The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Events => Topic started by: CarolineR on May 15, 2014, 06:59:41 pm
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Hi everyone,
Scotland's Rural College and SAC Consulting will be doing more free disease and welfare courses again once we've got the spring rush over.
Last year we did 4 day-courses in various location. I really enjoyed them, but I felt that time and distance could really limit access for some people. So I've been chatting to people to see what else might work.
Can I please hear your opinions on having informal evening "disease prevention and animal management" club meetings run by a vet in local areas instead? Maybe once every 2-3 months?
We already do similar things very regularly all over the country for farmers, and we do a club for all vets too - great attendances for both, for years - but none for smallholders yet.
So instead of say, a free sheep course in one location for a day, I was thinking a wee hour's presentation on relevant subjects (lamb diseases to look out for, for a meeting in March, for instance, or when and how to choose wormers, when we are coming up to the time we start worming, etc) which I would present in Perth BUT I would then give the presentation to other centres to do in Aberdeen, Inverness, St Boswells, Ayr and Dumfries for local smallholders or smallholder clubs.
And I would be taking requests for subjects to cover too.
HOWEVER, what I would like to know is:
Are most of the members of TAS forum already members of a local smallholder club? Or are there lots of you out there that have not joined a club? If you have not, why?
If you already run or have tried to start a club, do you find it difficult or easy to fill up an evening meeting? Or is it sometimes hard to find enough smallholders in your area to make a good-sized meeting?
Would people prefer an occasional, informal, short course in the evening rather than a day long "information dump" ?
Please do note - this is NOT intended to tread on the toes of any of the existing clubs, who we know organise excellent events already - this is only about the fact that we have a budget to allow vets to speak to smallholders and chat about their concerns and how to fix them or avoid them :)
We are happy to do this in the form of attending meetings of existing clubs just as free speakers, rather than making new clubs where they are clearly not needed.
But first off, I need to just check whether most people are in a club, or not in a club, so everybody can get access to the same information equally if they want it.
Please, please do jot down your opinions on this thread, or if you prefer, come and have a natter at the SAC Consulting/ SRUC stall at the Spring Festival if you are up that way. I'll be in touch with all the smallholder's clubs I can find very shortly too!
Sorry, non-Scotland-dwellers, our college only covers our own national area - but those Englanders who can nip over the border to meetings in Dumfries or St Boswells are of course totally welcome as well.
Thanks!
Caroline
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The idea of some evening meetings sounds an excellent idea as it is difficult for smallholders to sometimes get away to a whole day course , particularly if you are juggling work away from base and looking after everything on the smallholding! I agree that it would be great to link these in with any local smallholders groups, or supplement these if a local group is not available. The Central Scotland Smallholders ([email protected])( www.facebook.com/centralscotland.smallholders (http://www.facebook.com/centralscotland.smallholders)) (www.centralscotlandsmallholders.org.uk (http://www.centralscotlandsmallholders.org.uk)) are currently looking for suggestions and feedback for future meetings so they would be worth speaking to.
SAC[size=78%] [/size][/size]has been a great help to us with lab work and advice over the last year so I am sure that talks aimed for people like us would be interesting and useful, particularly if they can be geared for small flock sizes/small numbers of animals.[size=78%]
[/size]Hope to catch up with you at the Spring Festival at the end of the month!
[size=78%]
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Archie, you and Fiona are members of CSSA - I just sent out a survey. Have you done it? We want to provide what members would like. (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W9ZJTK7 (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W9ZJTK7))
I've done on line courses recently - from Universities - gives level one certificate - how about combining that with evening meetings, Podanmoo?
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Id be interested in 1/2 day courses, in sheep care, goat care, chicken care, sheep management, farmland management and learning practical skills :knit:
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im not in a club as i dont think there are any in my area. but id be interested in joining one and any training seminars available.
anyone interested in helping start a smallholders group in aberdeenshire? or is there one already?
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This might help you, Shygirl - http://www.nescotlandsmallholders.co.uk/ (http://www.nescotlandsmallholders.co.uk/)
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any idea who that is ?? - couldnt see a name anywhere? seems like the forum hasnt been used for a year or so.
i might join the local rbst group, is training being offered there OP?
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We would definitely be interested in a day or evening course, but Inverness would be the furthest south ewe could come. We are in Caithness and not aware of any local smallholder groups in the area, but would also be interested if there is one near.
Sounds good though.
Cheers.
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Hi Caroline,
I have to say, the one day sheep keeping course last year was absolutely superb, so more of that sort of thing is definitely to be encouraged.
I would absolutely come to similar evening sessions on things like sheep keeping, lambing, worming, grassland management, legal stuff etc.
Doganjo - am I still a member of CSSA? :) I fear I may have lapsed due to work demands of late, and not having been to any meetings :-[ .
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I would certainly be interested.
It might be worth thinking about running them in some of the large rural towns rather than the cities though. I know where I am (Aberdeenshire / Moray border) trekking into the city would be less attractive than something at one of the larger towns.
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I'd be really interested in evening courses, in the far north of England. I'm one of the 'juggling a day job away from base' folk, so I can't make daytime courses.
I'd be really interested in land management (even more so than animal husbandry), as well as animal welfare.
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It might be worth thinking about running them in some of the large rural towns rather than the cities though. I know where I am (Aberdeenshire / Moray border) trekking into the city would be less attractive than something at one of the larger towns.
thainstone / inverurie maybe? i could get there.
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Doganjo - am I still a member of CSSA? :) I fear I may have lapsed due to work demands of late, and not having been to any meetings :-[ .
Just pay next meeting you come too - maybe the ECO day at Polmont (Stu's event)?
We're having a free membership year next year - all welcome, nobody pays membership dues till January 2016
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Agree evenings would be great and please cover health management in sheep, pigs, poultry....am member of scottish smallholder group which covers mostly ayrshire and west scotland but often meetings can be more focused on veggies or rural matters.....
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Thanks very much!
Some great feedback there, really useful to see people's views on location and subjects. Great input about the online courses, too, Annie, CSSA seems to be a great resource for smallholders and anytime I've asked for feedback there's always been replies from your members.
There's going to be a smallholder's stand at the RHS in the SRUC/SAC tent on Thursday this year which is great.
I'll be taking all the feedback on board and I'll try to make sure anything we sort out fits as many of these criteria as possible.
Keep the suggestions coming if anyone has anything else they would like to say. I love TAS. Such a great way to get in touch with everyone.
There's definitely a lovely and enthusiastic SAC Consulting vet in Aberdeen, so I'll see if I can find out what's happening up there too, maybe she can get in touch with NE smallholders association for us.
Caroline
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Hi everyone, Just wanted to say, feel free to stop by the SAC Consulting/SRUC stand for a chat tomorrow for all those that will be at the Spring Gathering.
Also, all those who have signed up to receive email updates on courses instead, we should be letting people know by email what the arrangements will be for this year soon. We never do courses in the spring/early summer, everyone is far tooo busy, so the late summer/autumn/early winter will be the time in which courses and talks are arranged, as last year.
Caroline
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Maybe missed the boat but I am not a member of clubs because I can't attend full day events that aren't on my doorstep (I can manage Perth but haven't seen any there) and I can't/don't drive in the evenings, particularly in the dark and bad weather but generally I'm not very functional at that time due to being up at 4-5am most days.
Half days would be good but ideally across the middle of the day to allow for morning and evening feeds/checks etc, so 10-4 max but 10-2 or 12-4 is fine too. I can't take in a lot of info in one sitting and have to be able to move about, but an hour or two isn't worth a long journey (and I mean my long not normal people's long!) unless I'm already in the area.
Central is great but meetings are almost always in Stirling at 7pm at night, shows are up north (Thainstone) or over the west (Lanark) and it's just too far for me. Perth daylight events would be great.
I have lots of interests and no money or equipment budget. I can do you a list but it'll be very diverse and possibly too much. If you're focusing on vet talks then chicken diseases/parasites/healthcare would be useful, bearing in mind the average hen is worth less than it's cost taking it to a vet let alone paying a callout for a flock issue to be identified.
Random selection of probably useless ideas:
Cooperatives - machinery ring equivalent for smallholders without tractors, through to workshop size pieces - I'm looking for places to use a wood lathe for turning bowls which is why I think of it but there are more agri items a few might have and others might like to share, livestock trailers for instance?
Sheep basics - health and handling, lambing, shearing..
Spot/knapsack spraying - chemicals, H&S, rotations, timings - I missed treating buttercups as I thought it could be done in May with the ragwort/thistle/docken/nettle chemical mix..
Basic smallholder DIY for middle aged women of a nervous disposition, ie not with 17yo's and long term male farmers please
Trees on the smallholding - alternatives to standard hedging, windbreak planting, toxicity to livestock (eg the new sycamore seed/pony death links - are these relevant to sheep and other livestock or is sheep grazing a solution?), general planting, maintenance, felling/pruning/coppicing.., applicability of existing/forthcoming planting grants to smallholdings..
Commercial fruit and veg growing on a small scale - polytunnel suitability/selection/erection/maintenance, marketing regs, disease/pest management
Preserving and storing methods for small scale growers
That's just random, basically tailored for smallholders rather than large scale farming operations or lifestyle hobby things that recommend expensive solutions/equipment a genuine smallholder can't afford, house or justify.
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Thanks! Good to know. We've got the Royal Highland show next week and then after that we'll be planning our events so it's great to have your feedback.