Whitewalker
Member
I see what you mean however when you rent a shed and land as we were it was turning money and making work .
Small dairy herds
- Thread starter Comptonfarmer
- Start date
I see what you mean however when you rent a shed and land as we were it was turning money and making work .
Princess Pooper
Member
- Location
- East Mids
We're 80-90 herd and we calve from August to early March. All dairy replacements from sexed semen in the first 2 months to give a good tight group for rearing. All the rest to beef - AI at first (in cows) while bull sweeps heifer then bull sweeps cows, Beef calves all sold 5 weeks, Unless weather is horrendous we can graze the late calvers until Nov/Dec with just cake in parlour and a bit of silage in the morning while fresh are being milked, and dries are out until close-up too. We can house 80 milkers but currently have 93 in herd, some are dry and some in stale group, which includes some culls which will go as yield drops or scc rise (some going next week). Fresh group are in at night as soon as they calve, graze days as long as weather/grass permits, usually fully housed early Nov.
Having extended calving means we can use our limited calf housing to maximise beef calf values at 5 weeks, if we were tighter autumn block we would need to sell earlier or invest in more housing and we do not want to go all spring calving (when we could rear calves outdoors). We would also need more cow housing with tighter block. It also means calving etc spread over several months so we do not take on any extra staff to cover calvings but can still give the job proper attention (having said that, 4-5 calves makes 'a busy day' with colostrum feeding, moving them around etc!) We still have a few months break from calving and to get calf housing all cleaned, any repairs done etc and sit empty for a while.
We run a modest 75 cow Holstein herd here on all rented land and holdings. We run 2 different holdings, with the dairy as ‘home’ and a second holding 2 miles down the lane where we run a beef suckler and fattening unit. We run around 200 cattle there.
When i came home from uni and took this second unit on I wanted to run that as a second dairy unit with robot etc but landlord didn’t want us to do that. Ah well. It’s meant we have spread our risk a little I suppose.
We calve the dairy herd AYR to fit our milk contract. Beef calves sold at 5 to 6 weeks (Tb permitting).
The business currently provides enough for 2 families with some good reinvestment. My OH runs her own non farming business off farm too.
We have built up a really good business that is not only profitable, but something that we all get up and really enjoy doing every day.
My concerns? I just wish we owned something and had all our land in a ring fence. We farm land spread over a fair distance.
Labour is another issue that concerns me. As a family farm we all work hard and as the business has grown, it’s noticible how much less time we have to enjoy other things in life. I don’t think we have quite hit that ‘sweet spot’ where we can employ anyone full time and finding anyone as a relief around here is a nightmare. I have a very good self employed chap who does a little bit each week for me but cannot rely on him as one day he’ll get snapped up by a big farm I’m sure. Moving forward, the labour issue will be the making or breaking of us as smaller farms.
When i came home from uni and took this second unit on I wanted to run that as a second dairy unit with robot etc but landlord didn’t want us to do that. Ah well. It’s meant we have spread our risk a little I suppose.
We calve the dairy herd AYR to fit our milk contract. Beef calves sold at 5 to 6 weeks (Tb permitting).
The business currently provides enough for 2 families with some good reinvestment. My OH runs her own non farming business off farm too.
We have built up a really good business that is not only profitable, but something that we all get up and really enjoy doing every day.
My concerns? I just wish we owned something and had all our land in a ring fence. We farm land spread over a fair distance.
Labour is another issue that concerns me. As a family farm we all work hard and as the business has grown, it’s noticible how much less time we have to enjoy other things in life. I don’t think we have quite hit that ‘sweet spot’ where we can employ anyone full time and finding anyone as a relief around here is a nightmare. I have a very good self employed chap who does a little bit each week for me but cannot rely on him as one day he’ll get snapped up by a big farm I’m sure. Moving forward, the labour issue will be the making or breaking of us as smaller farms.
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We used to retail 2 million litres a year. The miners strike started the end of doorstep here.We moved on to mainly serving catering trade and local authority contracts for East, North and South Ayrshire. Lot of spinning plates , with a big herd on three times a day ( for 17 years ). Eventually had to admit that we didn't have a good enough farm to run those kinds of numbers. I think the middle range dairy business no longer has a niche in the market . We tried to win through on customer service , but when times are hard , price rules everything.
Whitewalker
Member
Hard to balance everything.
holywell farmer
Member
- Location
- holywell, north wales
On many acres ?
OL is a very good friend of mine. His cows come from a friend of yours I think? He has put a lot of effort into his system, but it does seem to be going well for him.
I'm still small by most standards (60 moving towards 80-100) but it does mean that I had to invest a lot less money, and certainly when it comes to grazing and management it is a lot easier to keep your eye on the ball.
As a Contract farmer, I am aiming to get a return on investment (parlour & cattle etc) in less than 24 months, I also pay myself more than I would be able earn elsewhere, otherwise I wouldn't do it. However, as soon as you had to look at the purchase cost of land, the picture would change considerably. You would still own a fairly secure and increasing asset, which has some value. But when you consider a income of less than 5% of the investment then it does look a little bit shaky to say the least.
- Location
- M6 Hard shoulder
One of my relief guys is aiming to possibly put in a robot and milk 40 cows he owns a small parcel of land and has a couple of small sheds and has access to ground for forage and to spread muck, he thinks an investment of £150k would set him up, simple system of cows housed and fed round bales and all cake in the robot, it would enable him to continue to work elsewhere and his partner to spend more time at home, but would he look at an 8000l liquid system or a 5000l constituent contract (4.3f, 3.3p) ?
Headless chicken
Member
- Location
- West Wales
I would think he should be aiming to get 8000 plus those continents
- Location
- M6 Hard shoulder
Sorry meant 8000l 4.3/3.3 or 5000l 4.75/3.6
Whitewalker
Member
Is that justified with only 40 cows ? I’m not knocking the idea but would 300000 litres pay a robot off ?
136acres all owned plus rent a field of a neighbour in the summer that joins us so not overly stocked but saves buying alot of fert normally have 170ish head of cattle on the farm.
holywell farmer
Member
- Location
- holywell, north wales
Smallest dairy farm near me milking 70 think
- Location
- Northern Ireland
2nd hand robot, and not red?!
- Location
- M6 Hard shoulder
Second hand and red, hes doing his figures at 25p but hes keen as custard and isnt frightened of work
- Location
- M6 Hard shoulder
Im not sure but hes dead keen to try and make a go rather than rely on being employed.
Whitewalker
Member
What is second hand money ? I’m probably a bit more old school but for 40 cows and a reasonable parlour you wouldn’t be long horsing them through and the other half could do other stuff.
- Location
- M6 Hard shoulder
35/40 installed and audited and warranty a3
Whitewalker
Member
Doesn’t seem that extreme then
- Location
- South Molton
Wow there must be a lot of sh red ones around now then as they were alot more than that 12-18 months ago. Plus you had to pay Lely a lump sum forthe privilege of buying sh through one of their dealers.
Sounds like its all changed