Where's all cattle gone?

[multi power]

I imagine it's in Argyll is the catch

Is it that bad in Argyll?

 

[DaveJ]

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

I understand the land is reverting and that is sad. But, as was mentioned in the Welsh rewilding thread a while back, if all this ground was producing cattle, encouraged by headage payments, what would that do to the market?

 

[RedMerle]

Is it that bad in Argyll?

Its a beautiful place to live unless you need to earn money for example off farm or you leave a secure job. Employment is very few and far between, wages are considerably lower than say England.

As stated above you are a long way from the auction marts and killing houses so that all adds up. Buying anything involves an epic road or ferry trip.

It rains ALL the time.

And if the power goes out its out for 3 days.

You can put up would most of those things but not of you can't pay the bills.

 

[multi power]

Its a beautiful place to live unless you need to earn money for example off farm or you leave a secure job. Employment is very few and far between, wages are considerably lower than say England.

As stated above you are a long way from the auction marts and killing houses so that all adds up. Buying anything involves an epic road or ferry trip.

It rains ALL the time.

And if the power goes out its out for 3 days.

You can put up would most of those things but not of you can't pay the bills.

Apart from the rain it doesn't sound too bad

 

[Chae1]

Most unfarmed ground I ever saw was in Fife around dunfermline and Kelty. Looked decent grazing land.Try and utilise every acre here.

If anything comes up everyone chasing it.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Northunberland takes some beating...all along the coast the land looks black gold

 

[czechmate]

Its a beautiful place to live unless you need to earn money for example off farm or you leave a secure job. Employment is very few and far between, wages are considerably lower than say England.

As stated above you are a long way from the auction marts and killing houses so that all adds up. Buying anything involves an epic road or ferry trip.

It rains ALL the time.

And if the power goes out its out for 3 days.

You can put up would most of those things but not of you can't pay the bills.

It's probably windy a lot if the time too?

 

[CharcoalWally]

It's probably windy a lot if the time too?

You're not wrong there, it's nonstop.

 

[Lovegoodstock]

@CharcoalWally says empty fields of weeds and rank grass

Both @Northeastfarmer and @CharcoalWally are singing from the same hymn sheet. Empty fields of weeds and rank grass/ full of planted wheat, just add in black grass and you have got the way things are going. Yet in this area, approach an arable farmer to put in a sort term silage ley, roots for sheep etc, would demand a fortune irrelevant of the fact you could add fertility and help reduce weed problem significantly with a break crop

 

[Weasel]

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

That's good for us folk that still have them. The more people who put cattle off the better

 

[RedMerle]

You're not wrong there, it's nonstop.

Will never forget the bad storms a few years back when it took the power lines down. No shops open, no fuel and the undertaker couldn't get his hearse out of the automatic door and had to collect bodies in an estate car. For days.

Had 20 quid in my purse and quarter of a tank of fuel and had to gauge if I could make it to a fuel station with power.

Notwithstanding that I wouldn't have left there if it wasn't to get work.

 

[CharcoalWally]

Will never forget the bad storms a few years back when it took the power lines down. No shops open, no fuel and the undertaker couldn't get his hearse out of the automatic door and had to collect bodies in an estate car. For days.

Had 20 quid in my purse and quarter of a tank of fuel and had to gauge if I could make it to a fuel station with power.

Notwithstanding that I wouldn't have left there if it wasn't to get work.

March 2013?

Nightmare week. Ewes lambing in snowdrifts. Our peninsula completely cut off by 20 feet of snow. 10 pylons destroyed by the weight of the snow all having to be replaced. Complete silence all around as literally nothing moved all around us, no sound of traffic or people. The elderly and infirm at risk from freezing in homes with no power.

It brought the community together through sheer necessity for survival. Frightening how the weather can shock you right out of your cosy , complacent, comfort zone.

 

[milkloss]

That's good for us folk that still have them. The more people who put cattle off the better

To a point but the markets and slaughter house shutdown, less supplies available locally etc etc doesn't make it easier for the rest even if the cattle are worth more (and that's a pretty shonky assumption!)

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

To a point but the markets and slaughter house shutdown, less supplies available locally etc etc doesn't make it easier for the rest even if the cattle are worth more (and that's a pretty shonky assumption!)

Could not agree more. The decrease in stock numbers is having a major effect and in the South East it is very noticeable now. Cattle numbers have declined from the Dairy herd and only being replaced by a small number of sucklers that are mostly natives.
Sheep numbers are static or falling due to the lack of profitability.

With only two markets left in the South East and one of those struggling to have sufficient throughput, plus a shortage of abattoirs of any scale makes the retention of infrastructure an increasing threat.

 

[M-J-G]

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?

You'd think that, but unfortunately it isn't that simple.

The sector requires critical mass in order to function, otherwise the meat plants, markets, marketeers etc. cannot keep running, particularly if supply is seasonal.

 

[M-J-G]

Apart from the rain it doesn't sound too bad

The climate isn't the worst part, although it regularly causes serious land slips on the only reasonable road in and out of the area, which also happens to get whited out by snow from Oct onwards, cutting off supply and marketing routes for days at a time.

The rain can be dealt with, but poor access due to geographical boundaries is more difficult to overcome.

In remote areas, the more farming reduces, the less incentives there are for agricultural suppliers, machinery dealers and vets to maintain levels of service to these parts, so the whole sector starts to slide.

I would say you'd need to spend some time there, or at least be familiar with someone who lives there to get an idea of the challenges.

 

[davieh3350]

Winter, how long? How wet?

On my trips south in winter... one failure to get back up my track with the 1326 mo/co due to ice and snow but down in Pwllheli it was lush green, south of London the lad was putting his mower away where as I had scraped 6 inches of snow off the trailer.
Grass gets growing mid may here and need to start feeding by November. But you adapt and get used to it.
Land is cheaper to rent too.
I'll keep an eye out for a farm for you.
(Though I'm in Perthshire, not the west)

 

[davieh3350]

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

Feckin forestry commission

 

[CharcoalWally]

And the rainfall will comfortably hit 100 inches in certain places here on the West

 

[davieh3350]

Apart from the rain it doesn't sound too bad

Midges... If it's not raining then midges... Teeth on them like serrated combine knives