[Polished Arrow]

Hello there, one and all 

With just 7 months under our belts as smallholders in the Forest of Dean, we still have L plates on our backs and much, much more to learn than we have already found out.  On the 8 acres so far we have:

• 2 pedigree British Saddlebacks, one of whom we know for certain is expecting a happy event, and the other may be - we find out in just under a week
• 3 Toggenburg goats, waiting for a billy this autumn
• 8 Light Sussex hens and one magnificent Light Sussex Cockerel
• 2 Tonkinese cats - chief vermin control
• 2 8-month old Springer Spaniels - eek!

Our black Welsh Mountain Sheep are due shortly...

The land had not been actively farmed by the previous owners since 1994 so there has been a great deal to catch up on, for example fencing and hedging as well as water supply and barn repairs.  Our aim is for self-sufficientish living, so our horizons are set for the long term.  It is hard work, but totally rewarding. 

Thanks for the website and forum - you have provided valuable information on a number of occasions, for which I am deeply grateful.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all, anyway!

[doganjo]

First welcome is from me in Clackmannan, Central Scotland - the Wee Coonty!  Previously a small farmer up North now in retirement down here with only a few hens and ducks

[Polished Arrow]

First welcome is from me in Clackmannan, Central Scotland - the Wee Coonty!  Previously a small farmer up North now in retirement down here with only a few hens and ducks

Hi there and thanks for the welcome :-) 

I chuckled... you were living 'up' North, but are now living 'down' here in Central Scotland...  I guess that makes me floating all the way over here in No-man's Borderland    

We can see Wales from our house, and even get free prescriptions from the docs, but our footprint is squarely n England!

What sort of hens and ducks do you keep?

[Bangbang]

Hi ! 

Big welcome from sunny Aberdeenshire.

We have goats sheep, dogs and ducks !

[Polished Arrow]

Hi Bangbang. 
Ducks are popular round here, aren't they?!
Are they just for eggs, as pets, or do you eat them too?

[doganjo]

First welcome is from me in Clackmannan, Central Scotland - the Wee Coonty!  Previously a small farmer up North now in retirement down here with only a few hens and ducks

Hi there and thanks for the welcome :-) 

I chuckled... you were living 'up' North, but are now living 'down' here in Central Scotland...  I guess that makes me floating all the way over here in No-man's Borderland    

We can see Wales from our house, and even get free prescriptions from the docs, but our footprint is squarely n England!

What sort of hens and ducks do you keep?

He he - North East Scotland to Central Scotland is downhill!  I free-wheeled all the way down the day I moved!   
Ducks - I have a Swedish Blue drake, a Khaki Campbell female and their three daughters - one grey like dad but without such a  large white bib, and the other two are black and brown with the white bibs.

[Polished Arrow]

Very smart - with white bibs 

[Bert]

Hello from the Isle of Mull

[Rosemary]

Hello and welcome from sunny Carnoustie 

We've got two in-calf Shetland heifers, one bullock with a date with the freezer, nine coloured Ryeland ewes due from Sunday, four ewe hoggs, a tup and a wether, three Hampshire gilts (for various freezers), about 60 hens, three dogs, three cats, a Highland pony and a Shetland pony. We've just planted 60+ apple trees and ordered our polytunnel, which is a bit of a cheek since the veg garden is a wee bit neglected 

[in the hills]

Hello and a warm welcome from Powys

 

[HappyHippy]

Hello from me in Lanarkshire 

We're also on a farm which hasn't been 'farmed' since the Eighties, so I can sympathise with the land reclaimation & fencing issues - we've done about 10 acres, but have loads still to do (and starting on the land drainage is this years' project) I keep pigs, not got Saddlebacks but I do have Kunekune, Large Black and a few others for good measure 
Look forward to hearing more from you
Karen

[Polished Arrow]

Lovely to hear from you 

Particularly good to hear that there are others like ourselves.  When we left normal life in Oxfordshire last summer and with it things like salary and stability, we were a tiny bit nervous.  Now we are here, we know we have done the right thing and a so happy and feel very content - to say nothing of tired and stiff!  But having people like your good selves that have already trodden the same path, helps enormously. 

[Lesley Silvester]

   Hi and welcome from Shropshire.  I am a back garden smalholder with two goats, one of which is called Curry as that is his destination.  I also have a month old kid due to move in soon.  Grow fruit and veg.

[Bangbang]

Hi Polished Arrow,

We have 25 Call Ducks as pets. We eat and sell the eggs - but not them
We have a secure evening encloser but during the day there free to roam
and fly. Ours are good in flight but crap at landing.

We do let them sit - then sell the the ducklings.

 

[Polished Arrow]

Bangbang, the secure enclosure is vital for our feathered family too, not least as here Monsieur and Madam Reynard are so bold as to trot about the farm in the middle of the day as well as at night  

Call ducks are cuties, aren't they?  But 25 is a good number.  What size eggs do they have - for some reason I imagine they are on the smaller side of duck eggs - and how many do they lay on average a year?