Life after cows

[glow worm]

When your world has revolved around cows for many years, when you have reared all the calves and built a beautiful pedigree herd virtually from scratch, when everything is arranged around time and milking etc, when non farming interests are zilch, when friends are non existent because you lead such a solo life ...am I the only one who finds the prospect of life without cows both scarey and sad? How have others here handled it? Gradually. Keeping the youngstock and selling as calving in? Could be expensive with no milk cheque and nit every heifer

 

[steveR]

Know a chap well who has so many hobbies, I am amazed he ever had time to milk or show cows.

Definitely need alternative interests... quickly. Working in a Mart can be a good way to keep a hold with agriculture.

 

[glow worm]

Oh ****! Always hitting the wrong button. Not every heifer calves in ok. Or is a total break the best.. but then how do you cope with empty sheds and no background noises .. odd cough clanking gate etc .. or cow smell. Town life holds no attraction at all .. patience with anti farming holiday diversification is almost certainly not within me. A bit of loss making beef maybe? Not really into sheep and not fenced for them. Thoughts please from anyone who's gone through it .. and survived

 

[glow worm]

Know a chap well who has so many hobbies, I am amazed he ever had time to milk or show cows.

Definitely need alternative interests... quickly. Working in a Mart can be a good way to keep a hold with agriculture.

Agree about needing hobbies but the trouble is, you need time to have hobbies, which a dairy farm dosnt give you

 

[jerseycowsman]

When your world has revolved around cows for many years, when you have reared all the calves and built a beautiful pedigree herd virtually from scratch, when everything is arranged around time and milking etc, when non farming interests are zilch, when friends are non existent because you lead such a solo life ...am I the only one who finds the prospect of life without cows both scarey and sad? How have others here handled it? Gradually. Keeping the youngstock and selling as calving in? Could be expensive with no milk cheque and nit every heifer

When your world has revolved around cows for many years, when you have reared all the calves and built a beautiful pedigree herd virtually from scratch, when everything is arranged around time and milking etc, when non farming interests are zilch, when friends are non existent because you lead such a solo life ...am I the only one who finds the prospect of life without cows both scarey and sad? How have others here handled it? Gradually. Keeping the youngstock and selling as calving in? Could be expensive with no milk cheque and nit every heifer

My life too revolves around the cows and the breeding especially. 60 to 100 hour weeks etc. I love it, but also am really looking forward to retirement and travelling the world and just laying in bed at 4am NOT awake worrying about what could go wrong that day!

 

[Ffermer Bach]

why not buy a smallholding and spend time doing it up, and then keep a few sheep or cattle for an interest?

 

[buffalo_soldier]

I've got a stop date/age in mind. So may well switch to flying herd a few years before that.

Idea is to become partly nomadic, ruling out any livestock. Trouble is I think I would struggle to do as little work as an arable farmer

 

[jersey lou79]

Sell up and go Relief milking, pick and choose when you work, make time to discover new things you enjoy.
I know a few people that have given up milking their own and non of them regret it. It maybe the end of you and your cows but it doesn't have to be the end of working with cows, it will just be a new chapter

 

[Jdunn55]

What about contract rearing heifers for someone? Could even get them to pay on a monthly basis/head, that way you would still have an income coming in every month?

I know of 2 people who when they sold up calved heifers in and sold them fresh, tb buggered the job for both of them or else they would have carried on with it

What about a share farming agreement or similar with someone keen and with enough passion to want to take it on from you? Then you wouldn't even have to sell the cows to anyone else (you may sell them to the person who you're in the agreement with but they're still there then!) And you can have a break and find time for hobbies that you didn't have before so when the person you're share farming with eventually fully takes over you aren't left with nothing to do!?

I get what you mean about life without cows though, only been going for 6 months and don't know what I would do without them now

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I've got a stop date/age in mind. So may well switch to flying herd a few years before that.

Idea is to become partly nomadic, ruling out any livestock. Trouble is I think I would struggle to do as little work as an arable farmer

my neighbour said to me, I have spent all my life thinking about cattle, sheep, tractors and machinery, if I moved to the town I would have nothing to talk about. However, I think it is important to know when is the right time to stop and not go on too long. A lecturer in the college needed an operation, but put it off to see the group of students through their year and course. He had the op 8 or 9 months late, it worked but there were complications, which may not have happened if it had been undertaken earlier.

I think, as we become older, change becomes harder for us to deal with, so from that respect, it is better to make the changes earlier rather than later.

 

[nonemouse]

In a similar situation myself, plan is make this last winter milking cows.
Had hoped we had a deal for solar panels on most of the farm to take care of finances - but that’s fallen through over grid connection availablity.
So looking for a plan B, no doubt I’ll be able to make a living somehow, but not sure on best way forward.

 

[Princess Pooper]

Watching with interest as we are also nearing this time of life, also limited viability for an 80 cow herd. We will probably sell up as the listed ancient and crumbling farmhouse deserves someone who can afford to do it up properly.

 

[mixed breed]

When your world has revolved around cows for many years, when you have reared all the calves and built a beautiful pedigree herd virtually from scratch, when everything is arranged around time and milking etc, when non farming interests are zilch, when friends are non existent because you lead such a solo life ...am I the only one who finds the prospect of life without cows both scarey and sad? How have others here handled it? Gradually. Keeping the youngstock and selling as calving in? Could be expensive with no milk cheque and nit every heifer

My dear neighbour ceased milking as his tenancy ended, he said after 40 years of looking after his own he didn't feel he wanted to look after someone else's, but once the initial heartache of selling his cows had passed he got offered a job rearing calf's, getting the cows in and possibly the odd milking, a few hours each end of the day, it suited him well. He was saying just this morning he's earning more now and is without the paperwork, the worry and the tie. From what I can see, he's in better spirits than he's been for a long time.

 

[Nearly]

I've stopped milking cows twice (pre and post f&m 2001) and goats once. 2008
There won't be a fourth time.
Arable and suckler cows now on 3rd farm in 25 years.
Nothing is boring.
As time rolls on a few holiday cottages around the quiet half of the yard actually stacks up nicely.

 

[glow worm]

Thanks everyone for all your replies. It's just so hard to make the sensible decision. So much of your life and soul has gone into not just the cows but also the land that its incredibly hard to contemplate the changes that age and Joe public will eventually undoubtedly force on us. Its not just a business no matter what the general public say. Every inch of the farm is your home and the thought of it being all split up or not treated with the love and respect that has been poured onto it for generations is hard to take. Covid must have gotten to me! I've gone all soppy!

 

[rancher]

Watching with interest as we are also nearing this time of life, also limited viability for an 80 cow herd. We will probably sell up as the listed ancient and crumbling farmhouse deserves someone who can afford to do it up properly.

Retired here three years with 90% of the land leased, I'm sorry now that I didn't sell up. Wife wanted some sheep and so still have sheep and dogs, vegggie garden,etc so really tied as much as we ever were, so there'll be no world tours either.
I've heart failure as well so time could run out very quick and because of this not really able to wrestle with sheep either.
Local Golf course has a part they call ''cardiac hill'
Make no mistake, retirement isn't easy, but on the other hand, I never had as much money in my life

 

[Nearly]

We moved to an easier farm in an easier area.
It helped that land was half the price too.
Only just getting around to selling the final bits off where I was brought up, 20 years after moving.
I realised that my kids wouldn't have the same ties that I have and I need to leave things tidy for them and reinvest in something that they can benefit from after it has paid us a pension.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I never owned more than 45 dairy cows but we were really set on a dairy career.

My two passions, cattle and pasture management, we just took that with us and started over.

Get basically all the good stuff (organising matings, feed planning, a whole heap of 'pets') without many of the downsides (input costs, staff, lots of labour input) as we only run a small hobby-herd of sucklers and mainly run dairy heifers (May-May means they arrive as calves and leave incalf) on a weekly rate

Leaves plenty of time to do other things but there is still always a project on the go

 

[chaffcutter]

Sold our herd in the early nineties when I was mid forties, it was an easy decision atthe time for multiple reasons, our last year had been very stressful, we lost 10% of the herd, BSE was rearing it’s head then, and it just made sense to do it. We then went contracting and started to pick up extra acres so we were never short of work!

 

[glow worm]

So, another related question.If you had no succesion, and wanted / were able to leave the farm to an organsation that would guarantee to maintain it as a farm and use it like a tenant farm to give keen youngsters a chance to get on the ladder ... which organisation would you choose / trust? I''ve read of people who have left estates to the National Trust with conditions attached re hunting etc, who's wishes have then been ignored / overturned or the estate sold for the cash .. so who would you trust? some that spring to mind .. Addington Fund .. RABDF... Duchy of Cornwall .. RABI...