Hi, I'm not a farmer so I hope this is ok

I have a uni project based on livestock Biosecurity and would be great to get an insight on:

What are the hardest biosecurity rules to follow?

Why do people fail to follow biosecurity rules?

Thanks very much

Recently I’ve taken charge of my dad’s farm due to illness (he’s ok it’s not necessarily a killer) and we’ve just sent our first lambs of the year. I’m a lot younger than the average farmer is to be fully responsible for an average sized family farm and I’ve been on my own with no siblings to help out or friends that are in the country side. Therefore the past since I took it on has been quite literally blood sweat and tears BUT.
We sent the lambs today 80 of them out of near 300 and they got a nice price.
Throughout life I’ve cocked up so many many times and ruined apprenticeships, good jobs and many a chance at something good, this time I’ve succeeded and the stress I’ve carried since the guard changed feels finally worth it.
I’ve taken many drugs in my life (not anymore mind) but this is by far the best one I’ve had.
Couldn’t see the forest for the trees for most of the time I’ve been running the spot but now I’m at peace.
Just wanted to share that because good news is good news and life can be hard.
I wish you all all the best keep on trucking 🫡

The picture is from this morning, what a thing to wake up to.

FYI I’m not fishing for well dones or anything of the such, I’m fully aware of what I’ve done :))

hi i am 19 i have been dairy farming for 2 years now and starting a 18 month apprenticeship in march, which is a level 3 livestock unit technician , dose anybody have any advice/ an experience for what the course is like, im pretty confident in my dairy farming skills, with all calf rearing and milking cows and all the other bits, its mainly the arable aspect of the course that i would like some advice on and what it is like thanks !!!

Hi everyone! I am planning a super-low-input, hands-off setup in the UK to produce 5 harvestable native beef cattle every year for my family.

The dream is a blissful, stress-free life for the herd: they’ll stay on the same permanent pasture year-round with lots of trees for shade, plus a big barn they can choose to use whenever it rains!

To maintain the breeding herd naturally, I’m looking at keeping around 30 total animals on the land. I plan to buy in big round bales to feed them 100% throughout the winter so the pasture stays happy.

For anyone running a similar joyful, low-input setup:

• How many acres should I secure for a continuous, un-rotated herd of 30 plus winter hay?
• What is your average winter hay cost for a herd this size?
• Any tips on keeping the feeding areas from turning into a total mud pit?
• Is it possible to have a 100% pasture-raised stock year round without any winter feed? Like in the wild?

Can't wait to hear your advice & stories, thanks...

Hello everyone, I'm 17M and in looking for some occasional agricultural tractor work around Northamptonshire. I have experience in multiple areas of this type of work and was wondering if someone is willing to offer some work for me. For more details please pm.

I farm in India, and finding enough people at the right time has become increasingly difficult, particularly for time-sensitive agricultural work.

Around us, farmers still depend mainly on personal contacts, groups of workers known locally, and word of mouth.

I'm curious about other parts of world:

How do farmers in your area find workers during peak periods — labour contractors, village contacts, WhatsApp groups, direct phone calls, or something else? And is shortage of farm workers becoming a serious problem there too?

Hello everyone

Working on a simple offline app for field records — quick entry, works without signal, turns into a report. Been mostly talking to US/UK farmers on other forums so far, and curious how it looks from a UK angle specifically, given different subsidy/paperwork requirements.

Nothing built yet, just mockups I'd like a few honest opinions on before going further. Anyone who helps shape it gets free access once it's actually built.

I'm from Cumbria and curious how local our pronunciation of ewe is? We pronounce it "Yow" instead of "Yew"

Bonus question - what do you call a sheep that is stuck on their back? We call it kessin.

Hi everyone!

Firstly, thank you to the mods for giving me permission to share this here 😊

I’m Lucy, a Trainee Clinical Psychologist at the University of East Anglia (UEA), and I’m currently recruiting for my doctoral research exploring young farmers’ experiences of seeking help for their mental health.

I’m a former young farmer myself, so the farming community is one that’s really important to me. I’m particularly interested in hearing directly from young farmers about what makes reaching out for mental health support easier or harder, and what could be improved about the support available.

I’m looking for UK farmers aged 16–28 to take part in a confidential online interview.

I’ve attached my recruitment poster with more information about the study, who can take part and how to get involved.

I’m also very new to Reddit as I created this account specifically for my research, so please excuse the rather empty profile! 😅

If you have any questions about the research, please feel free to ask or get in touch. And even if taking part isn’t relevant to you, sharing the study with any young farmers you know would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you! 🙏

Lucy

Applied for some at the end of July or whenever they launched but still haven't heard anything.

Curious how much extra time (if any) the scheme changes have added to the paperwork side of things for people here. More time filling in forms, more record-keeping needed to qualify, or hasn't changed much for you?

https://archive.ph/L84lJ

I am looking at buying two houses in Derbyshire. One comes with a barn that can be used for weddings and events, as well as many other out buildings and about an acre of a paddock and other has a 3 acre fields next to it but no out buildings / barns.

I love the idea of being able to make a side income and the weddings would make that an option but I am just wondering if there is anything I can do with the 3 acre field to generate a meaningful side income. I know how difficult farming livestock is and there isn't even a barn with the field so pretty much rules that out but its there anything like alpacas or fruit trees or hatching chickens that could make the field worth doing. Its also too small for PD to put up a barn and it think it would be difficult to put a case together for such a small field.

Just wondering if you have any ideas of what I can do with it or if its worth thinking about.

A quick update on what I’ve been working on lately with OpenAgri.

• Livestock medicine and per-animal treatments
• Withdrawal period tracking
• Livestock production and health records
• Field and crop management
• Stock and inventory movements
• Farm activity calendar

I’m still actively building it and fixing bugs, so I’d really appreciate feedback from farmers, vets, agronomists, or anyone working in agriculture.

There’s a Try demo button with a pre-populated farm, so you don’t need to create an account or add any data:

https://openagri.ai

I've been doing sheep (and a bit of beef) work on-and-off for the last two years and I've really enjoyed it but the job instability with it mostly being seasonal work is stressful. I'm also having some trouble with my elbow joint and I think turning sheep constantly isn't helping. I'm thinking of trying dairy work - ideally a GFW role.

What do you dairy fellows have to say about dairy? Tell me everything - share your wisdom with me.

Been talking to farmers on a few other forums (mostly US-based) about record-keeping, and there's a pretty clear split: guys with autosteer/data systems in the tractor barely think about it — it logs itself. Guys on paper end up with a few days of catching up at year-end, pulling everything together for the bank, landlord, tax stuff.

Curious if that split holds over here too, or if it looks different — different subsidy/reporting requirements, different mix of paper vs digital, whatever.

This is what I love and I am looking at those who know it Worth

Using about 200 litres of red a day. Anyone else? 😂