- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
It's very much "like nature" because it is in our nature. That's where the strength and resilience comes from thoughDiversity applies to investments also!
It's very much "like nature" because it is in our nature. That's where the strength and resilience comes from thoughDiversity applies to investments also!
Take the moneyI don't think this guy is going to grow much more per kg of feed down his throat.View attachment 919476View attachment 919477 What do you guys think? Cash in or keep on?
For interest, the smallest calves in the mob are paying $2/day.. is this guy paying us $3/day?
I'm leaning that way... the thing is he will be a good steer at any time, but I could use his shadow and park 2 calves in his place....Take the money
Unless he is going to appreciate in price by a dollar a day then he is losing you that much if you can put 2 calves in his place at $2 each. And you will gain more weight on the 2 calves, 8 hooves instead of 4 for more animal impact, probably more weight as well?I'm leaning that way... the thing is he will be a good steer at any time, but I could use his shadow and park 2 calves in his place....
Doesn't always work out though. Timing and luck I've found are the best keys to success (neither of which I seem to have had success with). The compounding and passive approach for me has left me with a pension pot and endowment policies waayyy below anticipated return. Even a house purchase in the 90's left me with just a nominal surplus after some 14 yrs.
The best returns I've found are simply to pay down the borrowing on the farm business and to grow what we are in control of.
£140,000 | 23 Apr 2020 | Freehold |
£128,000 | 5 Feb 2016 | Freehold |
£108,000 | 23 Feb 2007 | Freehold |
£89,950 | 26 Jun 2003 | Freehold |
£50,000 | 18 Jul 2001 | Freehold |
Work out the capital gain per year, kinda the same thing as the arithmetic on Spot the steer - where's that sweet spot?You're dead right with your last sentence and having been "up against it" in the past I do think that has affected my attitude to risk...and debt. I've had too much debt and now I have none...and I know which I prefer.
I like owning a little none ag stuff too and it literally sits there in an account without dying, or escaping, or getting lame. Just had a quick workout and I still have over 90% of what we own tied up in either ag, or the house we live in, so I don't feel too Gordon Gecko.
The figures below are from Rightmove, of a house I bought in 2001 and sold in 2003. It's not all bad and as you say, timing, is, everything. I'm not claiming I was clever with my timing, it's just interesting to look back.
£140,000 23 Apr 2020 Freehold £128,000 5 Feb 2016 Freehold £108,000 23 Feb 2007 Freehold £89,950 26 Jun 2003 Freehold £50,000 18 Jul 2001 Freehold
If I could find a smaller grazing animal I would be all for it but browsing animals tend to dehydrate the landscape, grazers keep it down but not right downLots of little ones is the answer these days apparently, ever thought of rabbits
Work out the capital gain per year, kinda the same thing as the arithmetic on Spot the steer - where's that sweet spot?
You can do that with rabbits all you need is a big grazing ark, nothing converts pasture to meat like them apparently, and no need to worry where you are going to get more from as the breed like rabbits.If I could find a smaller grazing animal I would be all for it but browsing animals tend to dehydrate the landscape, grazers keep it down but not right down
Although I am guilty of leaving a bit much behind and grazing too fast as a result, this year we want to transition into higher impact grazing to force the recovery time out - for more humus production.
If I did that for a starter then I would have a lower quality grass sward than by easing into it over a year; no point having a heap of rubbish just for the sake of skipping steps, this will be our thistle year as the biome gets a shock
It's unbelievably difficult to do it here. Don't you worry I have looked at it! Good demand but it is mostly to the north, processing likewise is in the north so it would mean setting up a proper plant and all the rest.You can do that with rabbits all you need is a big grazing ark, nothing converts pasture to meat like them apparently, and no need to worry where you are going to get more from as the breed like rabbits.
Rabbits its the future, you wait and see
My dad started farming with rabbits
Dad had a dog that would chase rabbits down down the light till he couldn't walk and he had to push him home on the bike along with the rabbits and the battery, all to earn a few quid to buy a bit of land and some pigs and we say we have it hard, not a fecking clue, I have seen some photos of how they lived back then and heard about it, life of bloody riley nowIt's unbelievably difficult to do it here. Don't you worry I have looked at it! Good demand but it is mostly to the north, processing likewise is in the north so it would mean setting up a proper plant and all the rest.
Plus the regulators are really ansty about the calicivirus and possibly infected animals entering the food chain... blah blah, but the virus' vaccine isn't very effective because how fast the RCV shifts and mutates itself around immune animals.
Bloody good meat though, laddie and I went out tonight and I shot two heads so it's rabbit tomorrow night
4 ply swipe?Yeah . My heart pumps custard for these poor broke buggers in their aircon cabs and stereo FM and all.
"Hard work" coz the autosteer can't find a fecking satellite
hard coz no bugger will pick the fruit or dig the veg and chuck it on a trailer
all this progress is a source of wonderment, the next Depression will sort a fair few out and they don't know it's coming
That's why we must know how to grow good grub the easy way as a fuel crisis will soon mean a sudden lack of snickers bars and 4 ply swipe, be a bugger if we sprayed all the docks
Bog roll?4 ply swipe?
Yep should have figured thatBog roll?
two things, anyone to teach me how to use the f/ing technology, second, the next depression, agree, it's on it's way, the only change to previous ones, is there are more people to feed. All guvs want cheap food, even more so, when times are tight, brexit will both open, and close doors, for food imports. So, even if the guv needs farmers to produce more food, they will not want price to increase. Therefore, i expect more grants, for technology, calls for greater efficiency etc, which, in my opinion, leaves us, running faster, to stay in the same place, but pumping out more foodstuffs, at the same price. Here, looking at debt reduction, as fast as we can, the less we have to fork out, the lesser the pressure.Yeah . My heart pumps custard for these poor broke buggers in their aircon cabs and stereo FM and all.
"Hard work" coz the autosteer can't find a fecking satellite
hard coz no bugger will pick the fruit or dig the veg and chuck it on a trailer
all this progress is a source of wonderment, the next Depression will sort a fair few out and they don't know it's coming
That's why we must know how to grow good grub the easy way as a fuel crisis will soon mean a sudden lack of snickers bars and 4 ply swipe, be a bugger if we sprayed all the docks