Farmer Focus: The lack of profit in farming is alarming
© Kathy Horniblow I’ve probably said this before, but my brain’s desire to catch a lame sheep and my body’s ability to execute orders have become increasingly divorced.
I still haven’t accepted this, but while sitting on the ground after a lame ram sidestepped me, it became obvious that the handling system will have to be moved more often.
The Texel and Beltex rams are pursuing the commercial ewes enthusiastically and the Blue Texel rams are in with gimmers. Luckily, we have lots of rams, because their ability to go lame is legendary.
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I was hoping to go to the Stirling sales to buy a Charolais bull, as we have a problem with a lack of choice of semen.
Having used two of the easiest-calving bulls, we then used a better-looking but poorer-figure bull. Unfortunately, his figures got worse, leaving us with some unsaleable breeding bulls.
Buying semen and then paying royalty on registering a calf costs a lot every year.
See also: Stirling: Charolais top at 28,000gns and average £1,700 more
For those of you who like costings, the latest Reading University figures are back for the year ending September 2020.
We have rented more land, so spread output over more hectares, reducing feed and fertiliser spend a bit. Variable costs were down 12% and fixed costs were down 5%.
In comparison with 140 other lowland beef and sheep farms, our subsidy is 6% of our total income, with a group average of 24%.
Sheep sales account for 50%, my foot-trimming contract work makes up 25% and beef amounts to 19%. Running a bed-and-breakfast and the foot-trimming get us into profit.
The 2021 figures will reflect a move towards sheep and away from cattle. This seems the opposite of the group, where a higher proportion of income is from subsidy and beef.
Goodness knows who will be right, but the dependency on subsidy is alarming, especially as farms still make a net loss before drawings.
I hope someone is putting these costings before influential people. Perhaps supermarket bosses need to wake up, especially as transporting food from across the world is only going to get more expensive.
I hope that behind the buffoonery of the government there are a few clued-up people. You can be “intelligent”, but still as thick as bull waste product.