It's not negativity, it's realism. We have 56 cows at the moment and we are managing OK, but we are maxed out to the limit in terms of land and grazing platform. With the new regulations coming in we will have to reduce down to 46 cows to fully comply. So if you have a nice piece land and can manage with a low stocking rate and keep down a parttime job, you will make a nice living with small numbersI know their are a lot of hidden costs but what I find weird is all the negitivity towards a new small scale dairy farmers surely if things go f**k ways they are in a better position to hand in there
Transport costs are the problemI know their are a lot of hidden costs but what I find weird is all the negitivity towards a new small scale dairy farmers surely if things go f**k ways they are in a better position to hand in there
Anybody any idea what minimum collections are with the milk buyers north of the border?supplying arrabawn in galway and minimum collection is 400l year round. Usually come every 3 days. Make sure you check with arrabawn that they will take your milk before you get too excited and also have a read of the journal as the regulation coming down the road are anti farming.
For every big farmer you need two or 3 smaller ones to fill a tankerTransport costs are the problem
Processor sends a lorry to a farm fills it and back to factory rather than multiple pickups
20 cows you’ll lucky to be sending 500 ltrs a day
You’ll be working harder than ever
So will you not need to milk at all when they are housed ?I have 40 acres of land in a block I will need to build a small milking parlour 2nd hand , build a holding hard , small calving shed and put in electricity and sink a well for water and I think I'm good to go I have sheds for winter housing a mile down the road , I plan to buy the stock fo as young calves and rear them and then put them in calf using bull and AI
I don't think that will work sorry, winter is long, cows lactation is 10 months sometimes 9 sometimes 11, being where you are I doubt your winter is 2 months long?No winter milking dry them off at the end of the year and in for the winter, or else have a few autumn calves aswell
That’s a lot of money to be spending for 20 cowsI have 40 acres of land in a block I will need to build a small milking parlour 2nd hand , build a holding hard , small calving shed and put in electricity and sink a well for water and I think I'm good to go I have sheds for winter housing a mile down the road , I plan to buy the stock fo as young calves and rear them and then put them in calf using bull and AI
Big sheds are actually harder to schedule than small ones, especially for block calving herds with a peak sometimes there's not enough for a load sometimes there's too much, so you either need a smaller shed to top up or bigger ones to split and they almost certainly wont be next to each other so you can get a lot of running around.For every big farmer you need two or 3 smaller ones to fill a tanker
Lakeland are apparently happy to lift as little as 4 cows milking, every 3/4 days.Anybody any idea what minimum collections are with the milk buyers north of the border?
Any advances on 4?every 3/4 days.
I agree, but sometimes people like to see where they have possibly underestimated in their musings!!Rather than asking the question on here you should have rung all the milk buyers in your area and asked them the question