The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: nigelish on January 29, 2009, 07:48:39 am
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We run a rural pub in Herefordshire and would like a few minature sheep along with some pygmy goats for our petting section we have just created. We are also looking for a patch of land we can cultivate and produce vegetables for our kitchen, if anyone has any animals available please let us know.
The land we require must be based in Ledbury, Herefordshire.
Kind Regards
Nigel
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there are a number of breeders of miniature sheep ( ouessants) for sale presently in the UK on the forum http://ouessants.ning.com (http://ouessants.ning.com) let me know if you need more help
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Hi Kanisha,
Thankyou for your reply I have just joined the forum and left a request on there.
Nigel
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I have replied on the Ouessant site!
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Hi there,
We have a small holding in rural Warwickshire and have some sheep to sell. They are rare breed Soay's. They come from an island on the west coast of Scottland and are very easy to keep. They are small and also shed their wool so there is no need for sheering. We have males and females available. If you are interested please get in touch.
Many thanks.
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tracylynda@hotmail.co.uk
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Hi,
Thanks for the reply, Ive heard that Soay are escape artists, we are near a bypass and would hate anything to happen to them.
Nigel
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Nigel if you are still looking and fancy getting someone to share the transport costs. Then there are ouessants a plenty in france and for castrates you would pay around 60 euros. I would be happy to help with paperwork.
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Balyham Rare Breeds were advertising some for sale but they are a long way from you. (Suffolk). Have you tried the uk breed society secretary. I expect her no. is on the society website.
Do they have to be Ouessants? Do you want them because you only have a small amount of land?
Perhaps you could borrow some sheep for the summer.
I sold a couple of my sheep to a pub setting up a pets corner but it did not last long. They only kept them for a few months then sold them when the main holiday season was over. Also I think they found it too much work in addition to running a pub so consider all your options before commiting yourself.
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Hi Kanisha,
Like the idea of that, have you any idea of the cost of transport cost entailed, maybe could bring a few extra over including breeding ewes to cover the costs, would appreciate any help you could give regarding papaerwork.
Nigel
Definately want animals for the long time as we are going to run the pub as a couple with staff when it takes off in the summer (hopefully) .
Nigel
nigel396@aol.com
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Hi Nigelish
I have done 2 imports of Ouessants and Kanisha is the person to know!!!
On the home front there are things you need to know.......its not simple nor cheap!
First, I assume you have a holding number?(if not you need one!) If so contact must be made with your local animal health office and you will need to ask for an isolation facility to be set up. They will come out and inspect your premesis and advise how to do this. It must be done well in advance as the animals will have to be isolated here for up to a month.
Then assuming you are going to buy more than one animal you will need to contact and engage a licenced haulier with the right licences for importing livestock from abroad. This will cost around £1600 ......possibly more or possibly less if a load going both ways is possible....ie you only use the return journey.
Then there is the cost of the sheep and any pre movement testing they may or may not require.
..................it is not easy!
If buying only one sheep it still requires a freight journey to transport it and it is approx £275 for the one way!
Soooooo if a group get together and import 20 Ouessants it keeps costs down! They do have to stay together in isolation so you must make sure the isolation facility can cope!
If you want to import let me know and i will help make up a consignment of top quality sheep as I wouldn't mind one or two more Ouessant ewes.
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Hi Nigel have sent you a PM.
as for importing;Nigel has a holding number so thats not a problem.
premovement testing can be kept to a minimum the most tests are required for breeding rams; transport costs are also considerably less than you might think. depending on what you want to move. my own view that one or two quality sheep is still going to work out a good buy for fresh blood lines.
The logisitics of holding and moving a larger number of sheep is quite feasible but really only practicable for someone willing to keep that number here in france it basically involves commercial movement and that is a whole different ball game. Not to mention.whilst ouessants are a plenty in france the number of good quality ouessants is harder to come by;
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.............I hate to be a pain but you really do need a commercial movement for a sheep if 2 or more..........I have spoken to just about every DEFRA official and State veterinary service vet I can.............main office in Chelmsford.
An officially licenced transporter is the only way...........I could take Merinos (a Ouessant ram) in my van as there was only him, and there is a loophole in the TRACES system, but if 2 or more its a whole different ball game and even though I am licenced to transport across GB I am not allowed to bring my trailer over to France and then return with livestock as I am not licenced for journeys over 8 hours, none of us are.........This is why we imported 17 the first time as it was the only way to keep costs down........and whilst not from the top French breeders every one imported is small and sound in conformation etc....................no point importing poor stock!
I will add that the cost of buying and bringing 17 sheep from Brittany is half that of buying stock in GB where a ewe is approx £350 :o
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OK lets get to the nitty gritty. there are regs that can be used which apply to small movements of sheep you know about the one sheep rule as i told you about it ;D but there are ways and means of moving small numbers of sheep legally without getting involved in huge costs of comercial shipments. its just a question of knowing the ins and out. I move animals professionally for a living. ( dogs and cats) i come across the 8 hour rule as often as anyone else don't panic. it can all be done the rules are there to protect an abuse of live animal transport welfare not to thwart people moving a few sheep. ;D
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kanisha,
How many sheep would one need to import to make it financially sensible,
would you be able to source that number of good quality ewes
how much would the total cost per sheep be(approx)
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Lindy whats worth it varies from person to person what you are looking for and how you want to go about things.
the most important thing ouessants aren't rare in this part of the world they have been here so long people don't notice them any more;
whats the cost of a ouessant in the UK?
heres a list of ouessants from the local place to advertise them this will give you an idea of type and variance.
http://www.leboncoin.fr/li?q=mouton+ouessant&ca=6_s&th=1&c=0&w=1&rs=&re=&ms=&me=&ros=&roe=&ss=&se=&ccs=&cce=&cs=&ce=&zz=ex%3A75001&fu=
and also of price.
remember there is NO flock book for ouessants in france the breed society judges ouessants by the standard. if you want ouessants with good breeding ( pedigree) and who will breed consistantly to standard then my advice is not to buy from one of these sites you may get lucky and find a good breeder unloading stock but its just as likely you will get something which is oversized or doesn't breed to type. In other words without the breeding provenance behind them you don't know what you are buying even if they are to standard.
the minimum price for a GEMO to standard sheep / lamb is 150 euros if you want better sheep you pay more. This is from a registered breeder but it costs very little to register with the breed society visit their flock and see their stock to determine if they breed good quality sheep.
There are breeders all over france but most are concentrated in brittany. It all really depends on what you want. If the cost of a ouessant in the UK is as prohibative as i've been told then just one sheep is worth it!
and in terms of improving the stock already in the UK absolutely worth it. If you just want a small sheep as a pet then maybe not so better go for volume.
me personally if I was in the UK would look to import a good quality ewe or ram I don't see that great numbers will be of huge benefit. if you want to share a transport with a few friends fine the cost per sheep i should come down for transport but in truth finding and getting hold of those good quality sheep from one breeder will be more difficult.
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Thanks for the info - if it is difficult to source several good ewes from one source it is probably not worthwhile.
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Lindy.....we bought over 14 ewes and 3 rams in 2007 and I can honestly say that all were better than what is available in the UK!!
I know Kanisha has good stock and there are others with good stock. I am looking to bring over maybe 2 - 3 more good quality ewes for me.....I have the best ram in Britain.....he was the champion at the GEMO show in September in Brittany and kindly sold to me by Kanisha. I also have another french ram here (in Somerset) that is also very very good and would not be disgraced at the GEMO shows!!! I attended the show in September in Brittany and have also bred pedigree livestock for many years and also shown them very successfully so I know whats what. Once I have my sheep sorted my flock will be closed and very few bought in, and only rams.
If you wanted I will find you some later in the winter when I hope to import again. I have the isolation facility etc so its not a problem. I will be looking to buy from the top flocks and you would be welcome to a ram lamb from me at some point as I only will be keeping the best and castrating the others! I will be building a flock with a track record so all parents will be known, I also have some British Ouessants too.
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Thanks WoollyShepherd - please let me know if you do arrange another import I would be interested in some quality ewes.
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I had a friend that used to do pets corners including zwartbles sheep and angle nubian goats at local shows etc. The insurance costs were around £80 per time, don't know if you have looked into that, there are so many rules and regulations now you may get bogged down in paperwork, just something to bear in consideration....You may also need to have (not sure whether you are personally going to be involved with the children) the disclosure agreement meaning you can work with the children etc. Im sure you have thought about all this anyway but just thought I would mention it....