The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Archie.boy on March 31, 2016, 09:43:29 am
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Like I say, morning all. :wave:
I'm 18 years old, an engineering student but I share a 40 acre holding with my mum. I have 25 breeding Ewes and 2 tups, all of varying breeds but mostly centered around Llanwenogs and Jacob X Charolais (no reasons, just how it's happened). I send about 40/45 lambs to slaughter every year and keep the remaining few.
When my dad moved back to Dorset the horse numbers dropped dramatically here and my 1/2 a dozen old ewes I kept for grazing the HLS pear orchard had to step up and help keep on top of the grazing whilst also paying 1/2 of the rent...
Along with my share of the land and buildings I also got the two tractors (Ford 4600 and David brown 880 for those who care), hay kit, rolls, harrows, muck spreader and topper. I mow about 10 acres each year, keeping enough hay for the sheep and horses and selling the rest for my own pocket as a payment for supplying the horses. A system that works quite well :) Mum and sister get free hay, I fill up my bank account whilst also stocking enough free hay to keep my sheep going :thumbsup:
Finally got round to joining here as I'm sure the local farmers are bound to be getting tired of my questions...
Thanks
Archie
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Hi Archie and welcome to the forum :wave: We would all be very happy to answer any questions for you and we hope before too long that you will be giving the advice. It all sounds brilliant. My family only started farming in the late 90's, we used to keep longhorns and a mixed flock of sheep; now we keep a flock of 60 pure pedigree Lleyns, all about to lamb now :) We also keep a small herd of 60 water buffalo, that includes the young stock, we're about to calve them soon and there will be an extra 30, hopefully at least half will be heifers. We're hoping that it won't be too long before we make mozzarella, we do make a cheddar from their milk which is nice too and we have had a lot of success with it, but we haven't made it in a while now, we're focusing on getting the units sorted to make and sell the mozzarella. Anyway here's wishing you all the best with everything and feel free to ask as many questions as you like and we will all be happy to answer them, believe me when i first came to this forum I asked a lot of questions myself! :D
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Hello and welcome to the forum Archie.boy. You may only be 18 but it sounds as if you could teach some of us a thing or two.
You haven't said where you ae based but as you are keeping Llanwenogs and Jacob crosses I am guessing its somewhere in Wales.
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Thanks :thumbsup:
Had sheep for 3 years now, I know one or two things having had animals around my whole life but some things I do need advice on having not been around sheep for too long.
I'm based in Gloucestershire, in the Severn vale near Stroud so reasonably close to wales! I worked on a rough old farm near here and he had Llanwenogs, Jacobs, Charolais and Castle melk-morit (God knows how to spell it). I hated the little Cmm's, bloody things would jump a 5 bar gate. So when it came to having sheep off him (money was painful for the chap) I had the Llanwenogs and Jacobs..
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Welcome, Archie.boy. Sounds like you have your head screwed on.
Not that it matters, since we all know what you meant, but the little horned sheep were Castlemilk Moorits. Mine are super-sweet and wouldn't dream of jumping a fence... :innocent:
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Hi Archie.boy and welcome from sunny Shropshire where I live with my goats.
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Hello and welcome from Carnoustie :wave: We have Coloured Ryelands - they don't really DO jumping :)
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:wave: and from North Lincolnshire