Way forward

[wasted years]

See I agree with all of that, but to buy some bare land and build sheds is a different game. Greenfield site designed around 365 housing is gonna be what 4k/cow?

100 cows 400k plus 100 cows,
So 550k deep before your 1st milk ticket.

£450 cow place in forage needed straight away too.

I'd love you to show me some one that has done and made a success if what you are saying, there are a fair few cases of.people that have made a success of the alternative way

You've got the wrong end of my stick, the OP says he owns a house with very little left on the loan with some cash in the bank, I would suggest looking out for an existing , if run down steading and say 20 to 50 acres ( I don't know the land market in the OP's area) and look at putting 50 to 100 cows on rather than being transfixed by the 'it has to be 250 plus grazing in the spring' fixation . He could possibly consider robots and keeping his current job or a milking only employee for the new enterprise and doing the same.
I would advise against selling or mortgaging assets to go farming in a rented situation but I do see the attraction.

 

[Bill the Bass]

You've got the wrong end of my stick, the OP says he owns a house with very little left on the loan with some cash in the bank, I would suggest looking out for an existing , if run down steading and say 20 to 50 acres ( I don't know the land market in the OP's area) and look at putting 50 to 100 cows on rather than being transfixed by the 'it has to be 250 plus grazing in the spring' fixation . He could possibly consider robots and keeping his current job or a milking only employee for the new enterprise and doing the same.
I would advise against selling or mortgaging assets to go farming in a rented situation but I do see the attraction.

Me too but there is a hell of a lot of folk out there chasing a dream as opposed to developing a business.

 

[wasted years]

Me too but there is a hell of a lot of folk out there chasing a dream as opposed to developing a business.

Owning assets opens doors, a wise man told me 'you are never worth owt 'til you own summat somehow'.

 

[Agrispeed]

was told the way to get into dairy farming, get your self a base in big arable area, your sh!t would be wanted in exchange for straw/break crops etc. to be fare I think a few spring grazers are doing that already. could be a cheaper way forward than selling a house, and mr gove seems to be well into soil protection!

I always wonder about this. Short term tenancies and a portable parlour.

 

[Beef farmer]

I always wonder about this. Short term tenancies and a portable parlour.

Chance for massive opportunity

 

[ollie989898]

Not a bad way of looking at it. I’ve made everything I’ve got so I suppose the worst that can happen is I lose it and have to do it again! I don’t think I would struggle to find another job looking at the vacancies around

In many ways you already have a back up plan then and are very resistant to a potential failure so your risk is somewhat minimised. You have youth on your side, too.

 

[ollie989898]

I always wonder about this. Short term tenancies and a portable parlour.

You could have a nomadic dairy, cows following the food, using break crops or cover crops, walk them over Salisbury plain, a version of Kiwi Petes holistic mob grazing type systems. Cow health would be good, work would be milking cows, providing water and moving fences. A few robots based on a 40ft trailer you move from place to place? Like the sheep boys, graze it off, move to the next place?

 

[Beef farmer]

I always wonder about this. Short term tenancies and a portable parlour.

20000 concrete sleepers and a mobile milking unit, lay a pad and tracks in the middle of a few hundred black grass infested acres for 3-5 years, then pick it all up and move on to the next block. Decent size arable estate hosts you, and over day 15 years the whole farm has been in grass for minimum 3 years to build fertility and suppress weeds.

I believe the big herringbone mobile parlours are 200k

 

[ollie989898]

20000 concrete sleepers and a mobile milking unit, lay a pad and tracks in the middle of a few hundred black grass infested acres for 3-5 years, then pick it all up and move on to the next block. Decent size arable estate hosts you, and over day 15 years the whole farm has been in grass for minimum 3 years to build fertility and suppress weeds.

I believe the big herringbone mobile parlours are 200k

See mob grazing and the need for tracks is removed, cows never set foot in the same hoofprint.

 

[dairyrow]

have you had a look at the farming connect joint venture opportunities? There might be some dairy farms on there

 

[Beef farmer]

See mob grazing and the need for tracks is removed, cows never set foot in the same hoofprint.

Moving a parlour isnt my kinda holiday. Make sleepers look cheap.

 

[Agrispeed]

Moving a parlour isnt my kinda holiday. Make sleepers look cheap.

I've seen ones built that weren't that expensive. Time consuming to move would be my biggest issue. A mobistar, which I think is a 10/20 wasn't 200k, but was more than my parlour and shed when I priced it up. I worked it out that a portable parlour was more time consuming than moving cows.

I wonder if you could get some of those vehicle mats that they use in events cheap? I like the idea of just plonking cow tracks down.

 

[Beef farmer]

I've seen ones built that weren't that expensive. Time consuming to move would be my biggest issue. A mobistar, which I think is a 10/20 wasn't 200k, but was more than my parlour and shed when I priced it up. I worked it out that a portable parlour was more time consuming than moving cows.

I wonder if you could get some of those vehicle mats that they use in events cheap? I like the idea of just plonking cow tracks down.

Concrete sleepers are nearly an appreciating asset

 

[Agrispeed]

Concrete sleepers are nearly an appreciating asset

I haven't been able to find any for a while, and If I did, I suspect I wouldn't be able to afford them

 

[ollie989898]

Moving a parlour isnt my kinda holiday. Make sleepers look cheap.

I was thinking a mobile kind of unit, something quite easy to setup and unfold and move about, like a funfair ride is packed up and moved.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

You can fit a 20:40 on an artic. Just

 

[goodevans]

20000 concrete sleepers and a mobile milking unit, lay a pad and tracks in the middle of a few hundred black grass infested acres for 3-5 years, then pick it all up and move on to the next block. Decent size arable estate hosts you, and over day 15 years the whole farm has been in grass for minimum 3 years to build fertility and suppress weeds.

I believe the big herringbone mobile parlours are 200k

A G STREET wrote about this 75 years ago so it is not new thinking.I have all his books in a box somewhere but can't remember which title it is ,but they are all great reading.

 

[Beef farmer]

You can fit a 20:40 on an artic. Just
View attachment 758080

That's how you spend 200k+

 

[Beef farmer]

That said, a combine is 350k for a decent size one. So perhaps in today's world it's not that insane

 

[farmboy]

Yeah guy not a million miles from me has 2 mobile 20:40s, just fold them up and tow them around with a tractor takes a couple of hours I think. I believe they are around 200k to make. I think kingsclere?? Estate hVe started doing something similar putting a block of grass in putting a mobile parlour in the middle then moving the next year