Is there any future in suckler cows ?

[Hilly]

clearance of the borders?

Loss of lots of farm workers and farmers, paid off or sold up.When i was kid their were loads of kids up this valley full school bus, only 3 left farming all others have went to construction forestry engineering etc etc etc most of their parents either left or retired or paid off not to be replaced the hills are probably more devoid of people than any time in history.

 

[Henarar]

Sold sixteen 13-17 month old bulling heifers at mart back in May. 4 lots away to 4 different buyers to average £1420.

strong money

 

[gatepost]

Breeding ewes?

NC Chev ewe lambs

 

[hally]

Loss of lots of farm workers and farmers, paid off or sold up.When i was kid their were loads of kids up this valley full school bus, only 3 left farming all others have went to construction forestry engineering etc etc etc most of their parents either left or retired or paid off not to be replaced the hills are probably more devoid of people than any time in history.

What’s really p**sing me off at the moment is the number of farmers around here not hardly farming but just banking every payment they can and probably making more money than the ones farming fully. However can you blame the individuals or the system?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

What’s really p**sing me off at the moment is the number of farmers around here not hardly farming but just banking every payment they can and probably making more money than the ones farming fully. However can you blame the individuals or the system?

Don’t hate the player...hate the game

 

[livestock 1]

What’s really p**sing me off at the moment is the number of farmers around here not hardly farming but just banking every payment they can and probably making more money than the ones farming fully. However can you blame the individuals or the system?

I’ve said this for years. I still believe though that if you just sit back and do very little you actually have no business there apart from bps

 

[Archie]

strong money

Maybe.
More just saying that in 6 months we seem to have gone from a position of plentiful buyers at the mart wanting to buy future cows to them saying they’ll struggle to find any so put them in the store ring and you might get 190p for them.
Confidence gone right out the job.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Maybe.
More just saying that in 6 months we seem to have gone from a position of plentiful buyers at the mart wanting to buy future cows to them saying they’ll struggle to find any so put them in the store ring and you might get 190p for them.
Confidence gone right out the job.

6 months ago was April, and the start of a new grazing season....you’re selling now in October when demand is always lower and no ones got the grub they normally have
You can’t say it’s lack of confidence, it’s been a perfect storm

 

[CharcoalWally]

6 months ago was April, and the start of a new grazing season....you’re selling now in October when demand is always lower and no ones got the grub they normally have
You can’t say it’s lack of confidence, it’s been a perfect storm

Agree.

Plus, when every beef farmer was instructed to calve in the Spring by all the educated types , or be thought a complete idiot for doing otherwise, we then created an unbalanced market where almost nobody looked for bulling heifers in the back end, just the Spring.

Bulling heifers as a result have been cheap in the Autumn ever since .

 

[CharcoalWally]

What’s really p**sing me off at the moment is the number of farmers around here not hardly farming but just banking every payment they can and probably making more money than the ones farming fully. However can you blame the individuals or the system?

Some would call that a good business head.

 

[tinsheet]

whats your rainfall annually, im over 1000mm here cold wet climate this time of year a bit of creep stops the calfs stalling which they definately would

Hi @Bossfarmer I'll try to answer your questions as best I can,
Annual rainfall here on Exmoor is anywhere from 800mms to 2000mm, so it can be very wet, and also exposed here!
Certainly a lot of the suckler boys here creep, but they would sell out in the Autumn calf sales, and you can see the difference between creep and no creep!

Arable silage, I'm averaging about 12 bales to the acre (6ft quadrant, heavy) then get another cut of clover silage(10 bales an acre ish) in September provided my lambs don't get there first!

As for costings I'm not getting into that discussion just ends I arguments on here and this place keeps my blood pressure down most of the time
What I will say just look in any seed brochure and they will have a seed price, lime ploughing working down ground etc you will already know.
Not cheap in the first year but if you look after the leys the can do 4 yrs +.

 

[hally]

Some would call that a good business head.

You could be right but is this a good use of public money?
It wouldn’t need much of a journalist to explore the craziness of this support system. I would have thought bps is easier defended if food production was a major factor in its payment.

 

[CharcoalWally]

You could be right but is this a good use of public money?
It wouldn’t need much of a journalist to explore the craziness of this support system. I would have thought bps is easier defended if food production was a major factor in its payment.

You must be younger than I am because I've seen the support system investigated umpteen times over the years by scores of journalists.

On telly, papers , magazines , documentaries, and nowadays on the 'net. The media have been obsessed by it in the past .

In times of peace and plenty, I'm not sure that food production means a flying monkeys to the average urban voter.

 

[hally]

People always say that but if subsidies are so unpopular amongst the general public why have they not been totally phased out before now?

Surely the Europeans have not got a massively different attitude to ag support to the UK, and if so why?

Perhaps their politicians are better at conveying the positive aspects of support than ours.

 

[livestock 1]

Some would call that a good business head.

Yes you could be right. But if you suddenly stop calving cows, stop lambing ewes, stop shearing sheep would you ever actually get back into it?? Doubtful

 

[Hilly]

Some would call that a good business head.

Poor imo, change in sub system they left high n dry.

 

[Hilly]

People always say that but if subsidies are so unpopular amongst the general public why have they not been totally phased out before now?

Surely the Europeans have not got a massively different attitude to ag support to the UK, and if so why?

Perhaps their politicians are better at conveying the positive aspects of support than ours.

Expensive food means government of the day voted out, if not civil unrest, sub are a control mechanism.

 

[M-J-G]

Poor imo, change in sub system they left high n dry.

They just change, like everyone would.

 

[Hilly]

They just change, like everyone would.

Easier said than done.

 

[CharcoalWally]

Poor imo, change in sub system they left high n dry.

They won't worry, they're not stupid enough to get too emotionally attached to anything. They're cool headed and detached.

They're businesspeople, not farmers .