Small holding - where to start???

[Tyla 3,179]

Ok, I have finally achieved my life long goal of owning a piece of land. I'm now the owner of 27 acres of neglected scrub. It's mostly willow and bramble with a few oak and ash saplings coming through. There is the remains of an orchard but it's been consumed by blackthorn, roses and bramble. It's pretty much impenetrable and isn't fenced. 

Eventually I want cattle and pigs, bees, a barn and a polytunnel but buying it has cleaned me out for a while so going to spend a while fencing and clearing rides, paths, the Apple trees etc.

I'm also interested to hear anyone's ideas on what else to do with it. Things that create an income wouldn't be a bad thing!

[Sox74 20]

Good luck with your new venture tyla. 

That's a nice size of property. Is it all in one block, or spread out.

I would suggest checking, repairing or replacing and stock proof fencing first. 

Then, this is a good time of year to start clearing scrub. If you could drop a couple of pigs in a place where you want to keep them in the future, they won't be long cleaning it up.

Try and clean up the orchard and prune back and fruit trees and bushes. 

As for making a bit of money, local honey sound a good way to go, plus organic, free range pork, and veg from the polly tunnels, and eggs. If there's a farm shop or market you could you use these to buy or sell your good there.

Plus you will have your own meat, veg fruit and eggs, which is a great thing.

The possibilitys are endless.

 

Atb soxs

Edited August 19, 2019 by Sox74
Spelling

[Daniel cain 45,316]

have a read of this book

some very good tips and ideas

[terryd 8,421]

That is great good for you. I remember as a kid we had goats tethered and just moved them along like mowers and they done a great job. Obviously being tethered they need keeping an eye on. But they pretty much stripped every thing  

Edited August 19, 2019 by terryd

[forest of dean redneck 11,597]

I was about to suggest tethered goats , then fence it run pigs through it then you can work out where to put your veg plot , any livestock pens etc 

[Tyla 3,179]

Cheers gents, I have the John Seymour book, full of good stuff. I like the idea of goats, I'm a big fan of goat curry. They are hard to keep in though unless, as you say, they are tethered. Looks like fencing is going to be my first mission! 

[Sox74 20]

Also the the best thing with goats is the cheese you get to make.

Atb Sox 

[mole trapper 1,693]

Fantastic endless possibilities! We only have 3.5 acres and it produces soooo much.

As an aside though, you are no longer allowed to tether goats.

[terryd 8,421]

Well fancy that wont be aloud to piss soon 

[terryd 8,421]

3 hours ago, mole trapper said:

Fantastic endless possibilities! We only have 3.5 acres and it produces soooo much.

As an aside though, you are no longer allowed to tether goats.

are you sure ?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-recommendations-for-the-welfare-of-livestock-sheep/sheep-and-goats-welfare-recommendations

2.4 Tethering goats

You must check tethered goats regularly and take care to avoid distress or injury caused by:

• exposure to bad weather - offer shelter
• hunger or thirst - provide food and water
• entanglement
• being worried by dogs or children

Collars need to be light but tough and attached to a strong chain at least 3m long and with at least 2 swivels.

You must not tether kids (goats younger than 6 months).

 

[mole trapper 1,693]

Yep, you are totally correct! They have again moved the goal posts

[terryd 8,421]

or in this case tethering steaks  

[Chunky11 150]

We have 22 acres half was grass the rest was scrub. We fenced paddocks in the scrub and stocked it with Tamworth pigs, they are great at clearing it(&taste great). Good luck & I look forward to hearing about your progress. 

[comanche 2,991]

A big yippee. I know you have been looking a bit of land for a while. Pigs !

This was choked with brambles two years ago .

Pigs are quite thorough!

 

[Moocher71 4,049]

On 19/08/2019 at 09:41, Tyla said:

Ok, I have finally achieved my life long goal of owning a piece of land. I'm now the owner of 27 acres of neglected scrub. It's mostly willow and bramble with a few oak and ash saplings coming through. There is the remains of an orchard but it's been consumed by blackthorn, roses and bramble. It's pretty much impenetrable and isn't fenced. 

Eventually I want cattle and pigs, bees, a barn and a polytunnel but buying it has cleaned me out for a while so going to spend a while fencing and clearing rides, paths, the Apple trees etc.

I'm also interested to hear anyone's ideas on what else to do with it. Things that create an income wouldn't be a bad thing!

We have been thinking about buying some land to start small holding ,produce all of our meat ourself  grow veg etc .

id like to breed pigs mostly but few sheep and fowl maybe goats for milking ,cheese etc .

its just getting land in uk at right price ,to be honest we are thinking about going Hungary to look for a property with plenty land as its so cheap to buy out there .if we could find land in uk at right price we would stay here but for 5 grand you can get old farm house and few acres .out of interest what kind of money per acre did you spend ?

are you going to put static on land and build place to live ?

i suppose you have lots ideas going around ,but like you say the goal is to make it pay for itself ,pigs are the way to go and very tasty .

i hope and wish you all the very best and look forward to seeing updates on progress .

atb 

mooch