The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Hillview Farm on May 29, 2014, 06:36:51 pm
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Hello all,
well I could cry right now, My boss has lost her farm tenancy so I will be losing my job in September and a barn that I use for lambing :( My other half's boss had offered me a job calf rearing (this is what I'm doing currently and I have got myself a good name) however he has suddenly had a change of heart and said I cant do his tractor work so he doesn't want me!
I took on roughly 40acres in Jan and we will be looking at putting up a small structure of some sort for this years lambing.
Can anyone give me some idea's of what I could do? I would like to fully become my own business, I have experience in beef, dairy, sheep and horses. Any way I could become self supporting without any a***holes taking it away from me!!
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I might be naieve but is it possible for you to learn to drive the tractor and do the tractor work?
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If only it was that simple. He needs an experienced tractor driver with years under there belts. it's big tractor work not just pottering with a bale if silage haha
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Don't cry Hillview there's plenty out there to be done it's just a case of getting your name about and asking.
Did think that myself Bionic, tractor driving is normally quite sought after as part of normal farm work
I have the same sort of experience by the sounds of it, apart from managing my own farm I help other farmers, relief milking, managing their farms when they are away, feeding beef and sheep, helping with dagging/worming/shearing sheep, sileage (if you don't want to do the tractor work there are always pits to cover) stone picking, calf/lamb rearing, lambing, mucking out, the world is your oyster. I also test cattle for disease and milk test which is great if you don't mind the early hours.
Regarding horses there are quite frequently people looking for grooms etc, if you can break you could offer that service also getting horses ready for competition etc
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Sorry cross posted ref tractor driving, seems to always be the way they want experience, so how are you supposed to get it ::)
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Relief milking is always a good earner and dairy farms always want good reliable milkers. Leaves you free in the middle of the day to do your own thing
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I've a friend does, and another friend did, milk recording. Visiting the dairy farms and recording production. Can be fitted in around your own schedule to a certain extent. That's not your own business though, but it could give an income while you set something up.
I multiple suckle on my Jerseys. I don't push them and they rear up to 6 calves each per annum easily, plus milk for the house, plus pet lambs. I'm sure they could do 8 with a bit more input. If anyone make that work it would be you!! :D Plus, if you are minded to do it, you could make yoghurt, clotted cream, curd cheese, etc, and sell it. (Too much red tape for me ;), I just make it for us, family and friends. )
Another friend has found a niche doing gardening for 'little old ladies'. They like having someone who will do their garden their way ;)
Good luck coming up with something
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Do lots of things - it's called a 'Work Portfolio' these days. Used to be called Jobbing I think. ;D Good luck. Remember to keep records, and hold onto all receipts if you do anything for yourself. Lots of folk on here can help with that.
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wow all of a sudden i sound posh, I now officially have a work portfolio :-) I am no longer just a handyman!!!
Sorry can't help with OP's issue...
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wow all of a sudden i sound posh, I now officially have a work portfolio :-) I am no longer just a handyman!!!
Sorry can't help with OP's issue...
Thought you had a job title? Landscape Gardener :innocent: That covers just about everything you do out of doors I reckon. :excited:
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HF, we are just starting up our own new business…
you have loads of experience, sit down and work out what you would like to do, then start marketing yourself..get some cards made up, get the word out that you can do jobs :fc:
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Think OH's boss very short sighted ... no tractor driver that I know will be able to rear calves properly!
Good luck with the portfolio ..... given me a few ideas :thinking:
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I've a friend does, and another friend did, milk recording. Visiting the dairy farms and recording production. Can be fitted in around your own schedule to a certain extent. That's not your own business though, but it could give an income while you set something up.
I multiple suckle on my Jerseys. I don't push them and they rear up to 6 calves each per annum easily, plus milk for the house, plus pet lambs. I'm sure they could do 8 with a bit more input. If anyone make that work it would be you!! :D Plus, if you are minded to do it, you could make yoghurt, clotted cream, curd cheese, etc, and sell it. (Too much red tape for me ;) , I just make it for us, family and friends. )
Another friend has found a niche doing gardening for 'little old ladies'. They like having someone who will do their garden their way ;)
Good luck coming up with something
Not sure about in England but in Scotland quite a few of the milk recorders are self employed, it is actually better that way as a fully employed milk recorder then they can send you anywhere which you don't want to be away from the farm.
Still don't understand the rules and regs behind lemon curd etc as the old ladies still make it and sell it at bring and buys etc and some of the charities around here ask for home baking which basically could come from anyone's kitchen :innocent:
Think that's fabulous Sally as it is something I have been thinking about rearing calves on jerseys as currently hand rear, was worried in purchasing jerseys because there is so much about them being rife with Johnes and it's such a horrible disease I didn't want to take the chance. Mainly commercial ones I would have thought.
Think OH's boss very short sighted ... no tractor driver that I know will be able to rear calves properly!
Good luck with the portfolio ..... given me a few ideas :thinking:
I know of at least six dairymen in this area who can't and won't rear calves as part of their remit
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As long as you have the right attitude to a days work and are prepared to do it you will have no problem finding employment.
Wet days and winter can be a problem. Use your local facebook page to advertise what you do.
Best of luck.
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Just had a quick read through but will digest later. Milk recording is right up my street but how would I go about finding it? Do you go through dairy crest for example or approach the farms?
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Re: getting into milk recording; I'm not sure, have sent message to my pal who does it to ask.
CGP, as to Jerseys and Johnnes, you would want to source from a high health status farm, certified clear of Johhnes, and buy Jerseys that have been bred on the farm.
I started with Hillie as an in-calf heifer. She wasn't cheap, but she had a heifer calf, luckily, and then another. How lucky was that? !! And her first daughter, Plenty, then had a Jersey heifer calf too! So now I have 4 of them; Katy (Hillie's 2nd daughter) will calve herself this summer, and Kitty (Plenty's daughter) will get served at about that time. So by this time next year I will have 4 of them milking! :o
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Re: getting into milk recording; I'm not sure, have sent message to my pal who does it to ask.
:o
I'd be interested in that, too! Have never seen it advertised anywhere. I'd love to find a job that I could do part time, and that keeps me connected to what I've always enjoyed most on farms. (And where they possibly wouldn't mind employing a middle-aged, overweight woman... ::) )