Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
I have a few very good non Ag mates, plasterer, mechanic with his own garage, building trade supplier manager, and I don’t think any of them would swap their working lifestyle for mine.
I see them doing quite nicely in life without the 4:15am weekend starts, without having to work bank holidays and Christmas time, having 7 weeks holiday a year. They also have the huge advantage in their respective trades of being able to pass increasing costs on to their customers. This is, I think Ag’s biggest downfall. If our costs increase we can’t do anything about it.
If my mechanic friend has to fit a fancy new ramp to keep his business up to standard I guess he just sticks a bit extra onto every basic service or part price. We can’t ring arla and say, listen boys we need a new shed, so unfortunately we will have to increase our milk sale price to 45ppl for the next year’s till we get it paid off.
Could you not process the milk yourself?
Sell milk, butter, cheese, yoghurt direct to customers. Set the price yourself and pass on costs.