[moony]

Firstly I wish your dad well. Having lost my dad this time last year to cancer I know how hard it is. He was given up to 6months but battled for just shy of 2 years.

If I was in your position having been through what we have I would sell the stock or at least the bulk of it and let the land by licence while retaining the single farm payment. If you do that get a proper agreement drawn up so if the CAP reform changes significantly you still retain all payment rights and have a separate agreement tying the licensee to maintain the boundaries so you don't have that hassle. Put the money from the stock in an ISA and use the single payment to help you live. That would allow you to concentrate on University, the impending care and have enough money to set up again if you wish when you leave Uni. Obviously that depends entirely on your brothers wishes and more importantly your fathers. If he really enjoys the farming side I would keep it going even if its only on a small scale to give him something else to think about rather than his illness .I don't know about rents in NI but around here you could expect to get at least £100 per acre for the grazing land if it is half decent. I certainly wouldn't sell the farm or land until you are 100% sure what you want to do in the future. It will provide you with an income and an enviable asset whether you farm it yourself or not. It would definitely be worth speaking to a professional financial advisor and discussing your exact circumstances now and what may happen financially when your father sadly passes as you may be subject to inheritance tax etc.

[Victorian Farmer]

It will be hard wev got 60 acres croft my dad needed help has the money ran out iv been running the place  since 2000 we are both skint we have 200 sheep geese hens etc think hard wev never got on top this cold spring cost us .can you cope with feed bills maintenance etc

[Marches Farmer]

The next couple of years will be hard for you and your family, what with illness, studies and worrying about what to do for the best.  Letting someone else run the farm for a while would give you time to deal with the other stuff and sort out where you're going.  Quite a few folks (particularly those on Farming Forum) would find it impossible to get their heads around farming commercially on less than 500 acres.  What matters is not how much your income is but how much your income minus your outgoings are.  If there's no debt attached to the farm you're up and running already.  If you can keep costs down by utilising what's there already and perhaps look at a small number of high value animals rather than big numbers of low value commercial type sheep and cattle you may well be able to make a go of things.  What's better for you - 25 finished commercial ram lambs at £70 a head or 5 shearling terminal sire rams at £400?

[Backinwellies]

Sorry to hear about your father.

The main thing here seems to be what you and your brother want for the future. 
The farm is not going to support one of you let alone 2 when you have a family.  But maybe renting more land is an option for post Uni?
 You haven't said what you are doing at Uni .. but as you are both going then maybe either one or both of you may not want to farm long term?  Do either of you have another career in mind? Do you live somewhere where you could follow an alternative career and farn part time?   There are so many variables that advice is impossible but the main thing is for you and your brother to discuss this together.

[Sandyknox]

I am sorry to hear about your father thoughts go out i think you should defenintly stick in and stick with the sheep there is still alot of work in sheep but would be alot easier to manage while you are at uni hope that helps

[brendan lyons]

Sorry to hear about your father.

The main thing here seems to be what you and your brother want for the future. 
The farm is not going to support one of you let alone 2 when you have a family.  But maybe renting more land is an option for post Uni?
 You haven't said what you are doing at Uni .. but as you are both going then maybe either one or both of you may not want to farm long term?  Do either of you have another career in mind? Do you live somewhere where you could follow an alternative career and farn part time?   There are so many variables that advice is impossible but the main thing is for you and your brother to discuss this together.

I study geography at uni, i am thinking about how i could tie possibly something agricultural and geography together?

[Big Light]

IF you want to invest in livestock that are cheap and require little maintenance buy up a load of unregistered Hebrideans ewes or older registerd ones cross them with a continental sire and produce lambs bigger than there mothers by the end of the season for very little input and sell either fat or store depending on how good your grass is - if you use something like a suffolk the lambs will be white fleeced so not loosing money in the fat ring for being black

[Liam_86]

could you also look into a farm share scheme or anything like that?

not sure if any operate in NI

Good luck and best wishes to your father

[zarzar]

  i have been reading your post sorry to hear about your dad and i was thinking it maybe worth selling some of the livestock and rent the land out whilst at uni as the rent would cover what livestock you keep but maybe help with your uni fees as you could do a lease agreement with someone untill you finish uni maybe that would keep the land going without all the extra work whilst you are at uni.

[Bramblecot]

Sorry about your Dad's illness, enjoy your time together.  Have you thought about contacting CAFRE - they have campus's at Enniskillen, Antrim and Cookstown.  Might be able to help with student placements to do the physical work if your Da can supervise.  Or they will know other young farmers in your area who may be looking to start out.  I am sure you will come up with  , just stay positive and open-minded.  Best wishes.

[lachlanandmarcus]

Before you do anything with the stock wait to find out what the rules will be for any new subsidy system coming in, no point selling £200 of stock and losing £3k in subsidy  for the sake of a few weeks.

[danielh]

[/quote]
I study geography at uni, i am thinking about how i could tie possibly something agricultural and geography together?
[/quote]

On the subjects you are studying I myself am a farmers son and have become a geotechnical / geo-environmental engineer from an ecology/geology degree which combines working outdoors with a geology background which can be an interesting career area often covering agricultural areas so connected to farming but in a different industry. Currently now working offshore which has enabled me to start my own small farm recently as unfortunately unless a sizeable farm there is not enough income for a reasonable living.