[BlueButterfly]

Hey everyone! Me and my partner have been considering getting a small holding (5 acres or less) and I've been doing some research- I was hoping that I could get some solid tips and advice- for example I now know its best to keep bees near fruit trees/ vegetables to increase pollination and that keeping chickens near rabbits reduces flies and pesky insects.
We're hoping to keep:
A few small dairy cattle (possibly dexter or jersey)
A few pigs (not sure which breed yet!)
Rabbits
Fish (Catfish? Cod?)
Chickens, Ducks, and possibly a few other types of poultry!
A 1 or 2 small working horses (maybe a shetland?)
Bees
Mealworms (to feed the chickens & fish)
2 cats to keep down vermin 
Lots of vegetables, herbs and fruit trees!

ANY help/advice is really welcome 

[SallyintNorth]

Hello BlueButterfly 

We're in north Cumbria, where are you planning your smallholding?  You'll need much better land than we have for that much livestock on 5 acres!  And are you by the sea in order to have saltwater fish?  (Apols if this is a stupid thing to say, I'm not a fish farmer.)

I'll leave precise advice on smaller holdings to those who have them - we farm a medium-sized hill farm, so I'm not the best to advise on the optimum way to manage a small holding for livestock.  I just know that 2 cattle, 2 pigs and 2 ponies need more than 5 acres in this part of the world.

Have you read John Seymour's book?  Most people think you can't do all that on 5 acres these days, and a lot of what he did is now illegal, but there is still a lot of good stuff in there.  And if you check the main website here, Rosemary and Dan have written up quite a lot of the analyses they did, including the amount of grass needed for 2 Shetland cattle.  There are a few book recommendations too.

Good luck!  And well done for doing your research before jumping in. 

[BlueButterfly]

We're in the south of England- looking to buy in Cornwall
Reading the stuff Rosemary and Dan have done sounds like a great idea! Sorry to be a pest but would you be able to send me the link? Im not very tech savvy


Thank you

[SteveHants]

Fish (Catfish? Cod?)

I'd rethink those if I were you, especially given that one of those is marine (although it is fairly extensively farmed in Norway, there was a company round scotland that farmed them here (No Catch), but they went bust...).

[hughesy]

Pick maybe two out of those ideas and concentrate on them. Don't branch out into anything else until you're competent and know you have the time available. Biggest mistake most smallholders make is trying to do everything all at once.

[princesspiggy]

a pony needs company so youd need to keep 2. its 3 acres per pony, and id say the same for cattle from our experience. they eat and trample  and crap on much more than some would realise. u could keep more head per acre if u kept them in during winter, bought in your hay, rotated you grazing and picked up droppings.
you could maybe have a better potential with sheep/goats, as youd have enough room/ head to breed, sell and eat them.

[suziequeue]

There's lots on You Tube about mealworms. I'm planning to start farming them in the New Year for our chickens

[Anke]

We limited ourselves to one kind of livestock per year (we already had chickens and bees as we moved here), so started off with a couple of weaners, then had sheep and a couple of years later got the goats.
Also as you start with livestock you will realise that you like some more than others, I had originally never considered goats - now my main smallholding task!
Oh and try and buy as much land as your money will allow you - you can always rent it out to the farmer next door as you learn first on a smaller acreage.

[SallyintNorth]

Reading the stuff Rosemary and Dan have done sounds like a great idea! Sorry to be a pest but would you be able to send me the link? Im not very tech savvy


Thank you

Start here : Smallholding and use the tabs to explore.  'Grassland Management' first, perhaps!    And 'Smallholding Books'.

If you're wanting to be in Cornwall, have you thought about a co-housing setup?  Some of my friends founded Trelay, and there are other such initiatives about.  At the very least, you maybe would like to volunteer at Trelay or similar for a while; you'd learn loads, and hands-on is so much better than books - or even online forums! 

[Backinwellies]

2 ponies and a 'few' dairy  cattle (jerseys are not that small) are going to require far more than 5 acres .. the cows will have calves also requiring space.  If you house in winter and buy in lots of feed you can reduce the area needed but 1 Jesrey cow + small calf will need an acre.

Best wishes with your new smallholding just dont underestimate how much grazing you may need.
Linda

[YorkshireLass]

Some interesting concepts here http://www.velacreations.com/food/food-web/item/264-concept.html at least regarding rabbits, chickens, and worms. Note that feeding slaughter or kitchen waste is illegal here though!!


You sound like a beginner and I would say that you've far too much there to learn all in one go It's not just about the care of the stock - I've spent more time and effort on the blooming paperwork and rules! You will need to learn to speak Defra


Most start small and work up - I would suggest rabbits / worms / hens / veg is plenty to be getting on with. Are you happy* killing an animal?


For fish look into aquaculture - it uses fish in a system to raise plants. If you only have a small space you need to be cunning 










*well, not happy happy! You know what I mean!