Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

There’s very few farms with 2 people drawing from 100 cows now, the majority in my area with successors are 80-150 cow herds with the son/daughter helping when they’re not working off farm, most of them have college degrees on good money and helping the home farm progress. With work from home 2/3 days a week from a lot of the jobs from college degrees now I think these people are far better off than getting stuck into a partnership or leasing farms away from the home farm.

I disagree but that’s personal preference. I have a very good friend who’s involved in a partnership on large farm and he’s doing very well from it. It’s not for everybody and that’s fine

your job is a bit more than your run of the mill ag job straight after an ag science qualification I would reckon ? A lot of the ppl that you would find in collaborative farming arrangements have done an ag science course of some description. They can get a job in the Industry but they’re not going to get a share scheme and salary will only be average, they still have to use up there holidays, evenings and weekends relieving the parents at home or else end up relief milking/ being a part time labour unit to bump up there salary/keep there hand in

The few I know at it have more time off than I would and have better incomes from their own wages and a profit share. Now I have other perks that they don’t but there is plenty ppl out there that are happy with share farming/partnerships/leasing

I didn’t do ag science, know plenty that did it and that’s fairly spot on a lot are relief milking or working on other farms as well as the home farm as salary and benefits is very limited bar maybe a company car and very little opportunity of hybrid working or working remote bar the odd day. The opportunities for college graduates in business/finance or engineering in hybrid working setups are much greater and better progression opportunities. A lot with ag degrees are only biding their time while waiting for parents to wind down, I can see why it might appeal to them to make more money to enter one of the setups above.

You walk into a lot of jobs with a degree in ag science not in the agri sector. Add a masters to it in another dipline down the line and away you go.

One thing I pushed on my children was never have all you eggs in the one basket. Factories in Limerick are paying 50k+ for such qualifications and progression is fast.

You Would need your head screwed on going into a share milking scenario. Most lads with the equity( land stock etc) are not idiots. It's similar to renting pubs or resturants you can be putting a sh!tload of hours in for an ordinary wage.

Those outfits running with them labour unit numbers are contracting in everything and at the 500 cows it's a rotary parlour. That is serious investment and cashflow to manage such an operation. You are trying to keep ten different balls in the air, it's not the top 1% it probably the top 0.1%.

The problem is of the plug is suddenly pulled ( you lose the main lease or are given 12 months notice even) where do you go. Where do you head to with a couple of hundred cows, a tractor, loader, dietfeeder etc.

Youngest lad is gone to London he is flying home to play the last few county championship matches. He is now earning as much as I was at my peak at 25 years of age. He never minds doing farm work or being on a tractor. However I explained to him the reality of being a tractor jockey and farming at 14 years of age.

would be fair operations at those labour units. contractors bill would come to 2 labour units aswell? remember there was a thread on here years ago, the price of efficiency, for 1 labour/150 the need to spent money tp save on labour would nearly be a labour units wages in cost/year aswell. so your up on 5 labour units now for 300 cows. maybe im looking at this in a backward way. not sledging hope my point is coming across

But then you've the running costs, parts aren't cheap. You never know the day or the hour you'll be let down by a machine

Ye but you dont have the headache of fixing the gear. I know the machine is there when you want it and all's good when things work out but nothing worse than looking for parts on a Saturday night

Yes

One man 150 cows ........well that's one way to ensure no successor....your really going to have to walk me through those figures kg

They are a fairly twisty outfit in my mind talk a great talk about fairness but it's still just an exercise in extortion same as the rest of auctioneers

Could you swing it to keep a couple of days a week? A relief milker on those days in busy times and you might just manage it for the initial couple of years that are more cash hungry.

My position is that I am 5 years milking now and did manage to keep working half hours. I have passed the real cash hungry part of development now and am considering dropping the day job, not immediately, but in the medium term.

The amount of cows one person can manage is farm specific. 150 can be done provided good setup, contracting all the big jobs, very little fragmentation. Also good relief milker is vital, anyone will burn out quickly doing all the milkings.

tbf as he described in perfect scenario …..that is workable …..labour hired in is the big one tho lads can leave at a whim and don’t give a white ….one of young lads with me is good when here but prone to fook ups and can be unreliable …..was meant to milk for me Thursday evening as I had funeral to go to and wouldn’t be home till 8 …..he rings me at 4.30 to say he can’t milk with some fob story …..long story short I was home at 7.45 and had to milk …..that’s down side of one man show relying on help

the amount of hours a farmer puts to run a farm vary a lot depending on farm specific things. The lad that puts out his own slurry will work more hours that a lad who leaves it all to the contractor. Well organized yards save hundreds of hours a year.

Work will expand to fill the hours, look up lean management in production sites and see the difference proper organization makes

Yet again more fairytale stories. Lean mean fantastic fabulous 👌. I'm not knocking lads it's just it'd not the reality on the ground there's no need to be a hero you know....

Aye, looking for a medal about how wonderful they are , when in reality they're a fool

Absolutely this is my main point and I really don't understand why farmers and the ag industry want to hide the fact ....I'm really impressed with the ICMSA the last while calling out a lot of this stuff

Absolutely.whelan and maybe they can do it in there 20s with a relief milker. But life gets in the way pretty fast. And contractors are getting scarce and more expensive. Local lads paying two fellas 220 a day plus taxes...... he has no choice he says

👍👍reality is I couldn’t afford or justify a full time unit ….unless I could milk over 200 cows I am happy where I am ….reality of my 1 man 🤔unit …..is it isn’t when I include whatever relief milking I get done and lads that help when busy at weekend etc plus contractors ….any of that chain breaks and I was an actual proper one man show I wouldn’t be long getting fed up of farming

hate that. had a lad doing the morning milkings for me before the robot. mightnt appear for a week then jus appear back the following week. started landing abit later than agreed time. stopped washing out the parlour aswell. fecking messer. he made the decision for the big red box i have now easier.

How long do the robots last?