Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844531#Comment_121844531

What alternative is their for lads that have significant mortgages to service on dairy infrastructure for x amount of cows needed to be milked to make intrest/capital repayments, loans have to be repayed....

10 years down the line when most units will have this debt payed off, you could see a serious cooling off in rental prices....

Their will be a inflection point, in the not to distance future when the current generation in their 60's farming with sons/daughters will retire/not be able to continue working at their current pace, the proverbial hits the fan then, as going out and trying to hire labour and probably having to pay 20 odd euro a hour for anyone half reliable/committed won't financially stack up....

In dairying cycles, we are at the sunset phase in Ireland, family labour on alot of units is masking the actual costs of production on farm, and when this pool of labour starts to disappear aging parents, successors having children alot later/and less off, the conveyor belt stops and all that unpaid family labour will have to be replaced with payed labour, our simply exit dairying/scale back numbers

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844022#Comment_121844022

Farming investment is all about dry money ( savings) and opportunity. In a way if your father ( mother, uncle, aunt, grandfather, etc) have not bought land its unlikely out of farming income you will.

When buying land you have to forget abouts short-term ROI. It's a generational thing or definitely a 10-20 year investment before you start to see the benefits.

Actually running the sums on the Monoghan farm I reckon on investment need after purchase, beef outpreforms milk at present costs.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844320#Comment_121844320

Mostly with few exceptions it people from a farming background that buy land. You will find most just look at it as a business decision. I do not totally buy the efficient way to transfer wealth. You can do that with any business nowadays its not just limited to farming.

The price of land is driven by retained profits in a company setting. Previously if you had ( after using your tax credits and 20% band) another 70-80k in profit you paid 35-40k in tax. Now you retain that within a company for the cost of 10-12k.

Because of a company format in such a situation you will not be spending money to avoid tax and even though you should not some may be not taking all there 20% allowance ( in reality 30% after prsi and USC) out of the company,maybe giving retained profits of 80-100k a year.

We are now 10 years post quotas so some mid sized farmers have build up war chests of a million or more.

Farming within a company setup is driving the price of land as much as anything. If you look at land prices small costs no longer make the significant premium over larger lots that they used to.

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844593#Comment_121844593

Your for the birds with your ramblings, have you any factual proof theirs dairy farms with millions sitting in company bank accounts, from retained profits...

Your still reckoning the 20 cent a litre cop is actually correct

awaywithyou

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844800#Comment_121844800

i wouldnt say hes for the birds.... i know of a family around here that have have easily 2million spent buying land in the last 4/5years... and i have no doubt that the man in question didnt have to visit his local bank manager for a loan for any of it either... now the other side of that is his facilities wouldnt be anything to write home about.... grasstec wont be doing a video there anytime soon... but he is a good farmer and always has been... has a couple sons farming as well... but the likes of him are few and far between...

having said that i would also like to see Bass prove that there are farmers out there with millions built up....

Tonynewholland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844589#Comment_121844589

I’m not disagreeing with anything you said there but when I see likes of the rich businessmen buying land and local farmers falling out with each other just to rent it I think it’s stupid. If the owners were left to farm it themselves it might turn them off buying it.

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845051#Comment_121845051

It's not far away that some farmers will get plenty land.the farmers mindset often is the biggest problem.

K.G.

I m beginning to think that dawg is the only smart man on boards.trying to keep the show on the road with this weather in ireland since last July is a heartache

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121847826#Comment_121847826

Processors hopes of milk volumes rebounding this year after 2023 I'd say are going up in smoke, forage quality simply isn't in the feed on alot of dairy farms to cope with little to no grazing in the diet

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848057#Comment_121848057

It's a nightmare around here. On-Off grazing, silage quality, difficulty selling calves. Even the younger farmers are getting fed up with everything.

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848211#Comment_121848211

Only I grew an extra 200 ton of maize last year along with culling out alot of cows around Xmas I'd be in the same boat, was cursing the drian on cashflow last year growing maize but the way the springs went its saved us, in all fairness their needs to a 4 infront of milk prices come April for any hope of the job paying financially given the weather the past 9 months

Siamsa Sessions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848211#Comment_121848211

I've myself convinced that the ground dries out faster as we move into March. Any few dry days at all and they'll be out-out.

I've no uplifting words on silage quality or calves - sorry. Maybe more will do like @straight and keep the calves til they're 12 months? I'm guessing that could have several knock-on changes, up to and including cow type.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121847768#Comment_121847768

You know, if you keep saying that it might eventually come true....

whelan2

Nearly 12 hours of brightness now. Hopefully in 2 weeks things will be better.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848211#Comment_121848211

That's a normal year in the southwest of the country. Ye have been spoiled up there for too long.

roosterman71

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848261#Comment_121848261

Ground certainly does dry faster this time of year. ya still need a bit f a prolonged spell. Last week some of my place was dried up fairly well (judging by walking across it). But the snow last Thursday night has the whole place swimming again. The water on top had gone and the top seemed to have recovered but it didn't take much to go back to square 1.

I've a section of one field by a whitethorn hedge that has a drain piped. And for the first time in my lifetime there's water lying all along it. And I can't explain it. The field it's in would be wet after lots of rain but dries fairly well. Plenty of pips under it. Main drain they all flow into is down and water flowing good. Only thing that seems different is the field next to it had maize in it last year and there's a pond of water just the other side of the hedge. That was never there either. I can't explain why it's after appearing like this when the main drain is fine and the water level is well below both fields.

ginger22

Teagasc and IFJ have ye all driven mad with this early turnout lark. As long as I have been farming we are prepared for a 6 months winter. If it is shorter it is a bonus. Anyway fresh calved cows do better inside.

cjpm

Can anyone recommend a good teat spray? For both pre and post spraying.

A spray gentle on teats would be a bonus

Gawddawggonnit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121847826#Comment_121847826

Faraway hills KG.

Weather 10x more extreme here…13 dry days since 17th Oct and 1.5yrs rainfall. Not to mention proper droughts and heatwaves!

Gawddawggonnit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848449#Comment_121848449

Ark Shield from Joe Reilly.

Waiting on an IBC of it here.

green daries

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848263#Comment_121848263

30 years here listening to that same tune. It's going to be the same story lads throwing themselves at a bit of ground or a bigger grant from the government cos we don't have enough makes uppy young farmers 🤔 such a load of bollix the whole lot of it

green daries

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848560#Comment_121848560

Great teat spray 👌

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848261#Comment_121848261

That 12 month rearing lark is on the cards here. Have an outfarm, have shed space and have the nitrates available. I also have a good enough type of cow to produce a calf worth rearing. All I need to do now is convince the boss that those few sucklers he wants about the place need to go.

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848560#Comment_121848560

https://twitter.com/joeorei30053570/status/1280571314059784194

It even protects against the rain.

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848211#Comment_121848211

They’d want to get a grip. It’s bloody spring in Ireland. It’s always wet. It’ll dry up soon and it’ll all be forgotten

ginger22

Seems to be more demand for shipping calves in Gortatlea and Castleisland today. Prices up.

whelan2

Is there a boat going tomorrow? Big clearout of calves here today, sold to farmers.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848392#Comment_121848392

Same BS out of them every year. I was at a grass group the other day snf they had all their slides and percentages, etc. Shocked at the bad weather then like. Every single year.... get the Urea out ASAP

IFJ then have pics of cows out on fine land in a low rainfall area and suggest we should all be pricking around with it. Just make sure to be finished for 6 in the evening.

whelan2

They never mention the drought, I'd love a good long drought this year

awaywithyou

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121849011#Comment_121849011

We've had many different weather events over the past 10 years.. the drought in 2018 was for me the worst.. give me a summer like last year over a repeat of 2018 any day

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121849149#Comment_121849149

I'll take the drought next time so if you don't mind.