Sheep , cows and small farms

[steveR]

No , not at all , one local has “ too many” but I don’t mind , he’s a very useful neighbour who will always gather any of my strays when he’s getting his own , I’ve not long come off the phone to him actually, mentioned my extra 9 cows and he said “ I can hardly complain can I “
Weve some really old deeds and associated info with the farm , lists of moor “ gates” dating way back , lots of those listed no longer exist , makes interesting reading and brings local history to life in a way

I love farming history and trying to understand how a landscape haa been worked...

 

[Wood field]

I love farming history and trying to understand how a landscape haa been worked...

We have a lot of geological maps of the moor as the previous old farmers brother was a coal miner on Todmorden moor , the previous owner is my go to for info from the old days , they were here from 1910 and ironically on our other place since the 1800’s
Funnily enough, his great grandfather got “ done” by the lord of the manors moor watcher, for having sheep out with no moor rights

 

[steveR]

We have a lot of geological maps of the moor as the previous old farmers brother was a coal miner on Todmorden moor , the previous owner is my go to for info from the old days , they were here from 1910 and ironically on our other place since the 1800’s
Funnily enough, his great grandfather got “ done” by the lord of the manors moor watcher, for having sheep out with no moor rights

Precursor to Natural England busybodies....

 

[hendrebc]

Just been looking through our old deeds, moor rights came up and unbeknown to me it says xx sheep “plus “ 9 cows
On another deed for the house and land it says 5 gates , a gate being one cow or 5 ewes and followers .
Bit stretched but I could say I’ve not put the 9 cows out so can put another 45 ewes out
That would give nearly 150 on the moor letting me up total numbers by a few , as they say
“ every little helps”

Funny that 9 cows thing I was going to say you could keep 10 cows and not notice they are there as far as grazing goes. You can keep small numbers of cows very cheap in among the sheep and not really notice them in a way when more sheep would be too much because the cows eat different stuff. I reckon a cow for every 10 acres is about right here. More than that and it doesn't work as well they can't be kept as cheaply.
If you get to really small numbers though you have to think is it worth the bother though because once your tied to feed 10 in winter you may as well feed 100. Or none.

 

[Wood field]

Funny that 9 cows thing I was going to say you could keep 10 cows and not notice they are there as far as grazing goes. You can keep small numbers of cows very cheap in among the sheep and not really notice them in a way when more sheep would be too much because the cows eat different stuff. I reckon a cow for every 10 acres is about right here. More than that and it doesn't work as well they can't be kept as cheaply.
If you get to really small numbers though you have to think is it worth the bother though because once your tied to feed 10 in winter you may as well feed 100. Or none.

We used to have 50 but didn’t use moor, it’s a pain in the backside as my neighbours will say
Their cows are regular Facebook guests as they wander down to the local town , our sheep stay fairly close to our boundary so don’t cause many problems
Thinking about sheep numbers and keeping the wife’s handful of Galloways

 

[hendrebc]

We used to have 50 but didn’t use moor, it’s a pain in the backside as my neighbours will say
Their cows are regular Facebook guests as they wander down to the local town , our sheep stay fairly close to our boundary so don’t cause many problems
Thinking about sheep numbers and keeping the wife’s handful of Galloways

I don't see any reason not to keep a handful of Galloways especially if they are the wife's. Sell them as strong stores instead of off the cow those calves won't cost much to winter especially if it's not a lot of them.

 

[Hesstondriver]

so...... 1) you keep 9 cows on the moor, & 11 in by that gives you the 20 you were after

2) get some native cows but put them to a conti bull so they sell well

3) luing cows and a sim (or Charolais) bull

4) sit back and count the money (going out)

 

[Wood field]

I don't see any reason not to keep a handful of Galloways especially if they are the wife's. Sell them as strong stores instead of off the cow those calves won't cost much to winter especially if it's not a lot of them.

Thinking on, we are as well to winter the calves, they are all in at the minute for tb testing, even the few we have give a good bit of bedding muck to spread