Heifer calf, paid £8 for it when I was about 10 Have to say others did the looking after to start with, I did the banking but I kept one of her heifer calves which became my first multi suckler, then I was given 3 in lamb old ewes for my 13th birthday, had to look after them.
What was the first farm animal you owned ?
- Thread starter Henarar
- Start date
Suffolk Serf
Member
- Location
- Bury/Thetford
A goat at age 13.
Sold milk at the garden gate and built up to 9 head plus 16 store lambs sold direct.
Sold milk at the garden gate and built up to 9 head plus 16 store lambs sold direct.
borderterribles
Member
- Location
- South Shropshire
My dairy farming started in exactly the same way, except that I reared calves instead
Suffolk Serf
Member
- Location
- Bury/Thetford
My dairy farming started in exactly the same way, except that I reared calves instead
I wanted to be a dairy farmer but I sold up, went to Harper then bought 60 gilts when I left, so am now in pigs. Milk quotas didn’t help me either.
It lost him so much money he recently dumped it beside the M5
borderterribles
Member
- Location
- South Shropshire
I wanted to milk cows, but realised that my farming was always going to be on rented land, so started small with that instead of going to College. Nobody starting milking since quotas finished can have full comprehension of how difficult they made starting up in those times.
- Location
- Somerset
I was given 2 ewes as a Christmas present by a farmer who I helped out. I picked them out at lambing time, the first one had a tup lamb and a ewe lamb. I kept the ewe lamb for breeding, put a ring on the tup lamb and kept him too as I couldn't bear to sell him. I called them Davey and Delilah. Delilah had 2 lots of lambs then got mastitis so I sold her. I still have Davey he will be 12 on 31st January.
Norfolk Hill Farmer
Member
Bought 4 black and white bull calves ,and 4 Hereford X heifer calves when I left college at 19. Being brought up on an arable farm ,I had a steep learning curve.
id like to know what year it was you paid £8 for herefordx heifer calf because my first farm animals were 4 herefordx friesan heifers bought from local dairy farmer and i paid average price listed in the calf price section of farmers weekly, the year was 1979 and the price was i believe 60- 70 pounds?
devonbrion1998
Member
- Location
- Radnage Buckinhamshire
12 little weaners, bought from now known to me as one of these proper dodgee countryside
wheeler-dealer characters, stuffed them with grub for 3 months and they never grew an inch
turned out they were made up from a runt from each litter, took them to market at about 6 months old, no one would bid on them so I gave them to some guy in the car park after the sale ended.....This time next year Rodney!
wheeler-dealer characters, stuffed them with grub for 3 months and they never grew an inch
turned out they were made up from a runt from each litter, took them to market at about 6 months old, no one would bid on them so I gave them to some guy in the car park after the sale ended.....This time next year Rodney!
primmiemoo
Member
- Location
- Devon
I had a Hereford x heifer that I kept for a suckler and called Tuppence.
She cost £10 in the late 1980s. I bought cheaper calves to rear during the 1990s. Daren't remember why they were suddenly so cheap, though
BSEI had a Hereford x heifer that I kept for a suckler and called Tuppence.
She cost £10 in the late 1980s. I bought cheaper calves to rear during the 1990s. Daren't remember why they were suddenly so cheap, though
primmiemoo
Member
- Location
- Devon
sheep&cows&stuff
Member
I started with goats because I couldn't get my own herd number / flock number until I was 18.
Got made fun of from all the other lads my age, but they learned me the basics of keeping animals & showed me the dedication required to become a farmer.
Had 24 of the buggers at one stage - sold them in the local paper - made a few quid.
10 years on they aren't laughing now
Got made fun of from all the other lads my age, but they learned me the basics of keeping animals & showed me the dedication required to become a farmer.
Had 24 of the buggers at one stage - sold them in the local paper - made a few quid.
10 years on they aren't laughing now
Bopeep1981
Member
- Location
- Gainsborough, Lincs
I used to help out at lambing time from being little, and at 8 years old I was given a Suffolk x cade lamb from my uncle. Named her Daisy. I had her descendents in the flock until three years ago. Now (nearly 30 years later, yikes...!) l only have two sheep, but lots of lovely Herefords
I was 12 when i was given 3 hens from neighbours who were moving to France and weren't taking them with them. Was given a cockerel and bought an incubator and built up to about 22 and made a bit of money selling eggs. All ended about 4 years later when a fox broke into the run and killed the lot apart from the cockerel who lived by himself making friends with anything that happened to be in the shed at the time. Cattle, sheep or pet lambs. He would hang round with the dogs when there was nothing left in the shed in summer.
When I was 15 I think it was dad was trying to build up a flock of pure lleyns and there was a pedigree lleyn in lamb sale on or around my birthday in ruthin. So mum persuaded dad I should have some ewes of my own if there was something there I liked. Picked a pen of 5 and they were bought cheap enough for what they were took them home and did all the quarantine drenching and footbathing and I was going to mark them as mine. Dad said don't bother it will confuse the scanning marks and I'd be able to recognise them from the tags which were different to the rest of the ewes anyway so they were turned out with the rest. I never saw them again I couldn't tell which ones they were
So when I decided to get some Suffolk ewes to try and breed rams for ourselves I welded up a letter H (Huw, my name) pitch marking iron so I could pitch the ewes on the opposite side to the J in a circle (Jones) so it couldn't be argued who they belonged to. Well the less said about my Suffolk experiment the better
Senior management decided that the letter H pitch mark i made was a much better and tidier mark than the J in a circle. It used to smudge so badly that you couldn't tell what it was after a week of being done was just a green patch that no one could identify. And it was big so made a less of lambs too. So the H got used for all the ewes and lambs from that year onwards so I joked that all the sheep belonged to me now
Dad; no it stands for Hendre (farm name) now
Me:
When I was 15 I think it was dad was trying to build up a flock of pure lleyns and there was a pedigree lleyn in lamb sale on or around my birthday in ruthin. So mum persuaded dad I should have some ewes of my own if there was something there I liked. Picked a pen of 5 and they were bought cheap enough for what they were
took them home and did all the quarantine drenching and footbathing and I was going to mark them as mine. Dad said don't bother it will confuse the scanning marks and I'd be able to recognise them from the tags which were different to the rest of the ewes anyway so they were turned out with the rest. I never saw them again I couldn't tell which ones they were So when I decided to get some Suffolk ewes to try and breed rams for ourselves I welded up a letter H (Huw, my name) pitch marking iron so I could pitch the ewes on the opposite side to the J in a circle (Jones) so it couldn't be argued who they belonged to. Well the less said about my Suffolk experiment the better
Senior management decided that the letter H pitch mark i made was a much better and tidier mark than the J in a circle. It used to smudge so badly that you couldn't tell what it was after a week of being done was just a green patch that no one could identify. And it was big so made a less of lambs too. So the H got used for all the ewes and lambs from that year onwards so I joked that all the sheep belonged to me now
Dad; no it stands for Hendre (farm name) now
Me:
Paddington
Member
- Location
- Soggy Shropshire
A broody bantam Buff Orpington sat on a clutch of eggs which all hatched out including one duckling.
Duckling lived with the chicks as they grew older and after they had feathered we reckoned the duckling should learn to swim as there was a pond in the garden. We found an old paddling pool in the hedge and started swimming lessons with a couple of inches of water...duckling hated it. We bought another duck (ours was a drake) which proceeded to chase our drake around the garden. Put them together in an old guinea pig cage where they slept at opposite ends. After a couple of days of this we came home one afternoon to find them both swimming on the pond together quacking away to each other.
Nature knows best.
Duckling lived with the chicks as they grew older and after they had feathered we reckoned the duckling should learn to swim as there was a pond in the garden. We found an old paddling pool in the hedge and started swimming lessons with a couple of inches of water...duckling hated it. We bought another duck (ours was a drake) which proceeded to chase our drake around the garden. Put them together in an old guinea pig cage where they slept at opposite ends. After a couple of days of this we came home one afternoon to find them both swimming on the pond together quacking away to each other.Nature knows best.