Life after BPS producing food from cattle and sheep.

[gone up the hill]

This is on the my to do list to find out.
I see mention that u can overseed/stich into permanent pasture. If it costs £200 a Ha and lasts 3-5 years your still winning big time.

I Need to find out if it's possible to introduce it into flood plain meadows.

Herbal leys seem to vary from ryegrass fields with a bit of clover chicory plantain, upto really complicated mixes with lots of flowers and not much grass. So not sure what they want.

Doesn't seem to include any restrictions on fertiliser or herbicides unlike the countryside stewardship herbal leys

The problem is that untill they make the SFI scheme live then we have no idea what options they will allow us to do on our farms!

As just because its in the handbook if a option is not on your farm plan they are making for each farm you cannot do that option anyway!



Apparently they had a meeting the other day where they sat down with a farmer and told him not to worry there is 60 options to choose from, he said that he can only do 2 out of the 60 on his farm that are workable.

 

[livestock 1]

Jesus Christ

 

[Tim W]

2000 ewes per labour unit
200 cows per labour unit

Only feed grazed forage (with a few bales for cow wintering on kale).

Only winter breeding sheep. All slaughter lambs off farm by end of Sep. Anything not finished then either sell store or put on tack. Add value by selling breeding stock/premium eating experience meat. (not totally sure I want the fück around of direct sales though).

Only winter slaughter cattle once.

Run a couple of vans and a couple of quad bikes. Keep money in metal to a minimum. Currently cattle have 1/2 a loader tractor with the arable.

Intensify the grazing to grow more grass. Maybe more mixed herbal leys?

Breed functional stock that don't need inputs, particularly labour. Sell anything which needs individual attention. Finish breed the wool off sheep and push litter size.

Possibly some trading sheep?

That's it in a nutshell. Got 4.5yrs left here, so will see what happens. If this doesn't work out we will exit the industry.

That's the important bit and probably the bit no one considers until they have lost lots of money and broken themselves mentally & physically
Why get forced into a situation ---step out of the industry on your terms if you can't see a way forward rather than have to jump at a later date?

 

[ford4000]

See my early comments about UK/NZ respective landmass and farmer numbers.

The number of small farms quoted there is surprising!!

 

[Hilly]

Im lashing my bps on concrete , be a grand shed for the indoor roup when i go bust .

 

[Hilly]

I shallsave the banks last 3k for free bar

 

[Henarar]

Jesus Christ

There is the praying option

 

[Hilly]

There is the praying option

I might take it up , reinforce the hope

 

[livestock 1]

Those figures are bad

 

[Hilly]

Those figures are bad

3k no enough for free bar like ?

 

[Pistonbroke]

The problem is that untill they make the SFI scheme live then we have no idea what options they will allow us to do on our farms!

As just because its in the handbook if a option is not on your farm plan they are making for each farm you cannot do that option anyway!



Apparently they had a meeting the other day where they sat down with a farmer and told him not to worry there is 60 options to choose from, he said that he can only do 2 out of the 60 on his farm that are workable.

We had a Wales farm assured inspection on Monday and he says they've been told the payments here are going to be linked with nitrogen and antibiotic use,lower the better but didn't know any details. Said he knows several suckler herds packing in because they can't afford or justify the muck storage that will be needed

 

[easyram1]

How much an acre is seed for herbal leys?

What is the best time of year to drill them?

£80 /acre. Spring or August We have done both.

 

[ringi]

It’s going to be very interesting to see how many folk vote with their feet and get out of livestock farming

So much of high input costs seem to be farmers wanting to keep enough livestock to make a full time job of it. Hence if many other livestock farmers release land, more people will be able to have low input systems.

Then put livestock on arable land as part of the rotation rather the transporting the feed from the arable land.

 

[AndrewM]

£80 /acre. Spring or August We have done both.

Payments £155 acre. If your reseeding on rotation every 5-10 years, it's not so much to add herbs and clover to the mix. Depending on exactly what they want

 

[livestock 1]

3k no enough for free bar like ?

Not if I appear

 

[Tim W]

So much of high input costs seem to be farmers wanting to keep enough livestock to make a full time job of it. Hence if many other livestock farmers release land, more people will be able to have low input systems.

Then put livestock on arable land as part of the rotation rather the transporting the feed from the arable land.

Don't be silly.... it'll never catch on

 

[gwi1890]

Prepared for it when I seriously entered the industry, landowner keeps all the bps on the home farm and the other patch of land I had took 5 years to build up to the full amount of payment as I was a new entrant without entitlements, I earned the full amount entitled for a year and then lost the land as the landlord wanted to have a go at farming . So I only earn BPS on the 18 acres I own. So the solution is keep cost to a bare minimum , work off the farm when you can, stop wasting diesel driving around fields doing pointless jobs with tractors. Or jack it in go to University get a degree and find a cushty job .

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

So much of high input costs seem to be farmers wanting to keep enough livestock to make a full time job of it. Hence if many other livestock farmers release land, more people will be able to have low input systems.

Then put livestock on arable land as part of the rotation rather the transporting the feed from the arable land.

I don’t think this is correct. It’s not to create a full time job it’s the need to pay rent and other overhead costs

 

[ringi]

I don’t think this is correct. It’s not to create a full time job it’s the need to pay rent and other overhead costs

The rent includes the farm house, some other overheads are also fixed.

 

[Treg]

Just read the SFI book, low input grassland and hedge row management will replace my Bps payments or I could go for herbal leys , there's a few other options that may add a bit more , depending on how much extra paperwork and hassle I want , on the whole fairly positive for a livestock farm.