thinking of starting a contract finishing unit, am i mad?

[Matt]

What do others think about when starting a new venture on farm. no doubt this will have a wide range of answers and it depends on situation

looking at going into contract finishing, paid so much per head per week. my input is time, water, electric, straw and the unit. I know what i will earn

Do you jump in and crack on put up a new build as it seems a steady earner or do i start of smaller, convert a building if they will allow.

Land round us is near enough people fighting over it makes me question why we rent grass keep in, so thought of cut back cattle and do something which takes little area.

 

[Pan mixer]

What do others think about when starting a new venture on farm. no doubt this will have a wide range of answers and it depends on situation

looking at going into contract finishing, paid so much per head per week. my input is time, water, electric, straw and the unit. I know what i will earn

Do you jump in and crack on put up a new build as it seems a steady earner or do i start of smaller, convert a building if they will allow.

Land round us is near enough people fighting over it makes me question why we rent grass keep in, so thought of cut back cattle and do something which takes little area.

Pigs? cattle?

 

[Beef farmer]

Who's supplying food?

 

[gone up the hill]

Who's supplying food?

The OP would have to unless he is doing it for one farm only!!

If he is talking about fhinshing cattle he will have to be at the top of his game or else it wont stack up ( esp with the new grids coming in )

 

[Matt]

Pigs. They supply feed. Got 220 cattle 90 pedigree breeding cows here already

 

[Beef farmer]

Pigs. They supply feed. Got 220 cattle here already

@B&B Pig Man

 

[B&B Pig Man]

One thing I learnt quickly with pigs, is don't do things by halves.

Get the buildings and layout 100% correct to start with, you will soon regret it otherwise.
Get as many in as you can, utilising all the building etc, it is a numbers game - 2000 pigs don't take much more work than 1000 etc etc.

I know of a ready converted building sitting empty at the minute if you fancy a move........

 

[Stump Grinder]

I'v got a few specific questions. I was thinking of having a contract pig shed in years to come.

How much FYM would a new 2000 pig unit on straw produce per year. Our 150ha's are all ways hungry and I'd hope to match the unit size to the land area .
How big would the shed need to be.
Is the money still as good as it was or are there now to many pigs about.

 

[4course]

my experience of contract pigs is at the end of the day you end up with a water bill an electric bill heap of sh-- and a range of buildings that are in need of refurbishment but the odd batch in yards can work, I think if you do it as an occasional cash crop its fine

 

[wasted years]

The only downside is the risk, of course of the company you are contracted to getting into money troubles. We had pigs for Dents when they went bust , it was hellish.The Freedom foods scheme which no doubt you will operate to says that the pigs should never be without food, at some points with Dents the pigs were pushing the troughs around the shed because no mills would give Dents feed due to unpaid bills. Technically we were liable, very uncomfortable.

 

[Pan mixer]

I'v got a few specific questions. I was thinking of having a contract pig shed in years to come.

How much FYM would a new 2000 pig unit on straw produce per year. Our 150ha's are all ways hungry and I'd hope to match the unit size to the land area .
How big would the shed need to be.
Is the money still as good as it was or are there now to many pigs about.

It is all there in the 'Guidance for Farmers in an NVZ' Leaflet 3.

16 pigs per Ha.

Not many really

 

[Stump Grinder]

Thanks for the comments. As a dairy farmer I know all about purchasers going bust. Hopefully my milk buyer and pig man wont both go bust at the same time.
Ive got a bore hole for water and I want as much manure as possible, or am allowed. Im not in an nvz. Why do they need lots of electric? LED lights and a few feed augers wont use much.

 

[wasted years]

They don't need much electric. The biggest problem we found was when the chain broke down as far as getting one batch away to the next farm which wouldn't be as much of a problem if you are a finishing unit.Once pigs get too crowded they take alot of keeping clean and if they get stressed they start to tailbite. I think the worst part of the job on the practical front is washing the shed between batches, a really dirty job. You can pay people to do it but when I looked at it the cosy took the profit out of the job. On the plus side pigs are a lovely animal to work with.
If you are building new sheds for the job then of course make them multi use. To be honest if it is management for your land you are looking for you would be far better taking sewage sludge IMO.