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Wednesday, 17 April 2019

Least Number Of Animals Since 2012

I realised the other day that we currently have the least number of animals we've ever had in the last seven years. 


We're down to four laying hens and a little chick I hatched at the local school who they named "Gary".



That makes a total of five! Which is mad when I think about it. Since getting chickens here the first year (July 2012) we've always had at least a dozen. 

There have been when I've had sheep and lambs here (nearly 90 animals) plus twenty laying hens and nearly 30 meat chickens!

Gary the chick
Having less animals certainly takes the pressure and workload off a little bit though. This April has been great not having the sheep lambing and has meant that I can try and get some projects finished here, the garden and poly tunnel being the big ones.

I'm still going to try hatching out a few more birds yet and hopefully have a better rate than the one we had at the school. This little guy (or girl) needs some buddies!

I do wonder if I should buy a few store lambs later in the year to fatten up to keep us supplied in meat for the winter? It also leave the question of what to do with the grass, dad says I should rent it out to horses but that's not a route I really want to go down at the moment!
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8 comments:

  1. Sue in Suffolk17 April 2019 at 07:38

    You could go completely mad and get goats!!

    The most profitable use of grassland that we had on the smallholding was the campsite followed by laying hens en-masse and selling the eggs.

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    1. Kev Alviti19 April 2019 at 08:20

      Goats is certainly on the list. I'd love to do it for milking but I'll wait until the kids can help properly before I do.
      Making money from the grass is something that does make me think. Chickens work well but normally just as things are going well the fox puts pay to my ideas.

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  2. northsider 17 April 2019 at 08:32

    You could make small square bales of hay and sell it to horsey people?

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    1. Kev Alviti19 April 2019 at 08:21

      It's storage with that would be the problem. I've done round bales in the past but that's so they can stay out for a while. With no barns it makes it tricky to store anything, they'd bee stone taken from the field straight away.

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  3. jaz@octoberfarm17 April 2019 at 16:19

    that is rather amazing. maybe it's time for a dog! and a few ducks?

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    1. Kev Alviti19 April 2019 at 08:22

      We keep talking about dogs and ducks is certainly on the list. I think muscovy would be a a great addition.

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  4. Michelle19 April 2019 at 04:02

    Ah, but how many children do you have now. Having time for your wife, your children, and yourself is very important too!

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    1. Kev Alviti19 April 2019 at 08:23

      Yeah a few more children. Just three of them total though! But you're right me it's given us so much more time it's unreal!

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