"Jim Webster" wrote in message
...

we would basically take the capital as the money we would get if we
cashed everything in. Value of house, land, livestock, machinery, quota,
feed and fertiliser in hand.



Fair enough, but I think you need to add to the cash return of the bussiness
the lifestyle value of living on a farm.

Also care has to be made not to double count the investment return.

If you had bought your farm on a loan and a capitol deposit then repaid the
loan out of the business returns then
you either have to compare the return on capitol on the original deposit or
count the growth in value and the loan paid off as part of the return on
capitol.

Also from the lifestyle aspects. Possibly not so significant in cumbria, but
what would it cost to rent a property like your farmhouse if it was
freestanding and not part of farm?

If you start comparing different jobs I think you need to standback and look
at the lifestyle that an activity supports rather than a single metric such
as income as defined by the inland revenue.