Anyone have a lot of land?

[Eternal]

I'm getting way ahead of myself, but we might be moving and the houses we like have a lot of land. The one I really like ony has an acre, but that's huge to me! Lol.

Anyway, do you have live stock and or ride on mower, we always thought goats, but reading up they aren't so good. Sheep? Goose?

 

[Sarahwoo]

Sheep are good - mainly because they eat pretty much everything lol! If you have sheep farmers locally ask them if they would 'lend' you a few to use the grazing (obviously you'll need to make sure the fencing etc is secure). That way they will take care if thing like dipping, sheering etc, all the 'sheep maintenance' lol!

Personally I would just get horses, with a few sheep to keep the weeds down (horses can be fussy lol) and some chickens

 

[Eternal]

Sheep are good - mainly because they eat pretty much everything lol! If you have sheep farmers locally ask them if they would 'lend' you a few to use the grazing (obviously you'll need to make sure the fencing etc is secure). That way they will take care if thing like dipping, sheering etc, all the 'sheep maintenance' lol!

Personally I would just get horses, with a few sheep to keep the weeds down (horses can be fussy lol) and some chickens

Horses scare me, too big! Sheep sound great, chickens, ducks abs geese sound fab, not sure though, don't know anyone who has them, besides chickens.

 

[Pensivedore]

Careful with Geese- they have them up at my Aunts and they are vicious.

With regards to a ride on mower- we have one and its crap. Are garden is huge and takes ages with a push a long but the ride on is forever breaking down, fills up really quickly and ends up taking just as long. We brought it from new, it certainly wasn't cheap and we had problems with it after the first summer of using it. I honestly wouldn't bother.

 

[Eternal]

Careful with Geese- they have them up at my Aunts and they are vicious.

With regards to a ride on mower- we have one and its crap. Are garden is huge and takes ages with a push a long but the ride on is forever breaking down, fills up really quickly and ends up taking just as long. We brought it from new, it certainly wasn't cheap and we had problems with it after the first summer of using it. I honestly wouldn't bother.

That's what we heard, best gurad dogs lol, I like that idea.

 

[Sarahwoo]

Awww, horses aren't scarey! But you wouldn't want to own them unless you knew what you were doing

So in that case I would have sheep and ducks / chickens - but you would need to be really on the ball with regards to putting them in at night into a fox proof coop. Finding the chickens after a fox attack is not nice

Someone near my parents has recently got a little herd of alpacas which looks quite different. I don't know anything about them but they look quite cute.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

There is some land just on our corner (about an acre) they have pigs, donkey, chicken and goats.

 

[lucy_x]

Only Ebden geese are scary!

We breed Toulouse and sebastapol - both stunning and will hand feed, im not scared of them at all. They only need sub feeding in the winter because grass should be 80% main diet.

We have five acres and run lots of animals on it, one acre wouldn't be enough for a horse, even on 5 acres my one mare needs a lot of hay over the winter, ends up costing a fortune.



Sheep are good, will literally eat only grass, and you can fatten them for meat - also sheep maintenance isnt a problem, Their hooves self trim (contrary to popular belief!) and the dipping just inst necessary, worming is easy with a syringe, ;-) - only thing you want to be wary of it sheering, which wouldn't be a problem if your eating them.

 

[binxyboo]

why don't you fence off a paddock sized area and rent it out to a local horse owner? You can then earn a bit of money from it too.

 

[Eternal]

Only Ebden geese are scary!

We breed Toulouse and sebastapol - both stunning and will hand feed, im not scared of them at all. They only need sub feeding in the winter because grass should be 80% main diet.

We have five acres and run lots of animals on it, one acre wouldn't be enough for a horse, even on 5 acres my one mare needs a lot of hay over the winter, ends up costing a fortune.



Sheep are good, will literally eat only grass, and you can fatten them for meat - also sheep maintenance isnt a problem, Their hooves self trim (contrary to popular belief!) and the dipping just inst necessary, worming is easy with a syringe, ;-) - only thing you want to be wary of it sheering, which wouldn't be a problem if your eating them.

Thanks, I love the sound of sheep, we always thought goats but looking up that doenst sound the best.

How many geese would you advice? Are they ok with chickens and ducks? I read that ducks will eat the slugs from the veg!

 

[lucy_x]

Only Ebden geese are scary!

We breed Toulouse and sebastapol - both stunning and will hand feed, im not scared of them at all. They only need sub feeding in the winter because grass should be 80% main diet.

We have five acres and run lots of animals on it, one acre wouldn't be enough for a horse, even on 5 acres my one mare needs a lot of hay over the winter, ends up costing a fortune.



Sheep are good, will literally eat only grass, and you can fatten them for meat - also sheep maintenance isnt a problem, Their hooves self trim (contrary to popular belief!) and the dipping just inst necessary, worming is easy with a syringe, ;-) - only thing you want to be wary of it sheering, which wouldn't be a problem if your eating them.

Thanks, I love the sound of sheep, we always thought goats but looking up that doenst sound the best.

How many geese would you advice? Are they ok with chickens and ducks? I read that ducks will eat the slugs from the veg!

We have a milking herd of goats too! they are fab, but unfortunately become complicated, they HATE wet and cold, they are very prone to pneumonia and frankly id keep the sheep over the goats any day and certainly don't get a goat if you plan on having veg, they seem to sniff the damn stuff out!

geese: on an acre, you could probably do as many as you felt comfortable with! They are happiest kept in pairs or trios, you could probably get away with 3 trios on one acre to give plenty of grassland, they are fine with all other animals/children - Ducks are fab, We have 9 lavender muscovys which dont quack like a normal duck they kind of peep, its ever so cute! would really recommend those, they get on fine with geese/chickens...Also make great broodies and children LOVE ducklings and chicks! - they only need a shallow pool (about 6 inches deep) as they are tree ducks not water ducks

Ducks are brill, but don't expect to have a nice garden (infact, gardens are off limits when it comes to animals!) they use their bills like shovels and although great at getting rid of slugs etc they are messy! so save them for your paddock!

 

[HazzaB]

My parents have about 9 acres and own alpacas. Amazing guards over chickens/sheep. (they stomp on foxes). They don't need to be put in at night, just need a shelter they can walk into if they fancy.x

 

[RedRose]

My parents have 3 acres, they manage fine with a ride-on mower and no animals.

 

[Eternal]

My parents have 3 acres, they manage fine with a ride-on mower and no animals.

It's not the fac of not managing, we want animals! We have wanted chicken forever