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What to do with our farm


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A game farm is very seasonal and a short season at that, peasants can be a nightmare to rear and u really have to know a bit about it and have some serious time to put into it (some would also say not very enjoyable either), it would be almost full time job for first week if not the first 3. I doubt many of the big buildings would be much use for rearing, used to be done with 8x8 huts althou some of the more modern huts are a lot bigger and some big outfits have specially designed big sheds, but as someone else said a big investment to start and already quite a few companies at it, iknow some largeish commercial shoots that think it is cheaper to buy in 6 week old poults than rear and they have the sheds, sections and land.

 

Horses always looks like good money, althou know 1 farmer who is getting out off horses as said was murder gettin money off them, depend on ur area, he says all fur coats and no knickers. U could just rent the ground as grass parks/sesonal grazing making upto £400 an acre up here this year

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Horses always looks like good money, althou know 1 farmer who is getting out off horses as said was murder gettin money off them, depend on ur area, he says all fur coats and no knickers. U could just rent the ground as grass parks/sesonal grazing making upto £400 an acre up here this year

Not all bad then.... ;)

 

Being an accountant I would think the OP would be ok at the rent collecting, simple way is 12 weeks up front and 12 weeks notice get them to pay 4 weekly by standing order/DD charge extra for storing trailers or boxes provide minimal services and set a side for a big muck heap (I would put in a an access control gate that requires a card or pin code and metered water and some decent fences basic CCTV)

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Not all bad then.... ;)

 

Being an accountant I would think the OP would be ok at the rent collecting, simple way is 12 weeks up front and 12 weeks notice get them to pay 4 weekly by standing order/DD charge extra for storing trailers or boxes provide minimal services and set a side for a big muck heap (I would put in a an access control gate that requires a card or pin code and metered water and some decent fences basic CCTV)

and again..no offence but you dont have much clue when it comes to the horsey world at all.....

 

its alot more simple than that...

only problem you would have is the much heap and who would deal with it

 

in the horse world rent is very hard to collect unless you are really strict

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My family own a farm that closed a few years ago and falling further into disrepair. I'd like to try and rescue it.

It used to be a battery chicken farm with 12 large sheds packed full of laying chickens in cages. Then all the cages were removed to make way for ducks.

Several of the buildings have now totally collapsed leaving possibly 5 that are repairable.

It also has a 17 acre field and a 3 acre meadow.

I am actually an accountant and not a farmer, but have always worked on it and would really like to see it used again.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to turn it into a Game farm of some kind but currently I don't know anything about it or if its even adequate.

 

What I am trying to find out is given what we have to start with, could this be a good base for maybe a Game farm?

Obviously I would have to do an awful lot of work to understand what I am doing, but to start with I need to know if it could be possible from what we have.

If it may be possible, what crop would you grow on the field? And how much would you use for crop growing and how much for the Game itself?

Do Game farms also need to have a shoot on their land or can they just be for production?

I've got so many questions but lets start off small.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Owen

 

Hi Owen, couple of brothers I knew some years back did the same thing, if you have not got a bloke to run it properly, and I mean properly don`t spend thousands setting it up: They had a 5 year plan, employed a ex copper, who was basicly just a thief who did not know a lot..

Lost hundreds one night in a thunderstorm, because no one was there to get them back in, when they were hardening off:

you need people who know how to bit very fast, so not causing stress. We did pheasants and partridge..

You need someone you can trust, after all its your money, pens, sheds, Heaters, extractor fans, The list goes on.

gas, and a person who knows disease when he see`s it, the days of just give them loads of antibiotics have gone:

Clean pens ALL the time, if doing double turn arounds, hot water diesel power washer, it can be very stressfull, not only for the birds, but for the people you pay to do it::including you who pays for it: NEVER let Ducks anywhere near your pheasants you may kill them all::

Just a final word, Was asked to do the running of the beaters in the Season, asked if the bag was LOW would kick some out of the crates in the hedge rows: My words are unrepeatable on here: Good luck with your venture:

PS: Don`t get anybody who farmed Chickens they are not the same by a mile, pheasants try to die a thousand ways before they get to the gun: Been there for several years with my boys, he packed it in after we left::

Edited by subsonicnat
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and again..no offence but you dont have much clue when it comes to the horsey world at all.....

 

its alot more simple than that...

only problem you would have is the much heap and who would deal with it

 

in the horse world rent is very hard to collect unless you are really strict

its easy,the muck goes to another farm (trailer left in yard and the girls load their own muck into it) ,2 weeks money up front and if they get 2 weeks behind paying the horse is turfed out! if you run a good yard you'll have plenty of punters.

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Saw an advert in the CLA magazine I think it was,many years ago regarding 'worm' farming! Sounds a bit daft I know,but you don't need too much land,and it was all to do with farming worms to break down mulch,such as waste,and bark,leaves,moss etc to turn into compost for garden centres etc.Have no idea how viable it is,sorry,but outlay must be modest(?) and raw materials are everywhere,it simply needs collecting.Just a thought.

Edited by Scully
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The land is far to small for any kind of shoot. You may well be able to walk up any hedgerows with a mate and a dog and shoot the odd wild bird in the season but anything more than this and in regards to planting crops is in my opinion not doable. However the size of the ground and how you describe it would be quite adequate for a game farm.

 

I know of many game farms down here in Sussex which do just that on a similar sizes bit of land or smaller. You would need to convert the sheds/barns into the night housing for the pheasants/partridges and then go about sourcing pen sections to create day runs. You could incubate eggs yourself and rear birds from day olds to 7/8 weeks and sell them to local shoots at £3.50 upwards or you could buy in the day olds yourself and rear them to this age.

 

The first couple of weeks they would want to be shut into the sheds at night with adequate heating by gas heaters or lamps and when hardy enough they can be left out at night to return to the shed as and when they please.

 

If you want any more advice feel free to PM me as I have worked on a few game farms down here and could give you some pointers on where to start.

 

Good luck :)

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Also game farming is some what seasonal but you would still be wanting to get laying birds in around Feb/March collecting eggs for incubation about March/April/May and turning out chicks from May to August for selling as poults. You could then exploit the turkey market from August onwards so it can be done as a year round career as many do down here.

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If it was me i would go down the grazing route, probably horses but sheep or anything really. I run a DIY livery yard and they pay for stable and grazing but also have a lot of people who have their horses turned out in the field 24/7 and pay for a field only. Easy and cheap to put up fencing for dividing up the paddocks, adding water troughs etc, low outgoings on a little fert, spraying and other maintenence. It may depend on location and what riding there is access to. Find a big local stables or stud and offer them a good deal, often places have too many stables and not enough grazing.

 

Then you think about developing the buildings, a few stables, commercial indoor arena maybe. I have a good mate who turns over £500,000/year on his indoor arena. Cost £250,000 to build 5 years ago so he's pretty happy.

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I agree with jimbo, horses are the best option. You don't say whether there is a dwelling of any sort on the land. If there is you have a massive amount of leverage for getting planning permission. I would contact a developer to see if it was worth putting in a planning bid. It will get turned down but then you can negotiate. With 20 acres you have only really got hope of a riding stables with a dwelling and outbuildings as a commercial viable venture. Maybe a boarding kennels on the side.

Edited by Vince Green
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A few more suggestions to think about. You could let the whole thing on a DIY self sufficiency basis. This would perhaps be the easiest. You could advertise for a horse person to run it for you as a starter equestrian business and agree a profit share as the business is established. You could cultivate available land if its suitable say you have 20 acres and decide to go the Oil seed rape route. £335 per ton cropped, costs at say £200 per acre (contractors costs) yield of 3.5 tons per acre - so 3.5 *20* £135 =roughly £8K per annum. Sttart investing the money in repairs etc to increase the value of the property, using the entreprise as a business.

If its possible, consider a mobile home site - as a start on this, do some research on returns and costs of electricity and water networks.

There are lots of options and research needs to be done in detail. There used to be organisations which helped farmers diversify and support the development of new enterprise business plans - need to look at that too - perhaps start with DEFRA.

Whatever you choose - all the best.

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A game farm is very seasonal and a short season at that, peasants can be a nightmare to rear and u really have to know a bit about it and have some serious time to put into it (some would also say not very enjoyable either), it would be almost full time job for first week if not the first 3. I doubt many of the big buildings would be much use for rearing, used to be done with 8x8 huts althou some of the more modern huts are a lot bigger and some big outfits have specially designed big sheds, but as someone else said a big investment to start and already quite a few companies at it, iknow some largeish commercial shoots that think it is cheaper to buy in 6 week old poults than rear and they have the sheds, sections and land.

 

Horses always looks like good money, althou know 1 farmer who is getting out off horses as said was murder gettin money off them, depend on ur area, he says all fur coats and no knickers. U could just rent the ground as grass parks/sesonal grazing making upto £400 an acre up here this year

In Suffolk I think you can still shoot "peasants". Regarding breeding they interbreed quiet well, just look for Big Adams Apples, a few extra fingers and webbed feet.

Edited by bakerboy
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little bit of a nature reserve, just let the plot go wild.

 

why do folk want to screw the last penny out of everything ?

I'm certainly not trying to 'screw the last penny out of everything'!

I just don't want to see the farm that has been in my family for several generations fall into a state of disrepair.

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yes but that is simple if you lay it out well and the blue pipe can even be run down the fence line above ground if you really want.

 

Your main issues really are not much is profitable on that acreage without going into highly intensive farming like chickens again, however costs are high to get set up properly. Horses are ideal as you set it up and then collect the money, little bit of agro along the way but the demand is there in most areas.

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Where about in Suffolk are you as will be happy to help and advise the setting up for horses and help you get clients

I run two horse group forums for this area

 

Don't need mains water to each paddock at all

Thanks very much.

It's in a village called Gosbeck, just outside Ipswich.

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