Walterp
Member
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
You probably remember the recruitment drive that the State of South Dakota ran in the UK's farming Press a few years back...complete with a cartoon of Uncle Sam beckoning with open arms and, presumably, an open-ended Green Card.
I knew a dairy farmer who went out to have a look, but didn't take up the offer. Why? When there is no restrictions on planning ("You can build a house anywhere you darn well want. Heck! it's your land ain't it?") or cow numbers, plenty of chances to buy an existing unit or build a new one, everyone keen to do business with you to keep their town in business, and always a choice of milk contracts.
Maybe it was the cultural differences that put off UK farmers? Because it was noticeable that the Dutch contingent were a lot keener to invest.
Three differences became really noticeable, just from hearing accounts of doing business in the US. The big one was the difference in attitude towards risk: milk contracts are fixed, so you may find yourself locked in to a profitable, or an unprofitable, contract for a year at a time, depending on trade at renewal time. There's only so much you can do to reduce costs when you're milking 1,000 cows, isn't there? So maybe it needed a 'tough it out' approach that we may no longer see much of, over here.
Next up was choice - you could milk 400 cows, or 4,000; it was up to you what you wanted to do, and what you could afford.
But the biggest difference? Everybody wants you to succeed - your landlord wants you to keep on buying corn, the JD dealer wants your order, ditto everyone else. In a big country, country towns can just, well, shrivel up and die of cold, if business doesn't get done.
Does anyone know anyone who took up SD's offer?
I knew a dairy farmer who went out to have a look, but didn't take up the offer. Why? When there is no restrictions on planning ("You can build a house anywhere you darn well want. Heck! it's your land ain't it?") or cow numbers, plenty of chances to buy an existing unit or build a new one, everyone keen to do business with you to keep their town in business, and always a choice of milk contracts.
Maybe it was the cultural differences that put off UK farmers? Because it was noticeable that the Dutch contingent were a lot keener to invest.
Three differences became really noticeable, just from hearing accounts of doing business in the US. The big one was the difference in attitude towards risk: milk contracts are fixed, so you may find yourself locked in to a profitable, or an unprofitable, contract for a year at a time, depending on trade at renewal time. There's only so much you can do to reduce costs when you're milking 1,000 cows, isn't there? So maybe it needed a 'tough it out' approach that we may no longer see much of, over here.
Next up was choice - you could milk 400 cows, or 4,000; it was up to you what you wanted to do, and what you could afford.
But the biggest difference? Everybody wants you to succeed - your landlord wants you to keep on buying corn, the JD dealer wants your order, ditto everyone else. In a big country, country towns can just, well, shrivel up and die of cold, if business doesn't get done.
Does anyone know anyone who took up SD's offer?
