Where's all cattle gone?

[Northeastfarmer]

just driving home from the highland show and on the way here for 150 miles up the a1 was staggered to see so few cattle you could count on one hand the herds....just wheat and barley all the way

 

[CharcoalWally]

just driving home from the highland show and on the way here for 150 miles up the a1 was staggered to see so few cattle you could count on one hand the herds....just wheat and barley all the way

Same here. My journey home from the show is back from Edinburgh to Stirling , and then head out due West until you hit the Atlantic Ocean.

When I first started regularly attending the Highland in the 80's , the country was full of cattle and sheep. Every field had stock in it of some sort. Gradually after the 90's , a gradual de-stocking started on the harder ground , and once production was "de-coupled" in 2005 , numbers just started to free-fall.

I would say that here on the West from 2010 onwards , stock have disappeared like water down the plughole. Empty fields , full of weeds and rank grass needing topped. A discussion with my AI tech the other day and he said that in his 15 years of doing the job , he felt that 50%of the beef cows have vanished from his round.

It's incredible , but once they're gone , they're gone. Who's left out here wanting to start up a suckler cow herd? Not many folk that I can think of.

 

[bobk]

@beefandsleep's got them all

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Same here. My journey home from the show is back from Edinburgh to Stirling , and then head out due West until you hit the Atlantic Ocean.

When I first started regularly attending the Highland in the 80's , the country was full of cattle and sheep. Every field had stock in it of some sort. Gradually after the 90's , a gradual de-stocking started on the harder ground , and once production was "de-coupled" in 2005 , numbers just started to free-fall.

I would say that here on the West from 2010 onwards , stock have disappeared like water down the plughole. Empty fields , full of weeds and rank grass needing topped. A discussion with my AI tech the other day and he said that in his 15 years of doing the job , he felt that 50%of the beef cows have vanished from his round.

It's incredible , but once they're gone , they're gone. Who's left out here wanting to start up a suckler cow herd? Not many folk that I can think of.

Yes I agree once gone they'll be gone for good, takes too much infrastructure to run a herd of cows so makes it difficult getting a start

 

[multi power]

So what is happening in all these empty fields?
Are there opportunity to be had?

 

[beefandsleep]

@beefandsleep's got them all

Aye, they're all in my sheds.

 

[CharcoalWally]

Yes I agree once gone they'll be gone for good, takes too much infrastructure to run a feed of cows so makes it difficult getting a start

Well I think that round here , the younger generation looking for a start up are more interested in doing it with sheep. There seems to be more enthusiasm for ewes than coos , but looking at the work and the frightening levels of capital tied up in cows , then I don't blame them.

I started building the suckler herd up in the late 80's by buying up other people's cast off rubbish , and , believe me , they were dodgy cows indeed , but the trade for the bottom end of the market today is astonishing. As an auctioneer recently remarked to me , you just can't get your hands on cows for love nor money.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

So what is happening in all these empty fields?
Are there opportunity to be had?

They're not empty they're full of wheat

 

[multi power]

They're not empty they're full of wheat

@CharcoalWally says empty fields of weeds and rank grass

 

[CharcoalWally]

@CharcoalWally says empty fields of weeds and rank grass

Two different parts of the world between me and @Northeastfarmer . Here , we're remote , and a lot of young people leave the country to head to the cities to study and find work. They generally never return to work on the land.

Therefore , it's entirely possible to find the worst of the ground is simply not wanted. Sometimes ponies , sometimes maybe environmental schemes if they're running , occasionally they'll get grazed , but plenty of the worst fields just aren't doing anything any more.

 

[multi power]

Two different parts of the world between me and @Northeastfarmer . Here , we're remote , and a lot of young people leave the country to head to the cities to study and find work. They generally never return to work on the land.

Therefore , it's entirely possible to find the worst of the ground is simply not wanted. Sometimes ponies , sometimes maybe environmental schemes if they're running , occasionally they'll get grazed , but plenty of the worst fields just aren't doing anything any more.

I'm liking this the more I here, empty fields and no people about, what's the catch?

 

[bobajob]

A long way from markets. Long winters, high feed and transport cost. No fences etc

Plenty of catches @multi power !!

 

[multi power]

A long way from markets. Long winters, high feed and transport cost. No fences etc

Plenty of catches @multi power !!

Winter, how long? How wet?

 

[bobajob]

200 day winter is not uncommon. Not sure on rainfall- 65 inches?

As Charcoal says its a combination of all the things why fields are empty- poor soils, short growing season, the amount of cash needed to invest in the breeding stock for the returns.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

So what is happening in all these empty fields?
Are there opportunity to be had?

Same here .after sheering fields would be as white as snow with sheep
SFP saw the end of that .farming rabbits gone to the history books

 

[Cowcalf]

So what is happening in all these empty fields?
Are there opportunity to be had?

up here they get paid regardless of stocking so quite happy to just take the sub, needs to get back to headage payment, even if WTO do not like it

 

[multi power]

I can't wait to see the end of subsidy

 

[DaveJ]

up here they get paid regardless of stocking so quite happy to just take the sub, needs to get back to headage payment, even if WTO do not like it

Out of interest why do you say that? Surely less people keeping cows is good news for the people still doing so? Or am I missing something?

 

[RedMerle]

I'm liking this the more I here, empty fields and no people about, what's the catch?

I imagine it's in Argyll is the catch

 

[Cowcalf]

Out of interest why do you say that? Surely less people keeping cows is good news for the people still doing so? Or am I missing something?

less ground available to rent, fences just rotting away, grass going wild, Glens going to bush before forestry buy them up for planting