Is anyone in beef and sheep willing to invest money?

mark perego

Member
Location
in a river
We’ve just put in an order for a new tractor. Changing brand to the nearest dealer (Deutz) as I am, after many years, fed up with JD and certainly our nearest (JD) dealer.
Had just bought a new rake, bedder and mill.
Being pure bred limousines, it’s easy to lower and raise herd size, which we seem to do regularly.

Avoiding tax is and simplifying life are the leading drivers here :unsure:
you're lucky though, farming in France. you still have the EU looking after you, where we have probably scored the biggest own goal in history.?
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
you're lucky though, farming in France. you still have the EU looking after you, where we have probably scored the biggest own goal in history.?
cap is going to change, it has to, its an enormous drain on the EU coffers, made considerably worse, by the departure of the worlds 5th largest economy, the vote here, was more about people fed up with Brussels, as is a common trend throughout Europe, unless Brussels can demonstrate that they are not a bunch of crooks, lining their pockets, and start actually listening to people, other countries might start to think about leaving ! The worlds 3rd largest economy is Germany, and their economy is rather shaky, so, they have lost the 2nd largest contributor to the EU, can Germany afford to pick up the drop, will it want to ? While the commission is saying it will take years to sort out a trade deal, politicians, are beginning to realise the enormity of what Brexit means to them, and the comments from them, are somewhat different, right down to a recent comment, that it is sad we have left, and we must work hard, and to keep us close, in the hope, that we may wish to rejoin, and to be welcomed back. Trade deals will be influenced by elected politicians, not Brussels commission. If the EU starts to fall apart, and it is remarkable how they spoke as one, during the Brexit break, which the commission, really didn't get it right, we may, may be glad we came out ! Only time will tell.
 

z.man

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
central scotland
I built a cattle shed in 2008 I think , the first year that wheat went to £200 if I remember correctly, thought to myself what am I doing should have made this a grain shed and done away with all the cattle, anyway managed to finish the building early November and filled it with store cattle (50) not a huge shed......well did the beef not take off the next spring to such an extent that that one filling of the shed near as dam paid it !
I am not suggesting this is about to happen again but who thought cast ewe’s were going to be trading where they are just now sometimes you just need to take a (slight)chance
 

jackstor

Member
Location
Carlisle
I can’t remember anyone saying they regretted putting up a shed, they only regretted not putting it up earlier or making it bigger!
We covered our sheep handling pens and bought a scotsqueeze last year. Covering the pens mean we can do sheep on wet days if need be rather than waiting for a dry day, while the scotsqueeze will have halved the time it takes to sort and weigh lambs and working with ewes is no longer a battle, getting knees banged and feet stood on!!
Both these ‘investments’ we could’ve managed without, but they have freed up time and might prevent a couple of knee/hip replacements in years to come!!
No one knows what the future holds, lambs might be £50 for the next 10 years or they could be £120.
 

sheepwise

Member
Location
SW Scotland
I have just invested in 3 new sheds. Reshaping yards and a new access road into the farm. Will take me 15 years to pay off. I was told by my brother in law (in 2017)who is an ag consultant to wait until after brexit is done with to see if it’s wise but being young and stupid I ploughed on regardless with the investment starting back in 2018. Things are tight right now, there will be no new machinery this year, We have been doing a fair bit of fencing and I hope to continue that to some extent and put a decent bit of drain in a particularly wet field. With regards the buildings side of things, I justified it to myself as if I tried to save for 15 years to pay for it all Or do it bit at a time I’d only be starting to get the benefit off it in my 50s. Happy to have them up and the place on it’s way to being tidy. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that I get a good year or 3 to help pay off some of the dept or update some kit that’s going to be creeping older than I’d like. It would also help massively if subsidy is maintained at current levels.
Building a shed is like buying land, it's a thought at the time but you never regret it.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
So this is the question.

Up until a few years ago a few grand on a shed or a sheep pen or even some shiny new equipment to make the jobs easier would be tempting to improve efficiency or at least a bit of expansion to help turnover.However I’m feeling more and more that I can’t see the reasoning in spending a chunk of money at all on anything big to maybe improve farm capacity/output.

The food industry in general only seem to want the cheapest food and will source it from anywhere even if it is a factory producing fungal slime.

In fact the only way forward I’m seeing is reducing investment and reducing costs and importantly also reducing output.

Apart from the dairy industry which seems to be doing quite well what are other people’s thoughts?
sh!t, yes, always quietly investing - just not investing in liabilities to increase output
 
We’ve just put in an order for a new tractor. Changing brand to the nearest dealer (Deutz) as I am, after many years, fed up with JD and certainly our nearest (JD) dealer.
Had just bought a new rake, bedder and mill.
Being pure bred limousines, it’s easy to lower and raise herd size, which we seem to do regularly.

Avoiding tax is and simplifying life are the leading drivers here :unsure:
What Deutz did you buy, I find my one super reliable.
 

czechmate

Member
Mixed Farmer
What Deutz did you buy, I find my one super reliable.


140 TTV
I can’t find the brochures now! There was a choice of two ranges for this size. The biggest of the smaller or smallest of the bigger. This is biggest of the smaller.
I hope you are correct, I must admit I found it quite horrible after many years with vario JD’s but we’ve definitely hit the end of the road with them.
 
We have had the EU looking after us for the last 40 years!! I had not noticed UK agriculture was in particularly good shape. Time for fresh thinking .we will be better off in the long term
Be honest here, where do you think uk ag would be today had it not been for the eu the last 40 years, do you think we would all still be farming away competing with a highly subsidised eu and world market plus supermarket price pressure????
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Be honest here, where do you think uk ag would be today had it not been for the eu the last 40 years, do you think we would all still be farming away competing with a highly subsidised eu and world market plus supermarket price pressure????

It would be a leaner more profitable industry. CAP has kept people on the land, perpetuating poverty in some areas. Many farmers who are now 40+ would have been much better off leaving and doing something else.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Screenshot_20200123-004018.jpg
 

D.S.S18

Member
I try and invest a little bit every year - bit of handling / feeding equipment, lambing hurdles etc so when times are good you can hopefully push on and make the most of it.
'new to me' tractor 2 years ago - bought a couple of other bits of machinery as time went on, looking at a quad for this season.
an old farmer near me is lucky to own his farm, but every year he works out the 'rentable income' he would have to pay to farm it and spends it on fencing, gates, roof repairs etc he has smart going on and it's minimal investment every year imo
 

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