Great idea! Love the data… BUT…. Flip the screens next time. In other words, show the charts/ spreadsheet big and you small in the corner. It’s too hard to read the data and follow along as it is. That aside, it’s great to hear other farmer’s processes. And I think it’s important messaging that we don’t get things handed to us, that so much affects our profit or loss, etc.
Absolutely loved the video, please keep making them. I have the same experience of being told to keep achieving academically because it is “so much better” than farming, but this isn’t necessarily true. Great to hear from somebody in a similar situation.
Very well done It would have helped, but perhaps added another layer of complexity to cover land values and tax. Ie - that a lower trading business performance can be accepted if asset value is appreciating and tax advantages are used. There is a real separation between tenant farmers and owners. Also between family farms who perhaps have no intention of selling and those who have bought a farm for 20 years and farm it primarily for asset appreciation.
Great video. Good numbers for anyone thinking of doing it. It is a very complex business when you take the milk price and the input cost volatility into account. So many moving parts of the equation.
I too thought you are wasted on dairy farming, until you said you don't use side sheets on the pits!! I'm now struggling to take you seriously 😂😂. Great videos keep it up.
Fabulous insight into the real numbers. Interesting that you had some batches of heifers that underperformed, but that is a reality of breeding, no matter how good the bulls are, you should only breed your best cows and maiden heifers to dairy. Vets and medical are another big variable as well as your resending program and grass variety. Loved the share, absolutely 💯.
Very interesting one of my mates has recently done benchmarking and they told him his suckler doesn't make any money which makes you question benchmarking as i would say he's in the top 20% if not 10% and is investing in his farm without borrowing we're both quite open with our finances which leads to some good discussions. Keep up the good work we need more like you in tge industry.
Excellent video. Perhaps a goal of profit per cow rather than yield per cow is better, a lot of profit is forgone chasing yield. Hard to read the rather small chart but did your fixed costs fluctuate in tandem with yield?
I watch RU-vid on a 27" 4k screen, often forget everyone doesn't. 😅 Yield matters more than I appreciated tbh, it's a goal I will chase even at extra cost at this point.
Love the videos very insightful and agree fully re how farmers are eunderappreciated by business community, when one consider how volatile revenue and indeed some Costa are farmers should be.massively applauded for their abilities, this coming from someone in another business.
Top video & one that was missing in this space 👌 Would you consider moving away from profit per cow as main benchmark to profit per hectare/acre utilised? Just my personal view but the profit per hectare benchmark levels out the performance between high input, low input & all systems in between at the same time highlights the increased risk associated with increased inputs.
Brilliant watch, I’m a young dairy farmer in the south and find you’re enthusiasm for farming refreshing compared to most of the doom and gloom we hear day in day out👍🏻
Im new to your chanel north wales based, interesting content a sensible aproach to a farming buisness, so many call farming a way of life in some respect it is, but as you sensibly point out its the bottom line that pays the bills, get that right and you will be rewarded with a better lifestyle, i shall look forward to your next vlog, good luck.
When you mention the cost per cow have you deduct your labour cost before you show the profit per cow? And are these cost allowing an hourly wage or just a weekly/monthly salary.
Some man! Great insight for the general public💪🏼👍🏼. Dairy myself… two things.. 1: fair play for giving the time and effort and some private info 2:…. You would talk the hind legs off a f**king DONKEY! Mother of divine…. Relax… take it handy. Your video was great and this comes across in this message as abuse … I mean this in the least abusive way possible I sound like an awful bo** Feck me…..you’re some man to talk. You’re video has great info for the general pubic and farmers also… but hey… you could bend the ear off a donkey. Christ on a bike relax.. you are really passionate about the farm and that’s super. It’s so intense! Not in the top 10% myself either not far below it though..but hey… the cows work for you……. You don’t work for the cows!!!! 🤷🏼♂️
Thanks! I also absolutely get what your saying, my idea with RU-vid is very much to just try something different, this style of video is me trying to find the balance and see what works.
Your the the "Harry's farm" for dairying. On paper farmers made money in 22 but with capital allowances write downs lower than repayments and abig tax and preliminary tax bill to pay in 23 and cash flow on the floor, any farms with big borrowings could struggle if milk price's don't rebound next year. The farm always owes you money, 10/15 pounds an hour for a 70 hour week. Is that a 3d model of yourself on the table beside you?
I love the way your brain saw the opportunity. I can relate so well. Over the next 2 months my family and will sell our city home and take over an existing dairy farm. Thank you for this video. It was very informative. Brief and to the point.
I might be nit picking, but the graph at the start silages are just kpi’s not management accounts- they are more so used in correlation with management accounts/ financial statements. Profit also doesn’t equal cashflow with neither equaling what in your pocket. You can have all the information but it’s what practically happening and what you can do it with. You seem to be brilliant at using this information to make your decisions
All valid points. 😅 It's one of them topics which is never ending with caveats and context. I'm a big fan of not striving for perfection and just doing my best and moving on to the next thing.
Thanks for the video. When benchmarking your figures is it against averages or from other particular farms that you share data with? Your co-op or discussion group? I’d like to learn more on benchmarking but unsure how to get started. I did it with a discussion group for a few years so understand the general idea but am not in said group now.
Great video. I’m a beef farmer and was told similar things when coming home from. ‘good’ job 😉 I am not up to date with my bench marking at the moment, but when I have done it in the past, I moved away from profit per cow, profit per ha or yield as my primary figure to simple percentage return (Annual Equivalent Rate like a bank account) on cash or other value (eg unpaid labor) as I felt this was ultimately the most important. When I mentioned this at a benchmarking meeting (in England) a few years ago that was yield / income / health KPI focused, I was practically asked to leave 😂
Not so much a wage. More like the interest you get on an investment. Or savings. i.e. the profit made on the value tied up in the business. Both cash / actual money and unpaid value (like my wages at times when cash flow is tight). The engineering firm I worked for did the same in quarterly profit share meetings. I look at profit overall and on an individual animal basis so I can see if specific ages, sexes, breeds etc seem more profitable (the biggest difference for me is the price paid per kg for stores, which makes me despair at markets that don’t sell on or show weights of stores). All fairly easy if individual animal performance is recorded. I account for wages separately as either wages / drawings actually taken from the business, or the amount I would have had to pay someone else (even if sometimes I haven’t, e.g. when I haven’t paid myself fully in the short term for cash flow reasons)
Very big thanks for making this video, your vids are always interesting. What are your thoughts about buying a feeding wagon and how that could influence the milk yields? Kind regards of a vet student.
Hey Vet Student! We don't use a feeder wagon because we prioritise grazing, so the days to repay the investment are limited. It would definitely help milk yields.
@ farm theory Could you do a bit of homework on the sustainability payment being offered by Lakeland, i feel like theres a lot there not saying on it and what it means going forward, Thanks Matty Oh i love the environmental videos
For once, no I can't. 🤣 It's a very long, rediculous story. Your spot on, there is a lot not being said, and it's going to bite us very quick. However I don't see any options for farmers, they will simply force it on us.
@@FarmTheoryNIin my own group of discussion group /friends farming last year the range of profit /ha last year was 3200€ to 4300€/ha Spring calving systems are highly profitable
Wen ur counting on profit on cows u need to count everything machinery sheds labour the lot that’s a totally different number. And people say u can’t count all that but if the cows put them costs Ther and it has to come out of the milk cheque it needs to b counted
It is included as depreciation, but the capital cost is incurred sooner, also replacements and drawings, as I tried to make clear, the figures are for comparison between years not real life figures that end in my bank account.
@@FarmTheoryNII don’t want to no what’s in ur bank account 😂 but the money that’s in your account is what u made. I no the way u said is the proper way to do it but it’s not the real proper figures
@@davidporter9556 it's not, this is why cost of production is such a complex topic, 100 ways to work it out. 😅 I say the most accurate measure is the average price we are paid, we are always held at just about surviving! 🤔
You either own 350ac or not,why the 150ac difference quoted? Good video,I farmed the same when I got 50p as when I got 18p,basically never let anything slip.
One disagreement Andrew. Once you farm for a while you couldn't work for anyone else. You'd get the sack after the first day for arguing with your boss.