Share Milking UK

[DevonTaff]

Hi all,
I'm a bit of a long time lurker but this is my first real post.
I come from a farming background but have no business/farm to join. My grandparents farmed in South Wales until the early 2000's before selling the herd. I have spent all my working life in farming. During time spent working in NZ we (wife and I) decided that we should look at the possibilities of share milking when we got home. After a few years of doing relief milking/general farm work we found a farmer who is interested in a share agreement/Joint venture. Last year we started on a small scale and I just received a small percentage of the milk cheque for appropriate hours/responsibilities.

A year on everything is working well and my share of the milk cheque has increased and we receive a percentage of calves born, all for a lot more work mind!! So far everything is going great and as a new entrant this is a fantastic way for us to break into the industry without having a massive capital outlay and we are really grateful for the opportunity.

My question is whether anyone else is doing anything similar? One problem we have is that as yet we have nothing in writing. We are trying to sort this but it is tricky as finding any sort of template is hard. It would be great if someone else on here is/has done something similar and could offer some tips/advice on putting an agreement together. If there is enough share milkers/farmers interested we could even start an online discussion type group?
Thanks for taking the time to read and I look forward to any replies.
Cheers

 

[llamedos]

@DevonTaff

Hello and welcome to TFF share farming has been touched on before on the forum, and we have some members who are involved or have knowledge of it.

A few from the older thread such as @Tim May @Tim W @Walterp @RJ1 will possibly be along shortly to help your discussion along
a bit of catch up reading here for you http://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/share-farming.3767/

 

[DevonTaff]

Thanks for your reply and the link.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

Rhys Willliams is the share milker at Padog Farms in Wales and is going great guns. Milking over 1500 cows and has been described as a money making machine.
Search for the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Website and look up his report, well worth reading. The landowning half of the partnership also did a very good report.

 

[O'Reilly]

Dairyco have some templates. They are not on the website, as they are legal documents an so on, so you have to ask, but very useful. Agree with the Nuffield comment above, also look at Joe Delves report, brilliant read for everyone. Be wary of consultants, but have recently had contact with the farm consultancy group, and although someone different would deal in your area, very impressed. Would also say its a bit unwise starting with no documentation, so get some soon.

Other than that well done for having the balls to go for it!

 

[JP1]

Hi all,
I'm a bit of a long time lurker but this is my first real post.
I come from a farming background but have no business/farm to join. My grandparents farmed in South Wales until the early 2000's before selling the herd. I have spent all my working life in farming. During time spent working in NZ we (wife and I) decided that we should look at the possibilities of share milking when we got home. After a few years of doing relief milking/general farm work we found a farmer who is interested in a share agreement/Joint venture. Last year we started on a small scale and I just received a small percentage of the milk cheque for appropriate hours/responsibilities.

A year on everything is working well and my share of the milk cheque has increased and we receive a percentage of calves born, all for a lot more work mind!! So far everything is going great and as a new entrant this is a fantastic way for us to break into the industry without having a massive capital outlay and we are really grateful for the opportunity.

My question is whether anyone else is doing anything similar? One problem we have is that as yet we have nothing in writing. We are trying to sort this but it is tricky as finding any sort of template is hard. It would be great if someone else on here is/has done something similar and could offer some tips/advice on putting an agreement together. If there is enough share milkers/farmers interested we could even start an online discussion type group?
Thanks for taking the time to read and I look forward to any replies.
Cheers

Welcome to TFF as a contributor. Let's hope the combined minds of TFF can help you along. If you fancy doing a blog from time to time, I / @TFF News would really like to hear from you, as would the members I'm sure

 

[TomB]

Dairyco have some templates. They are not on the website, as they are legal documents an so on, so you have to ask, but very useful.

Be wary of consultants,

Would also say its a bit unwise starting with no documentation, so get some soon.

Other than that well done for having the balls to go for it!

All above useful. Might be worth talking to Tony Evans at Andersons, I think he was involved in drawing up the dairyco agreement.

 

[DevonTaff]

Thanks for all your replies, useful stuff!
As a new entrant I think share agreements are a really useful route into the industry. The challenge is finding the right person to work with. I'm lucky to have found someone and it's all going well so fingers crossed for a bright future!!
@JP1 I will give some thought to a blog and get back to you.
Cheers all

 

[rusty]

All above useful. Might be worth talking to Tony Evans at Andersons, I think he was involved in drawing up the dairyco agreement.

Tony has done several share farming type agreements and also farms a unit himself under a share farming agreement.

You defiantly need to get something in writing for the sake of both sides, especially if you are building up some equity in the business.

 

[O'Reilly]

Tony Evans isn't everyones cup of tea. There are other consultants around, so speak to a few.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

I agree that Tony is not everyones cup of tea but in this country Andersons are definitely the specialists in share farming and contract farming. I'm guessing that you're in Devon so Gaynor Wellwood would be the best person for you to speak to.

I have just entered a contract farming agreement which does differ from share farming. we're currently converting a beef/arable farm into a spring calving dairy unit.

 

[Headless chicken]

Tony Evans is a fantastic brilliant man that I really dislike. Just one of those people I can't get on with. Don't touch kite for this sort of this. Too many high yields and Holsteins with them.

 

[dolf_lundgren]

I think the person you speak to becomes more important if you want advice over a longer period of time. If you just want a suitable contract then it doesn't matter if you like them or not. If you want advice ongoing then you need a rapport and working relationship.

Tom Rawson also could help you with this. However as mentioned above if you are talking high yielding high input systems then neither tom or Tony are the guys for you.

Good luck though, excellent way to do things and hopefully it will become more common a spend refresh the whole industry.

 

[Grass2milk]

Hi Devon Taff, can we have an update on how you got on since spring 14? Apologies if you have already in a different thread, new to TFF. Thanks!

 

[DevonTaff]

Hiya, things have changed a fair bit since then. What we really struggled with were 2 things. 1-the other party letting go of control, and 2-finding a legal agreement that suited the situation. This was mainly due to the farm being tenanted. We basically stopped the share milking in the Autumn although I stayed on as a contract herdsman. We have since started renting a small farm and are trying to grow stock numbers to move to a bigger holding. I still believe share milking can be beneficial to both parties and think it will become more common in the future.