Power and machinery costs

[Jdunn55]

8p cake bill. 6.4p machinery. Your half ya milk cheque gone.

That's what's worrying me but cake is only at 5.77p assuming 1.5t/cow and £250/t
How would you go about lowering it?

 

[Jdunn55]

Half the silage ground 15/20min away carting silage bales 12/18 at a time I guess is a fair process if u are on your own and want to get them shifted quick as bird damage. Plus u want to get slurry/fert out. Worth looking at contractor doing the lot but you mowing as need a mower and pulling a trailer then get straight on slurry

My thinking was to store them at that farm and then grab them in the winter when they're needed as I would need to be over there every day in the winter anyway to check stock so could bring the bales back at the same time.

Would mean they could be shifted quickly and in-house still?

Would you be going down the route of doing slurry myself or getting contractors in?

 

[betweenthelines]

Only 1 would be mine (plus a scraper tractor) the other two are my dads but I have access to them for things like silage

Can't you work with your father/father's tractor drivers to do silage-possibly use a forage wagon

 

[Jdunn55]

Can't you work with your father/father's tractor drivers to do silage-possibly use a forage wagon

Yeah I can do but dont have a forage wagon but do have the baler which was why I was going to do that instead.

Does everyone think it would be much cheaper to do clamp instead then?

 

[buffalo_soldier]

More or less a full contractor model here, runs just under 3ppl. All I do is follow the cows with fert. Oh and a bit of tedding this year.
Slurry is contractor led also, I do have my own tanker that they use though. Depends how comfortable you are with biosecurity.

My view really is you can do cows well or tractors well. Doing both needs to be someone better than me anyway.

Rest of the costs I would need to work out.

 

[Fendt820]

My thinking was to store them at that farm and then grab them in the winter when they're needed as I would need to be over there every day in the winter anyway to check stock so could bring the bales back at the same time.

Would mean they could be shifted quickly and in-house still?

Would you be going down the route of doing slurry myself or getting contractors in?

If u are running slurry a long way u need to look if if cost efficient anyway I would say if u are doing it with a1500g tanker but your contractor will come in with a 3000g or bigger might be cheaper to let him do it. All depends on how much stuff you produce if u can keep up ect.

 

[Jdunn55]

If u are running slurry a long way u need to look if if cost efficient anyway I would say if u are doing it with a1500g tanker but your contractor will come in with a 3000g or bigger might be cheaper to let him do it. All depends on how much stuff you produce if u can keep up ect.

That was my thoughts too, maybe I do the stuff around the yard and any longer hauls pay someone else?

 

[Princess Pooper]

If you are trying to compare in-house machinery costs v contractors you need to allow for the fact that you get labour with the latter!

Our contractor cost - basically for all field work and hedge trimming, - is 3.1 ppl. That's for all fertiliser, muck and slurry work, 60 acres cut for 2 cuts clamp silage, 1 cut bale silage, plus rowing and baling 20 acres hay, 12 acres grass reseed, and all operations on 25 acres wheat and baling an additional 40 acres straw.

Our own tractors are mainly on yard work other than hauling straw, mowing hay and topping.

Bale silage vastly more expensive than clamp when wrap, hauling to yard and disposing of plastic accounted for.

90 cows + 45 followers.

 

[Jdunn55]

If you are trying to compare in-house machinery costs v contractors you need to allow for the fact that you get labour with the latter!

Our contractor cost - basically for all field work and hedge trimming, - is 3.1 ppl. That's for all fertiliser, muck and slurry work, 60 acres cut for 2 cuts clamp silage, 1 cut bale silage, plus rowing and baling 20 acres hay, 12 acres grass reseed, and all operations on 25 acres wheat and baling an additional 40 acres straw.

Our own tractors are mainly on yard work other than hauling straw, mowing hay and topping.

Bale silage vastly more expensive than clamp when wrap, hauling to yard and disposing of plastic accounted for.

90 cows + 45 followers.

Thankyou, that's really helpful! I dont suppose you would know/mind telling me what your fuel usage is? Send me a message if you would rather!
Thanks again

 

[Princess Pooper]

Thankyou, that's really helpful! I dont suppose you would know/mind telling me what your fuel usage is? Send me a message if you would rather!
Thanks again

Will pm you tomorrow with more info including silage costs too. Contractor supplies all their own fuel so we don't have to buy much.

 

[Jdunn55]

Will pm you tomorrow with more info including silage costs too. Contractor supplies all their own fuel so we don't have to buy much.

Thats great thankyou, I think my fuel bill is currently forecast at £14,000 which is a fair chunk

 

[farmer JD]

If you are trying to compare in-house machinery costs v contractors you need to allow for the fact that you get labour with the latter!

Our contractor cost - basically for all field work and hedge trimming, - is 3.1 ppl. That's for all fertiliser, muck and slurry work, 60 acres cut for 2 cuts clamp silage, 1 cut bale silage, plus rowing and baling 20 acres hay, 12 acres grass reseed, and all operations on 25 acres wheat and baling an additional 40 acres straw.

Our own tractors are mainly on yard work other than hauling straw, mowing hay and topping.

Bale silage vastly more expensive than clamp when wrap, hauling to yard and disposing of plastic accounted for.

90 cows + 45 followers.

How many acres do you farm ?are you autumn block ?

 

[farmer JD]

More or less a full contractor model here, runs just under 3ppl. All I do is follow the cows with fert. Oh and a bit of tedding this year.
Slurry is contractor led also, I do have my own tanker that they use though. Depends how comfortable you are with biosecurity.

My view really is you can do cows well or tractors well. Doing both needs to be someone better than me anyway.

Rest of the costs I would need to work out.

Ok so are you seasonal calving and what you say makes sense simple system , how many are you milking and roughly what’s your overall cost ppl for power n machinery

 

[Jdunn55]

More or less a full contractor model here, runs just under 3ppl. All I do is follow the cows with fert. Oh and a bit of tedding this year.
Slurry is contractor led also, I do have my own tanker that they use though. Depends how comfortable you are with biosecurity.

My view really is you can do cows well or tractors well. Doing both needs to be someone better than me anyway.

Rest of the costs I would need to work out.

Thankyou if you're able to find out fuel that would be really useful!

 

[Blue.]

Thats great thankyou, I think my fuel bill is currently forecast at £14,000 which is a fair chunk

Who’s done the forecast?

I’ve double your cows and housed 365 with a good 500hrs/year digger work added in and I wouldn’t use £14k of fuel.

 

[farmer JD]

Who’s done the forecast?

I’ve double your cows and housed 365 with a good 500hrs/year digger work added in and I wouldn’t use £14k of fuel.

I take it you have contractors

 

[Blue.]

I take it you have contractors

Only for bringing in some of my grass.

 

[farmer JD]

Only for bringing in some of my grass.

Are you pretty much ring fenced then

 

[Jdunn55]

Who’s done the forecast?

I’ve double your cows and housed 365 with a good 500hrs/year digger work added in and I wouldn’t use £14k of fuel.

You r reckon that's way too much then? I was going off £8.50 an hour to run a tractor

 

[Jdunn55]

You r reckon that's way too much then? I was going off £8.50 an hour to run a tractor

Which would allow for 1500 hours and 10% extra