[Big Benny Shep]

Hi   
At the moment im running my farm at evenings and weekends (with holidays for lambing) with help from my mum and my best mate. 
Ive got about 50 acre of land with about 10 more rented and about 90 breeding sheep. we also have 30(ish) hens and 2 dexter cows with a calf each.
I work full time as a HGV mechanic, but want to make the farm work full time and pay me a wage.


I know I will need to rent more land and get (or make) more sheep but how many on how much land im not sure.


We currently receive RPA which helps alot but what other grants/funding is available? ive tried searching but it seems a bit of a mind field and i was hoping with all the knowlede on here you guys could help.


im sure ive missed putting something    but i cant think what!




Thanks in advance


p.s. ive already got lottery tickets 

[shygirl]

maybe get contract work as a shepherd if that is your passion?
or i suppose you need to work out how much net profit per head each sheep makes then see how many you need to get a living wage.

[Herdygirl]

sorry BBS ... you are on a hiding to nothing. There are ELS and HLS grants but god you have to jump through some bloody big hoops to get them. As a small farmer.you are mostly on your own.  Get yourself 200 acres and you might break even.  If you have a wife and kids then you will get Working Tax Credits and Child Tax credits to supplement a very low income which seems to be how most small farms survive.
Sorry to be so negative but most people hoping to 'live the dream' need a substantial income from outside the smallholding or farm to sustain it.
Shygirl is right... if you love working with sheep then contract your self out seasonally (lambing) to a very large sheep farm but you won't get the wages you currently bring in.
 
Best of luck
 
 

[Meh!]

  I can't give you advice but I have to say I really admire you for trying to make a huge change to do something you love. I'm trying to get into even part time working on farms as I want to open a large animal rescue  ( please don't laugh anyone) and sheep are my passion, but it seems if your not born a farmer you're an outsider and its difficult to get there. keep at it......even if you have to carry on as you are it's better than nothing - or maybe you can turn the proportions round - get some more land and supplement your farming income doing what you do now part time?

[verdifish]

Admiral ? yes
Realistic ? prob not
i tried and i,m having to go back to shoeing horses to make the place pay/ viable
but don't let me put you off < i set myself far to higher goals and the were never gonna get met but i hav'nt given up yet .As an ex para i've not finished till i'm dead...

[shygirl]

its easy to work full-time on your own farm, its paying the bills thats the tricky part.
maybe try asking on a farming forum where there may be larger scale commercial farmers - as most people on here are smallholders and either work or are poor , ha ha
im back working fulltime after years of working on the farm so now i can start saving up for a tractor and finish the fencing, ha ha 
the richest farmer around here is a very well off doctor...
good luck anyway, its an experience and a steep learning curve so try it and see, just dont sell your tools...

[Porterlauren]

It can be done, just because most folk are 'good lifers' with another well paid job 'in the city' to support their farming fantasy, doesn't mean that you cannot support yourself from a farm. . . . .

But you need to be hardworking, realistic and unsentimental with your stock. It makes you money, or its gone. Any problems, it's gone etc etc.

Form and function are boss.

[Tim W]

I make a living farming sheep and am only a grazier renting land on annual leases ---started with a few ewes and now run between 700 and 1000 breeding ewes every year

The largest problem is access to land---if you can find enough land to farm you will have a chance
If you are producing fat lambs for the market/abattoir then you will need 800 to 1400 ewes to make a living, depending on how good a businessman you are and what you call a living

Just make sure you do realistic sums before you jump in and accept two facts
1) The price of lamb is not going to rise very much
2) The value of all your inputs will rise

[mowhaugh]

We farm full time, we have 500 acres of pretty rough going, we have 800 ewes at the moment but we are cutting back as we think (HOPE!?!) we would be better with less sheep and buying less feeding.  We manage to get by (although I'm not sure we'd eat much if it wasn't for the tax credits - we have two small boys) but a large part of our farming business is the work my husband does for other people - driving a combine in the summer, and loads of sheep and tractor work for local farmers, which means our hours are hugely long as we do lots of our work before/after.  We have also just taken on the management of a further 600 ewes, and we wouldn't have got that had we not been currently farming to prove we knew ho to manage a flock.  It is a good life, though, and we wouldn't change it.  Hopefully financially things will improve once our boys are at school, as I will be able to do much more.

[Backinwellies]

   Your lottery tickets are probably your most likely route to farming fulltime and making a living.   

Number of acres/ stock is not really relevant........... it is what type of land, what type of stock and what market do you have for what you are producing ... and do you have any investment capital.

  Don't expect grants.. they are mostly for conservation currently and conservation doesn't pay the bills (before anyone shoots me down we are trying to balance conservation techniques with production on our smallholding... means less stock and less output..... but fab flowers and bird life) ....

Find a way to balance your time between using your mechanic skills and farming ....... maybe have own business as mechanic on farm working the two together?

[Young Ed]

to be able to give you incredibly rough figures of how many sheep/cows/hens you need to live we/i need to know family situations, partner? kids? does/will partner be working?

are sheep for wool or meat or selling at market for breeding stock? considering the section you are posting this in and current stock levels i am guessing the sheep is where you are going to get most your income?

personally if i owned the 50 acres of yours and it had reasonable grazing quality and i had no mortgage on it then i think living alone i could just about squeeze a living out of your 90 sheep 2 cows and 30 chickens...... but then i again i would be growing most of my own veggies, i would put one lamb in the freezer every year and be virtually self sufficient and i'm not one to go splashing money where not strictly necessary and any building work or vehicle work etc i need done i do my self so the same might not be possible for many
Cheers Ed

[Victorian Farmer]

I've just pact up .I had 220 sheep 100 hens geese terkeys .Its the unexpected that kills you Vet whether etc. In the end I couldent brake even .To get my head round it I do work for other crofts and just think its my stock .I love the sheep and hens but I cart feed them and me .The feed bill was just over a thousand for 6 weeks don't go there .

[ShaunP]

Look up SteveHants and read all of his posts. He has some very strict rules and I am sure he rents all his land and is able to make it pay!!


Good Luck,  I am sure it can be done but it also depends on what you expect to make. I think Steve says he makes 15 - 18K a year last time he quoted a figure, not sure how long ago that was but he always has some good advice.   

[Big Benny Shep]

ill have a peek at stevehants, ive got a wife and a 1 year old farm hand in the making  we have a mortgage on the house but hopefully when the better half finished her accountancy exams and gets qualified she should be on more money, which could make more possible.
For now ill try to build up a higher quality flock. possibly selling more breeding gimmers and tups.


Thanks for the realistic responses guys, 


still waiting for the lottery win 

[Hellybee]

Perhaps also invest in some good kit so that perhaps you can contract maybe flaying hedges, topping etc as a little sideline, perhaps your mechanics could be turned to plant and tractorsa.  perhaps if ou are in a lovely spot how about turning a few acres into a a seasonal campsite, maybe a little storage for caravans I dunno, it will all help generate extra cash towards your life on the land.


we are about to have a good clear out of stock, and will be putting a little.of the money to buying a turning crate and the nuts n bolts of a good handling system, owt that can turn bad backs into a thing of the past is an absolute must haha


Have several strings to your bow, be open to doing a bit of work to subsidise, we gonna do cream teas next time round, add little extras every year to monetise our footfall a little more. 


Most of all good luck xx