Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

older by the day

My advice for free is spend time with the kids. Those out side blocks are a pain in the whole. I went to count a few calves today ten miles away. One with pneumonia, drive back, get trailer, back ten miles load up and back again. Bones of three hours. Why do you want it for. No fellow on his death bed wished he worked an extra couple of hours every day.

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119920740#Comment_119920740

Land is always a good investement ….doubt you’ll get it for 10 k per acre though …6 miles isn’t excessive beggars can’t be choosers could be waiting years even generations for the ideal but of land just over the ditch on your milk block

cosatron

Straights its obviously an itch your dying to scratch but make sure it's going to add to profit more so than workload.

roosterman71

Buy it. If down the line it isn't suitable, rent it out or sell it on. It doesn't sound like bad land the way you described it. Ya wouldn't get yer arse scratched for 10k these days.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119921656#Comment_119921656

I grew up with an outside block. Pain in ass alright but handy for silage, dumping off extra stock like cull cows or extra calves you could keep. Takes the pressure off the home block like. Buying it with the children in mind. It will be a place for me to retire to as a hobby farm and leave the home block to the children if they want it. We'll see sure.

kevthegaff

Where u based Straight, Cork?

Tonynewholland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119922310#Comment_119922310

If your selling your rental place to pay for it I'd say you can't go wrong if you can get it for 300k

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119922504#Comment_119922504

Limerick

Mooooo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119922759#Comment_119922759

Everyone has there own situation, but I wouldn't be selling a house to pay for it. Hassle and all a rental may be it is at least some bit of diversified income

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119921656#Comment_119921656

Was thinking about your pneumonia case during milking. Could do without that kind of hassle. Milking time is great for a good think. Even the thought of driving a tractor 6 miles nearly gives me fever.

cute geoge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119923935#Comment_119923935

Buy a fast 40-45km gearbox tractor with suspension and a 16 miles drive would not bother you ,you will alwys have extra hassle with outside block sp you will just have to suck that up!!

Tonynewholland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119923756#Comment_119923756

That's true but that land seems good value in today's world for a man looking to buy land.

K.G.

I would think that renting out a house would pay better than either drystock or drawing silage and slurry back 6 miles.not that renting out a house is hassele free but i wouldnt sell the house to buy it.if the figures dont stack up to borrow for it i wouldnt touch it.as moo says everyone circumstances are different but unless you feel it is an oppertune time to sell the house or something its better to hold.thats an auctoneering tactic to put a reasonable valuation on something ,it generates interest but usually has no bearing on end price

Siamsa Sessions

Re buying land: This is from the IFJ dairy annual in 2021. Three principles to measure every decision:

1. Quality of life
2. Profit
3. Family farm of the future

straight

I'll be holding on to the house. That's our pension. If I don't buy the land I might buy another house. Houses can be a pain but they are worth it in the long run.

Mooooo

Given what looks like happening.

It may allow you to hold or increase current numbers slightly

Perhaps calves at home and maidens on outfarm, synchronise for breeding. At end of year bring incalf heifers home and let yearlings clean it off.

Silage perhaps bale silage suit, can be drawn home as needed or get contractor to do it for you

Would think grass and youngstock would give more flexibility compared to maize esp for spring calving herds

Outblocks take time no getting away from it but setting it up as well as possible to minimise the time required would be key.

Good use of contractors, young lad a few pound round breeding for the helping hand etc. Checks as part of school runs or whatever

GrasstoMilk

6 miles is nothing really if the road is any way good

we’re drawing 3 cuts of silage off ground 8 miles away and couple thousand gallons of slurry back

my parents operated a similar system, wouldnt have the farm we have now if they were waiting for land beside them or nearby to come available

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119922310#Comment_119922310

Regarding thinking ahead for successor, a viable farm today may not be so for the next generation. In this game if you are not expanding you are going backwards. So if you want one of your lads to take over after you they will need bigger than you started with.

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925186#Comment_119925186

"If you are not expanding you are going backwards". You have a fair bit to learn. It's about quality of life. And some times big don't mean better. When it comes to asuccessor's, it a choice. The last thing I want for my children is that they take over the farm out of a sense of duty. Plenty of nice, well developed farms with no son or daughter to take over.

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925715#Comment_119925715

For your information I am farming with over 40 years, have seen lots of farms with no successor because their children see no future in it. I have a successor because I have always had a positive progressive view of farming. What young person want to enter a career where all they hear is negativity like you propose.

older by the day

It was your comment that straight should increase his land for his successor. Its mental. And positivity about farming don't mean they will want to be farmers. The interest has to be there. I am a very positive person too. But I believe a handy sized farm will generate a good income and a good quality of life.

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925815#Comment_119925815

im farming what would proably be described now as a handy farm (about 165 acres but spread across 5 blocks )it’s as productive a farm as you’ll get bar maby 8 acres .I enjoy what I’m doing …I’ve no interest in milking 200 cows or second blocks don’t mean I’m not progressive …..I’m relastic enough now to accept I’m most likely going to break the link of handing the farm down to one of my kids to farm full or part time that my dad did or my grandfather did to my father …scale just won’t be there to provide enough of an income lucky I’ve the big money spent on sheds parlour etc

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925898#Comment_119925898

It's still above average in terms of owned acres though, have you ever considered selling the lot to buy something like that 230 acre farm on ear to the ground..? I have a small fragmented farm about 90 acres and I'm the first generation that won't be able farm full time, the father started with 40 acres poor ground, inherited a small bit and bought more. He's unlikely to move and I'll be well middle aged or older please god by the time he passes on and I won't be stirring then either.

The transition from a full time farm to a part time farm or leasing or selling is hard.

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925815#Comment_119925815

The only way farms will survive from generation to generation is if there is sufficient scale to provide 2 incomes, then the old lad can gradually step back and let junior get on with it.

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119926737#Comment_119926737

Yep I agree, that's exactly the situation here, still 1 average industrial wage being made out of the farm here, but the parents have nothing only the OAP, no private pension, no investment property so they still need something from the farm, thus leaving it unviable for me to be at home full time.

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119926790#Comment_119926790

Agree as well. A bit above average industrial wage here being made but the set up is that the parents get a few bob,health insurance paid, electricity paid, car taxed and insured and their heating oil bought.

All of that means that it's not viable for me full time so I work about 20 hours a week on average off farm. I am lucky that I have qualifications that mean that 20 hours nets a nice bit above the average industrial wage. That has allowed the wife to go part time, working mornings only while we have primary school age kids. All in all its not a bad lifestyle.

straight

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER is what I've always been told

Jb1989

Can be small a small farm, in a niche market, and make serious cash, its not about the size, its how you use it.

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119926898#Comment_119926898

Ye of course loads doing well from small land holdings, but they are called a niche market for a reason if everybody is doing it they are not a niche market. On average a commercial farm will need scale to provide a living for 2 people.

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119926818#Comment_119926818

You have a decent setup there and very lucky to have a high paying off farm employment, diversified income streams should balance out any bumps in the road. I have to work 40 hours off farm to achieve that level of income, would love a 4 day week or the option to wfh a couple of days.