The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: prmdc098 on December 31, 2018, 04:11:13 pm
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Hello all,
So I live in Dundee, Scotland. I am really keen to get tings moving with starting out doing some form of smallholding. I rent at the moment so there's not much I can do in my own garden, apart from my raised veg bed that I have that I had a successful load of tatties from last year.
I really love the idea of pig keeping and have been looking at numerous youtube videos as well as read on here the info pages and read a few books.
My question for all you guys is, where and how do I go about finding some land? Somewhere I can perhaps rent to keep some pigs on.
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Firstly welcome to the forum.
As for renting land. Local papers/webpages/free ads sections, Gumtree, letters to local farmers, estate agents etc etc.
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:wave: hello and welcome to TAS
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We're in Carnoustie. Come and talk to us.
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Hi and welcome. Local farmers I think are your best bet.
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Hi and welcome.
The first thing before you get any animals you have to decide if you have the commitment.
This may seem obvious but no matter what the weather, how late you are from work or how sick you feel, depending on the animal they will take and hour to two hours of your day. Then there is buying food, storing food, carting water, fixing fences, finding a large animal vet and the paperwork you have to fill in. If you get fed up you still have the responsibility of caring for those animals.
If you are still keen I would try Facebook, there will be a smallholders page, join a group and try and network. You may get lucky and get a lead for your own plot but their may be someone who you can share with.
I did pig share with a local person, which we bought the pigs together and there was a contract, we shared the bills for the summer and then took them to the butcher. The reason why I mention commitment is no matter how lovely this person was, keeping the pigs was just a side issue to what ever else was going on in her life and a bit of a fad, and its not County Living , so I ended up doing most of the work.
So I would work backwards.Find your abattoir first, find your nearest animal feed place and do costing, register with a large animal practice, find out the regulations for keeping animals and the equipment you will need. Work out if there is no water supply how you would get water there.
By finding out all of this when you find your land to rent you will sound reliable. Good luck.
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Hi and welcome to TAS. You've had some good tips here and an invitation from Rosemary to visit. She and Dan are very knowledgeable. I would actually recommend visiting them and anyone else who is a smallholder.