When to quit dairy farming?

The story behind our decision to quit dairy farming, what it meant for our farm business and how we've adapted since.
#farming #farminguk #britishfarming #agriculture #dairyfarm #dairyfarming

[@IFarmWeFarm]

I just found your channel, everything fierce well explained. Great stuff ( Subscribed )

[@farmstockofficial]

Thanks for the comment and I'm a big fan of what you're doing too!

[@willyfindlay4398]

My wife's Uncle farms south of Cambridge in Essex. His father became the Tennant in 1929. They had British Fresian Dairy cows, but in 1976 they had the M11 being biult through the farm . The dust on the grass from the construction made the grass unpalatable for the Cows and that made their to concentrate on the arable side of the farm. As Tennant he cannot retire as he would have to give back the farmhouse he was born in and still lives. So still farming 1100 acres at 86.

[@farmstockofficial]

Great effort at 86!

[@davecatton8773]

well done ! the is more to life than work n bed ! enjoy life

[@farmstockofficial]

Agreed. Thanks for the comment!

[@TheSheepGame]

Great videos mate! Easy to watch and well explained 👍

[@farmstockofficial]

Thanks Cammy!

[@notsofancyfarming]

There’s a big trend here at the moment of people going the opposite direction. I’m very much on the borderline myself when it comes to deciding the best approach for the future of my farm. A very tough process no doubt but I’ll watch on with interest to see more of your journey. Subscribed

[@farmstockofficial]

Thanks for the comment Michael. I get the impression that dairy units are having to get bigger to stay in the game and be ruthless on efficiencies to turn a profit. We didn't have the land to accommodate a much larger dairy so the decision was (slightly) easier. But bigger dairies come with bigger investments and bigger costs. Some of it will depend on what else you can turn your hand to though. All the best and be interesting to hear what the outcome is.

[@don66hotrod94]

Same thing happening here in the USA. Massive scale fueled by massive debt and thin or no margins.

[@farmstockofficial]

Yep, agree with that. It's not going to change without a massive overhaul of the supply chain.

[@alistairmccrone4651]

The industry has been in a mess for over twenty years very sad.

[@farmstockofficial]

Agreed. It's a shame to see. In my eyes you need to be doing it at scale to make it work these days and we just couldn't compete. The outlook for the rest of this year doesn't look great re prices.

[@johndeere7245]

@@farmstockofficial It is the same if not worse across the pond in the US. Numbers of dairies are down over 90% from the 80's and losing more every year. Lots of small cattle operations have given up. Hogs and chickens are split between corporate ownership for most commercial ownership with very few individual farmer owned herds now. It has pretty much gotten to the point of the only way to remain viable as a small farm is to market direct to consumer and jump through all the hoops.

[@tommybreen9677]

Have you looked into holistic management by the savory institute?

[@farmstockofficial]

Will take a look....thanks

[@ethanlee9441]

My grandfather always said stay small because the future is always uncertain

[@farmstockofficial]

That's one way of looking at it but it'd becoming more difficult to make it work without scale

[@thomasevans5491]

Do you think you would have quit milking without the wind turbines in the pipeline we farm 850 acres of not bad land 200 acres would be moorland it would be over 2 holdings altogether currently running 1700 ewes and 90 dairy cows and 30 suckler cows i absolutely hate dairy farming old man loves it cant get no staff he has 2 relief milkers one 71 ones 68 and old mans 73 to stay in the job we would need a new parlour and cubicles i just want to get rid of them increase the sucklers to around 100 and increase sheep by 100 to 1800 and manage it myself currently manage the sheep with wife and sometimes casual staff on big days like dipping or marking lambs in spring but old man is adamant we wouldn't survive without a milk cheque even tho when you do the sums with a new parlour cubicles shed to pay off i would be worse off financially than going out of milk

[@farmstockofficial]

It was a gamble because there was absolutely nothing guaranteed with the wind farm at the time but the hope (and that's all it was in 2009) probably played a part in the decision. Interesting to hear your story and not an easy situation - staff are becoming much more difficult to find these days. The other thing that tends to be overlooked is the opportunity cost of the dairy. It used to take up a disproportionate amount of time, effort and resource which then couldn't be used in other areas of the business. Getting rid of it freed up so much time and made things easier. Best of luck with it all!

[@georgedoorley5628]

the dairy industry is booming here in southern ireland ..........everybody is expanding .......if there was grass growing in a flower pot in a graveyard they would want it .................hopefully it stays that way ...

[@farmstockofficial]

That's good to hear. There seems to be a lot of consolidation throughout the industry in where you need to get bigger to survive. We didn't have the land or set up to be able to do that unfortunately. Hopefully the guys that are expanding are able to make it work!

[@theoracle8560]

Booming you say??? everyone expanding??? I must be blind and deaf then so.

[@georgedoorley5628]

@@theoracle8560 they must be as any land that comes up for renting around here they are the ones taking it ........and with the nitrates limit decreasing next jan this will only continue ........ theydrove land to over 500 euro per acre around here last spring and in the real dairy areas it went higher ........ a good bit higher ......put many cattle men out of land that they were renting .......

[@Farminguru]

Don’t know how you think it’s booming with the milk price half of what it was last year and can see it dropping even more. I’m milking myself in Ireland and have been at it for years. I wasn’t one of them farmers who jumped on the band wagon a few years ago when everyone was saying that dairy is the only way to go. Farmers paying over the odds for renting ground when they should be focusing more on cutting back on cow numbers and improving milk yields and solids from what they have. Ya everyone’s expanding and spending unnecessary amount of money with the only ones laughing now is the banks. Farmers putting themselves under huge financial pressure now because of it and will be paying back them loans for the rest of there years.

[@georgedoorley5628]

@@Farminguru well they are booming around me here ............they are expanding every year .......and next year will be no different .........big farm converted near us here , went straight in with 800 cows and plan to go to over 1000 after 2 years , they are lucky enough to have enough ground of their own and will not be renting any , as they have all but packed in the tillage and have given up the beef and sheep ...........the milk price last year was a flash in the pan , but at least u were lucky enough to have seen it ..............

[@killianokeeffe7113]

How are you getting on with the wind farm

[@farmstockofficial]

Great now that it's all set up and running. Took a while to get to that point and a fair few hoops to jump through to get there though!

[@ethanlee9441]

So down size you dont have to go completely out

[@farmstockofficial]

It wasn't going to work even at a smaller scale. Still a lot of the work for even less return unfortunately.....

[@wa7shf]

We quit dairy back in 1980 and went to Black Angus and have never looked back. Now we are farming 6000 acres and making money every year.. Dairy has been subsidized by the Goverment sence 1942. with a 1.5 Billion pounds of cheese stored in a cave....

[@farmstockofficial]

Good to hear things have worked out for you. The supermarkets in the UK have made it a difficult industry to be in and you're at the mercy of commodity prices constantly. It's a case of go big or go home these days. And we went home....

[@jonbruce536]

This is a great video. The dynamics are very similar in America. It's tragic what has happened to the dairy business. Where it was family farming here in America, that way of life is much smaller being replaced by 1000 cow plus farms which are able to reduce fixed costs and survive on poor prices. Lots of bad press by the media about dairy being poison which has reduced consumption and government trade practices make it very difficult for American dairy farmers.

[@farmstockofficial]

Interesting to hear what's happening over in the US. Sad to see so many good farms being lost like this who just can't compete on price pressures from the retailers.

[@jonbruce536]

@@farmstockofficial We have great respect for you folks. The struggles are the same.

[@philiphall4805]

just found your channel and 3000 acres to me means not a big decision to quit milk , far better uses of your time , great vid though , getting a bit bored with the NFU narcissists on youtube

[@farmstockofficial]

Thanks for the comment. I should add that 2,000 of that is hill ground and we're in an LFAS so not prime dairy country. In saying that, yes, you're right - it's a much better use of time and resources.

[@ethanlee9441]

Its called supply and demand

[@farmstockofficial]

👍

[@farmcentralohio]

Typical, the next generation couldn't do it so he blames milk prices and runs away lol. Afraid of a little work, sad.

[@farmstockofficial]

Nailed it there mate. Should have used that as the title to the video......

[@aubreywilliams6153]

@@farmstockofficial 😂, know all yanks eh!😂😂

[@ethanlee9441]

Nobody said to go big!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@farmstockofficial]

Agreed but it seems that's the only way for dairy farms to stay afloat these days - scale and efficiency.

[@ethanlee9441]

@farmstockofficial go small stay small thats how my relatives did it. Use old equipment. Because eventually we will use them again.

[@madeljacky]

@@ethanlee9441 there is men beside me who have a herd of 80 milking cows who says he is earning a comfortable living and there are also men beside me who have over 300 milking cows, leases land from everywhere they can get it and they haven't time to say hello to you yet they say they arnt making money but somehow they are still going. Stay small, produce quality milk, use all your own equipment and maintain it i think is the way to do it, there is enough of a market for milk for everyone.

[@samuelrobinson9012]

​@@ethanlee9441 Old timer years ago told me something I've never forgotten, and quote often... "You're better with a wee fire to warm you, than a big fire to burn you".

[@robertensign8786]

Farming any crop or source of protein in Europe is a losing endeavor. In fact just existing in Europe as a human being is almost impossible. Not sure how y’all manage. Enjoy the bugs and thought police.

[@farmstockofficial]

👍