The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: nearlyretired on April 01, 2020, 03:09:36 pm
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Hi everyone. I have approx 4 acres in the high pennines. Not much grows here! I have just been topping the grass 2-3 times a year for last 20 years but as I approach retirement wondered what I could do more usefully.
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Hi there! :wave: Not sure why we hadn't seen your post and said Hi before this, sorry 'bout that. We are usually a pretty welcoming bunch!
I used to be north of Hadrian's Wall myself, and loved driving southeast across the tops to Weardale and places. So I can imagine the type of ground it is.
Down here we talk sheep/acre, up there it's acres/sheep ;)
So one thing your 4 acres could do is be a bit of extra summer grazing for one of your neighbours. A few ewes and lambs in summer, maybe. And / or perhaps somewhere to keep a few tups in winter after they've finished their work.
But if you want your own livestock, then the simplest thing would be to buy a few weaned lambs off a neighbour each year and fatten them up. Or even get into having a few orphan lambs and rearing them yourself, but it's always a good idea to learn a bit about keeping lambs by getting some weaned ones the first time.
Did you have any ideas yourself? Anything you have had a hankering for?
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Definitely weaned lambs for a couple of years before raising orphans. We were nearly retired when we started raising sheep. The four-hourly orphan feeds during the night were shattering. Something that is easy in your 20's and 30's is a whole lot harder in your late 50's........ :tired: