[highhorse]

hi

im looking for some advice, suggestions, business ideas!

my hubby and i are taking on a 20 acre smllholding with  large barn ( about 162 square meters).

basically we want to turn it ito a business and i would dedicate myself full time to it. just not sure ich way to turn to make a small crust......sheep/lambs or calves? rearing, breeding, selling?

bit stumped o  the best path to follow, an ideas anyone?

thanks in advance!!

x

[Ideation]

Making any real profit off sheep on that scale would be tough. Certainly in terms of being able to live off it. Paying for itself, maybe, but not enough to retire on!

In general at that level, your easiest way to generate funds are probably to add value to what you have, so selling lamb direct to the consumer, processing the fleece, maybe trying some rare breeds etc.

Obviously you will generate cash by just breeding, rearing and selling lambs, but the running costs of a small flock, negate the amount of profit that can really be made.

Standard sheep operations work on a bigger scale - i.e on the place I work, they lamb maybe 600 ewes, probably generating something like 1000 lambs. . . . which is their yearly profit margin, to pay for all of the other outlays across the farm.

[SallyintNorth]

I'd be inclined to start with a few young weaned store calves; buy your first pair already weaned so you can learn about handling them and growing them on.  Aim to sell them at somewhere between 12 and 18 months, again as stores, to someone who will finish them.

If you enjoyed doing that, then the next time you could start with younger calves not yet weaned, and have the fun (and mess, expense and work) of feeding them milk and weaning them. 

In both cases I would be looking for beef calves out of dairy cows.  If you have a local dairy farm you may be able to buy direct.  Otherwise there will be animals like this being sold on a weekly basis at your local mart.

If all that works out, then you could look at adding some sheep into the mix.  They'll help keep down the parasites - each species eats and thereby terminates the eggs of the worms that affect the other species - and will keep the grass tidy over winter if you have the cattle indoors.

Sheepwise, on that scale, I'd say you definitely want to be looking at direct marketing the meat. 

What fun to have a blank canvas!

[Backinwellies]

You haven't said where  you are but that will make a lot of difference to answers,  as will type of land your 20 acres are....

[DartmoorLiz]

Whatever you do, if its for an income, you've got to make it make more than the storage fee for parking people's caravans in the barn. 

Its a small area for extensive farming but have you thought about chickens or something like that?  Not saying its a nice thing to do, but you asked for ideas. 

I heard someone did snail farming in a spare bedroom so farming does not have to take much space.  ... then there's mushroom farming, perhaps the more exotic ones that need warm humid dark boxes like insulated lorry containers.  Highly skilled stuff but I guess that's the point if you want to be full time on it. 

Oh ... and keep sheep in the fields.

[trish.farm]

Where abouts in the country are you.  If it is a horsey area, liveries are the way to bring in a decent income.

[Beeducked]

Also would help to know what you already know about or have experience of and are interested in. Both will make the work easier. Hard to make money if you are not really interested in what you are looking after or starting from no knowledge as we all make those foolish mistakes at the beginning.


Funny but the only thing I have kept that made me a profit (even on a small scale) was quail. Easy to hatch and raise. Females start laying about 8 weeks old and the eggs sell for a premium and the males ready for dispatch and eating about the same time and are also a gourmet product. However I have never cared for more stupid animals (and I have and love ducks!). The fact that a sneeze can cause them to die of fright and yet they will fight each other to the death I found a bit tedious!

[jaykay]

Interesting that Beeducked, I was about to say that pedigree 'old-fashioned' chickens, and possibly other poultry, would earn me far more on my land than sheep ever will. Particularly if you live close enough to the wealthy 'would like some pretty additions to the orchard' brigade.

[goosepimple]

I would think that livestock isn't the way to go, maybe a few small scale rare beasties but just as a side line.


How about growing willow for fuel or using your land for wormeries - they may sound odd ideas if you haven't come across such things before - companies advertise for grower for these - probably try google, I think the money is quite good.  Vineyard?  Garden Centre?  A friend of ours made a good business out of growing lillies? 


Depends on the quality / location / orientation of your land too.  It's worth the time having a good think and investigation into what's in demand rather than half attempts at things that's never going to make you more than pocket money.  May be worth having a word with your planning department - a knowledgeable officer may know of a demand in the area that isn't being met (planners aren't always the enemy!) and could give you a long term aim perhaps.


20 acres is quite a lot, many of use would give our right arm for that much, good luck!

[SteveHants]

I wouldn't mind 20 acres of home ground and a barn, you could lamb your hoggs on it, maybe.


If I were you (and not everyone thinks like me... ) I would use it as your base and rent in another hundred acres or so to start off with. I would say to make a decent go at a living from sheep, you want at least 300 head.


The do something more lucrative with the barn, you can keep the sheep out all year.


(This may work better depending on where you are in the country, it is easier to find grazing in some places than others)

[highhorse]

wow thanks everyone, some food for thought there.....

to answer a few questions,

we are in scotland
the 20 acres are a mixture of good level grass and rougher/hill land ( about half half)
ive had sheep, pigs and chickens before but not on a big scale
have experience of horse but am reluctant to enter the livery world...

someone mentioned  rare breeds, do you mean breed and sell the youngstock?

with regards to producing and selling direct, im not sure about the rules? do you mean sell direct to butchers or the folks wo would actually be eating them?

im not worried about huge profits (though i wouldnt be upset by them, haha) but it will need to wipe its face and a bit more besides.

really have to choose a few things soon and set about researching them. its all very exciting but a bit daunting too!!

xx

[Ideation]

With regard to selling the end product, you will do far better selling to the consumer (that eats it) rather than the butcher, as the butcher will usually try for a low price, so they can make maximum profit on it. However, if you can build up a clientele of people who want to buy locally produced, happy meat etc, then you can do ok from that, and maybe selling some young stock, and then doing something with the fleeces etc.

But to be very honest you will struggle to make a viable income off a 20 acres sheep farm.

Things like holiday lets, camping, yurt holidays, course fishing lake, etc etc will make you far more per acre I would think.  That kind of thing a long with the other bits and bobs might do ok for you.

But to live off 20 acres of sheep, would be a struggle.

[shygirl]

most farms round here are 60 acres and its a well known fact that's its not big enough to make a living from on the normal farming sense so you will have to think carefully and sell to the end consumer, cut out the middle man.
if you have your heart set on sheep then do as Steve says.
a smaller scale needs a high value end product. whatever that may be.
goodluck

[highhorse]

hi guys

thanks for all the suggestions, i actually dont mind whether its sheep, calves, alpacas or some variety of bird! i just know that we areextremely lucky to have found such a place which can potentially offer me an my children a good lifestyle whilst paying fr itself. im just stuck as to what to do and wondered if there were any viable/profitabe alternatives to intensive style farming which is so far looking the only method that would yield any income.

we are going to grow veg and try to be as self sufficient as possible but in reality we also need to make a bit of money ( even just a few thousand a year). it also really needs to be agriculture as planners are not sympathetic to horses.

anyone any experience of calf rearing? have also considered alpacas but been told the market for them is unpredictable?

x

[Marches Farmer]

Don't forget to factor in the euqipment, vetmeds and handling facilities you'll need.  Are you planning to make your own hay?  You'll need to buy in bedding, too.  Are you near a tourist area?  If there aren't any interesting places to visit within about a dozen miles you'll be hard-pressed to get campers, etc.