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And she's still rejecting her lambYou forgot to check the one in you avatar , looks a bit hungry
And she's still rejecting her lambYou forgot to check the one in you avatar , looks a bit hungry
Feckin sheepAnd she's still rejecting her lamb
but if the country is starving and short of food, a lot of impossible things suddenly become possible.Well to start with all ours is National Trust so it's a non starter to do anything to the moorland, also in a National park which I imagine a lot of moorland would be and getting them to agree to subdivision or adding any kind of infrastructure would be an impossible task. Add to that the problem of water access and topography, SSSIs, walkers/horse riders on open access etc etc!
but if the country is starving and short of food, a lot of impossible things suddenly become possible.
why? I was looking at the enclosure agreement for the top of the farm, there was an open hill, that was fenced off and all the farms with grazing rights were given an appropriate amount of fenced ground (just under 50 acres here).
She'll be right in a day or twoYou forgot to check the one in you avatar , looks a bit hungry
my self and wife both working 8-5 mon-fri away from farming . First generation farmer here but farming is in the family on both sides. 5 years in now to keeping a commercial flock (28 years old) and built up from 0 to keeping approx 150-170 ewes and all land and buildings are rented on a yearly basis. Land rents in the region of £150 Per acre. All sheep away on winter keep from October onwards. Winter keep is anything from 1 acre to 20 acres and none if it is completely fenced, everywhere needs some amount of electric fencing. We do all the checking/fencing/moving on the winter runs. Winter is by far the hardest part. Usually start housing from early January to lambing (late March/april). Lamb 30 ewes at Christmas and 20 in February and target the early lamb market and improve cash flow in the spring time.Question for those that don't have sheep as their full income and have to work elsewhere. How do you find the time to do both? Do you work in the day and fit in the sheep on evenings and weekends? Or do you just work a few days a week and can then dedicate the rest of the time to the sheep? Any examples would be much appreciated!
There’s a few in the north that do just that with the draft ewes out of Orkney and Shetland . Like seeing the Shetland ewes running with a pair of lambs that are bigger than her .I suspect a lot of farmers would be better off if they ran a flying flock of Shetlands put to a terminal every year. Lamb outside in Mar/Apr and sell store at weaning to maximise ewe numbers.
Plus ££££££££££££££ of lime and fertI’d like too watch you try…
my self and wife both working 8-5 mon-fri away from farming . First generation farmer here but farming is in the family on both sides. 5 years in now to keeping a commercial flock (28 years old) and built up from 0 to keeping approx 150-170 ewes and all land and buildings are rented on a yearly basis. Land rents in the region of £150 Per acre. All sheep away on winter keep from October onwards. Winter keep is anything from 1 acre to 20 acres and none if it is completely fenced, everywhere needs some amount of electric fencing. We do all the checking/fencing/moving on the winter runs. Winter is by far the hardest part. Usually start housing from early January to lambing (late March/april). Lamb 30 ewes at Christmas and 20 in February and target the early lamb market and improve cash flow in the spring time.
If I wasn’t working full time I wouldn’t be where I am today in the farming side of things. A lot of money has been ploughed into it to get up and going. The next aim is to buy a small place with sheds and a few acres etc or at least a good site for putting up a few sheds so that we have the security of a base/yard of our own.
I would like to end up working all week at sheep for a living rather than an add on to my weeks work but it won’t happen over night unfortunatelyI can’t imagine anything worse than working all week and then coming home to spend my spare time farming sheep.
Thanks. We are at the stage now where it is near enough self sustaining whilst still expanding and improving efficiency etc. We certainly aren’t getting any money out of it into our pockets so far but we have a small business worth a nice few thousand at leastFair play and well done you. I had a family farm as a base when I took over but have managed to increase sheep numbers from 300 to 1,200 over the past 20 years. Lots of hard work but hopefully starts paying off soon. The trouble with expanding constantly is that it takes a drain on the finances! More sheep, staff to pay and more equipment needed!
Same here, both full time. One child, second one on the way.my self and wife both working 8-5 mon-fri away from farming . First generation farmer here but farming is in the family on both sides. 5 years in now to keeping a commercial flock (28 years old) and built up from 0 to keeping approx 150-170 ewes and all land and buildings are rented on a yearly basis. Land rents in the region of £150 Per acre. All sheep away on winter keep from October onwards. Winter keep is anything from 1 acre to 20 acres and none if it is completely fenced, everywhere needs some amount of electric fencing. We do all the checking/fencing/moving on the winter runs. Winter is by far the hardest part. Usually start housing from early January to lambing (late March/april). Lamb 30 ewes at Christmas and 20 in February and target the early lamb market and improve cash flow in the spring time.
If I wasn’t working full time I wouldn’t be where I am today in the farming side of things. A lot of money has been ploughed into it to get up and going. The next aim is to buy a small place with sheds and a few acres etc or at least a good site for putting up a few sheds so that we have the security of a base/yard of our own.
Thankfully I was working my way through a bottle of Aberlour at that time.Head torch and good dogs.
View attachment 1022879
650 tupping ewes on a 2km road move at midnight on Boxing Day
What part of the world are you in @Boso?Same here, both full time. One child, second one on the way.
Building a new house this year and two (100m2) sheds in the last few years.
No farming background family wise, been farming since 2013 myself, in sheep since 2016.
Started with 10 ewes now up to +-160. Would like to expand to 500 ewes within the next few years.
Land rents are €750-1000 per ha in my region.
Take care of the sheep before or after work, headtorch is a must. Saturdays are to put up fencing and take it down.
Investing in every possible substantial time saving equipment or genetics are a must as well. To prevent lambing problems I use charmoise or dutch texel/beltex on everything apart from the best few ewes which I breed pure to get more shedders.
However like you said, without a fulltime job would not be able to invest as much as I have done.
Best thing I have done, biggest timesaver imho, is to run just one flock. Used to have a few sheep here and a few there. Which ads up to massive miles and time on the road. Now I have all of them together. (Apart from ram lambs from the moment they might breed something I don't want)
Early mornings, late nights. Most of the time everything fits around work just lambing can be a pain in the arse. We're short on shed space and ground which means I end up lambing ewe lambs after I've lambed the main flock so I've got somewhere to put them! So lambing can drag a bit.Question for those that don't have sheep as their full income and have to work elsewhere. How do you find the time to do both? Do you work in the day and fit in the sheep on evenings and weekends? Or do you just work a few days a week and can then dedicate the rest of the time to the sheep? Any examples would be much appreciated!
Hats off too those who have a full time job away from farming and still run a flock of sheep. Personally the very last thing I’d want if I had a proper job is the stress of sheep!
From my experience so far, an employed shepherd on an 800 ewe flock is a dead end job. £25-30k plus house and truck. With exception of lambing help, they aren't going to use contractors. And even then, lambing assistance will be £10/hr vet students or similar.
The 8,000 ewe flock will have a team of shepherds, probably 2 senior shepherds and then a flock manger. There is a career structure and opportunities for advancement. They're also more likely to use contractors on a proper day rate.
Same as when I winter tack sheep. I started with 10+ customers and small mobs of sheep all over the county. I've now streamlined it and work exclusively with 1 customer. He sends me as many sheep as I want and they can all run in 1 mob. Much more efficient use of time.
As ever, secure access to land is the challenge. Removal of BPS is helping to focus landowner minds, and opening up opportunities on sub optimal cropping land, winter cover crops etc.