[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

I know it's not a lot but it's a start

Any suggestions

Something viable

Thinking of small pedigree flock

Thanks

[Bionic]

I have that amount of land split into 2 fields and have 6 sheep. 3 Ryelands and 3 Coloured Ryelands.
We divide each field again with electric fencing and rotate them round.



 

[Fleecewife]

Intensive high-end vegetables?

Large scale egg production?

Free range meat birds - chickens, ducks, geese, quail?

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

I thought about poultry free range eggs

I here there's a lot of legislation surrounding it

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

P.s I'm thinking same bionic a few breeding ewes
And rotating

Thanks for the advice

[Fleecewife]

For free range eggs, over 50 birds and you become subject to the regulations.  I don't know what they are, but should be easy to find or someone will come up with them.  You would certainly need more than 50 birds to make a profit, and you would have to go down the route of providing artificial light to keep them laying year-round.
I don't know if the 50+ rule is the same for quail, but although their eggs are tiny they do seem to sell well to the restaurant and delicatessen market.

When you say 'has to be viable', do you mean you want to make a good profit, or that the venture has to at minimum support itself?
Apart from major, one-off outlays, our venture now supports itself, but certainly is not providing any income.  We keep laying hens and a breeding flock of Hebrideans.  It seems to make little difference how many sheep we keep, the outlays always seem to match the income, but we do make our own hay so only pay for coarse mix for the winter, plus meds etc.

[Bionic]

Intensive high-end vegetables?

Large scale egg production?

Free range meat birds - chickens, ducks, geese, quail?

Oh yes, we do large scale egg production too. We have 7 hens :-)

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

I know there isn't a tonne of profit to be made but I dealt something that will help what we do grow over time

[Fleecewife]

Intensive high-end vegetables?

Large scale egg production?

Free range meat birds - chickens, ducks, geese, quail?

Oh yes, we do large scale egg production too. We have 7 hens :-)

Only 7 ? WE have 8  ....left after the fox got the rest

[Rosemary]

Up to 350 hens and selling direct to the end consumer, you miss most of the regs. I'm sure there's another thread on here with the regs. I shoudl really put them in an article.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eggs-trade-regulations

[Marches Farmer]

It can help if what you do is unusual - we sell boxes of mixed green, blue, white, tinted and brown eggs with an occasional turkey egg too, from the farmgate.  We sell surplus fruit and vegetables, luxury ones like strawberries and gages rather than onions and potatoes.  We've built up a reputation for good quality GOS weaners and pedigree Southdown ewe lambs and offer follow up advice if wanted, and so on .....

[Backinwellies]

Not sure your idea of a small pedigree sheep flock would be 'viable' but I guess that depends on your definition of viable.

[Rosemary]

re the pedigree sheep idea; the breeds that command high prices are the commercial breeds and then only the best of them. With only two acres, you are very restricted in the number of ewes you can run; with a small number of lambs, you are less likely to get the best quality in the numbers needed to make it profitable. Plus a lot of these breeds appear to me to be closed shops - you would need to be breeding, showing and winning for a number of years before you command the best prices.

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

Thank you all for your input
And advice we are novices a bit part of it is we would eventually like to show with the odd couple going to the freezer
In reading we want something that is docile easy to handle
And if we can break even and cover soars each year then we would be happy

I started off with six chickens and and now have near on 50 including rare breeds, meat birds and multi coloured egg layers, with feed costs being covered with egg sales

So I know that I won't stop at just 4 but it's about been out doors with the kids and the quality of life

I'm in no doubt that there will
Be good and bad times but I'm ready for that

[Foobar]

Don't do sheep on 2 acres if you want it to be viable, you can make more money with that space doing other things - poultry, pigs, fruit/veg etc.



If you want to show and breed, then I'd do pigs .