The hand over

Bill the Bass

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Handing the reigns from one generation to the next has been well documented on here, some successes down not so.

We are in the process here (or at at least I think we are) - it’s not going well to be honest. Despite doing all the feeding, shepherding, organising, all the paper work etc I still seem to be getting aggressively shouted instructions at by Father. To be honest I have kind of had enough of it, it’s not an environment for raising kids when your father keeps giving you a dressing down in front of them. Most importantly we still don’t know who will get what, I have a share in some land and own two houses, I am a partner but don’t know what will happen to the rest come the day.

Starting to worry that the rug will be pulled from under us. How have others both senior and junior handled this most tricky of issues for a family farm?
 

czechmate

Member
Mixed Farmer
What ages?
My ex father in law worked under his tyrannical farther (my ex wife’s memory of those days was of her grandad hitting her dad with a stick😕) until he was 40 and finally gave it best at 40 and walked. The old barsteward died 6 months later leaving the farm elsewhere 🥴.
Nonetheless my ex father in law (now deceased) was an absolute smashing fella👍
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Handing the reigns from one generation to the next has been well documented on here, some successes down not so.

We are in the process here (or at at least I think we are) - it’s not going well to be honest. Despite doing all the feeding, shepherding, organising, all the paper work etc I still seem to be getting aggressively shouted instructions at by Father. To be honest I have kind of had enough of it, it’s not an environment for raising kids when your father keeps giving you a dressing down in front of them. Most importantly we still don’t know who will get what, I have a share in some land and own two houses, I am a partner but don’t know what will happen to the rest come the day.

Starting to worry that the rug will be pulled from under us. How have others both senior and junior handled this most tricky of issues for a family farm?

How old are you?
Shouting at you, isn't on especially in front of your kids.
I'm not a farmer so I realise I'm not qualified to comment but there's more to life than living in hope of being left some dirt.
Tell him you're off and want to sell your share so you can set your family up elsewhere.
 

czechmate

Member
Mixed Farmer
Hardest thing about being a father is learning to take a step back & bite your tongue ;)


It’s a bit disappointing for me; because of how I completely reorganised the business (moving it to another country) I don’t get to work with my son now. And now, being tired and fed up with the job at just (very nearly) 61, I am sure I would happily hand over and just become the odd job man🤷‍♂️
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
It’s difficult is all I can say, you have to try and keep talking.

The only real advice I can give is to try and make sure wills are properly sorted and just as important that your dad has a power of attorney arrangement. With the way he’s treating you I know how difficult that could be to get arranged.

If your doing the paperwork perhaps a word with the accountant. He may be able to bring the issues up in a meeting. Proper discussion with someone outside the business may help.

Bg
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
I agree. But I am pretty sure you would think different if I gave you some example of his behaviour in aspects of the business (I don’t want to on a forum).

I read your posts about the respect you had for your dad and it makes me sad.
We had some bad fallings out , but breakfast was were we discussed everything, three of us would make a joint decision on anything from if we should cut the silage to buying another farm ,
 

Barleymow

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Ipswich
I was made a partner, dad did the important paper work,I did the farm assurance stuff and all the farm work I just sort of took over when he wasn't up to doing the vat etc I took it on .Hardest bit was persuading him to let me do on line banking ,then to make electronic payments .
 

Phil P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North West
Firstly you need to address the manner in which your farther speaks to you, just because it’s family it’s still a work place and shouting at someone isn’t on! It’s no different to bullying and it needs sorting. My dad has short temper and can fly of the handle at pretty much nothing but I won’t tolerate him shouting at me and will just turn my back and walk away. I have a zero tolerance approach and over the years he’s changed his attitude a lot. Now I once he’s calmed down we can usually sort things over a brew and find a much better solution than just standing and shouting at each other.

Secondly if your going to invest your time effort and money into a business you need to know where you stand!
Even if you’re farther doesn’t like it you need to sit him down and have the conversation about succession and what will happen. Then you need to get it in writing, don't just rely on promises!
If they aren’t willing to do this you HAVE TO give them an ultimatum. You can’t wait any longer if your going to change your career path or start on your own as once you get to 50 you’ll find it very hard to get any substantial backing from a bank to make investment.

Sorting out succession was the one thing I insisted on before making any kind of investment to expand the business. I have a brother who works away from the farm and as much as I don’t want to see him get nothing I also don’t want to be working all hours to just end up having to find a lot more money to pay him out!
To give you an idea, since we sorted out succession the business has quadrupled in size including buying a substantial amount of land. I wouldn’t have done so if I was going to end up splitting everything 50/50.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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