[simone]

Hello,

I would really appreciate some advice / suggestions to help us come up with a plan for our smallholding. 

We have 4.5 acres, 0.5 acres of that has the house and some old but very productive fruit and walnut trees and the other 4 acres of it has just been cut for hay every year - we recently fenced off 1.5 acres and put a small (and now plump) 11h pony for my daughter on it - but there is just to much grass for her.

We have a few hens, two pilgrim geese and nine goslings (who keep escaping) - I'm wondering if we should put them in with the pony? or a few sheep? or another pony. 

That's the short-term dilemma, long-term we don't have a plan at all - we've been so busy refurbishing and extending the house, working full-time and having our own two little people that we don't have a long-term plan in mind but I would love some kind of food business - not a cafe but I've been thinking about a micro-bakery or maybe making cordials / apple juice as we get a lot of apples and possibly planting more walnut trees for the long-term.

Our road has a PYO strawberry place, a garden centre, an alpaca farm, and it's quite a busy road so we would get passing trade. 

Anyway suggestions welcome because we are a bit clueless right now :-)

[Fleecewife]

How brilliant being on a road where folk come already to PYO, go to the garden centre etc.  Hens take up little time so if you were to increase the numbers of hens you keep you could sell eggs at the gate (there's another thread about ideas for safe money boxes at the gate).  When setting the price, look around at the supermarkets, other farm outlets, and take into consideration what you pay out for feed, bedding etc.  As you are out in the day, you may need to put up a high electric fence to protect the flock from predators, enclosing quite a large area so you would legitimately have free range hens.  Any more than 50 hens though and you are subject to rules and regulations.
You would also be in a good position to set up a roadside stall selling your bakery products (you need approval and to follow regulations), maybe jams and chutneys too.
If you enjoy gardening, you could sell produce, flowers and foliage, again at the gate.

The most important advice is don't rush into anything, especially projects which take a large initial outlay, where if you get it wrong you've wasted a lot of money.
You mention sheep, but as you are pushed for time how about starting with a few lambs destined for the table, buy them in the spring, send them off in the autumn, and you have no bother with lambing, keeping a tup, shearing etc.  Once you have learned about keeping sheep from these lambs, then you could move on to breeding a few of your own lambs for your freezer.  4 acres is not very much though so you wouldn't be able to keep a large flock, especially over the winter.
If you have any equipment, or can afford to buy second hand, perhaps you could crop the currently surplus land for small bale hay which you could sell to other horse owners, or smallscale sheep owners.  Once you have got your smallholding going, you would still need the equipment to make a small amount of hay for yourselves.

So my advice is to take it slow - too much at one time turns a happy hobby or lifestyle into drudgery.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

if you like you could contact me later on in the year as I may have some water buffalo for sale. They would have to be seperate from the pony though as they have never known horses. 2 water buffalo would help keep the grass down, very well handled and tame too and would certainly attract visitors

[pharnorth]

You sound in a similar position to us 16 years ago. We have 14 acres.  5 has always just been used for hay 5 is used for horses over winter and hay in ththe summer. The remaining 4 is similar to yours and included a goat paddock. We quickly found the best way of keeping grass down in the gym at paddock was to get a couple of goats so we got two Pygmy goats. All herd animals need company and the best company is the same species, so either as Scartlet.dragon says a couple of liveries or consider a goat or two. The fencing is crucial and a field shelter personally having both, I find them less work that sheep proving they are wethers with no milk/breeding considerations.  And I agree with Fleecewife take it slowly. We promised ourselves when we moved in not to overdue it or it would just become a chore and occasionally we have had to rein in the ambition but that promise has been very helpful.

[simone]

Thanks all lots to think about - I much prefer the idea of two or three pygmy goats to water buffalo, i think my next door neighbours and other half would have a fit at water buffalo, do you think that pygmy goats can go in with the pony? the fencing is quite good, and has electric rope running around two of the rails. 

ps - how do you tame a water buffalo!

[Marches Farmer]

I wouldn't recommend running sheep with a pony - I've known of too many equines that have bullied sheep horribly and on several occasions killed them.  A companion animal doesn't have to be another pony - some folks keep a donkey for that reason.  Goats need excellent fencing and access to a under cover shelter at all times.  If you have lots of apples how about chutney?  Might be worth consulting your local council about regulations, though - some are more strict than others.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Ours are handled from birth and are really tame, friendly and love cuddles! https://twitter.com/Tammypuddleduck/media
Here are some pics of them. They're big soft teddy bears which lap up the attention, they also have a long memory too. Any bad tempered ones we cull out of the herd, so all of our animals are both very good milk producers, good calf rearer's, have beautiful temperaments and simply adore humans

[desertmum]

not wanting to derail the thread - but can I ask how much land you need for water buffalo?  I always assumed you would need prairies!  Maybe they are the solution to my swamp!

[waterbuffalofarmer]

No about the same as a couple of cows, but plenty of water and shelter against sun and cold.  They do love to wallow though, but as long as they have plenty of water, they drink gallons of it, they should be fine. I also like to hose them down during the hot weather, they love it. How big is your swamp? Also what sort of plants do you have growing around it?

[JedM]

I wouldn't recommend running sheep with a pony - I've known of too many equines that have bullied sheep horribly and on several occasions killed them.

I presume it depends what the horse is like.  I keep my sheep with a horse, and he's massive, but he won't go near the sheep.  He runs away when he sees them!!

[desertmum]

We have about 2.5 acres, part of it is taken up by chickens and a 60ft polytunnel.  Equinus Fatticus is out on livery as the land was too wet for him over the winter.  Not sure what we have growing - we have quite a few trees, some purple plants that we are trying to identify, and a lot of lovely lush grass.   Not sure my husband is over keen on buffalo - but I would love a couple.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

We have about 2.5 acres, part of it is taken up by chickens and a 60ft polytunnel.  Equinus Fatticus is out on livery as the land was too wet for him over the winter.  Not sure what we have growing - we have quite a few trees, some purple plants that we are trying to identify, and a lot of lovely lush grass.   Not sure my husband is over keen on buffalo - but I would love a couple.

well if you contact me later on in the year I'll see what I can do.