Thinking of getting into cereal crops. Anyone got a breakdown including contractor costs

[Chae1]

Rightly or wrongly I’d charge exactly the same rate whether it was 10 acres or 1000 acres , I calculate my cost and average it out over my workload so that everyone pays the same, large or small. Don’t forget that sometimes it’s handy to have a small job that you can nip in to do if you’ve finished another one 3/4 of the way through the day. In my experience of contracting and knowing lots of contractors you end up at the back of the queue if you take months to pay your bill. Prompt payment and a cup of coffee when they turn up/ slice of cake and cup of tea at teatime will leapfrog you up the list.

In my experience turning up calibrating drill getting setup for ten acres not worth it. The man with ten acres will call much more than one with 1000. Although the cup of teas nice, your not earning money. You'll take the same time as it takes to do 50 acres if you include the chat. It is doable if farmer gives you full control of when jobs done and supply of seed, fert, chemicals. Could fit spraying in with another tank load. Drill calibrated using own seed. Fertiliser settings just same as all the rest you have done.

 

[Cowcorn]

Rightly or wrongly I’d charge exactly the same rate whether it was 10 acres or 1000 acres , I calculate my cost and average it out over my workload so that everyone pays the same, large or small. Don’t forget that sometimes it’s handy to have a small job that you can nip in to do if you’ve finished another one 3/4 of the way through the day. In my experience of contracting and knowing lots of contractors you end up at the back of the queue if you take months to pay your bill. Prompt payment and a cup of coffee when they turn up/ slice of cake and cup of tea at teatime will leapfrog you up the list.

I agree completely a small job can be fitted in and its no big deal if the combine or drill is nearby . My experience in my youth of small jobs was very positive the farmer with ten acres to drill or cut was always around to lend a hand loading the drill he would make sure you were allright for grub and Most importantly he didnt bend your hand for a discount and you usually left with the cash in your arse pocket.
Ten acre combining jobs at 25 quid an acre back in the day i couldnt get enough of them !!!! Also as the were livestock men the didnt do anything in a hurry the were busy with lambing and calving in spring so the rarely had the dung spread or the field ploughed and tilled till late April or early May when all us " proffesionals " were finished so the work was not holding your own up.

 

[Hobbit]

Rightly or wrongly I’d charge exactly the same rate whether it was 10 acres or 1000 acres , I calculate my cost and average it out over my workload so that everyone pays the same, large or small. Don’t forget that sometimes it’s handy to have a small job that you can nip in to do if you’ve finished another one 3/4 of the way through the day. In my experience of contracting and knowing lots of contractors you end up at the back of the queue if you take months to pay your bill. Prompt payment and a cup of coffee when they turn up/ slice of cake and cup of tea at teatime will leapfrog you up the list.

Brilliant post! It’s only the smaller farms that seem to have a working kettle.

 

[Cowcorn]

Brilliant post! It’s only the smaller farms that seem to have a working kettle.

Aye or a readily available cheque book !!!!

 

[bankrupt]

you end up at the back of the queue if you take months to pay your bill.

That can work t'other way round, too.

"Turn up here first thing tomorrow and we'll settle right up for last year and the year before."

 

[Cowcorn]

That can work t'other way round, too.

"Turn up here first thing tomorrow and we'll settle right up for last year and the year before."

Fool me once shame on you .... Fool me twice shame on me .....

 

[bankrupt]

Fool me twice

Happens more than you'd think.

 

[Simon Chiles]

In my experience turning up calibrating drill getting setup for ten acres not worth it. The man with ten acres will call much more than one with 1000. Although the cup of teas nice, your not earning money. You'll take the same time as it takes to do 50 acres if you include the chat. It is doable if farmer gives you full control of when jobs done and supply of seed, fert, chemicals. Could fit spraying in with another tank load. Drill calibrated using own seed. Fertiliser settings just same as all the rest you have done.

I think we all know contractors that’ll stand and chat for 8 hours ( if you let them ) telling you how busy they are! However 30 years ago I learnt a lesson that I’ll never forget. The customer wanted me to plant very late maturing grass seed, I did exactly what she requested. It later transpired that what she really needed was the silaging contractors to turn up quicker and not leave her to last. When I got the silaging job it was a PITA for the net 5 years having to do her silage late and if we’d cleared her ground sooner it would have given her more grazing options.
18 years ago I travelled 15 miles to do an 8 acre drilling job for a bloke that I didn’t know from Adam, the contractor whose job it was said it wasn’t worth traveling that far. Off the back of that one job I got given 3000 acres of drilling over the next 3 years and about 300 acres of hay making every year for the last 15 years. It was probably the most productive 8 acres I’ve ever drilled.

 

[Chae1]

That was a stroke of luck! Can't be many farmers with 3k acres to drill that don't own one.

 

[Cowcorn]

Happens more than you'd think.

Hmmm i can think of a certain contractor close to me nicknamed " the Stone " who would tidy a lot of those chancers up . The door of the house would literally be flat on the ground with the hammering the Stone would give it the wife would be traumatised by the roaring for " me money " . Offers of part payment would be dissmissed as " thats no good to me " . Many s a job that that no other man would touch has been taken on and fully collected by the Stone .

 

[Bury the Trash]

Loamy soil.
roughly 10 acres.
planning on putting some bales up in our workshop to make some sort of silo to hold the crop.
Case 844XLN and John Deere 2030 but do have access to a John Deere 6930

Go for it. It will be more expensive than buying in straw but way more fun and interest.

Do as much as you can yourself, that's where the learning and the interest comes from, not just paying other people to do thing s.

Cheap secondhand ploug h , make sure ph is about 6 or above if not lime will be needed, spread good amount of npk + s if required before beginning cultivation (fert worked in the seedbed means no combine drill needed and it will be where the seedling and plant needs it from the get go .iyswim ) press and level with a cutivator broadcast the seed on with the spinner that possibly already have cover with cultivator

Dont need expensive fancy drills.

Dont need a JD 6930 either .

If your technical and dont mind fiddling with pipes etc do the spraying yourself as well an old allman 12m sprayer can be got not dear but might need a few things doing to it.
Keep clean one weed spray to keep moisture down and please combine man one fungicide no pgr
ask nieghbour or local farmer to combine

Happy days.


P.s. take no notice of @bankrupt s 'negativity' I bet he loves it really ..... ?

 

[bankrupt]

'negativity'

Moi?

 

[NasherXL]

Having been offered a 10 acre field about 8 years ago with new grass, I worked it every year for hay. Was getting pretty badly cut up and tired by the time the haylage was off in July 18. Decided to have a shot at the big-time and try my hand at some barley. Put a crop of winter barley in to see what would happen.
Should maybe add at this point we are in central Perthshire,small hobby farmer/contractor as well as a full time job with a case 1056 and various bits of older machinery put together over the last 10 years,all grassland aimed with the exception of my plough and a small combine purchased with the intention of getting a few small jobs for locals growing a bit for the straw for livestock.
Long story short all went to plan last year with lots of helpful hints and assistance where required (youth and enthusiasm seems to have been a big help). Large local contractor was on board from day one of my plan and sowed and sprayed and generally treated me like I had 1000 acres not 10.
2 local stockfarms took all my grain with no hassle or worry about assurance.
Luckily I have my own combine which allowed me a lot more flexibility on the day.
Ended up making enough out of the venture to go again this year, although spring barley instead of winter to see if the reduced inputs had much change on output.
The most important thing was it was a most satisfying job from doing my own ploughing to seeing the last bale come off the field and to anyone with a love of agriculture I would highly recommend having a stab at it.