Look before you leap

[OldVicarageEnterprisesLTD]

Ok so we are first time farmers all our cereals are contract farmed but that leaves 400 acers of permanent pasture and the dairy unit that goes with it at the moment we have just 20 suckler cows and their offspring from my brother in-laws farm on our land. We are happy with day today care and calving, we also have 8 breading mares and 2 stallions horses are our main area of experience and income

Are we mad to be looking at getting the dairy up and running again? We definitely would be employing experienced staff our idea is calf at foot dairy alongside some beef the income we get from the cereals contract is enough to cover wages for 2 full time staff.
A big expansion in the horse training center is the main reason Him in the office got this place for me we have contracts for 80 horses and without grazing it will take 25 Acer's away from pure agricultural use.
The contract for the arable is on a 4 year basis and has 1year before it's renewed or re negotiated we moved in in late February so apart from having hopefully made our first winters sliage successful and having more hay than we can store we really are total beginners.

 

[Jdunn55]

Can you get a milk contract is the first place to start.
If yes and you want to do it then yes, you are in fact mad but so are all dairy farmers.
How much experience have you got milking? It's not for everybody... I would forget the calf at foot thing it's a marketing gimmick for city people who dont want to be vegan but at the same time do - it wont work on a commercial scale.

Oh and dont expect to become rich - it wont happen.

 

[Beef farmer]

Location?

 

[ImLost]

Can you get a milk contract is the first place to start.
If yes and you want to do it then yes, you are in fact mad but so are all dairy farmers.
How much experience have you got milking? It's not for everybody... I would forget the calf at foot thing it's a marketing gimmick for city people who dont want to be vegan but at the same time do - it wont work on a commercial scale.

Oh and dont expect to become rich - it wont happen.

Wouldn't calf at foot be more direct to consumer? Is there anyone doing it on a commercial scale?

 

[Jdunn55]

Wouldn't calf at foot be more direct to consumer? Is there anyone doing it on a commercial scale?

Yes and not that I'm aware of.
Marketed correctly you could charge a premium to a few locals and maybe restraints cafes etc
I doubt you could scale it up to 100-200 cows
As a niche though it could be successful (especially in helping the vegans idea that dairy farmers are cruel)

 

[OldVicarageEnterprisesLTD]

Well I'm totally mad I've only milked house cows before. Him in the office is one of those city types. Though he loves his old mf 35 and is becoming increasingly competent at actually doing useful work with it he witnessed is first calving on Saturday and has been much more hands on than I thought he'd be despite still doing his city job 4 full days a week.
The Parler was in use up till last September and has space to milk 8 cows on each side per batch. The cubicle shed is in good order and all the slury slats and system appear to work and drain into the tank a stinky learning curve that's was after it flooded the yard because it was all shut off

 

[Sharpy]

Ok so we are first time farmers all our cereals are contract farmed but that leaves 400 acers of permanent pasture and the dairy unit that goes with it at the moment we have just 20 suckler cows and their offspring from my brother in-laws farm on our land. We are happy with day today care and calving, we also have 8 breading mares and 2 stallions horses are our main area of experience and income

Are we mad to be looking at getting the dairy up and running again? We definitely would be employing experienced staff our idea is calf at foot dairy alongside some beef the income we get from the cereals contract is enough to cover wages for 2 full time staff.
A big expansion in the horse training center is the main reason Him in the office got this place for me we have contracts for 80 horses and without grazing it will take 25 Acer's away from pure agricultural use.
The contract for the arable is on a 4 year basis and has 1year before it's renewed or re negotiated we moved in in late February so apart from having hopefully made our first winters sliage successful and having more hay than we can store we really are total beginners.

Mossgeil in Ayrshire do the calf at foot thing, retailed direct, have a look at their system, I think they loose 50% of their yield though

 

[OldVicarageEnterprisesLTD]

Yes and not that I'm aware of.
Marketed correctly you could charge a premium to a few locals and maybe restraints cafes etc
I doubt you could scale it up to 100-200 cows
As a niche though it could be successful (especially in helping the vegans idea that dairy farmers are cruel)

Him in office is looking at a dairy in Scotland that operates this way and more direct sales (Scots dairy is Cream of Galloway?)
And we are in the very fortunate position that we don't need to make it pay all our bills in the long run it dose need to pay for itself.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

If horses are your main interest, share farming the dairy may be a better stepping stone.

The calf at foot thing is more a small scale thing and from what I've seen they seem to need regular crowd funding injections.

 

[farmboy]

Ok so we are first time farmers all our cereals are contract farmed but that leaves 400 acers of permanent pasture and the dairy unit that goes with it at the moment we have just 20 suckler cows and their offspring from my brother in-laws farm on our land. We are happy with day today care and calving, we also have 8 breading mares and 2 stallions horses are our main area of experience and income

Are we mad to be looking at getting the dairy up and running again? We definitely would be employing experienced staff our idea is calf at foot dairy alongside some beef the income we get from the cereals contract is enough to cover wages for 2 full time staff.
A big expansion in the horse training center is the main reason Him in the office got this place for me we have contracts for 80 horses and without grazing it will take 25 Acer's away from pure agricultural use.
The contract for the arable is on a 4 year basis and has 1year before it's renewed or re negotiated we moved in in late February so apart from having hopefully made our first winters sliage successful and having more hay than we can store we really are total beginners.

Find someone experienced to come and share farm the dairy with you

 

[OldVicarageEnterprisesLTD]

So how would you advise advertising the share farming option in our situation?
As once the builders move in the horse side will take much more of my time I am genuinely interested in the whole farm but I can only learn so much so fast, I'm not superhuman.

 

[farmboy]

So how would you advise advertising the share farming option in our situation?
As once the builders move in the horse side will take much more of my time I am genuinely interested in the whole farm but I can only learn so much so fast, I'm not superhuman.

I would think some of it depends on how much input you would want, what type of system you want to run (what milk contracts are available, where are you etc), how much capital you want to put in

 

[som farmer]

So how would you advise advertising the share farming option in our situation?
As once the builders move in the horse side will take much more of my time I am genuinely interested in the whole farm but I can only learn so much so fast, I'm not superhuman.

NFU, or local auctioneers/land agents, a really good chance for a young couple.

 

[OldVicarageEnterprisesLTD]

Well we are North Wiltshire /Berkshire enteringly 2 cottages are in Berkshire the main house in Wilshire. Hum how much input would we want we would be happy to invest in equipment and cattle one of the cottages could be available we would need to continue to have a significant say in what grazing is used when and how, I would want the day to day operations done but consulted when choices in management will affect care andwelfare as the non replacement young stock would be raised for rose veal in non covid times we have direct markets for this and our nanny cows that we would happily keep on and manage song side the horses. Tricky but we are fairly flexible.

 

[Beef farmer]

Happy to invest 750k?

 

[OldVicarageEnterprisesLTD]

So our main next step is to look at types of available milk contract job for Him indoors while I get on with more grass cutting well its keeping the horse's fit 21' sickle bar mower

 

[OldVicarageEnterprisesLTD]

Happy to invest 750k?

That's not to bad you should see the fencing quotes

 

[TomB]

Scratching my head to think just where you are. Can’t be far away.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

Scratching my head to think just where you are. Can’t be far away.

About time you started a second herd?

 

[Beef farmer]

About time you started a second herd?

Especially if 750k isn't too much capital spend.