Managing spring suckler farm proves a tough task

A SURVEY of more than 100 farms has shown that managing a spring calving suckler farm is very far from the ‘dream’ second job for a part-time farmer.

On average, farmers in the survey (which included many part-time farmers) needed almost 10 hours per day to run the farm, peaking at more than 11 hours in spring.

However, the analysis showed huge variation in the labour requirement, with the most efficient farmers managing 10 times more livestock units than the least efficient.