[RatRace]

Hi new forum user and a newbie with regard to smallholding.
I'm thinking of buying a rural property with 7 acres of hilly permanent pastureland consisting of four fields with two steel barns.
any ideas what I can do, and cannot do with this land?
I understand I can do what I like with under 2 hectares. Area is not SSSI.
I am thinking about polytunnel(s), pigs and chickens in the near term, but will not be able to utilise the land immediately as time consuming repairs would need to be done to the house.
If I leave most of the pasture land alone, will i face a big maintenance cost in the future from overgrowth and how long before that happens?
how many animals will it take to manage the grass? I'm thinking a few sheep and goats.
I don't have a budget for expensive equipment like tractors and suchlike.

[TheCaptain]

How secure is the pasture land?  Ask around the local farms that have sheep - if you offer it out to them they will be more than happy for some free(?) grazing if you're happy for it to be just kept down whilst you're doing your repairs.  I'm sure you could charge for a service though but receommend you find some way to keep the grass down.

We keep 10 ewes and a few ponies on our 10 acres and they do the job nicely.

[ballingall]

If the fencing isn't great, a local farmer might be willing to help you improve the fencing in exchange for letting him put sheep on to graze whilst you do the repairs. Dairy goats can be quite a lot of work, and can be escape artists, so wouldn't really recommend them at first. Sheep are more manageable.


Beth

[Rosemary]

Beware of bringing health problems on to your land with other people's sheep, especially if your ground is clean and you plan to have sheep in the future.

If the grass is long, cattle might be better, but same applies re disease and fencing.

[Hermit]

We moved onto a spot that was not grazed for four years.The swarf was so thick you could not find the soil!.
 We concentrated on getting the house sorted first as when you get animals they will take your money and time. Then just sort jobs as you go , a small field first and get the sheep in , and while they sort that get another fenced and so on. Sheep ate our long old  grass down no problems. Dont try and do everything at once , you will have plenty of time and those jobs need doing properly first time then you are not playing catching up on bodge jobs all the time.If you try do do everything at once you will never see the end of it. I agree with Rosemary about other stock coming on, if you have unused land it should be clear of parasites so it is best to keep it that way for your stock.

[katie]

If the grass is too long, it might be worth getting a contractor to top it for you. I agree with the advice against putting other people's animals on if you are to have your own - you don't want to bring in problems before you start.
Good luck with it all. Take it slowly and don't overstock - something a lot of people can't resist when starting out!

[TheCaptain]

If the grass is too long, it might be worth getting a contractor to top it for you. I agree with the advice against putting other people's animals on if you are to have your own - you don't want to bring in problems before you start.
Good luck with it all. Take it slowly and don't overstock - something a lot of people can't resist when starting out!

Depends on how long it is - we looked at this option when we moved into our place last year.  The contractor could have just topped it and taken his money, but actually recommended we didn't get it topped as what was cut would have just sat and rotted, pretty much ruining the field.  I don't think that bringing other peoples stock onto your land is a major issue; as long as you have a quarantine period between any liestock going off and you bringing yours on you should be fine.