14 March 2008
Notaproperfarmer Has Expanded
Posted by Richard under: Sheep; Smallholding .
Our pasture was recovering too slowly from the constant grazing from the Southdown ewes and Shetland ponies - so we have come to a temporary arrangement with some local friends to rent some of their grazing. The past few weeks have been spent fixing up fencing at the new site, getting a new CPH number, plumbing in a trough, and tagging the new lambs.
Finally, today was the day to move them down the road to their new home-from-home. We hooked up the horsebox and put the lambs in the sectioned off front part, with the eight ewes in the main section. Everything went well with the eight mile trip and they all came bounding out when the ramp went down at the far end.
Overall, this give us an extra four acres or so of grazing or hay to work with - which will make life easier and reduce the feed bill for the ewes.
It seems strange to be down by twenty-one head of sheep. It definately much, much quieter - but we still have the three cade lambs here, Katie & Kaiser the Shetland ponies and the chickens - so plenty to keep us busy (with regular trips down the road to check on the other site).
6 Comments so far...
colour it green Says:
14 March 2008 at 11:34 pm.
thats great - that must help a lot - I was wondering how you managed, as we have about the same amount of land and 3 ewes keeping the grass down! - another 4 acres is lovely!
Kate Says:
17 March 2008 at 12:11 pm.
We have been lucky to have the use of a neighbours 2 acres for the last year both for grazing and hay, without which we could never have coped. There are other factors which have helped as well like the quality and fast growing nature of our meadow and paddock, because although the meadow floods periodically over the winter it grows like stink and is full of nutrients from spring onwards. I have also been amazed how fast our top paddock has recovered since last Wednesday! Today I’ve been clearing any muddy gateways of fallen fodder and reseeding with hard wearing seed and a good look at the fields tells me that apart from the gateways all else is coming back strong. It also helps that the Shetlands and Southdowns are good doers and hold their condition well. Finding suitable grazing to rent locally is a problem though, the rental price is OK, but the areas for rent through agents seem far bigger than we need and the price to buy even a small amount of grazing land is astronomical as people want to buy it up as a prospect for building on in the future. There is local land available through the council for a nominal rent, but there are question marks over water, security of gates and people walking dogs off leads.
So whilst we have secured sufficent grazing for the next year I find that like last year I am already looking forward to the following years requirements.
Jo Knight Says:
18 March 2008 at 11:49 am.
How many acres have you got which are your own, Kate?
Whilst we were looking for our smallholding, we attended a Smallholders’ Introduction Course with NewLandOwner in Derbyshire; it was a fascinating, informative & ‘hands on’ weekend which for anyone contemplating a similar venture, I could not recommend highly enough. In fact we already had an offer in on an eight-acre property; which by the end of the weekend, we were uncomfortably aware would not prove sufficient for our needs. Thankfully it fell through; & here we are with 36 acres, which we’re already discovering isn’t enough….!
The NewLandOwner team did say, that regardless of what you buy, you can never have too much land; initially you can always let it for grazing or sell it as standing hay or whatever - sage advice not to be daunted by the apparently overwhelming size of a plot if you can afford it.
It’s such a dilemma when you can’t keep animals within your immediate vicinity; at best, it adds to your workload & at worst, there are the issues of security & safety. If you’ve got plans for further expansion of your enterprise, have you considered the radical step of moving again….?! It’s so frustrating that small parcels of land on their own, are so expensive to buy - but perhaps if you did rent a bigger area than you need, you could sublet it for tack sheep or hay/haylage. And before you know it you’ll be looking for more…..!
Ian Walthew Says:
18 March 2008 at 7:48 pm.
Hi there,
I noticed this post about my book A PLACE IN MY COUNTRY on a blog that links to yours, and then had lots of fun exploring your blog, so thanks for that
Anyway, here’s the post from http://dreamingofthecountry.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/a-place-in-my-country/
You can find out more about my book at my website, but I thought you too too find it interesting.
With kind regards,
Ian
A PLACE IN MY COUNTRY - RECENT REVIEWS
“When stressed out media exec Ian Walthew panic buys a Cotswold cottage as an escape route from the urban treadmill, he unwittingly acquires a window on a corner of rural Britain at work and at play, and his writer’s eye sees just what’s going on. Walthew has a genuine gift for bringing both people and places to life and marshals his runaway real life narratives with a novelist’s skill. The story of his surprising friendship with his neighbour Norman - who is trying to keep his ramshackle farm and his dignity together with a few strands of baler twine, while his millionaire neighbours embrace the prairie concept of modern industrial farming - is compelling and often deeply moving. And Walthew’s own struggle with age-old issues of identity, friendship, community and a place to call home are fresh, sympathetic and never trying. It’s not the sort of book you’d pick up expecting a page-turner, but that’s exactly what it turn’s out to be.”
Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall
paula Says:
21 March 2008 at 10:59 pm.
Glad you’ve found some extra grazing to tide you over. Maybe you’ll find some even closer. Scarily, the hunt for more carries on, one never seems to have quite enough!