Rolling Stones

[Ashtree]

Look back over the many Brexit threads before and after the referendum. Some farming folks on here fretted about their future in agriculture in a Brexit future. Rightly they were concerned about subs and the lack thereof, tariffs, and indeed shortage of workers.
Oh, how they were laughed and sneered at by the majority ( well at least the loudest). They, the bucaneering Brexiteers, looked forward to the day when these inefficient farmers needing subs would go to the wall, and proper farmers would mop up the land and go on to conquer the world. As for immigrant labour, it wouldn’t really be needed as young Britons would be happy to reclaim their rightful place in the turnip fields, which pinko leftie liberals had allowed Eastern Europeans to steal.

There are many sleeper Mr. Housemans........

 

[roscoe erf]

But that's the thing Walt, an opinion is as they say 'like a clitoris'...

Walters opinions "hard to find"

ah only a pleasure for some

 

[ski]

[QUOTE="Walterp, post: 5428426, member: 321"]Even a kind-hearted soul like me gets tired, eventually, of hearing people like dairyman John Houseman from Harrogate (reported in FG 17.08.18) looking forward to trading conditions getting tougher so's he can expand at someone else's expense.

I guess it's true what they say - farmers, like sheep, are each other's worst enemy.

"He who digs a pit will fall into it,
and whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him." (Proverbs 26:27)

Life is not a zero sum game: joining co-operatives, trades unions or pan-European federations can make sense, maximising everyone's opportunities.

The opposite is also true - when UK agriculture went through prolonged periods of low or negative returns it was the long-established farmers with paid-for farms, capital reserves, and family labour that struggled through (whilst, as The Duck has observed elsewhere, getting poorer every year that they endured). While aspirants like Mr Houseman went bust.

So it is time, in my opinion, that people like Mr Houseman learnt that life is a two-way street - if he wishes that inconveniently-established farmers would get out of his way and go bust, I hope that he goes bust in learning that life, and agriculture, doesn't work that way.

Didnt you expand your legal practice at the expense of your ex employer ?
Yes, of course, he was behind the times and unable to compete in the current world but is this not the same as Mr Houseman who might just be taking advantage of prevailing conditions[/QUOTE]

Beautiful, just beautiful, was the stone heavy Walt?

 

[Nearly]

Didnt you expand your legal practice at the expense of your ex employer ?
Yes, of course, he was behind the times and unable to compete in the current world but is this not the same as Mr Houseman who might just be taking advantage of prevailing conditions

Beautiful, just beautiful, was the stone heavy Walt?[/QUOTE]


'Anything you say on TFF may be taken down and used in evidence against you'

 

[Cowcorn]

Even a kind-hearted soul like me gets tired, eventually, of hearing people like dairyman John Houseman from Harrogate (reported in FG 17.08.18) looking forward to trading conditions getting tougher so's he can expand at someone else's expense.

I guess it's true what they say - farmers, like sheep, are each other's worst enemy.

"He who digs a pit will fall into it,
and whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him." (Proverbs 26:27)

Life is not a zero sum game: joining co-operatives, trades unions or pan-European federations can make sense, maximising everyone's opportunities.

The opposite is also true - when UK agriculture went through prolonged periods of low or negative returns it was the long-established farmers with paid-for farms, capital reserves, and family labour that struggled through (whilst, as The Duck has observed elsewhere, getting poorer every year that they endured). While aspirants like Mr Houseman went bust.

So it is time, in my opinion, that people like Mr Houseman learnt that life is a two-way street - if he wishes that inconveniently-established farmers would get out of his way and go bust, I hope that he goes bust in learning that life, and agriculture, doesn't work that way.

The man in question would do well to remember the tortoise won the race ,rapid expansion with borrowed money in diffucult trading conditions usually ends in tears.
After the end of qoutas many this side of the pond went wild expanding with rented land cheap money and foreign labour. There are one or two whose wheels have come off and after this spring and summer droughht several more will collect there dues.
And thats as it should be.

 

[The Seeker]

It annoys the tits off me this get bigger get bigger mantra, yes it works to an extent but if I go aaay and buy another 9000 sheep to take me to 10000 who the f is going to help me look after them, people send exactly passing there a leves to hopefully one day be a shepherds lackey, I know folk with cat challenges with empty seats most fields round out way are 50 - 60 acres with hedges in between and lots of back roads. You cannot simply scale up as the dreamers seem to think.

 

[wasted years]

what hard to find ?

It must be lost, or at least my wife says I can't find hers.

 

[toquark]

Interesting thread this.

I'm not a dairy expert but what I don't understand about these big dairies (of which there are quite a few 1000+ cow herds in my area) is that their systems are inherently less flexible and more management heavy, yet they are lauded as being highly efficient and reducing the cost of production and cost to consumer. I don't doubt they have scale from which their so-called efficiencies are derived, however if they have to rely on four silage cuts per year as well as a large workforces to employ, surely they are far more exposed when the weather lets you down or prices fall than the 150 cow herd grazing outside half the year with two family members and one or two cuts of silage per year?

The cynical side of me wonders whether some of them are that far into the bank, they simply won't be allowed to fail as the banks can't afford to let them.

 

[fgc325j]

Interesting thread this.

I'm not a dairy expert but what I don't understand about these big dairies (of which there are quite a few 1000+ cow herds in my area) is that their systems are inherently less flexible and more management heavy, yet they are lauded as being highly efficient and reducing the cost of production and cost to consumer. I don't doubt they have scale from which their so-called efficiencies are derived, however if they have to rely on four silage cuts per year as well as a large workforces to employ, surely they are far more exposed when the weather lets you down or prices fall than the 150 cow herd grazing outside half the year with two family members and one or two cuts of silage per year?

The cynical side of me wonders whether some of them are that far into the bank, they simply won't be allowed to fail as the banks can't afford to let them.

You mean it's easier for a bank to keep "tabs" on a 1,000 cow farmer, than it is to keep 6x 160 cow farmers.
Trying to herd cats??.

 

[toquark]

You mean it's easier for a bank to keep "tabs" on a 1,000 cow farmer, than it is to keep 6x 160 cow farmers.
Trying to herd cats??.

Well yes partly, but the point I was getting at was that it's a far bigger cost to a bank to allow a business with one or two million pounds owed go to the wall than it is one with say £250k. Particularly when the level of borrowing may often exceed the value of the asset borrowed against.

I know the bigger debtors will be offered the best deals in terms of interest rates but I suspect that also - more importantly - when times get tough, lenders will be more liberal with payment holidays or interest only periods etc. To allow them to keep operating until things improve, as the alternative would lead to the lender losing the lot. Whereas it could be argued that the bank would have less interest in helping the smaller unit in a similar situation but owing less, as they know that if the business fails, they can repossess the place and recover outstanding debts.

 

[Bury the Trash]

The man who will succeed in life is the man who walks to the table and doesn't put more on his plate than he can possibly eat

confucius said 'no need for fancy vehicle when vauxhall astra will do'

 

[martian]

confucius said 'no need for fancy vehicle when vauxhall astra will do'

Lao Tzu, he say 'Only fool drive Vauxhall Astra, wise man he drive Skoda Fabia'

 

[Paul E]

confucius said 'no need for fancy vehicle when vauxhall astra will do'

He also said " man who goes to bed with itchy bum - wakes up with smelly finger."
Though he didn't enlighten us on the size of his farm.

 

[Canada Farmer]

He also said " man who goes to bed with itchy bum - wakes up with smelly finger."
Though he didn't enlighten us on the size of his farm.

To quote Horatio "He is a liar!!! I just don't know what the lie is yet."

 

[Paul E]

It'll probably be about the size of his Knob.
Most lies are.

Careful you don't roll the stone onto your knob!