix the stuff etc I imagine it gets a lot easier. For me I was managing the business, buying, selling, fixing, coming home, making lunches, cooking the weeks meals, doing the paperwork. But mainly it had stopped being fun. Harvest especially should afford at least a day where you can stop for an hour and have a picnic with your family. I think I've neglected certain aspects of life to build up a good business, and that see-saw has to be rebalanced now.
Best of luck with it!Maybe things we've heard or been taught are wrong? It's not a nice place to be when rents, hp, etc obligate you to plant to make a smaller loss, while at the same time you have to hope for worldwide misfortune to hope the crop you have to look at every day is ravaged by the weather.
Don't get me wrong, we've done some cool stuff:
Farmed 100 hectares.
Farmed 1000 acres.
Farmed 1000 hectares.
Owned some fancy kit.
Bought a farm at 25.
Sold s farm at 29.
Grown some crap crops.
Grown some 6t/AC wheat crops.
Sold wheat at £55/t and at £230/t
I think it's been more fun that farming the same land a distant relative bought for £3 an acre, or stubbornly carrying on just on the basis that stuff is "bought and paid for" and family labour is free on a distant profit.
It's allowed me to, albeit with a kind bank, to own my own ring fenced farm. And if I cashed it all in, I suppose id not have to work again.
But (tin hat on) it is just a job. Farm workers, managers, move on to different things. Fifteen years in one job is rare I think now.
There are changes coming to farming that are both inevitable and unavoidable. You'll hear the words "public goods" a lot. We will loose a whole heap of chem. We will have heavy restrictions on nitrogen, muck and slurry. A reducing direct subsidy, and potentially open to cheap imports. Any notion of a reduction in red tape you can forget now.
Thinking about generations, and remember the protective hat is still on, I'm going to say that the UK needs fewer farmers who have barely set foot of the home farm, and we should all strive to sit down at the end of the year and ask if it was worth it both financially and personally. And if you ever have family employed, pay them the proper wage and never ever have any of your children under any moral obligation to carry on.
Life
Liberty
And the persuit of happiness.