The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: esto2019 on September 28, 2019, 11:03:16 am
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Good Morning
I've been looking to try and become self sufficient or as best i can for a while.
I've been given the opportunity to take over a un used small holding. The chap who had it hasn't got the legs to keep on top of it. At one point he had over 60 pigs, i'm not in treated in anything like that scale just Bee's, Sheep, Pigs and Chickens. My first hurdle is rent the space is just under 4 acres with a water supply and several sheds. It has been used as a dumping ground for a while so needs some TLC. What is a sensible amount of rent to be paying?
Many Thanks
Edd
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Rent? Dunno, but I do wish you luck esto2019 :)
Some thoughts though (at risk of teaching Granny):
Has the owner given any indication of how much rent they'd be looking for?
Will you be sharing it/going into some sort of partnership with owner as regards livestock husbandry etc (might be worth looking at) or is owner dipping out entirely?
Whatever an appropriate rent might be, you might want to look for an initial adjustment to cover necessary improvements - ref your comment re "dumping ground". (But if you are offered a really good rental price idc, I wouldn't haggle over that point too much!)
I'm sure it will be in the back of your mind already esto2019, but obviously you will need to consider how much time/effort/money/live-stock you might wish to put into/onto a holding that you are renting unless there is a formal/legal tenancy agreement with a decent period of "tenure".
Legal agreement or not, best you consider your "exit strategy" come the eventual end of your tenancy (although hopefully that would be some considerable time hence).
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Can't help about rent, I think it would also depend on where it is, basic condition of sheds and fields etc,
But as Arobwk says, be very careful, dont want to dicourage you, but either he may let you tidy it up, put a lot of time, money, energy into it, then sell, or as a situation i heard of, owner died, family came along and kicked tenant off.
Or on a FB group, someone was renting a place but owner was still using buildings, and then rented some to some troublemakers.
Unless you get a decent length of lease, it would be risky, unless you didn't put much into it.
Sorry for sounding a miseryguts, just warning of some of the possibilities
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Thanks both negotiations complete i'm happy with the price and what i get for it. Got some cleaning out to do today in preparation for my first lot of Pigs coming on Saturday.
What are the auctions like as a complete novice?
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An auction may not be the best place to buy your pigs if you are a complete novice. There are lot of decisions that have to be made very quickly. If you have no experience of livestock you could end up making some very expensive mistakes. It might be better to find a local breeder via the internet and buy some weaners directly from them.
Do you have suitable accommodation and bedding for them if you are raising them over the winter? Also secure fencing? You don't want them escaping!
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^ this 100%, get your weaners from an established and reputable breeder, it wont be just pig wou will get but hopefully advice