The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Kate G on May 14, 2021, 03:20:49 pm
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Hi there,
I'm new to writing on forums but have been learning lots from this fantastic group.
We (my partner Rob and I) just took over a farm in Pembrokeshire. It has every type of landscape you can think of... except a useful flat field. There's grazing hill top, a steep bank gone to gorse and brambles, a field boarded by a river which floods, steep woodland, a ruin of historical importance and a resident deer, all spread over 70 acres.
We are far too ambitious and obviously want to do everything at once. So far we have the chickens, an obvious place to start and want to get pigs next in order to help manage the woodland for us. I'm hoping its piggy heaven for them!
Sheep are also on the cards but they will be much further down the line as we love sausages.
Thanks in advance to all for invaluable help and advice!
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Welcome to the forum [member=211846]Kate G[/member] - all sounds great. (Shame no flat field for you though !) Just one resident deer ???
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Hi and welcome :wave:
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Hello and welcome, your new farm sounds wonderful :thumbsup: Congratulations!
Have you seen your woods in Spring and summer? You could be destroying some wonderful flowers and ancient habitat if you let your pigs have the full run of the place. They are fine for a few weeks in the autumn to feast on acorns and beech mast, and open the ground for new seeds to germinate, but can be horribly, irreversibly destructive for the rest of the year. Just a thought :thinking: :idea:
Another thought - you can make wonderful sausages from sheep meat with flavours which wouldn't work with pork, all the north african spices for example. I know, pork sausages are scrumptious, although bacon does it for me :yum: :hungry:
Welcome to the forum, and please do keep us updated on your progress :farmer:
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Another vote for mutton sausages, especially from primitive breeds like Shetland or Manx. I love them way more than pork sausages, and they don't need spicing or flavourings if you prefer unflavoured.
Such sheep might be more - or differently - useful for helping to sort out your overgrown woodlands too, although (a) agree with FW to not do anything until you know what you've got, and (b) running sheep in amongst brambles and gorse requires good husbandry, as they can get ensnared by prickly plants.
Being patient and seeing what your land is like over a full 12 months is difficult, I know! But your future self may well thank you... ;)
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...and (b) running sheep in amongst brambles and gorse requires good husbandry, as they can get ensnared by prickly plants.
...and as we all know, brambles are carnivorous :tired: :o :tired: :o :tired:
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Thanks for the responses. All good things for us to consider... over a plate of mutton sausages perhaps
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Welcome to the forum, sounds like you've got your work cut out! Have you been watching Matt Baker's programme to get ideas for making life easier? Good luck, I look forward to hearing about your progress :thumbsup:
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Another thought - you can make wonderful sausages from sheep meat with flavours which wouldn't work with pork, all the north African spices for example. I know, pork sausages are scrumptious, although bacon does it for me :yum: :hungry:
I'm not a great eater of sheep meat: my 1st reaction to the suggestion of mutton sausages was not favourable until Fleecewife mentioned spices. Umm, yes - maybe, as I do love a lamb curry. Great idea.
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...and as we all know, brambles are carnivorous :tired: :o :tired: :o :tired:
unless you are a goat.
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...and as we all know, brambles are carnivorous :tired: :o :tired: :o :tired:
unless you are a goat.
:roflanim: Women and goats have a lot in common - women can walk between the raindrops, goats are supreme amongst brambles
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Naah, I don't believe women can actually walk between rain-drops.
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I heard that women don't fart. I didn't believe it but I asked and they just said I was cheeky. I replied, "So are farts."
About livestock... Chickens are incredibly easy. If one gets sick, which is rare, they either get better with some minor care or they just crap out and die (at which point it's no longer a problem). But before you go jumping into large animals with both feet first... Perhaps read this, it's my experience with chickens.
TRIGGER WARNING - CONTAINS DETAILS OF SLAUGHTER
Some chickens are born lame with something called "splayed leg". They're in constant pain, you have to put them out of their misery and probably onto your table. Young chickens taste pretty good but they're not exactly big. We didn't know what his deal was, just thought he preferred to sit. Then we go to pick him up and his leg is pointing the wrong way and it's swollen. We called him "Gimpy". We tried to splint it, but he kept on removing the splint, so we ate him. It was the first time I ever killed an animal with whom I was acquainted. It was also the most difficult thing I've ever done. See, I had watched a lot of videos on how to do it, and heard a lot of people talk about how to do it. I'd killed plenty of snakes and fish before, but I didn't know them and theirs went quick. Gimpy survived having his neck broken. I had to hurredly fetch an axe and cut his head off. Then I had to get over the shock of how hot and slick the blood was and get on with the task of making sure none of him went to waste. It was a horrible ordeal for him, and for me. I had nightmares about it and was very depressed about the way it went for several weeks. Then we had to cull some roosters. I killed 3 in one day. It was faster and more methodical this time as I had done proper preparations and had procured a harvest cone and a very sharp knife. I would put them in the cone and they'd kinda go to sleep from the blood rushing to their heads, then I cut their throats and caught the blood in a bucket. It was a lot cleaner, more swift, more humane... It still felt very wrong. I seriously considered vegetarianism. I let the remaining roosters live until one day the dominant one clawed my leg very badly. I killed and ate him. I felt slightly less bad about him. I had 4 roosters left at this point, but one of them was in a separate flock. One of them started crowing at 3 am every morning, without fail. So I killed him when I figured out which one was doing it. One of the roosters I had no intention of killing ever, he was my favorite. He'd let you pet him and would eat out of your hand gingerly. But he attacked me several times. Well, tried to anyways. I was smart enough to wear jeans at that point. I thought nothing of it until he went after my Grandma. I tried to catch him, but he was too fast to be caught. He was also getting very violent. I was just going to lock him up temporarily at first to teach him a lesson. But he kept coming at me and my grandma over and over and he wouldn't stop. So I went in the house and got my gun. I shot him. It was a 12 gauge shotgun with 3 inch long shells meant for deer and blackbear, so his front half kind of ended up all over the yard. I was traumatized, and so were the rest of the chickens. I got rid of my guns. I did not immediately get over the depression. In fact I attempted suicide because I felt so bad. I electrocuted myself. Ended up hospitalized. Sold the chickens because i couldn't even look at them anymore and plus, Grandma fell trying to go through the gate to feed them while I was in the hospital. What's really weird about all of this is that I intend to do livestock again. I was woefully unprepared last time. I jumped in with both feet first and paid the price. But I learned from it. I will do it radically differently next time. And I won't do the slaughter myself. I'll haul in my stock to the local butcher and let him do it. I am not suited to it. And I know that very well now. I also now recognize that trying to do livestock like pigs in the first year when you aren't used to something as relatively easy as chickens will probably put you off of animals altogether. When it comes to animals, if you accept no other advice, then please don't just jump into it.
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Naah, I don't believe women can actually walk between rain-drops.
Haven't you noticed how men are always drenched and bedraggled after a storm whereas women are still elegant and glamorous :eyelashes: Being a man, you won't even notice the spaces between raindrops, let alone walk through them. It's also the reason men other than Mr F are not allowed in my polytunnel - women walk between the plants but men always crush and break them. Men are not open to MAGIC :sunshine:
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Naah, I don't believe women can actually walk between rain-drops.
Haven't you noticed how men are always drenched and bedraggled after a storm whereas women are still elegant and glamorous :eyelashes: Being a man, you won't even notice the spaces between raindrops, let alone walk through them. It's also the reason men other than Mr F are not allowed in my polytunnel - women walk between the plants but men always crush and break them. Men are not open to MAGIC :sunshine:
You ought to see my stepdad's idea of gardening. He thinks that a deciduous plant losing leaves in the fall means it's dead and needs to be removed. He just cut down a shade tree in his yard because he thought it was dead this past winter. It was not dead. It might be now though, and what a waste. My mom asked me to plant a garden for her and I declined citing the fact that she doesn't tend to take care of anything I do for her and that my stepdad would just kill it. I built a coffee table for my mom out of 200 year old chestnut floor boards. She asked me to paint it. I begrudgingly did so. Then they used it as a stool and broke it. Then they demanded I fix it even though I live 3 hours away and they are perfectly capable of using their own tools to do it. I haven't made anything for them since. And I sure as s**t ain't gonna put in a garden for them.
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Naah, I don't believe women can actually walk between rain-drops.
Haven't you noticed how men are always drenched and bedraggled after a storm whereas women are still elegant and glamorous :eyelashes: Being a man, you won't even notice the spaces between raindrops, let alone walk through them. It's also the reason men other than Mr F are not allowed in my polytunnel - women walk between the plants but men always crush and break them. Men are not open to MAGIC :sunshine:
Unless they are Cornish ! Although I admit I cannot walk between rain-drops.
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Naah, I don't believe women can actually walk between rain-drops.
Haven't you noticed how men are always drenched and bedraggled after a storm whereas women are still elegant and glamorous :eyelashes: Being a man, you won't even notice the spaces between raindrops, let alone walk through them. It's also the reason men other than Mr F are not allowed in my polytunnel - women walk between the plants but men always crush and break them. Men are not open to MAGIC :sunshine:
Unless they are Cornish ! Although I admit I cannot walk between rain-drops.
Maybe you're right. My Grandad was Cornish and he was magic with wild birds, which would come and sit on his hand.
Apologies [member=211846]Kate G[/member]. I think this thread has diverged a bit from your original question. It must be that Spring is in the air.