Had a skeg, couldn’t find a dedicated farming thread.
If there already is one, I don’t give a ****, I’m starting a new and improved one.
It doesn’t really belong in DIY or any of the other forums so it can go in here.
So farming...........I know there are a few of us on here who keep animals, grow stuff, have tractors etc. So let’s have it.
I’m from London, the first time I ever saw a cow was probably in the petting area at London Zoo. Farms and farming is never something I ever imagined I’d get involved in, much less enjoying. I had mate who was into toy tractors when I was growing up. He was weird and we bullied him.
Anyway, fast forward a few years and I somehow end up marrying a bird who’s dad owns a shit ton of farms and who’s brothers are all farmers. And so here I am now, living on a farm, surrounded by animals, doing stuff like trimming tag nuts off sheep’s arses.
Our primary customer is our own pub and hotel business, we don’t intensively farm in order to sell loads of meat to Tesco’s. As such we can concentrate on quality over quantity and keep it low key enough to be fun, while still turning a healthy profit.
It all started some years back when my brother in law started breeding pedigree beef shorthorn cattle. He took it all very seriously, importing embryos and bull **** from as far afield as Canada and Japan. He grew his herd into the best beef shorthorn herd in the country, winning various shows and frequently breaking records for the highest auction price realised for the breed. When we took on our farm, he moved his cattle here on account of the very good quality limestone soil, which means very nutrient rich grass.
I must stress that these cows are not for burgers and steaks. Of course the ones that don’t make the grade end up in the pub and restaurant kitchens, but the primary objective here is to produce the finest specimens of the breed, that other farms will want to buy and breed into their stock.
As the pub business grew, we branched out into other forms of meat Including rare breed pigs (we now get through one a week for sausages and bacon), boer meat goats, poulet de bresse meat chickens, geese for Christmas, ducks and lamb. Of course there is also the wild game like venison, pheasant and partridge which is plentiful in our woods.
Unfortunately the beef business took a big hit due to our area being declared a high risk area for bovine TB. We didn’t have it on our farm, but someone nearby did. Overnight the value of our herd pretty much halved. No one wants to risk buying breeding cattle that might bring TB onto the farm. We’ve moved all the best ones to one of our other farms, far outside the risk zone, but we’ve still got the dregs here which will become steaks.
This summer we bought a small flock of Herdwick Sheep for the kids to raise and run as their own little business. It’s about teaching them how it all works and how to make money from selling animals. Herdwicks are relatively easy to keep as they’re used to living on mountains where there is nothing to eat. They can live outdoors all year round and generally don’t need any additional food. They have protected origin designation. This means you can only sell the meat as “Herdwick“ lamb if they’re born, raised and slaughtered in Cumbria. Due to the fact that they’re fairly wild and haven’t been intensively bred, the meat has a distinctive flavour that is subtly different to other lamb.
Our neighbours are building a dairy goat business. In return for a cheap rent on half the farm and a wing of our house, they help us out and keep things ticking over. I’m not gonna claim to be a proper farmer here, I just help out at weekends and **** about on the quad bike. Without people who really know what they’re doing, this wouldn’t work.
Moving ahead, we plan to grow our little flock of Herdwicks. We’ve just chucked our tup (Ram) in with ladies yesterday. Spring should see some lambs, many more goats (last count we had 240) and some more cattle.
Spin your farming dits here.
If there already is one, I don’t give a ****, I’m starting a new and improved one.
It doesn’t really belong in DIY or any of the other forums so it can go in here.
So farming...........I know there are a few of us on here who keep animals, grow stuff, have tractors etc. So let’s have it.
I’m from London, the first time I ever saw a cow was probably in the petting area at London Zoo. Farms and farming is never something I ever imagined I’d get involved in, much less enjoying. I had mate who was into toy tractors when I was growing up. He was weird and we bullied him.
Anyway, fast forward a few years and I somehow end up marrying a bird who’s dad owns a shit ton of farms and who’s brothers are all farmers. And so here I am now, living on a farm, surrounded by animals, doing stuff like trimming tag nuts off sheep’s arses.
Our primary customer is our own pub and hotel business, we don’t intensively farm in order to sell loads of meat to Tesco’s. As such we can concentrate on quality over quantity and keep it low key enough to be fun, while still turning a healthy profit.
It all started some years back when my brother in law started breeding pedigree beef shorthorn cattle. He took it all very seriously, importing embryos and bull **** from as far afield as Canada and Japan. He grew his herd into the best beef shorthorn herd in the country, winning various shows and frequently breaking records for the highest auction price realised for the breed. When we took on our farm, he moved his cattle here on account of the very good quality limestone soil, which means very nutrient rich grass.
I must stress that these cows are not for burgers and steaks. Of course the ones that don’t make the grade end up in the pub and restaurant kitchens, but the primary objective here is to produce the finest specimens of the breed, that other farms will want to buy and breed into their stock.
As the pub business grew, we branched out into other forms of meat Including rare breed pigs (we now get through one a week for sausages and bacon), boer meat goats, poulet de bresse meat chickens, geese for Christmas, ducks and lamb. Of course there is also the wild game like venison, pheasant and partridge which is plentiful in our woods.
Unfortunately the beef business took a big hit due to our area being declared a high risk area for bovine TB. We didn’t have it on our farm, but someone nearby did. Overnight the value of our herd pretty much halved. No one wants to risk buying breeding cattle that might bring TB onto the farm. We’ve moved all the best ones to one of our other farms, far outside the risk zone, but we’ve still got the dregs here which will become steaks.
This summer we bought a small flock of Herdwick Sheep for the kids to raise and run as their own little business. It’s about teaching them how it all works and how to make money from selling animals. Herdwicks are relatively easy to keep as they’re used to living on mountains where there is nothing to eat. They can live outdoors all year round and generally don’t need any additional food. They have protected origin designation. This means you can only sell the meat as “Herdwick“ lamb if they’re born, raised and slaughtered in Cumbria. Due to the fact that they’re fairly wild and haven’t been intensively bred, the meat has a distinctive flavour that is subtly different to other lamb.
Our neighbours are building a dairy goat business. In return for a cheap rent on half the farm and a wing of our house, they help us out and keep things ticking over. I’m not gonna claim to be a proper farmer here, I just help out at weekends and **** about on the quad bike. Without people who really know what they’re doing, this wouldn’t work.
Moving ahead, we plan to grow our little flock of Herdwicks. We’ve just chucked our tup (Ram) in with ladies yesterday. Spring should see some lambs, many more goats (last count we had 240) and some more cattle.
Spin your farming dits here.
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