Power and machinery costs

[Manney]

How many cows and acres are you a block calving?

200 cows, 100 youngstock, 270 acres all grass, spring block.

 

[betweenthelines]

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?

I was just thinking of ways to reduce your machinery/contractors costs.

If I was you, I'd just do baled silage-35%+ DM to reduce plastic usage and dragging water about-but from previous posts, you seem fixated on growing maize. In your location, I'd be looking at Lucerne or Red Clover for drought insurance.

But a Wagon might be useful for hauling grass to the cows to both extend your grazing platform and to extend your grazing season to reduce the amount of silage you make.

If I was in your area, I'd be looking to feed grass/RC/Lucerne (grazed or zero grazed) 10 months of the year.

 

[betweenthelines]

And rape or kale the other two months

 

[betweenthelines]

And if you're Autumn calving, there's a herd on a coastal Farm near @Cows 'n grass that reckon their farm grows more grass in November than in August!

 

[jimmer]

Thanks for all the advice, the thing I'm limited by is grazing ground around the parlour. Theres 86 acres of grazing ground around the parlour theres another 34 acres but its across the road and is over half a mile away.

Of the 86 acres 26 acres is going grazing that could be stocked at 2 cows/acre and the remainder is a bit poorer and maybe only 1.5 cows/acre which would allow me to run 142 cows on just grazing only but that doesnt include any winter grazing or the ability to reseed anything.

The thing I was looking at by having more cows is my fixed costs are the same

I've got 100 autumn calvers on 88 acres, plus a 22acre block for silage
They would graze 60 of the 88, that includes about 6 for turnips

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Arla yes, not 360 though. We are all doing it in the drive to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Not that it's my thing though, I will be sat sipping pinacolas in the Carribbean long before then.

I’m sure that’s how your retirement will go.....

 

[Princess Pooper]

Thanks for all the advice, the thing I'm limited by is grazing ground around the parlour. Theres 86 acres of grazing ground around the parlour theres another 34 acres but its across the road and is over half a mile away.

Of the 86 acres 26 acres is going grazing that could be stocked at 2 cows/acre and the remainder is a bit poorer and maybe only 1.5 cows/acre which would allow me to run 142 cows on just grazing only but that doesnt include any winter grazing or the ability to reseed anything.

The thing I was looking at by having more cows is my fixed costs are the same

We have only 32 acres grazing available for our 90 milkers until after first cut, which is normally third week in May. We will buffer with silage if necessary. I know that seems a waste of money, but we normally turn out first week in April, on our heavy land if we mess it up in a wet spring we will never get it back in order. This year as it was so dry in May we had to graze a hay field else we would have run out of grass as we were low on silage stocks to carry over. Fortunately we do have a bigger grass acreage this year due to lack of any wheat drilled.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

And if you're Autumn calving, there's a herd on a coastal Farm near @Cows 'n grass that reckon their farm grows more grass in November than in August!

I don't know which one you mean but a lot of us on the coast have grown more in December than June in a couple of recent years.

 

[farmer JD]

I've got 100 autumn calvers on 88 acres, plus a 22acre block for silage
They would graze 60 of the 88, that includes about 6 for turnips

How many total acres then will feed the autumn block through the year 88 acres or more ?

 

[betweenthelines]

I don't know which one you mean but a lot of us on the coast have grown more in December than June in a couple of recent years.

Battisborough Cross

 

[Cows 'n grass]

Battisborough Cross

I called in with the children today for our Friday ice cream. Further along the coast, Caulston, Carswell, Worswell all look terrible every summer.

 

[jimmer]

How many total acres then will feed the autumn block through the year 88 acres or more ?

The 100 acres should feed them for the whole year

 

[farmerdan7618]

At 6.4p you would be around average, the nature of the forum brings the top operators to it, who are willing to share information and act on it.

With regards to choosing between contractors or running your own, there are 5 key questions to ask yourself on the job:

1. Does it really need doing? Recreational tractor work just costs money and gains nothing.

2. Can I get a reliable contractor to do it? If you can't, then there isn't much choice but to do the job in house, no point doing first cut in July.

3. Can I afford the machinery, or does it need to be financed?

4. Do I have the time to do the job, or would I need to pay someone to drive/do other work so I can drive?

5. Can I repair any breakdowns, or do I need a dealer to do it?

Answer yes to 2 or more questions 3-5 and as long as you aren't silly with the kit you run, will often be cheaper in house.

Answer yes to one of questions 3-5, and expect to be a similar cost to a contractor, answer no to all three and it will cost you more to run the kit.

Good on you for doing a budget though, should set you in good stead for the future.

 

[Jdunn55]

At 6.4p you would be around average, the nature of the forum brings the top operators to it, who are willing to share information and act on it.

With regards to choosing between contractors or running your own, there are 5 key questions to ask yourself on the job:

1. Does it really need doing? Recreational tractor work just costs money and gains nothing.

2. Can I get a reliable contractor to do it? If you can't, then there isn't much choice but to do the job in house, no point doing first cut in July.

3. Can I afford the machinery, or does it need to be financed?

4. Do I have the time to do the job, or would I need to pay someone to drive/do other work so I can drive?

5. Can I repair any breakdowns, or do I need a dealer to do it?

Answer yes to 2 or more questions 3-5 and as long as you aren't silly with the kit you run, will often be cheaper in house.

Answer yes to one of questions 3-5, and expect to be a similar cost to a contractor, answer no to all three and it will cost you more to run the kit.

Good on you for doing a budget though, should set you in good stead for the future.

Thanks for this and thankyou to everyone else as well!
I've put all the costs in an excel spreadsheet and worked out what it would cost to get a contractor to do the work and what it costs me.
I've used the naac contractors charges and then assumed £10/hour labour and £8/hour for fuel plus £2/hour in repairs (is this too low??) And then I have allowed for 10%machinery replacement rate on top (eg: a slurry tanker for £20,000 therefore 10%/year is £2,000).
After all that it's cheaper for me to do nearly all the work except from raking and slurry tanking.

I want to have someone working for me just so that when I need another person (there will always be jobs that require 2 people) there is someone there. So by doing the work myself it makes having a second person justifiable.

Having worked out what it would cost me to get a forager in plus trailers for 3 cuts it actually works out a lot cheaper to do bales which surprised me!

 

[Davy]

I'd price off a local contractors rates. Local chap to me is a lot less than NAAC prices.

 

[jimmer]

There's no reason you won't get grass into a pit for £60/acre assuming a 6t/acre crop via a contractor
That's £10/t
I'll let someone with better idea give accurate figures, but I don't reckon you'll get 2 x 500kg bales baled and wrapped for a tenner, let alone the mowing, tedding, raking, loading hauling and stacking

 

[Jdunn55]

There's no reason you won't get grass into a pit for £60/acre assuming a 6t/acre crop via a contractor
That's £10/t
I'll let someone with better idea give accurate figures, but I don't reckon you'll get 2 x 500kg bales baled and wrapped for a tenner, let alone the mowing, tedding, raking, loading hauling and stacking

£60/acre for foraging plus trailers would be £9,000 over the course of the year for 660t of silage
Plus extra trailers for the loads further away

Assuming a bale of silage is 650kg that would be 1015 bales which is 7 rolls of net and 34 rolls of plastic. Assuming 30 bales an hour would be 34 hours work which at £20/hour for fuel and the tractor plus £2/hour rapid cost would equal £680 then £1,000 on net and £2000 on wrap, and £3,000 baler depreciation = £6,780
Then haulage for bales is £820 assuming 17 bales/load and 2 loads an hour for stuff close to the dairy and 1 load an hour for stuff further away
Total = £7,600

It's just wether it's worth the hassle...
But I can cut a field as and when it's ready and would need the baler for hay anyway?

 

[farmerm]

When I first read this post I was scratching my head as to how on earth you could budget fuel at 6.4p/l when my last load cost 42p/l...

 

[betweenthelines]

Makes me smile that no one ever considers the quality of the product in the clamp v bale, or DIY v Contractor debates.
If the better silage gives you just 1 extra litre/cow for 100 days, for a 150 cow herd, that's about £4000 pounds worth of milk! More than enough to pay for a couple rolls of wrap or a p/o buck rake!

 

[jimmer]

£10 in the pit, £12 for your away ground