[Womble]

OK, so our hearts say yes, and we're in the process of trying to convince our heads! 

I have an older friend who used to gaze off wistfullly into the distance and say "One day when I retire, I'll get a little cottage with a wee bit of land, and I'll grow my own veg, and raise my own animals......." etc. etc.   We used to sit with our cups of coffee, and talk about what he'd do, and I'd say how much I envied his plans.

When he turned 65 and retired last year, I asked him "time for that smallholding now then eh?". "Oh I'm too old for that sort of thing now" he said, and I felt a little piece of both of us die inside  .

SO..... Mrs Womble and I have finally realised that we mustn't put our dreams on hold forever, and are trying to sort out a plan to make it all work.  Financially, we would both have to continue working full time for the next 6-7 years before we could 'downshift' a little, and devote more time to the smallholding. This leaves us with a dilemma in that during the winter we won't be back home before dark, and also at times we may have to have a night or two away for work or other reasons.

We currently have a few hens who obligingly put themselves to bed at night, and don't mind being left for a couple of days with food and water. However, let's say we ended up with two or three acres - what could we practically do to keep things ticking over in the meantime, whilst still working? Our thoughts so far are as follows:

1. Fruit & Veg - Not an issue - the only problem is finding the time to do the work, but we could start small and work up.
2. Hens - Not an issue, carry on as we do currently.
3. Ducks - Will they put themselves to bed at night during the winter?  Can they be left alone for a night and still be fox proof? Can you feed ad lib?
4. Geese, turkeys etc - See Ducks
5. Pigs - Must they be fed twice a day, or can you do it once?
6. Sheep - Probably OK, but is it practical /cost effective just to have wethers for fattening up during the year? (My boss wouldn't take kindly to me having to constantly rush back home to check on the maternity ward during lambing time!).
7. Cows - Biting off more cud than we can chew at the moment methinks! 
8. Pasture - If all the above need to be put on hold, what on earth do you do with your fields in the intervening 6 years to keep the grass down!?   Could we offer grass livery for example, and if so, what other facilities would we need to provide?

So, thanks for reading this far. For those of you who already do all this stuff, how do you juggle everything around everyday life, jobs, children etc. Please tell me your tips and stories - I'm dying to know!

Womble. 

[bazzais]

Would it be feasible for one of you to quit full time work and find part time work?

You could probably manage with sheep if you just bought in stuff for fattening so you didnt have to endure the full time assistance needed at lambing time - it would also give you a good taster of what looking after sheep has involved.

Sometimes there is never an ideal time to risk it all and try a different lifestyle - as long you have a little financial planning and backing I am sure you'll manage and perhaps never look back - you'll never know unless you try.

Ta

Baz

[Helencus]

Hi womble we juggle full time jobs with growing veg chickens, pigs and 2 horses. I often have to live away so hubby has to take on the care of the animals in the week.  It's hard I've got to tell you but not impossible. You have to feed pigs twice a day but I get up very early and oh does them in the evening as he is home for 5. Even so they'd get used to being fed a little later just have to do in the dark. Chickens are easy enough and we have electric nets so even if we are a bit late they take themselves in and foxy hasn't been an issue everything crossed...
Ducks not sure but I hear tell they're not so obliging to get in.

Thing to keep in mind is your weekends will become very very busy cleaning animal housing, doing veg garden, collecting feed and managing the land, weeds harrowing fertilising all that good stuff. It's hard work but very rewarding and IMHO well worth it. I wouldn't give it up but I do wish icould downshift and give up the day job and do it full time!


 

[HappyHippy]

I think it's possible to have your smallholding and juggle work too, as Helencus says it's hard going at times but definately worth it !
With regard to the pigs - if you go for a breed that 'graze' such as Berkshires or Kune Kunes you could get away with feeding them just once a day - but only if you were sure they had a constant water supply (I'm thinking nipple drinkers or troughs with ball cock) and plenty of good grass. But you WOULD need to check them twice daily. If you're looking to raise them for meat and get them in Spring and send off in Autumn you'll not have to worry too much about the dark nights.
Everything's possible - you've just got to find a way that works for you 
Good luck !

[scotelf]

The grass part shouldn't be too bad, letting to farmers who have sheep and want extra grazing is quite common, or a farmer who will want to let it grow and turn it into hay.
Make friends with your fellow smallholders in your area, so that if you are stuck a day here and there I'm sure they'd help you out, and vice versa if you can manage to help them.
I hope you manage to give it a go.

[Olly398]

Thanks for posting such an interesting thread. My OH and I are thinking about doing exactly this next year and it has answered a lot of my anxieties. I know it will be hard but, as you say, you cannot put your dreams on hold. Best of luck! 

[Fleecewife]

Lambing can be managed well enough while working.  You can plan when lambing will take place, and limit it by how long the tup is in with the ewes in Nov.  Then you plan your holidays to cover lambing time.  If you can only cover three weeks between you, then you only leave the tup in for 3 weeks. If you could only manage 2 weeks, then you would be better sponging your ewes to coordinate lambing in a tighter timeframe.
The drawback of raising wethers for meat is that if you use a commercial type breed, then they are just about ready for slaughter when they come off their mothers, or soon after, so that might not be cost effective.  Primitives do take a further year to finish so that could be a possibility.
A word of caution is that you would need a certain degree of flexibility to cover emergencies, or you would as Scotelf has said, need someone local you could call on in an emergency.

Do give it a go though - you never know what's around the corner, as we found out, so don't leave it too long. Start small with what you know, work up as you learn and be prepared to rethink your plans to suit the land you buy and your changing situation.

[mab]

I'd say go for it! I did - gave up a (relatively) well-paid job and became a self-employed sparky - although ended up working on contract when my sheep was giving birth - luckily the boss was human enough to allow me a day or so of 'maternity leave' without prior notice (I'd left the ram in for 6 weeks and didn't know when she was due).

With two of you it shouldn't be too bad - I'm on my own at the moment and so have to do it all myself (I'm not complaining, mind - I just have to think about all those years when I was stuck in a studio flat in SW London with nothing outside but a window box, 25 buses per hour and bricks & concrete to look at - and I'm glad to be mending fences in the rain  )

The solution I think is don't go mad and get 12 different types of animals at once - keep it simple and have one or two species at any one time - at least until your happy you've got the time to diversify.

It's also worth making an effort to get on with the neighbours - I've got two who have volunteered (without being asked) to look after the animals should I need to disappear for a few days.

mab
3 sheep, 4 ex-batt hens

[Fergie]

I could turn the question around & say that you really have to have a job while starting out as a smallholder, otherwise you'll have nothing to live on!

We found that the first couple of years is very "capital intensive", since you need to get a lot of equipment all at once, but it eases off later.  Chickens are easy, as you've found already, and primitive sheep are a bit more self reliant than some larger commercial breeds.  They still need checked frequently however, but in general seem to need less attention.

As others have said, you need to take the plunge and give it a go - there's never going to be a perfect time.

Good Luck,

John

[gavo]

Pigs do not need to be fed twice a day but do need to be checked twice a day which need not take that long.Ducks will not take themselves off to bed like hens;nor will turkeys or geese,Sheep can be quite demanding and can keel over for no apparent reason. Cattle i've not kept so can't comment on. We keep all of the above; plus a few other things; one of us works full time the other part time .

[northfifeduckling]

Hi Womble -
Go for it! It is a bit hard to juggle the workload but a few people I know made it possible, with pigs, chooks, veg and all!
My ducks actually do take themselves to bed - but only in the winter. Now they are just a few minutes behind the chooks and all it takes is to shut the door. It took a few weeks of training when we got them and in the summer they need encouragement with going to bed. Their bedchambers need cleaning at least twice a week, more in the winter as their wet bedding can freeze over, not nice for them...

[katie]

I agree, go for it - it would be awful to look back and say 'I wish....'. It would be easier if one person worked on the holding at least part-time.

[Hilarysmum]

If you are likely to be away overnight, or if you cant feed twice a day (or at least check them twice a day) I would definitely not have pigs.  No matter how well behaved, the first time you miss feeding them just one meal they will be off on a great adventure, p ossibly into your feed store.  Even when fed regularly, checked 3 times a day, they will find the tiniest gap in your defences and cause havoc. 

I am on the holding all day, and can guarantee that the twice yearly work lunches I hold for OH colleagues will be interrupted by at least one escapee.  They just KNOW. 

[loosey]

Myself and my partner both work full time. We have 9 pigs, 7 chickens, 4 ducks, 3 dogs, a cat and 3 ferrets! I also have 2 of my own horses and run a small livery yard from home which takes our total equine count to 6.

Our pigs would definately not stand for only being fed once a day but maybe that's because of our current routine (they scream their heads off if dinner is late or if they get hungry!)

Our morning chores are at 6.30am - animals fed, dogs walked, horses turned out, mucked out etc. I work shifts so am usually around some of the day when I fit in my riding and any general chores such as cleaning out hen houses etc.

Evening chores are at about 6pm ... we are lucky to have had new electrics installed in all our outbuildings this year but we still have to do a couple of trips to the pigs with torches, feed and water etc!

It can certainly be done but it's nigh on impossible to find anyone to look after the rabble if holidays are required etc. As long as you embrace and enjoy the animals, even in winter, I'd certainly reccommend it!

You could probably easily sell the grass for hay in the spring if you had no toher use for it but ideally itr would need to be graxed by something in the winter.

For grass livery for ponies, around here you could only charge about £10 per week per pony and you would have to make sure you had good fencing (no barbed wire etc). You could probably charge a little more if you had shelter and water in the fields but on 3 acres you would be looking at a max of 3 horses to allow decent rotation throughout the year.

[Castle Farm]

Hidden in the word Smallholding there is another word that sums up the whole way of life.


Commitment.

Without the time and commitment forget it. Even 3 acres cannot look after itself let alone any animals you have.