Sheep

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, john87 said:

Hmm, I last had anything to do with sheep about 30 years ago, so regulations and practice might have change somewhat

 

How many sheep?? I would say about 10. You will also have to fence the field into sections to make smaller fields so you can rotate them. This is a MUST as otherwise the whole lot will end up like a swamp. Secondly, after treating them for foot rot, or after worming them, you will have to turn them back out in a different field or it will have been a pointless exercise..

 

The planning people will have to let you put up a shed. You tell them that it is needed for the "in wintering of sick and pregnant animals" i think the wording is/was, and then they have no choice.. As for the size of the shed, you will need enough room for the sheep and to store hay and the other stuff you will need..

 

Rams are no different to ewes, but if you have a ram, you will have to keep the thing away from the ewes as otherwise when they are in season you will be having random lambs at random times and dates. You do not want this, as when they are lambing you MUST MUST, be there.. In addition you will also have to cut their tails off [no choice in this unless you like the idea of your sheep being eaten alive by maggots] and castrate the ram lambs [Both are done by means of a rubber ring] You will need someone to teach you how to do this..

 

Injections.. If you are not going to breed the things, you will not really have to worry about this.. You will have to worm the things though.. Mind you, if you cut them shearing them, or if they injure themselves, [or get injured] you will have to give them penicillin injections..

 

This might be terribly expensive, as unless you have a registered small holding [you get a number i believe] you might well not be able to buy the stuff you need anyway..

 

Sheep shearing.. Yes, once a year you will have to do this. You will have to do it yourself though, as no sheep shearers will be interested unless you have 200 sheep.. and you have to pay them of course..

 

It used to be a legal requirement to dip the things once a year too. Even if not a legal requirement now, it is still a good idea..

 

Foot trimming, Yes, you will have to do this, Again, you will need to have someone show you.. You will also have to treat them for things like foot rot..

 

No, just the grass will not be enough. You will need to buy in hay, AND have somewhere to store it, In the winter we used to give ours oats and barley too.. Again, you need advice, as if you just give them a load of barley apparently it will kill the things.. We also used to have "sheep pellets"

 

Fencing, you want proper sheep netting topped off with barbed wire. God knows who told you barbed wire was illegal as we used loads of it.. Have you seen the price of fencing???

 

Depending on where you are, foxes will not be a problem, but ordinary dogs will be. They will kill and maim your sheep for fun. The only cure is a 12 bore..

 

As for breeds, go and see what others around you have.. Where i am, i would have welsh ewes and if i wanted a ram, a continental thing like a Texel.. [opinions will differ greatly, but go and see what the locals have]

 

At the end of the day, unless you WANT to waste money, AND you are able to be there all day, forget it. You HAVE to be there, as otherwise you WILL come home one day to find that a dog has killed or maimed the lot of them. This will only take the dog minutes.. You will also find the sheep falling in the water and being too heavy then, being unable to get out and drowning. A sheep by the way, makes no efforts to rescue itself.. We used to have them cause up in brambles, and left to themselves, they would just lay there until they died.

 

You will also have the locals climbing over you fencing and the sheep will be out [and if one goes, they all go] and, the first time you have an argument with the locals, you will find that you now have people cutting your fences..

 

Please listen to the others, sheep is a bad idea.. rent it out to someone with a horse.. Problem being, is that you will need planning permission for this, a horse not being an agricultural animal..

 

john..

 

If it lush " cow " grass people with a horse wont want it , or they will have to strip  graze  it other wise the horse will get laminitis . Then the horses will try to jump out maybe draging your fencing down yada yada yada yada ....

[john87]

4 minutes ago, Stubby said:

If it lush " cow " grass people with a horse wont want it , or they will have to strip  graze  it other wise the horse will get laminitis . Then the horses will try to jump out maybe draging your fencing down yada yada yada yada ....

Yes, defintely right. Coupled with the fact that every horse owner i have ever met is a nutcase, extremely dishonest, massively selfish, cruel, [as in their fags and booze is more important than the timely intervention of a vet]

 

They will also just dump you with the horse when they cannot afford it...

Besides, they only approached you as they were being chucked out of the last place..

 

There ARE people who are not like this, but i have never met one....

 

john..

[john87]

1 hour ago, GarethM said:

Shed will be a definite no from most councils, shelter feasible tho.

 

I'm sure it's 13 acres for 28 day permitted development, any less and it's the full planning process.

 

Permitted development also includes a 5 year don't use it for another purpose or we can force it's removal.

 

Councils & locals aren't stupid, the we bought a few acres thing, then goes we want a shed, then we want a house.

 

Then the shed turns into a garage and it's all on the market for 500k+.

Yes, you are more or less right. Turns out your land has to be more than nearly 13 acres as you said. Once above that you can put up agricultural buildings.. As you say, the councils are not daft, and if the land stops being used for an agricultural purpose, you will be removing the shed..

 

I know someone that did the pig shed to house thing. They got planning in the end, but it took them 30 years and so much hassle it was never worth it...

 

john..

[Stubby]

18 minutes ago, john87 said:

 

 

There ARE people who are not like this, but i have never met one....

 

john..

Yes there are , ( my missus thinks more of the horse than she does of me ) but as you say there are a lot who are right cnuts .

[GarethM]

There are ways of reducing the owned acreage by owning 4 and renting the remaining from other people.

 

As soon as one starts in the area its like town gentrification, everyone ends up on the same bandwagon and you just end up moving further and further into the sticks.

[john87]

7 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Yes there are , ( my missus thinks more of the horse than she does of me ) but as you say there are a lot who are right cnuts .

 

Yes, my other half had two of the things up until about three years ago. Had to have them both put to sleep in the end.

 

The one was 26 years old and had some sort of leg problem  [i am no expert!].

 

He could still get up and walk trot and canter, but you could tell he was in pain, and also, you could tell that he was sad as he could no longer behave as a horse should. We decided that his quality of life was not what it should be, and so the decision was made.. My other half had owned him since he was about 18 months old..

 

The other one she bought as a 3 year old, mainly to stop the local cruel twat from buying it. [They were a moron that had 27 horses at one stage and had most of them taken by the authorities.]

 

Problem was, it was literally mad. It was like an autistic horse.. It was lonely and wanted to have friends, but at the same time, it was frightened of other horses and everything else too. To be honest it was dangerous. As it was quite a small horse, it would have been suitable for, say, a 13 year old. Problem was, a 13 year old would not have been able to control the thing.

 

It would have ended up being sold on and on, and would eventually have ended up being one of them horses you see abandoned in a field up to its neck in mud.

 

We did not want that for our princess, so she was put to sleep as about a 9 year old i think it was.. It was the kindest thing for the two of them..

 

john..

[Stubby]

26 minutes ago, john87 said:

 

Yes, my other half had two of the things up until about three years ago. Had to have them both put to sleep in the end.

 

The one was 26 years old and had some sort of leg problem  [i am no expert!].

 

He could still get up and walk trot and canter, but you could tell he was in pain, and also, you could tell that he was sad as he could no longer behave as a horse should. We decided that his quality of life was not what it should be, and so the decision was made.. My other half had owned him since he was about 18 months old..

 

The other one she bought as a 3 year old, mainly to stop the local cruel twat from buying it. [They were a moron that had 27 horses at one stage and had most of them taken by the authorities.]

 

Problem was, it was literally mad. It was like an autistic horse.. It was lonely and wanted to have friends, but at the same time, it was frightened of other horses and everything else too. To be honest it was dangerous. As it was quite a small horse, it would have been suitable for, say, a 13 year old. Problem was, a 13 year old would not have been able to control the thing.

 

It would have ended up being sold on and on, and would eventually have ended up being one of them horses you see abandoned in a field up to its neck in mud.

 

We did not want that for our princess, so she was put to sleep as about a 9 year old i think it was.. It was the kindest thing for the two of them..

 

john..

John . I am 9 spaniels and six horses  in mate ., I understand . Eventually it will be me ! 

[topchippyles]

1 hour ago, trigger_andy said:

For the purposes you have in mind most likely. 

Spouting the usual garbage idiot.

[coppice cutter]

2 hours ago, GarethM said:

But what colour is the boat house at Hereford ?

Great film! 👍

[Will C]

4 hours ago, topchippyles said:

Would a couple of goats be viable.

7ft fencing, would be cheaper to buy a compact tractor and topper