My husband and I are 3 years into our 5 year FBT in the north of England, it's a small farm with 50 acres and a big yard. We have a suckler herd on the rough ground and then sell stores in the Autumn and retain a few heifers to sell in the spring with calf at foot. We also have a small calf rearing unit which we also sell as stores.
When we came here the landlord made noises that there would be grass leys and cover crops available on the larger part of the estate and the business plan we submitted was that we'd graze these with the reared calves and the weaned calves from the suckler herd to sell as finished. That has never materialised (for various reasons beyond ours and the landlord's control) and we are feeling a bit disenchanted as whilst we aren't losing money we certainly aren't making a sensible return on our investment.
We both work fulltime with good jobs so we aren't destitute but we sold our house to put up the capital to start the farm here and last year we took a small loan to put up a new shed, which is a tenants improvement so at the end of the tenancy we'll get the value back. We've had a long hard look this week and we think with the removal of stamp duty this Autumn we'd be better handing back our FBT, selling up and buying a house.
Our ultimate goal was to move to a larger holding from here or buy a house and a barn that would serve as a base that we could rent more land from. We think if we stay here for another 2 years we'll have barely kept up with inflation, whereas with a house in 5 years time all the money we are putting into rent will be equity. For those who have gone from no farming background to tenants to owner-occupiers what did you do?
When we came here the landlord made noises that there would be grass leys and cover crops available on the larger part of the estate and the business plan we submitted was that we'd graze these with the reared calves and the weaned calves from the suckler herd to sell as finished. That has never materialised (for various reasons beyond ours and the landlord's control) and we are feeling a bit disenchanted as whilst we aren't losing money we certainly aren't making a sensible return on our investment.
We both work fulltime with good jobs so we aren't destitute but we sold our house to put up the capital to start the farm here and last year we took a small loan to put up a new shed, which is a tenants improvement so at the end of the tenancy we'll get the value back. We've had a long hard look this week and we think with the removal of stamp duty this Autumn we'd be better handing back our FBT, selling up and buying a house.
Our ultimate goal was to move to a larger holding from here or buy a house and a barn that would serve as a base that we could rent more land from. We think if we stay here for another 2 years we'll have barely kept up with inflation, whereas with a house in 5 years time all the money we are putting into rent will be equity. For those who have gone from no farming background to tenants to owner-occupiers what did you do?
