Hit me with the truth.

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Unfortunately yes, I couldn't afford to buy my own land.

Don’t worry about it. Owning land and farming are 2 totally different things.


I’m 2hrs north of you. I’ll give you as much experience as you want when it comes to sheep.

You’re in the right area for a Greg Judy style approach. Lots of large arable farms wanting livestock but not the hassle that comes with them.
 

honeyend

Member
I have the land, the sheds and concrete, but not the manpower.
I have tried sharing, but some people have not what I would consider realistic expectations of the country life, seeing to my stock comes first and fodder always in stock. And no its not a playground for your kids. There is nothing more annoying than someone elses hungrey animals that you have to walk past and find a bit spare for. The funny thing was I hoped to learn from them!
There used to be a landshare site which is now closed. Perhaps its worth a seperate section on here, to match people up.
 
Thankyou for that. It's really appreciated.
I will be sure to keep you in mind when I get my wellies.

Just by having times of browsing the net, grazing land seems hard to come by. Or I'm not looking in the correct areas.
 
I have the land, the sheds and concrete, but not the manpower.
I have tried sharing, but some people have not what I would consider realistic expectations of the country life, seeing to my stock comes first and fodder always in stock. And no its not a playground for your kids. There is nothing more annoying than someone elses hungrey animals that you have to walk past and find a bit spare for. The funny thing was I hoped to learn from them!
There used to be a landshare site which is now closed. Perhaps its worth a seperate section on here, to match people up.
 
Thankyou Honeyend. I learnt the dangers of a farm as a child myself, it's far from a playground but thought me so much as a child that I dont see others learn. I had what I consider a working upbringing that has done me well in life.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
To the OP. Be realistic and keep going

Going round with my Grandad instilled my lifelong passion in farming . He wasn't a farmer but had relatives who worked on the land

I grew up ina London overspill new town and then a suburb but I got there

As a kid I didn't play on farms, neither does my 8 year old boy now. He helps as appropriate - big difference

Don't listen to the doom mongers
 

honeyend

Member
Believe it or not there are people who buy land just to park money, they have no idea of farming it. I would look at the land sale ads locally and find out who's bought it. If you can work out how much money you and gather the equipment to start up, often there is no water or fencing, you offer to keep it tidy for a small rent. If you are reliable you get known, then someone is more likely to rent you more and sheds. The other thing skills are always in short supply, so if you can learn a saleable/useful skill it may not earn you lots of money but it helps get you contacts.
 
Honeyend that's a great idea. I have a friend that has land but doesn't do anything with it. It's too far from me though else I would invade it lol. That's good thinking, I will definitely look at this.
Thankyou. ?
 

bitwrx

Member
file:///C:/Users/jules/Downloads/1319960983Michael_Blanche_edited_report3%20(2).pdf

Read this for inspiration/ideas
Do your sums
Don't listen to the gloom merchants

Good luck !
As I'm sure @unlacedgecko and @Tim W already know, Michael Blanche makes a podcast called The Pasture Pod. Whether you're into pasture or not, it's just a great, positive, inspiring view into the worlds of some excellent farmers. Well worth a listen.
 
Location
East Mids
Thankyou for that. It's really appreciated.
I will be sure to keep you in mind when I get my wellies.

Just by having times of browsing the net, grazing land seems hard to come by. Or I'm not looking in the correct areas.
Good luck and no, you are not being unrealistic, others have achieved what you want to do. There is actually a surprisingly large amount of parcels of land to rent but it is rarely advertised.

Only 1/2 mile away from me (near Melton Mowbray) a wealthy businessman bought his dream home in the country with about 25 acres but other than 2 rescue donkeys he has no stock. So his neighbour rents the land for her rare breed sheep, they take some hay from it and pay rent in freezer sheep and honey and obviously the donkeys get as much hay as they want.

The neighbour is not a farmer, she owns the cottage opposite, with its own 1/3 of an acre plus this rented land and both she and her partner work full time and not even at home. Over the last 10 years she has built up to about 30 Soays. They have a restored Fergie 135, a small sheep trailer to tow behind their pickup and a hay trailer, mower, tedder and a hay shed. A contractor bales and loads the hay for them.

As others have commented, there are a lot of arable farmers now putting grass and sheep back in their rotation. The downside of this is you often have to electric fence it and arrange water and you might have to move them frequently.

Get to livestock markets - Melton an obvious one as you mentioned Leicester area - and put a postcard on the notice boards in the market office and have a chat to the auctioneers. There is a small charge for an advert in their newsletter (used to be free). Now is a good time to be looking for lambing (which obviously means more general sheep work as well) experience. As others have suggested, get your experience updated first but in the meanwhile put feelers out about land rent opportunities.

Start small and work up. You don't need much land to run a dozen sheep and you could start with store lambs. Most mixed or farm vet practices also run 'smallholder' and 'lambing' 1/2 day or full day courses. Ours certainly does, with several practices in Leicestershire, they might also be able to point you in the direction of some local farmers wanting a hand. Although for clients, they I am sure would allow you to join them for a small fee. Also see what Brooksby Melton College has on offer.

You will also need to get up to speed on the red tape side - movement regulations, tagging etc, remember to ask about this when doing any work experience, Trading Standards can also advise you. There is also info online and a copy of the sheep and goats welfare code. You would need to let Trading standards and APHA know if you did start keeping sheep.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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