Can I make a living off the farm

Plenty of unhappy people with no shortage of money in all walks of life including farming. You obviously need enough to live your family's lifestyle comfortably which in itself can vary massively from one family to the next, but if you can achieve that and actually like the work you do it's worth more than a high income doing work you've little interest in.

It's not like life's always going to be a bed of roses either, life has problems and issues that no amount of money can sort, but being close to home and family for these is worth a lot in itself.

Can't say I have enough experience of either to be honest.
But there is a big difference between living in poverty and being happy to not have to earn all you can by sacrificing your own time and interests for some corporate entity. Personally I work 9-2 off farm (from home, so never really off farm), my wife has also cut back to a 9-5 4 days a week and we are happier and earning less, but we have not fallen into poverty either.

Your will starve trying to live off the farm. Better off keeping onto your daytime job if possible.

If only it was that simple! I paid a visit to an organic horticultural farmer last weekend. I have a new found respect for their farming. Very precise and tedious work to make the most from every inch of ground that they have. They too have been feeling the effects of the weather since last July like every other farmer. They're behind on planting and have had very little to harvest in the last few weeks due to the drop in temperatures

My expience of farming is limited to summer grazing store to beef bullocks with friesan or dairy x of some type,absolutely love it as a lifestyle but as for making money consistently year on year absolutely not,making money from this system when showing a true net profit figure over an average of 5 years not possible in my humble opinion.Good result would be not eating into subs.

Older by the day I am not in a position to winter cattle here as I have a business interest that requires my attention,the last few lines of your message is definitely me.I have 22mth/25mth AAx,HRx bought at average 510 kg in early May here at the moment on good grass & I hope to finish them on 3kg of nuts over 60 days for 1st week in October approximately,the AAx which i haven't had before are tight as drums & look like fantastic converters of grass,the HRx are taller obviously & slower to fill out there frames which would be the sort i would be more used to.The only type of bullocks I haven't tried here are quality continentals as they always looked very expensive.I like the dairy cross as they are quiet which is good.I realise this system is probably all wrong & welcome your advice.

The problem with organics is crying to source stock. The amount of lads that have converted and are intending to buy in stock is significant, the effects will not be seen until next year as most bought conventional stock before conversion.

As well when conversion payments ends for many smaller lads it will take the gloss off the system. Nothing wrong with dairyX beef, it just knowing the values.

I keep getting an itch for a few cull cows. I not sure would I be holding you cattle until early October even if all will be still under 30 months. Cattle killed in October woukd need to be April born to be under 30 months

Why was it May before you bought. Was your land very heavy. Even at that I be buying in March/April, if good land I be buying in February especially if ground is rested since early October.

With the AA cattle it all depends on the frame they have if they are tightening up already they will not need ration for 8-9 weeks if you do they will be over fat. Hard to beat a few Friesians in a summer grazing game especially a few 3 year olds

I would say the majority of the organic converters are sucker farmers so will have stock to sell. Not as easy to match with a buyer but I think there will be plenty of stores and weanling next year.

Yes if you put labour in as a cost as all businesses must we are reverting back to the word hobby I eluded to however you look to be going well.

Another thing ppl forget in organic farming is the harder work. That's OK till you get older.

Straw beded sheds, spreading dung, managing grass, waiting longer for crops to come in, traveling longer to buy organic feed stuff and the extra paperwork.

Sheep should take care of your ragwort.

Are you farming organically?

I'm making the same money as I was farming chemically with an awful lot less work.

A farm can be both simultaneously. If I accredited every hour on the farm to the business, then my hourly rate would be very small, but in reality much of what I'm doing is fluting about rooting at some side-projects, old machines, procrastinating and even day dreaming. Some days/weeks I'm very busy / productive, others I could do most jobs in less than an hour a day but could still end up entertaining myself with something fairly trivial. (Pretty sure I'd have been fired from most of my previous jobs if I had of treated them in a similar way.)

It is important that you can pay yourself and not just be worrying about if the farm can pay for itself. On the positive side on-farm hobbies are still farm expenses.