What were you up to today

Same here. If you own a business you shouldn’t be employing someone else to tell you what to do. They don’t have a crystal ball!🔮 Consultants are people that middle-managers in large organisations employ at vast expense to pass the buck.

Having said that, I do employ a guy at the local firm of agri-consultants 🤣, but not to make business decisions as such. He’s already had to wade through all the DEFRA/RPA guff so he can tell me what’s worth applying for then apply for it on my behalf, saving me countless hours of boredom, frustration and misery- time which I can easily spend elsewhere!
 
I would imagine that if you employed a consultant to ‘help’ you with dairying, they’d probably be off down the ‘maximising efficiency’ route - analysing all your silage and feeds and fine-tuning, then have you buying ‘more efficient’ animals that yield higher. Then, when you have more health issues in the herd, they’ll come back and tell you how to manage that too 🙄
 
Slackjawedyokel said:
Same here. If you own a business you shouldn’t be employing someone else to tell you what to do. They don’t have a crystal ball!🔮 Consultants are people that middle-managers in large organisations employ at vast expense to pass the buck.

Having said that, I do employ a guy at the local firm of agri-consultants 🤣, but not to make business decisions as such. He’s already had to wade through all the DEFRA/RPA guff so he can tell me what’s worth applying for then apply for it on my behalf, saving me countless hours of boredom, frustration and misery- time which I can easily spend elsewhere!
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I've swerved these 'environmental' schemes for just that reason. An annual stock take of dandelions and carbon, costing as much if not more than the grant. That and the ever present watch out for a clip board junkie with attitude, measuring hedges and counting weeds.

As an aside, many of us have noticed the abundance of ragwort around this year. Neglect, or are the seeds included in the wild bird mix? Dunno. But we seem to be storing up problems for future tillage and stored fodder..
 
Matthew said:
I've swerved these 'environmental' schemes for just that reason. An annual stock take of dandelions and carbon, costing as much if not more than the grant. That and the ever present watch out for a clip board junkie with attitude, measuring hedges and counting weeds.

As an aside, many of us have noticed the abundance of ragwort around this year. Neglect, or are the seeds included in the wild bird mix? Dunno. But we seem to be storing up problems for future tillage and stored fodder..
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I'm afraid I can't avoid SFI, the numbers don't stack up for spring barley or beans on strong land with the weather we get these days. 2 years legume fallow from one drilling vs 1.5t/ac and 4 bales of straw twice from 2 lots of seed/fert/chem/diesel. As one neighbour put it, this land is WW or fallow. Continuous WW was working until blackgrass invaded, now it needs a break
 
Matthew said:
I've swerved these 'environmental' schemes for just that reason. An annual stock take of dandelions and carbon, costing as much if not more than the grant. That and the ever present watch out for a clip board junkie with attitude, measuring hedges and counting weeds.

As an aside, many of us have noticed the abundance of ragwort around this year. Neglect, or are the seeds included in the wild bird mix? Dunno. But we seem to be storing up problems for future tillage and stored fodder..
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Too much money on the table to ignore here; £382/ha for what I’ve been doing anyway for over 20 years (herbal leys) is hard to ignore.

Won’t ever do a carbon audit though, unless it’s not stacked against us in the calcs.
 
Slackjawedyokel said:
I would imagine that if you employed a consultant to ‘help’ you with dairying, they’d probably be off down the ‘maximising efficiency’ route - analysing all your silage and feeds and fine-tuning, then have you buying ‘more efficient’ animals that yield higher. Then, when you have more health issues in the herd, they’ll come back and tell you how to manage that too 🙄
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Consultants=failed managers who can't do it themselves
 
Nearly said:
Been costing people money on shit at York auctions.
🤣
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Cambridge sales on-line 'little stuff' auction is today.
I drank my first ever can of Monster energy drink on the 12 hour drive home yesterday, and was still buzzing when I got home last night. I'm keeping half an eye on the bids I put on, hoping that someone outbids me on a few things that seemed a good idea at the time!
 
Matthew said:
On the bright side, 'tis only flat at the bottom. ;)
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Not any more it ain’t- needed it up and moving for the final straight of silage production:
IMG_0971.jpeg
Was too wet on Friday (hour and a half unbunging the baler), then on Saturday we turned some in the afternoon when the weather got out a bit, but it came in foggy later (hour and a half unbunging the baler) fingers crossed!

Will probably have to bite the bullet and treat it to a new pair of BKTs (£1018+vat+fitting etc)
 
FatBelinda said:
I've come to the conclusion that dairy farming is a cult. I was born into it, brought up with mum, dad, aunts and uncles doing it. Socialised with other dairy farming families. Married one.
I JUST DON'T KNOW ANY DIFFERENT 🫣😆

Although, my dad should never have milked cows. He didn't know them, or particularly like them....it's just what he did.

I started liking cows when I joined Young Farmers and discovered a talent for stock judging. Then I started going out with Mr. Fatty and he introduced me to milking them (I should have run then 😖)
Then Dad realised that I was handy to have around in times of need, such as silaging. Then a few neighbours tapped me up for relief milking when they went on holiday.....

The variables for dairying are almost infinitesimal. Do you own, are buying, or rent the farm?
What's the weather in your area? High rainfall and minimal grazing or grazing but burn up in summer?
6000l and do it off grass with minimal inputs, but have a small cow and calf with relatively low end value?
11000l housed. Big outputs but bigger inputs. Higher calf value and higher cull value?

The skill, whichever you choose, is doing as much as you can yourself. Paying an advisor is a waste of time imo. If you can't make your own decisions, you shouldn't be running your own business. A lot use advisors as a crux, so they have someone to blame when things don't work out 🙄


"I might have some misconceptions about dairying, but I’ve always seen it as a high-input, high output, risky sort of business compared to my (sheep, sucklers, beef, oats) system. Rolls-Royce animals, worrying about feed quality, milk yields, milk quality, herd health, fertility, narrowing margins and all else that goes along with it, in a 24/7 operation, and you can’t just ‘get someone in’ for a few days if you fancy sloping off to Italy or something."

It's true that you're always thinking. Each milking I have a mental list of jobs to do. Who's going dry, anyone to AI, anyone to jab or tube?
Watching what everyone gives. Milks out correctly. Anyone off colour. Making sure my sidekick is doing everything right (depends which one I have as to how much I have to watch them 🙄)
Thinking on your feet when something breaks down, a pipe blows off, a cow goes down, etc
Checking milk tests so you know the cell count and bactoscan are ok.
Checking yields. Who and when to cull.
Feeding calves. When to market them. Checking market reports. Pricing everything up so that you get the best deal for your money.
You have to be hungry to make a go of it. If you haven't got fire in your belly then dairying isn't for you.
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Slope off to Italy, are you mad!!!
Two issues, 1 Welcome to my world, pretty much what you have said has been my life from 1992 to 2022 and 2, Dairy farming I believe is unique because of its diversity of pressures, variations of responsibility and the commitment of personal levels of standards and expectations before even getting into the bureaucracy and external politics.
That said, life is short, buy that Rolls Royce and road trip around Italy and do it without the "Oh feck we have a limited time we must do it in", feck time.
Dreams must not be purely aspirational ,they are targets that must be actioned and achieved!!!









That said maybe its time I got the other "2" L200's back on the road and thinking about dinner May 30.
 
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Matthew said:
I've swerved these 'environmental' schemes for just that reason. An annual stock take of dandelions and carbon, costing as much if not more than the grant. That and the ever present watch out for a clip board junkie with attitude, measuring hedges and counting weeds.

As an aside, many of us have noticed the abundance of ragwort around this year. Neglect, or are the seeds included in the wild bird mix? Dunno. But we seem to be storing up problems for future tillage and stored fodder..
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Ragwort used to be a problem here, don't let the shit flower and if possible spot spray it with Tordon 50D or similar before it flowers rather than pulling it or removing it (option of last resort.)
That said the 66ha of the farm purchased by my parents was covered in ragwort, took 2-3 years to get under control and has been next to no growth and no problems the following 30 years.
That said gorse is a bigger potential problem here as it never seems to die and seeds can germinate upto 70 years later. Thistles (who thought thay would be a good idea to bring here like gorse and rabbits???) on the other hand are a constant problem.
 
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