Too much...?!

[Hill Ground]

God hates a coward.

Who's up for buying some of these very cheap livestock in Australia?

Big payback as Qld producer put 38,000 bought cattle on agistment - Beef Central

In one of the largest cattle deals seen in recent years without a property transaction involved, 38,000 head of cattle have been bought by a southern Queensland cattleman and agisted on almost 60 paddocks across Queensland and NSW – before being sold into the booming feeder market. The sale is...

www.beefcentral.com

Like a modern day kidman!!

 

[unlacedgecko]

Like a modern day kidman!!

Got to be in it to win it

 

[sjt01]

When I was a toddler, my father and grandfather were farming 60 acres. The War Ag put out a tenant 3 miles away, and the farm was offered to my father, 414 acres in a terrible state. Apparently there was turkey muck up to the windowsills of the farmhouse, and when they cleaned out the dykes on the marshes there were horse and cattle skeletons everywhere. My mother tells of late nights, father pacing up and down trying to make ends meet, but he got it to work and developed into having a dairy herd of 110 in milk, fattening 1000 beef animals a year, growing brassicas and carrots for the London markets, and growing on annual rented land over 10,000 tonnes of carrots a year.
Sadly when he died and I came back to the farm, we had enough land of our own so we lost the tenanted land and we are farming rather differently now ( but in a very satisfying way).
If you are prepared to stick the worry for a while, you may well make a success of it, and I wish you the best of luck. If you have not been following the dairy threads, it might be interesting to follow the trials and tribulations of @Jdunn55 who is putting an awful lot of effort in and deserves to succeed.

 

[Big_D]

This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!​

W.H. Murray​

 

[David.]

All I would add in view of further facts, is be 101% certain that when your benevolent landlord is no longer here, his heirs are not spoiling to have you out on your ear and sell from under you, when you have put heart and soul into the place for a few years improving it.
If you have bought the place by then fine, but usually, if you do not have the Deeds, you have nothing.

 

[som farmer]

When I was a toddler, my father and grandfather were farming 60 acres. The War Ag put out a tenant 3 miles away, and the farm was offered to my father, 414 acres in a terrible state. Apparently there was turkey muck up to the windowsills of the farmhouse, and when they cleaned out the dykes on the marshes there were horse and cattle skeletons everywhere. My mother tells of late nights, father pacing up and down trying to make ends meet, but he got it to work and developed into having a dairy herd of 110 in milk, fattening 1000 beef animals a year, growing brassicas and carrots for the London markets, and growing on annual rented land over 10,000 tonnes of carrots a year.
Sadly when he died and I came back to the farm, we had enough land of our own so we lost the tenanted land and we are farming rather differently now ( but in a very satisfying way).
If you are prepared to stick the worry for a while, you may well make a success of it, and I wish you the best of luck. If you have not been following the dairy threads, it might be interesting to follow the trials and tribulations of @Jdunn55 who is putting an awful lot of effort in and deserves to succeed.

@Jdunn55 is a good thread to follow, he has certainly taken a chance that came his way, and a huge commitment.

he's quite happy to share the trials and tribulations he goes through, and learning the hard way cash flow is king.

his determination is great to see, and l certainly hope he succeeds, though a little less ambition might be a good thing.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I've lived by the mantra "bite off more than you can chew, then chew like fück".

There's been some massive losses. And some big wins.

Yeah, man. Fill your boots!

"What are you saving it for" is one of mine.

This is it, and the only thing getting in the way of it is me, or rather the way I wound up being (not me!)

 

[som farmer]

All I would add in view of further facts, is be 101% certain that when your benevolent landlord is no longer here, his heirs are not spoiling to have you out on your ear and sell from under you, when you have put heart and soul into the place for a few years improving it.
If you have bought the place by then fine, but usually, if you do not have the Deeds, you have nothing.

l never expected, or planned for, being shafted by my mother and sisters, all they wanted was ££££££££££££££££'s.

and that put me unexpectedly on the back foot, OM's will was not written carefully enough, and they could, and did dispute it. Expected 1 sister to cause trouble, not the other, and mother.

did manage to dig my heels in, again with the help of a relation, and stopped them selling the farm, l had to rent it.

but l doubt if l saw my mother, or 1 sister more than a few times in 30 yrs, then only at marriages or funerals, the other sister lives local, but we never speak.

so take nothing for granted, prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.
In my case, we are about to 'sort' it out, 30 yrs after he died !!

 

[David.]

That is a sad and miserable scenario, but not uncommon.

 

[Al R]

That is a sad and miserable scenario, but not uncommon.

I hear of it more and more.. without being sexist but mainly when women/sisters/wives are involved men tend to just want an easy life and for everyone to be happy…

Quite a few big farms around here have been split while it’s all been amicable and before their children are to involved because they know brothers could farm together but cousins may find it harder etc

 

[David.]

It is wrong that the most tax efficient way to leave a farm is still for thè old folks to die with their boots on, and owning nearly everything.
Because by stealth, the Government have made it difficult to pass it on without incurring some big bills.

 

[Hooby Farmer]

Absolutely. There's always something that stops us.
It doesn't really matter how a fly gets stuck in the flypaper, it's stuck in the flypaper.
It doesn't really matter how we chew our food, we chew the food.

And that's why we don't consider being stopped as "being stopped" but the things we see that we let stop us.

Not enough time is the leading because, I've been studying this. We make time for complaining because we get agreement there.

We don't make time for looking inward because what stops us seems to be "out there" and not "in here"

there is actually someone holding a gun to our head saying something might go wrong if we don't see this heifer have her calf, we've been caught out before.
There's someone holding a gun to our heads saying there's no options in farming that we haven't looked at. And it has us stuck in that.

If our view of ourself is "as assessment" then we're worried what that person with a gun might say about it, if it's selling up or moving on or time or money then we'll make sure of that.

It'll stop us going on that personal development course our mate wants us to do, because that can't change the world, I'd better watch the heifer have her calf. I'd better get the sprayer flushed out and fuelled up.
I'd better make my quality of life at the effect of the weather in New Zealand or some other thing, because that's stopping plenty of TFFers right at the moment. As assessment, we don't measure up.

What good will a change possibly do?
Someone's assessment of who we are, making a difference, is usually not aligned with our thoughts on the matter.
We've been there every single time something didn't go right, so we know the truth about who we are. And we'll be stopped.

One of the key things I have gotten is the ability to notice I have been stopped and think "nothing wrong here, what's available?" and act independently of my experiences, or reality.

I was stopped from selling up by the considerations "what am I letting myself in for, how hard will it be, who will buy it, what will people think" and a whole heap of other noises that go bump.

And now I'm here in the present with no debt at all, a farm to call ours, a life that fills me up and spills out into the world around me.

I did absolutely nothing much differently to before, except for in a few moments where I didn't let myself get stopped. Nothing is wrong

My big thing stopping is actually seeing opportunity. When i was younger i could see it in everywhwere and was always fairly successful in what i tried. In 20/21 I went through a major life event every averaging 6 weeks over a 10month period, some a few were only days apart. Since then I struggle to see it or even entertain it, just try and stay in my lane and get through another season.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

My big thing stopping is actually seeing opportunity. When i was younger i could see it in everywhwere and was always fairly successful in what i tried. In 20/21 I went through a major life event every averaging 6 weeks over a 10month period, some a few were only days apart. Since then I struggle to see it or even entertain it, just try and stay in my lane and get through another season.

You've got it, eh.

That's exactly what I was putting down, life has this funny way of making us smaller than we really are, in fact very few people know just how big they truly are!

So a vast range of opportunities don't show up as opportunities, more as threats or disruptions

 

[d williams]

All I would add in view of further facts, is be 101% certain that when your benevolent landlord is no longer here, his heirs are not spoiling to have you out on your ear and sell from under you, when you have put heart and soul into the place for a few years improving it.
If you have bought the place by then fine, but usually, if you do not have the Deeds, you have nothing.

Exactly this
Don’t want to put a downer on this but from what’s been said it sounds to me there’s a sitting tenant that maybe can’t afford to retire and looking for a mug to come in and help him see his years out at the farm that’s not had much spent over the last couple years???

 

[ImLost]

So to resurrect this thread - on a year to year basis, this opportunity stacks up well and would be a profitable enterprise.

Where I'm stuck is the bit that others have pointed out would be a challenge, and what I kind of knew already - cashflow/repaying capital.

So the owner of the farm has said I can buy whichever of his cattle I want, and he will sell the rest.

Originally I was only considering buying his circa 65 breeding cows that are in calf and/or have calves at foot.

But he has stores of varying ages, from 9 month old weanlings to strong stores ready to be fattened.

He is also open to spreading the cost of the cattle over 2 years (extremely decent!) as it would help him get out sooner and enjoy life.

Even with trickling the stores out to cover costs until production is at full capacity, there is going to be some tight spots in cash flow.

I have considered other things to supplement the venture, like poultry, but this would also need cash to start with.

Have even considered taking some cattle on contract on the ground I currently rent, but wouldn't see the return on this until October when the cattle leave.

Unless anyone wants to send a couple of hundred head of youngstock/bulling heifers over for the summer, sensible rates charged if you pay monthly to help me out.

Anything else I should consider? I still have a full time job, but any pay is generally tied up in the business or will be going towards a new house mortgage. I would rather the venture stood on it's own two feet.

 

[crashbox]

So to resurrect this thread - on a year to year basis, this opportunity stacks up well and would be a profitable enterprise.

Where I'm stuck is the bit that others have pointed out would be a challenge, and what I kind of knew already - cashflow/repaying capital.

So the owner of the farm has said I can buy whichever of his cattle I want, and he will sell the rest.

Originally I was only considering buying his circa 65 breeding cows that are in calf and/or have calves at foot.

But he has stores of varying ages, from 9 month old weanlings to strong stores ready to be fattened.

He is also open to spreading the cost of the cattle over 2 years (extremely decent!) as it would help him get out sooner and enjoy life.

Even with trickling the stores out to cover costs until production is at full capacity, there is going to be some tight spots in cash flow.

I have considered other things to supplement the venture, like poultry, but this would also need cash to start with.

Have even considered taking some cattle on contract on the ground I currently rent, but wouldn't see the return on this until October when the cattle leave.

Unless anyone wants to send a couple of hundred head of youngstock/bulling heifers over for the summer, sensible rates charged if you pay monthly to help me out.

Anything else I should consider? I still have a full time job, but any pay is generally tied up in the business or will be going towards a new house mortgage. I would rather the venture stood on it's own two feet.

Get a loan. Oxbury are good agriculture specialists.

If it stacks up at 8 to 10% interest (allow some scope for increase in base rate), you're good to go.

Don't be afraid of debt if properly costed and risks managed.

Good luck.

 

[ImLost]

Get a loan. Oxbury are good agriculture specialists.

If it stacks up at 8 to 10% interest (allow some scope for increase in base rate), you're good to go.

Don't be afraid of debt if properly costed and risks managed.

Good luck.

Not sure if they would lend it to me, I've only been mucking about with farming as an overgrown hobby until now, so don't have a business history behind me as such.

 

[Dry Rot]

bloody profesionals, the only one i would trust is my accountant, i think he know's how my mind work's' . bloody land agent's we are on our 3rd in 4 year's they just take the pizz!

I started doing my own books when my accountant made a 25% error in adding up my bill! Haven't used one since.

 

[crashbox]

Not sure if they would lend it to me, I've only been mucking about with farming as an overgrown hobby until now, so don't have a business history behind me as such.

Not sure? No-one is, when they are starting out.

Got a solid, well costed business plan? Checked with one or two good mentors, to make sure your figures are sensible?

You'll have livestock as security so it's not the huge gamble you might think.

Don't be afraid of having a crack, but do put in the work to put your best foot forward.

Good luck.

 

[spin cycle]

how much do you need?....perhaps a few of us could 'crowd fund a loan"?