The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: Lindseystrib on September 10, 2014, 07:54:57 am
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Hi
We are looking to purchase our first smallholding and after much searching, losing a property and all the other usual stress, we think we've found something beautiful.
But. Although the land is mainly flat, it is quite wild and rough - the current owners have enjoyed it as it is and don't run the 24 acres as a smallholding.
There is quite a bit of rush grass, together with rose-bay willow, cow parsley etc.
Where the owners have mown paths through to walk, there is good grass underneath.
I have a horse to move with us, and we were looking at having pigs, sheep and a few cattle.
Can this really work?
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Primitive sheep will have the time of their lives - they thrive on rougher grazing and love to browse. Cow parsley is great for all sheep, at least when it's short, and it's SO beautiful when it flowers. Rosebay willow herb is a plant of bare places, so tends to take over when previously cultivated ground is left to go wild.
I would advise that you take a year to see just exactly what you have on your land, plant and flower wise, and what the grass is like throughout the seasons, including which grass species you have. Looking at it now will give a different picture to what it's like in, for example, springtime. Maybe confine your animals to only part of the land for that first year.
Pigs - piggy people will come to answer that question more fully. We kept Tamworths for a while and they are certainly good ploughs, but I don't think all pigs are. Anyway, Tammies are more beautiful that any other pig breed, in my eyes anyway :love:
Can it work? - absolutely :thumbsup: In addition to your new smallholding you will have a wonderful wildlife haven, which will give you endless pleasure. It sounds lovely.
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Thank you - it's a big scary step to take, and we need to be sure!
The wild-side of it is stunningly beautiful and we hope to share this with visitors - but don't want to lose sight of our smallholding dream.
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24 acres wow fantastic the very best of luck in your new venture :thumbsup:
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A native pony or two would be fine on it, as long as there's nothing poisionous like ragwort of course. By and large "rough" grazing with lots of different plants is actually preferable to improved cow pasture type fields for equines anyway. Ponies eat the rushes if they're peckish over winter. My concern though would be that the rushes show it is very badly drained, so you may need to put in field drains and/or ditches to turn it into decent grassland, and it'll get boggy in winter util you do. I imagine that if you have a horse you'll be stabling and feeding as required so the field could be seen as just turnout and the horse kept to non-rushy areas in winter.
Go for it and good luck!
Whereabouts is it?
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its sounds like our place ;D ;D we chose native breeds and they all do fine. commercial types wouldnt cope at all.
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Sounds lovely, good luck :fc: . If you can get part of it stock fenced, sheep would love it too. Nice animals to start with :hugsheep: