[clowe123]

hi everyone
I currently work on a dairy farm and im thinking of starting a smallholding.
I no what I would like to do but its finding the right amount of land.
to start with I would like to get some pygmy goats or goats and then slowly expand into pigs, and maybe half dozen jersey cattle suckler herd.
I was wondering how to get a cph and what animals I could get without a cph and what animals I needed a cph for?
I was also wondering about limits and are other restrictions? tb? what animals needed to be tb tested and any other routine type test that I would need to do?
many thanks for any help that you can provide
Charles from gloucestershire

[Lesley Silvester]

and welcome from Shropshire.


You get your CPH and herd number from DEFRA (0845 9335577) and it is worths having a look at their website https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs where you will find lots of information. You will need it for any livestock you keep.
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I would recommend reading the articles on here under the Livestock tab at the top and having a look through some posts in the sections that interest you in the forum.
Finally, do ask as many questions as you want. We all love to share knowledge about the animals we have and the only silly question is the one you don't ask. You can always send someone a private message if you don't want to make your question public although you will get more help if you do post on here.
You say that you are thinking about goats. Are you considering them for pets or for milk/meat production? Pygmies are only really suitable for pets. There are dairy breeds such as Saanens (my own particular favourites), Toggenburgs and Anglo-Nubians and meat goats such as Boer. A lot of people seem to be crossing dairy goats with boers to get kids that will be useful for both milk and meat although even a dairy goat male kid, slaughtered at around 8 - 10 months will proved a lot of meat. Goats do need a shed of some sort as they can't cope with getting wet (although some don't seem to mind) and they are prone to escaping, although some breeds, such as British Alpines, make it their life's work and others are more placid.
I can't answer about other livestock but someone will be along soon who can.
Good luck with your search.[/size]

[Backinwellies]

Hi
Welcome

CPH needed for all farm livestock.
You need to consider how you will finance your smallholding .... it (and everything on it!) will eat money!!

 

[Porterlauren]

You can get poultry without a CPH.

[hafod]

Hi Charles, we did a similar thing to what you hope to do. Other half was a herdsman on a dairy farm, we bought a small holding and slowly built it up. he left his job as a herdsman last year (2 years after we bought the small holding) as we just about had enough going on to supplement his income (although he still does some relief milking occasionally which is useful cash!)

Whereabouts in Gloucestershire are you? We have lived (and milked!) in Cirencester and Tewkesbury before moving to North Wales

Are you looking to make an income from your small holding? If so, my top tip would be to spend time doing your research. I fancied keeping pigs but a couple of hours with a calculator showed that this wouldn't provide an income for us. We do keep pigs but only to provide meat for ourselves.

Get in touch with the environmental health/trading standards dept at your local council - they will talk you through the records you need to keep and forms you need to fill in. There's loads of info on the accidental small holder website (as well as the forum) - happy reading and good luck.

[Skyfall]

I applied for my cph on Monday took 5mins over the phone all they needed was my address contact details etc and either post code or grid ref for the land my flock would be on and if it was long or short term lease as this depends on the type of CPH no you would need they said my number would arrive in the post within 10 days .. Good luck ,,louise

[Trixie]

Hi Charles, you are probably aware already (working on a farm) but don't forget to get movement forms completed when bringing animals on or off your holding and herd/medicine registers that need to be kept up to date.  It's great starting out with your own animals. Good luck hope it all goes well for you.

[Treud na Mara]

  welcome from Caithness. We started with pygmys (need CPH) and chickens (no need) in our back garden and now have 11.5 acres and sheep too. Great way to go! Great place here for help and advice. 

[fiestyredhead331]

hi from north west Sutherland 

We have a little bit of everything, started with 1 goat and 6 chickens and built up to 20 goats, 85 chickens, pigs in pairs every 6 months, and a dozen sheep. Its a lot of work but a lot of fun....honestly 

you'll figure out what your prefered stock is quite quickly, my best advice is each time, go and visit someone who has what you are looking at and you'll get a good idea if they are what you want on your place? Every kind has their own quirks, plus points and down sides. Just make sure what ever you get, you have storage for all the feed, hay/straw etc. Also you'll need flock/herd number as well as your CPH for registering your animals.

[SallyintNorth]

Hi there.  We farm in north Cumbria, beef and sheep, and I have a few Jerseys which I multiple suckle.

Up here we see little TB, although there has been a case near to me recently, so we are on a 4-year testing cycle.  All adult cattle are tested.

In Gloucestershire you would be on a more frequent testing regime.  Your can look up about risk levels and TB testing intervals on the Defra website. linky

At the moment, only cattle are TB tested.  Work is ongoing to develop reliable tests for camelids.

Other species can get bovine TB; it has been recorded in pigs, wild boar, deer - both farmed and wild, alpaca, llamas, goats, dogs, cats, ferrets, sheep and of course badgers.

to start with I would like to get some pygmy goats or goats and then slowly expand into pigs, and maybe half dozen jersey cattle suckler herd.

I'm not sure what you mean by "half dozen jersey cattle suckler herd".  Generally the term "suckler herd" means beef cattle, each of which has and rears one calf each year.  The calves are usually weaned at around 9 months, or self-wean.

I don't think you would be able to operate Jerseys on this principle, they give too much milk for one calf. 

Perhaps you were meaning that you would multiple-suckle the Jerseys; that they would rear their own calves plus some bought-in ones.  This is what I do with mine.  Each Jersey rears between 4 and 7 calves each year; I wean at 4 months of age, and she will have two or sometimes three sets of calves per lactation.