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Slightly O/T - Any farmers about?


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I have about 35 acres of mostly grazing and woodland in south Devon. I've never really done much about it aside from messing in the woods and renting the grass to a local sheep farmer. I'm a lucky boy, I know this.

 

Anyway, I grew up on this farm. It used to be 320 acres but through various divorces, it got p'd away. It was mixed arable, beef and milk and I have done the lot from bringing in corn and sileage to milking and calving, sowing and harvesting teddies. So I have form but I moved away from the farm and left it to my bruv. I went to the City and am now in Internet retail.

 

I'm not going to go into details but there is the remaining 25 acres of land which I grew up on, going up for sale.

 

Deep breath. I think at the age of 40, I want to become a farmer. I have 3 young boys who are farm crazy through no design of mine, it must be in the blood. Too bloody late really but there you go. Effectively I have to buy this land at a pretty high price.

 

So, I can start to farm my 35 acres. Or I can go out on a limb and in some way do some deal to secure the extra 25 acres so I have 60. As I said it's at best grazing with some woodland which is really where my heart lies. I have to put together a business plan to commit myself to buying out this extra 25 acres which I can't bear to see go out of the family.

 

I'm looking for advice from farmers. I've done it all but really know nothing about the business. I do have some very good friends who are active farmers. Can I make a go of 35 acres? Can I make a go of 60 acres? What would you do, starting from scratch on the land I describe?

 

Chickens? Beef? Sheep (we never did sheep)? Forestry?

 

How can I generate an income from steep grassland (grows a lot of grass)?

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Just my thoughts on what I would do if I got this kind of opportunity and the location/land was suitable.

 

Plant a managable area with trees with a view to leaving for woodland, initially plant it very closely in rows a tractor width apart, preferably a compact tractor to maximise use of land. thin as they grow either by buying/hiring equipment yourself. Or get in with a Nursery stock producer who already has the markets and gear.

After a while, 8 years or so if maintained you will have some high value trees that could be worth a small fortune.

 

Remember to plant mixed and strategicly to leave some for your woodland. Relatively it would be low input, long term, a good pension fund if done well.

 

If you can afford not to receive income plant the lot up with thinning types of timber for firewood, maybe?

 

My other suggestion free range egg production. Rent the rest until you can utilise it yourself.If your job you do now is well paid you could employ someone and do it yourself on a weekend.

Edited by Goaty
punctuation
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Hi

 

I farm 1200acres of organic dairy and arable and do some contracting. Also just hoping to contract farm another 600acres, so were fairly medium sized by modern day standards.

 

In my opinion, and i'm not trying to belittle what ur doing as I impressed your even considering it, but i don't think your going to support your family off of 60acres however you do it. You may find buying the land, and running a flock of sheep (there making good money at the moment, I hate sheep with a passion by the way!) and putting into an agri-enviroment scheme and with the SFP as well you may be able to earn enough to have some small farming lifestyle. But I personally think you'll have to still keep working to support your family, I suspect what your earning now is quite a nice income and you live quite a well balanced happy lifestyle. Just remember farming will never be easy, but its always pleasure. I wouldn't change it for the world, but when you look at the hours we all put in to run our operation and the return we get its not exactly a well paid job.

 

Good luck if you do decide to do it, but my opinion is you'll never make enough to fully support you family from farming 60acres alone.

:biggrin:

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My cousin started with a 60 acre dairy farm near Tiverton that he bought fresh out of Uni in 1968. He's bought and rented land since so has 221 acres now. He's raised four kids, has eight grandchildren and has been virtually penniless the whole time: he would never have survived at all financially if it had't been for a large bequest from his late wife's father 20 odd years ago.

 

Does this give an indication of the potential reward from conventional farming?!

 

Jon

Edited by nepia
speling agen
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Thanks all, I'm aware of the money side of it, we were skint when I grew up and everyone kept telling me we were rich farmers because we had 300 odd acres.

 

What I'm really trying to do is find a business model which justifies buying the 25 acres which is not going to be cheap at the moment. I should probably just let it go but it seems the land I grew up on has just been frittered away to pay for divorces etc. and it's all a bit depressing.

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the more the better. farm it for the subsides and go along the route of rare breeds sold locally at farmers markets etc. you may not be rich at it but you'll be living the dream of many. land is also on the up, its meant to rise 6%over next 4 years and if you borrow at todays rates you'll still make money on it, long term investment.

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I only have 15 acres and looking for more all the time. We tried getting the subsidies but for the amount of effort put in I was disappointed with the £100 it achieved. Quite frankly I prefer doing my own thing rather than dictated to by subsidy rules. Do bear in mind the tax benefits of running a farm but it is a double edge sword as the revenue are very anti small farmers and have very draconian rules if you cant make a profit once every 5 years. Do consider inheritance tax and capital gains tax planning even before buying the land.

 

All that said in your circumstances I would first look at ways you can generate income from renewable energy bearing in mind every 1kw generator equates to 1k per annum in income. Start with looking at hydro, wind, then solar for the topography of your land and establish a cost benefit analysis for each. At the moment renewables are the easiest part of farming to finance and could incorporate your land purchase. I avoid animals on our farm as your tied to a daily routine. Woodland is good and a source of tax free income after 2 years but bear in mind potential conflict with a wind turbine and solar.

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I have about 35 acres of mostly grazing and woodland in south Devon. I've never really done much about it aside from messing in the woods and renting the grass to a local sheep farmer. I'm a lucky boy, I know this.

 

Anyway, I grew up on this farm. It used to be 320 acres but through various divorces, it got p'd away. It was mixed arable, beef and milk and I have done the lot from bringing in corn and sileage to milking and calving, sowing and harvesting teddies. So I have form but I moved away from the farm and left it to my bruv. I went to the City and am now in Internet retail.

 

I'm not going to go into details but there is the remaining 25 acres of land which I grew up on, going up for sale.

 

Deep breath. I think at the age of 40, I want to become a farmer. I have 3 young boys who are farm crazy through no design of mine, it must be in the blood. Too bloody late really but there you go. Effectively I have to buy this land at a pretty high price.

 

So, I can start to farm my 35 acres. Or I can go out on a limb and in some way do some deal to secure the extra 25 acres so I have 60. As I said it's at best grazing with some woodland which is really where my heart lies. I have to put together a business plan to commit myself to buying out this extra 25 acres which I can't bear to see go out of the family.

 

I'm looking for advice from farmers. I've done it all but really know nothing about the business. I do have some very good friends who are active farmers. Can I make a go of 35 acres? Can I make a go of 60 acres? What would you do, starting from scratch on the land I describe?

 

Chickens? Beef? Sheep (we never did sheep)? Forestry?

 

How can I generate an income from steep grassland (grows a lot of grass)?

 

we've 17 acres and bought it 2years ago after being fed up being a tennant its smaller and more back of beyond but we like it and were very lucky, theres 2 acres of orchard, 3-4 acres of coppice/ woodland and some arable & pasture, i'm 38. now there is money in it but at present its a guessing game and nothings easy, we grow 9 acres of long straw for thatching, i run a building restoration/ conservation business out of the barns, the wife works 4 days a week in IT (good money) and we have rare breed pedigree pigs. we don't make a fortune off the farm but its holding its own. if you look at the ELS/ HLS certainly the hls pays well but may not suit all. if you can get the entitlements then that also pays, but it all ends 2014. we work to pay the bills and the farm holds its own, that said biggest costs for us is machinery we had tractors etc but a half decent plough cost 1500, combi drill etc all adds up, plus when i need a new back tyre for the tw15 its 1000£, that will take some earning! interesting our 1 year old is also farm mad already! thats why we did it too, as i grew up spending most of my time at my grandparents farm.

Edited by twmarriott
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My brothers own and farm about 600 acres, cerials, 300 ewes and a few cattle. They have had 3 good years in the last 25. Both are single, just as well as profits generated are generally pretty poor. One year they did an analasis, profit/hours worked, it worked out at 17p per hour, this was before drawings.

 

As others have said I cant see a living from such a small operation but you will find it very rewarding. If you can throw some big money at it then contracting is a way forward, really long hours though. Guys next to us often work 16-20 hour days silage contracting.

 

A

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I suppose going down the route of rare breeds etc. is the only realistic way to make a bit of money. There is already a solar and wind farm proposed nearby and this is contentious enough so I'm not sure how that would go down!

 

At the end of the day I doubt 60 acres over 35 will make a huge difference to this sort of operation. Plus I have to find in the region of £150k to buy it which is a lot of cash.

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