The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Wouldbesmallholder on January 23, 2013, 01:04:31 pm
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Hi All,
New to the site, so bear with me if this is a naive question.
I am one of the lucky few in the surrey area to have a considerable sized garden, as such I am considering getting myself a couple of lambs for the table. My Garden is around 500m2, my question is: is this enough space to rear a couple of lambs.
Also I assume that they will get on well enough with the chickens?
Thanks in advance.
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500m2 is about 1/8th of an acre isn't it? - so you're suggesting a stocking density of 16 to the acre; that's not really enough, no. No problem when they're small but not enough as they get to 30kgs-ish - and they'll need to be 45kgs plus before they get sent off.
In a good year, with enough rainfall but not too much and enough sun but not too much, you might just about get away with it where you are. But who can predict the weather these days?
The chickens wouldn't be a problem per se - but I think you'd want to try to make sure the sheep couldn't get at the chooks' feed, and that the chooks weren't carrying coccidiosis.
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It would be highly unlikely that you would get a CPH number from DEFRA for sheep, but would probably for goats...
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How about pigs instead? :)
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Thanks for all the replies so quickly!
I'm certainly open to ideas - pigs or goats? I understand pigs take a little more looking after?
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After pigs your garden might need a little looking after :eyelashes:
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Thanks for all the replies so quickly!
I'm certainly open to ideas - pigs or goats? I understand pigs take a little more looking after?
I think you would first need to think what you want the livestock for - meat (pigs, sheep or meat goats) or dairy (goats). Maybe a good book on smallholding would be a first read? Actually in your situation I would probably aim to maximise food production from fruit/veg, have have some poultry (both eggs and meat) and maybe a couple of beehives. There are quite a few smallholders out there who will feed a pig for you (and you coud visit and supply lots of garden waste for treats!) and similar with lambs.
You can keep goats (minimum2 needed for company) in a garden but it will take up a lot of your time as you will need to provide ALL their food - hay/grass, fresh branches plus some concentrate. But poeple do it successfully. Your own goatsmilk would be miles better than any you can buy in the shops, but not cheaper...
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What about geese? Eggs and meat, they graze grass...
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The only problem with geese, if they are anything like mine, is that they are very noisy. Great as guard 'dogs' though.
Sally
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Normal stocking density for sheep on good grazing is 5 per acre but this doesn't take account of bad weather (grass growth last year was rubbish, for instance, due to roots being submerged in water and low light levels) and that grass growth almost stops between September and April.
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Rabbits ! 2 females and an unrelated buck will yield 120 pounds of meat a year - more if you buy big ones. You will need 3 cages and I would go for a large maternity hutch with a run. The garden should yield plenty of veg and a "wild section" means that you can harvest nice weeds. If you have a large lawn then let some of it grow to seed and make hay in the summer ( dry hay in a cardboard box linned with string = a bale).
Pop the mum in the large maternity suite after 20 days or so after she has had her 2 minutes with the buck. You can then enjoy seing the kittens run about.
I put 3 in the fridge yesterday and another 6 to do today.
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Another vote for rabbits - a lot of Americans (I dabble on a US-based rabbit forum) have caged rabbits (which I don't like), and then chickens scratch through the rabbit manure for worms etc. There's also a section on natural feeding i.e. growing fodder instead of buying rabbit food - which I aim to do.
And you can make yourself a nice fur blanket too ;)
I've no experience yet - waiting for the snow to clear so I can pick up my first buck.
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I have been thinking about meat rabbits too. We have a 26ft x 8ft fully enclosed run we used for poultry growers last year but we have scaled down our poultry a lot so this will not be used this year - we have a 5 ft house in the run - would this be a suitable set up in the spring/summer? We also have 6ft x 4ft shed we could used too if needed? What breeds do you keep and how many young do you get a year? Can you keep the does together again when they don't have young? Thanks in advance!
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Sounds do-able to me :)
I haven't got as far as breeding yet, but this is my plan:
Old outbuilding set up as "colony". Separate pen-within-the-pen for the buck (so I can control breeding). A pair of sisters as my starter does. So far they are fine together - if they begin fighting there is room to divide the big pen, after which I probably wouldn't try to put them together. So I'd probably end up with 3 adult rabbits in their own pens, and one large section for the weaned ones to fatten up in.
I'm aiming for a "colony" rather than "battery" system, and attempting to grow my own fodder to use minimal pellets.
I'm not using New Zealand whites or Californians - partly because I couldn't find them locally but also they seem to be the equivalent of broiler chickens - fast growing, high input, fast growth. Mine will grow slower but I also want to use the pelts, for which they need to be a bit older anyway :)
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What breed are you keeping then?
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Silver fox does and hopefully a rex buck (if I can collect him in the snow!)
If you find Rex does they are originally a meat/fur breed :) but I could only find mini rex does :(
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The buck must have his own run and shelter and the unrelated doe introduced to him for a couple of minutes. She will become pregnant ( read up on rabbit physiology to understand why). The pregnant doe will then need her own space that will be suitable for her young family after 30 days. A few days before giving birth she will pluck her fur to make a nest and have 10-12 kittens. We seem to loose 2 kittens within the first week but ensure mum has plenty of food and water ( 3 times a day) to feed her 9-10 kittens. We use hay to bed the kittens for the first few weeks then straw. Mum is removed to her own quarters after about 8 weeks as the young males will mate with whoever is near them at about 10 weeks. We start to take the rabbits at 10 weeks. MEANWHILE - the other female has been introduced to the buck. She will be pregnant and ready to move into the breeding pen and hutch vacated by the last litter. You need a callender to record expected delievery dates from the date the doe is covered by the buck.
We gather dandelions and dock by the bucket and add a few lettuce brasica leaves as they get older. Carrots of course. Winter is more of a challenge although Brussels and store carrots help. We buy in pellets and bale our own hay. Rabbits will pretty much eat anything and c onvert it to meat - they luv an apple.
We are unsure of the breed we have as the male was given to us by a neighbour and the females we purchased from a village a few miles away. They are big and one gives the 2 of us 3 meals. Our neighbours take the heads ( good jaw meat) but we do not = although tonight I added the chopped liver to the rabbit ragu and pasta.
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She will become pregnant ( read up on rabbit physiology to understand why).
:roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
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I have Rex's which have a super coat and are very tasty...not tooo big.
I do keep mine in large box cages (as do all the locals) A bit bigger than standard sized pet bunny hutchs. They get as much natual food as possible. pure grass cut twice daily in the growing weather and at the moment home grown fodder roots and and vege scraps in the morning with a pellet meal at night. Plus of course ad lib hay all year.
Any runs HAVE to have a good roof round here as the buzzards are very plentiful (lost a few chooks)
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Mel - If you have time can you share a typical German rabbit receipe? It is always good to ring the changes and try something new. :excited:
Got 6 to do over the next couple of days and the freezers are near full with 2 pigs so we need some different rabbit receipes.
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I have Rex's which have a super coat and are very tasty...not tooo big.
I do keep mine in large box cages (as do all the locals) A bit bigger than standard sized pet bunny hutchs. They get as much natual food as possible. pure grass cut twice daily in the growing weather and at the moment home grown fodder roots and and vege scraps in the morning with a pellet meal at night. Plus of course ad lib hay all year.
Any runs HAVE to have a good roof round here as the buzzards are very plentiful (lost a few chooks)
When I was a kid (in Eastern Germany) that's what everybody had in the little (coal) shed at the back of the house... until myximatosis (spelling?) became a huge problem in the 80s and loads of our neighbours gave up... seems to have been resolved though?
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Mel - If you have time can you share a typical German rabbit receipe? It is always good to ring the changes and try something new. :excited:
Got 6 to do over the next couple of days and the freezers are near full with 2 pigs so we need some different rabbit receipes.
MAK - we normally had it roasted, it needed some bacon to make sure it stayed moist, but I need to ask my mum how she cooks it. Never roasted it over here, as the wild rabbits are too tough for that.
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Any well tested and loved receipes would be good as I now have 9 in the freezer and half in the fridge. Lots of snow again last night so my morning feeding chores are less of a pain now the "maternity wing" is empty.
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With wild rabbit I tend to do my bog standard stew - fry off some streaky bacon or lardons, brown the chunks/joints of rabbit, put to one side. In the bacon-y pan sweat some onions down, throw in carrots, celery, bayleaf, pepper, maybe sage and/or thyme, maybe mushrooms, whatever's lurking in the fridge... add the meat back in, top up with stock (normally chicken), squirt of tomato puree, put it on the lowest heat and ignore until I can't bear the aroma any more ;D