[caz]

I've got 8 acres of green belt with 2 field shelters, 3 horses and 4 chickens. I've been thinking lately that i don't really make the most of it and i could get a little side line income from it. Problem is I don't really know what to do with it.

The big issue for me is I'm vegetarian so don't really want to raise animals for slaughter. I don't have a tractor or anything yet so was thinking maybe paying a farmer to make small bales of hay and selling them off myself and they would also be used for feeding my horses through the winter. I would need to build a barn though whi h will be quite costly as I don't think I'd fit them all in my field shelter.
I don't know if I'm missing a trick of growing or raising something though so any ideas would be appreciated.

[Backinwellies]

In green belt so close to a good market .... and a vegetarian ..... why are you not growing veg to sell?

you wont make anything from hay especially if you have to build a barn.  You could sell as a standing crop ... so you don't have to bale or store.

[Fleecewife]

Pick your own fruit?  Farm gate eggs?  Salad crops?  In season veg? Keep a flock of fleece wethers for high end fleece sales online?  Sell home baking?

Think what the local market needs and see where you can fulfil that need.  You won't make a fortune, but a little extra income always helps.  With land in the green belt your market is big if you do your research.

[Ghdp]

What would such a flock of wethers consist of FW? Could I combine such a flock with my aspiration for living lawnmowers??

[Fleecewife]

Perfect.

Your flock would need to consist of top quality fleece sheep, as those fleeces are the ones that bring in more than £10.  You'll need to learn about fleece first - the easiest way to do that is to learn to spin, so you are handling a wide variety of fleece types, and you get to know your trade.  A long discussion with someone from the Wool Board would be a good start.  Online research will let you see which fleeces are valuable and the sort of prices they will fetch. Take a look at fleece and fleece on the hoof judging at agricultural shows.  Selling online is probably the easiest and surest way to find customers.  The British Coloured Sheep Breeders Association are usually really helpful and may have members near you who could show you their sheep and sell you some lambs.
Ideally you want cross bred sheep of the finest fleeced breeds, coloured wool being a favourite.

As you can see, this is not a quick fix, as any old fleece will not do.  But a bit of research, with lots of fun along the way, would bear dividends.

[Ghdp]

Thank you for that. Research continues. Sorry to divert the 8 acre thread Caz.

[caz]

Thanks for the replies. I guess my mind is  focusing on hay as I need hay anyway for my horses and I will also need a barn to store the hay over the winter.  I've read you can get 70-100 bales off an acre so I'd be looking at around 400 bales which would sell at £3  or more each.
I  don't live on site I live aprox 1.5 mile away and work shifts and husband works shifts full time so needs to fit in with already kind of busy life with a toddler to run around after.
However I'm open to all sorts of ideas.

Fleecewife  when you say £10 a fleece is that per sheep per year or do they produce several? I have no idea about sheep

Round here the farmers will not buy a standing crop of hay off you. They will take it for free and that is it. So that's not an option. I have no machinery apart from a 4x4 and trailer and no buildings apart from 2 field shelters so need to keep in mind what is realistically possible with the little money I have lol

[Fleecewife]

Fleecewife  when you say £10 a fleece is that per sheep per year or do they produce several? I have no idea about sheep

£10 is the bottom price I would feel it was worth offering a fleece for sale.  Anything worth less would not be worth selling, buying or spinning.

Sheep produce only one fleece a year, in early summer, unless you have them housed over the winter, in which case they are sometimes shorn in the autumn as well.  Very short fleece is difficult to spin so shearing twice a year is likely to give a fleece too short to use, unless it's a longwool sheep.

With your other commitments and not living on site, it sounds as if animals are not really a practical solution for you yet.

[caz]

I wouldn't have thought it would be viable to keep sheep for only £10 a fleece surely they cost a lot more than that to keep over the year wouldn't they?

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Soft fruit would be a big hit, people love freshly grown soft fruit, you could even have a pick your own type thing. Another thing you could do is if there is someone looking for a location of a festival, smallish one or so you could hire it out to them. You could even hire out the land for weddings and parties during the summer or even celebrations. Just a though.....

[Rosemary]

Depending on where you are, glamping? A caravan site? You can have five tourers without needing planning permission - contact The Caravan Club or The Camping and Caravan Club for details of their listed sites. You only need 0.5 acre - obviously the fewer facilities, the less you can charge though.

[caz]

I love the idea of renting it out but it's quite slopes so maybe not ideal. There is a flat bit at the top and bottom but the rest is on a canny slope. I like the idea of growing a producing things that the area may have a demand for. Camping is another biggie  for me my husband is right into camping and caravanning. I looked into getting a one of them small sites but I think you had to have sewage /sesspit things but we have no roads for access in the field so lorry drivers won't touch us, presumably it's a lorry that empties them? Also have no electric but do have mains water.

The bloke who owns woods adjacent to my place does wild camping and that seems very popular. I don't know what impact any activities would have on our rural payments ?