yes,
not Dairy Cows though.
No livestock keeping is for the faint hearted and as in previous posts experience should be gained from working with them first other than just 'buying them' .
Start up costs sheep
- Thread starter Strangelybrown
- Start date
not Dairy Cows though.
No livestock keeping is for the faint hearted and as in previous posts experience should be gained from working with them first other than just 'buying them' .
Get some Welsh or scotch ewes if you want the best chance of making it through the first year with any sheep left at the end
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
Are you allowed to just buy livestock in England these days? I seem to remember having a chat with the ministry vet before I was given my flock number, which felt very like an interview.
- Location
- Mendips Somerset
Very first thing is fence your fields properly , (not electric)
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
and after that what every income you think it's going to make, halve it.. actually maybe halve it twice more
- Location
- Carmarthenshire, West Wales
I agree, fence the boundaries of the fields (you can subdivide with electric, 3 wires) and make sure you have a couple of decent pens for handling ( a good day to set up with a race is a good idea too), then think of draft Welsh ewes or if you don't fancy the idea of shearing Exlana or Easy Care. As you sub divide the fields, water can be provided by pipes laid on the surface and a Kiwi Tech portable trough and quick release hydrants.
- Location
- Carmarthenshire, West Wales
- Location
- Limousin, France
And a 4x4 (bike or mule type thing)or small tractor and baler,mower, haybob.. sorry getting carried away.forgot to add, you will also need a tow hook and small stock box
Catalogue
www.clhtrailers.com
- Location
- Carmarthenshire, West Wales
one of the few things I can remember from college, was a visit to a dairy farm near Brill, and the farmer said something like, I don't want to spend my money on machinery and deadstock that only breaks down and deteriorates over time, I want to spend my money on livestock that earns me money, but over time it's hard not to want to just buy one more piece of machinery!And a 4x4 (bike or mule type thing)or small tractor and baler,mower, haybob.. sorry getting carried away.
Strangelybrown
Member
Thank you for all your advice so far. I'd just like to add, I fully intend to get some hands on experience with a shepherd before I actually start my own small flock, so it may be a little while before I actually go out there and buy them. But I'm just trying to plan in ahead, so I know approx how much money I'm going to need to save.
A great positive outlook
I was going to suggest calculating how much you could afford to lose or even how much you could sub it out of your savings when you have a bad time
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
Okay, I'll bite. If you have zero experience of caring for farm animals, as your profile and previous posts suggest, then you need at least a couple of years at least. That far ahead, it is impossible to predict livestock prices, but maybe work on £150 for each ewe and £300 for each tup. You'll then need land, machinery, tools, gates, medicines, feed, etc. and time - all before you get any return. Don't think that the phrase 'dog and stck' actually means that, or you'll be disappointed.
I'd budget on £20k for the basics, plus livestock costs, land costs etc. You could certainly make things work with that, if you're canny with spending.
Strangelybrown
Member
I imagine that 20k is for a basic set up, I.e. no machinery that's too fancy, no frivolous purchases etc. I dread to think what the outlay would be on a higher end set up!
- Location
- Carmarthenshire, West Wales
come on, he is talking about 10 to 20 sheep!
20 ewes £2000
sheep race and pens £1000
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then in the future a bit of electric fencing, at most
£2000
and I am being profligate with the spending there!
- Location
- Shropshire
Rent a field buy some sheep not hard like there’s not that much too it what you can’t find out of google isn’t worth knowing
Strangelybrown
Member
That was more along the outlay that I was expecting. It's interesting though that two people with experience in the industry can have such different estimates on price. Not saying I inherently trust one person's judgement over another, but it is interesting how you can both come to such different figurescome on, he is talking about 10 to 20 sheep!
20 ewes £2000
sheep race and pens £1000
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then in the future a bit of electric fencing, at most
£2000
and I am being profligate with the spending there!
- Location
- Shropshire
I’d go buy some old wooden hurdles a roll of string and 10 cast ewes total outlay less than a grand
- Location
- Shropshire
Be less upsetting when some drop dead that way
- Location
- Cumbria
At the numbers your talking about, your not in it for the money.
My advice would be buy some easy lambing ewes with lambs at foot in the spring. Run them for a while, wean the lambs then sell them at around 35kg.
Tup the Ewe's again in the autumn and sell them with lambs at foot the following spring (when there's a nice flush of grass).
Give your field a rest for a month/six weeks and buy some more shearlings and off you go again. (keep them for three crops)
You won't make any brass, but you'll now qualify as an expert shepherd
My advice would be buy some easy lambing ewes with lambs at foot in the spring. Run them for a while, wean the lambs then sell them at around 35kg.
Tup the Ewe's again in the autumn and sell them with lambs at foot the following spring (when there's a nice flush of grass).
Give your field a rest for a month/six weeks and buy some more shearlings and off you go again. (keep them for three crops)
You won't make any brass, but you'll now qualify as an expert shepherd