Ask yourself how many advertisements (private) in newspapers/magazines have you seen for Dexter beef? Then ask yourself why this is?
There are regularly adds for dexters for sale in the farmers gaurdian and sadly a lot of dexters get put through the normal auctions making next to nothing.
I think the only people who can probably really claim to make a profit are people who really market their beef themselves either through their own farm shops or selling direct to the public. Farming is a tough life and if most farmers costed their hours re their profits they would not be making min wage. There is only one reason as far as I am concerned to keep dexters and that is because you enjoy keeping them
There is no profit in farming, of that there is no doubt. not just dexters but any livestock.
There will be people thinking they are in profit but in reality that must be unlikely. single farm payments put aside very few suckler herds would survive.
even if you market your own beef well its all so tight it squeaks. you work hard and really get not much further on. but you work for yourselves you pay the bills and you get by. what else do you want.
i was speaking to a guy today at the small holder festival, he was desperate to keep some livestock. i kinda laughed at his dreams, telling him there was little profit in any farming business. he works in an office for someone he doesnt like. i thought right then, your right why would anyone do that when they have a chance to do your own thing in the great outdoors. working with amazing animals. i work hard when needed but i get down time, i ride, walk the dogs and enjoy the farm.
i have no money and never will but i literally have everything i want (well sort of) and i dont have to work for some idiot.
as said in another recent post what else would i do?
dont be so disapointed in just getting by with your cattle, sometimes we dont know how lucky we are.
domsmith wrote:and i dont have to work for some idiot.
I do At least with a job the idiot goes home at the end of the day.
I have to work for an idiot as well, me, trouble is I'm with me 24/7 !!!
Dom is right. I reckon keeping cattle can bring a benefit if it's an add-on to something else. We've got just a few cows now (thanks to the threat of TB not finance), and 600 ewes. The ewes cost a lot of money to keep and they need FAR more work than cattle, but they are more flexible and we get better prices, but still a struggle to make any money. I often think that if the weather was perfect it would be easy and less costly, but then the prices would go down! That's farming for you, always something.
We in an interesting and turbulent time with cattle at the moment - the market isn't telling farmers what it needs with wholesale prices that are high, due to a lack of stock, but retail prices that have remained stable. The wholesale prices may be high but they're not high enough to create a margin, which we need to invest in breeding stock, which is also on a high due to a high cull price. Meanwhile butchers & abattoirs are struggling to cope with slim margins also, but the supermarkets don't want to raise their prices, particularly after the horsemeat scandal, so they can maintain their market share.
To my mind dissappointing breeding stock prices now in Dexters could be a good thing, in the short term, as it means people looking for breeding stock aren't put off by the high initial investment. Of course we have to balance this against the cull price, but on the whole Dexter folk are more resilient, because they rely less on the income from their cattle, so less will be culled. This job is all about predicting the unpredicatable 3 years down the line but this situation can't continue the way it's going, or we'll end up with no cattle at all. Low cost (cheap to keep) breeding cattle will be in demand when retail prices do start to rise so I figure that it's not all doom & gloom, just a case of playing chicken with the markets.
Hi All
I did not realise when I posted this topic that I would have had the varied response , I thank you all for taking it forward to have one of the best discussions for some time .
Having just finished exhibiting with the Scottish Dexter Group on behalf of the Dexter Cattle Society at the Smallholders Fair in Lanark last Saturday , we were extremely busy and it was plainly obvious that we who breed Dexters have a lot of educating to do with the public , new keepers and above all the farmer . Many farmers who bred the larger breed were very interested in the Dexter .
I loved hearing all your responses but I remain with my initial views and say thank you and agree to differ .
robin walker wrote:I loved hearing all your responses but I remain with my initial views and say thank you and agree to differ .
This is kind of why the situation doesn't change much - you can't just will the prices higher, you have to do something to make them more desirable/profitable or people will just pay what they can get back from them. Also, over the last 18 months, I've noticed countless herds either seriously cutting back numbers or selling up completely, resulting in a glut and a buyers market. If established breeders don't want to risk bidding at the sales for fear they may end up taking more cattle home then they have to accept that it isn't much different for the buyers, many of whom also have stock back home to think of.
At least with a job the idiot goes home at the end of the day.