One approach is to ask whether the holding can be staffed from solely within the family unit, in other words, does it need to buy in extra resources in the form of manpower or machinery?
This is where the debate can warm up, yet for one particular family in the south of Co. Cork, self sufficiency has, to a great extent, become the credo by which the farm is run.Well bred sucklers
The Hurley family farm runs 80 head of sucklers, mainly Limousine and Simmental, with the calves being taken through to around 24-27 months. There is also a small start being made with a pedigree Angus herd which will be expanded over time.
Self sufficiency is key
There are two good reasons why this route has been chosen. The first is cost. Con Hurley paid his contractor €11,000 for the last season he used him, nine years ago. Although the farm was totally reliant on the contractor at one time, Con had already taken on some of the work with the purchase of a Tanco E100 Ecowrap bale wrapper the year before. The regular contractor then retired, so rather than find another, Con decided to take it all in-house and bought the baler, along with a Marangon 285 mower conditioner.
With the repayments for the new equipment being significantly less than what he was handing over to the contractor each year, it seemed the most sensible way forward.
The second reason for taking on board all the silaging is flexibility. The farm lies right on the edge of the coast, so the weather can be quite catchy at times. Having the ability to harvest whenever conditions allow is a major benefit of being in total control of the operation.A problem of size
It is often argued that working with contractors will tend to ensure that modern and more efficient equipment is likely to be used. Yet that efficiency is often a product of much larger machinery and size can be a problem on smaller farms. This issue is not just restricted to narrow lanes and tight gateways, the winds coming in from the Atlantic dictate that the buildings are kept low to prevent the roofs being blown miles inland.
The tractors
It might be said that there are more tractors than strictly necessary on a farm of this size. There are six in all, yet that does mean that they are used lightly which adds to their longevity, and there is a good deal of spare capacity should one fail.
The smallest tractor is a 1976 Ford 4000; this happily drives the bale wrapper during the summer and is simple to operate with little to go wrong. The bales are usually wrapped in the yard before stacking.
Next up is a Ford 5000 from 1975 which has a variety of roles, especially in the winter where it can work away in the sheds bringing forage to the cattle. A 1986 Ford 7610 finds itself stacking the bales with a rear mounted forklift, being two wheel drive, its manoeuvrability makes it ideal for the task.
The Hurley family
Eldest of the four siblings is Aiesha, who is now 19 years of age, and intent on carrying on with the family tradition of stock farming with the emphasis very much on breeding for profitability.
Future-proofing the farm
Suckler herds have not enjoyed the greatest profitability over the past few years so the reduction of costs is essential. Using a selection of older tractors that cost little more than the diesel and regular servicing is one way of meeting this target.There is also the unstated fact that the popularity of older Fords has yet to wane, meaning these tractors are probably an appreciating asset, rather than a drain on finances.
Yet, having redundancy built into the fleet is not extended to the implements. The mower and baler are relatively new and should reliability become an issue, then they will be replaced.
