Yep, it's so frustrating - it's really difficult to get land
We have 2 acres on our rented holding 1/2 of which is woodland. Our front "garden" is orchard - where I keep my bees/vegetable garden/planned duck & chicken space. We also keep our original chucks free-ranging from a house in the yard. We are fortunate to have use of 2 old cow byres, one of which has a small paddock & access to the woods - where we kept the pigs over the winter. The dogs have the run of the other one when we are out during the day - a "luxury" dog run
We have found it really difficult to rent land for the pigs - all the land is farmed around here & I think the landowners are worried about the pigs turning their land into the something like the Battle of the Somme
On the rare occassion land for rent becomes available it's in HUGE (well to us) amounts of 30 acres upwards (mainly loys of 100 plus) & we wouldn't be able to afford to stock it to make it feasible.
We have managed to rent 4 acres (£108 per month) - but it is 5 miles away, so takes-up extra time, fuel money etc to go across & check on them every day. The owners are great & are there most of the day. We were very fortunate, they love the pigs & "count" them 3 times a day, so we know they are safe. We only need half of it for the pigs, so are hoping to get some rare breed sheep this year to make full use of it (I did work with sheep about 30 years ago - so hope it comes back
)
We don't want to make a business out of our holding - just try & cover costs (my OH works full-time & I've been "in-between contracts" for 4 months now) realistically it's just an expensive hobby at the mo (& bl**dy hard work).
Oh dear - I sound so negative - but I do love it.