Imagine a farm – what comes to mind? Most likely a field full of sheep or the cow barn, along with the tractor, and the farmer himself. While these certainly are common to farms, there is so much more to them – Organic, dairy, cereals, livestock – these are just a few examples of the different types of farms. In this short guide, we are going to look at what you need to think about before you get stuck in.
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What skills do you need to run a successful farm?
Organisation: To run a successful farm, you will need to wear many metaphorical hats. The jobs that you will undertake include the day to day tasks on the farm itself, managing staff, completing paperwork, balancing a budget and making orders. To be able to do all of this, you need to be organised and know how to prioritize tasks according to their importance.
Management: Even if you are starting up a small farm from scratch, management will be a crucial part of your daily operations. Of course, you have to manage your own time, but in time, you will more than likely need to take on additional members of staff, and being able to delegate tasks and manage them is important.
Fitness: Working on a farm is a physically demanding job. It involves long hours, often before the sun rises and long after it sets. You need to make sure that you are physically fit and healthy enough to manage the demands that the job brings.
Costs
Starting up a farm, even a small one, comes with some considerable costs, many of which you may not have even thought about. The last thing you want to do is to hit a point where you have run out of money, so before you start, you need to ensure you have enough funding in place to cover the following:
Buildings and outbuildings: Your land may already come with buildings, but you need to make sure that they are fit for purpose and match your farming requirements. As your farm grows, you may need to extend.
Equipment: This is one of the most significant costs as the job uses some pretty costly machinery. It may be possible to hire some of it or pick it up second hand. You also need to think about the ongoing maintenance costs of equipment and machinery.
Animals, feed and seed: This, of course, depends entirely on the branch of farming you intend to go into. If you are purely cultivating crops, you will need to make sure you have seeds and fertilisers. If you are farming animals, you not only have the outright cost of them but their feed, which should always contain natural ingredients and additives and veterinary costs.
Insurance: This is pretty important to make sure that your farm is well protected should a disaster occur.
Staffing costs: If you hire any staff, you will need to make sure that you can pay their wages and any benefits that they are legally entitled to.
Farming can be rewarding and lucrative. However, before you jump in, it is important to make sure you have thought about whether you have the right skills and the funding to be a success.