What to buy to help with my small flock

Robin2020

Member
Livestock Farmer
I am new to sheep and have a flock of 20 ewes on 14 acres (split into 3 fields)
I was looking at the Productivity small grant scheme and wondering what to get....if anything!
I live on site so trailer systems are not vital
I am on my own so working on the animals can be tricky...especially injections...dagging
I intend to breed so could be at 60 sheep through parts of the year.

My main issues so far seem to be getting all of the sheep in a pen. The greedy ones are easy...others not so much. I could do with a better means of working on the sheep and doing vaccinations etc..

Maybe I should just make some better pens from hurdles and netting? Create my own race with simple footbath..
I have no hard surfaces so a fixed handling system looks out..they insist it is call concreted in
Would a combi clamp be worth the money as it doesn't help with looking at feet??
What would people suggest? I dont want to buy stuff for the sake of it but I am very inefficient at the moment..
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
I am new to sheep and have a flock of 20 ewes on 14 acres (split into 3 fields)
I was looking at the Productivity small grant scheme and wondering what to get....if anything!
I live on site so trailer systems are not vital
I am on my own so working on the animals can be tricky...especially injections...dagging
I intend to breed so could be at 60 sheep through parts of the year.

My main issues so far seem to be getting all of the sheep in a pen. The greedy ones are easy...others not so much. I could do with a better means of working on the sheep and doing vaccinations etc..

Maybe I should just make some better pens from hurdles and netting? Create my own race with simple footbath..
I have no hard surfaces so a fixed handling system looks out..they insist it is call concreted in
Would a combi clamp be worth the money as it doesn't help with looking at feet??
What would people suggest? I dont want to buy stuff for the sake of it but I am very inefficient at the moment..

The mobile race and hurdles option is useful, and if eligible, and you went for a steel as opposed to aluminium, the price is more reasonable. For a around a Grand or so, you can put together good setup. However that figure may be out a bit now :)
 

Sprig

Member
I would say that plenty of hurdles will make your life easier. We also use rolls of electric sheep/chicken netting (not electrified) to build shutes so that we can easily shoo the reluctant sheep in to a pen. We also have an IAE economy sheep race with a shedding gate at the end and a weigh crate. That does a good job for us and I do almost everything on my own. The race has been great, we have used it a lot for things like loading up sheep going to a new home, as well as worming/shedding off lambs etc.
 

Guleesh

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Isle of Skye
Try and resist buying expensive and unnecessary stuff just because you don't want to miss out on the grants, you still have to pay your share, the sheep will still be difficult to handle at times, no matter how amazing the handling, for 20 ewes spending a very small amount on a few extra hurdles will suffice?

Personally even for a couple of sheep I wouldn't be without a dog to pen or just catch an individual sheep that needs handled.
 
I bought a little Prattley system when I started with sheep and it's certainly the best money I've ever spent since I've had them. BUT my intention was always to expand significantly, so perhaps you don't need to go to that expense. But some decent gates and a race will make your life so much easier.
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
we only have a few old hurdles at one place we pen the sheep up but our sheep will follow if they think they are off somewhere new so we let them out through the pen on to the road stop them a little way up the road one of us closes the pen up and we drive them back through the gate in to the pen.
no good if you are on your own but the point is you have to think if there is anything there already that will help you, like a gateway they are used to just walking though to get to the next field, set up a few hurdles permanently in the next field so they are used to walking through them then when you want to catch them just shut the hurdles.
this sort of thing wont work if you do it to often though as they get wise to it.
we have no sheep dog and bits of land scattered about the place and have found ways to pen them anywhere without any great expense
I don't think the grant is worth looking at as you have to spend a lot to get it, also if you buy expensive stuff and leave it away from home its likely to get nicked
 

toquark

Member
Hurdles are all you'll need. The more the merrier, they're cheap and easy to work with. We run a small flock with nothing permanent handling wise and manage fine.

The mobile systems are great though and on the wish list...
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
I'd get a race and some hurdles, makes working with the sheep so much easier. But I'd just buy them, isn't the minimum spend £7.5k on the grant?

From CPGS Booklet.

"The grants are 40% of the standard costs listed in Annex 3 for a minimum grant of £3,000, up to a maximum of £12,000."

"The standard cost for each item in Annex 3 is the actual fixed price which we will pay grant towards. For example, if the standard cost is £7,500, even if the actual amount you pay is only £7,000, you will receive 40% of £7,500"


Keep hearing the 7500 figure mentioned and it's irrelevant as far as I can see...
 

Highland Mule

Member
Livestock Farmer
From CPGS Booklet.

"The grants are 40% of the standard costs listed in Annex 3 for a minimum grant of £3,000, up to a maximum of £12,000."

"The standard cost for each item in Annex 3 is the actual fixed price which we will pay grant towards. For example, if the standard cost is £7,500, even if the actual amount you pay is only £7,000, you will receive 40% of £7,500"


Keep hearing the 7500 figure mentioned and it's irrelevant as far as I can see...

Minimum grant £3k & 40% grant gives £7500 minimum list price.
 

Robin2020

Member
Livestock Farmer
The mobile race and hurdles option is useful, and if eligible, and you went for a steel as opposed to aluminium, the price is more reasonable. For a around a Grand or so, you can put together good setup. However that figure may be out a bit now :)
Thanks. Looks like the mobile option requires a big spec and large enough for 250 sheep ....so a bit much for me...
 

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