pet farm

jtims

can anyone able to help me ive been thinking about this for a while of opening up a small pet farm can anyone able to tell me where to go to get details on starting it up can you get grants help from anywhere etc. i would like to find out as much as i could now so i get it started for next year, any help would be great thanks

whelan1

dont do it, have a friend with one and this year was a total disaster, unless you do it right and have indoor facilities with a coffee shop its a total no no....

kerryted

if you want to see a well run pet farm ,there is one in Moycullen in Galway which we visted this year and kids loved it i agree with wheelan 1 that you have to do it right ,but if you are in a good spot it could be worth the investment , you should call in to your county enterprise center and check out whats available in line of grants ,etc maybe you could try something different like an indoor picnic area where people could bring there own , I know that the picnic basket is back in fashion at the moment

Qualitymark

I visited one in north Dublin a few years ago with my mother-in-law; she was upset for days afterwards - hens and rabbits and ducks in small cages with no water available, roaming packs of goats and sheep, and when she asked for a toilet she was shown in past a box which contained about 20 puppies. Disgusting, miserable place.

whelan1

we have 2 locally, 1 is only a few years old , red mountain farm, it is crap, 5 minutes and your done.... then theres newgrange farm, its grand but expensive and nothing really changes, there is a coffee shop there and its over €4 for a soup:eek: last day we where there we hadnt even parked and lady was over looking for money.... newbridge farm in donabate is very good also and very reasonable

Manoffeeling

There is a nice one on the cork road from Killarney. Worth looking at before you invest.

freedominacup

One of the neighbours has one. Covers around 10 acres. He has 3 four bay by 40ft sheds in it. The last one covers a huge sand pit that was set-up between the two original sheds. I'd say he spent 5k last year on replacing pedal tractors, push cars etc. He built a reasonable sized house probably 1300 sq ft for his resturaunt, ticket office and public toilets. Despite only opening for June to August plus the weekends for a couple of months on the shoulders of that season I'd say it takes at least one and a half labour units to run the plcae for the year. He got fairly good grant aid setting up but eveything had to be done by registered contractors to get the grant aid. I'd say he's going 10 years with it now, maybe more. He seems pleased with his investment.

I might be wrong but if you are going to do it right and get access to the grants available I'd say you're looking at spring 2014 at the soonest for an opening date. Planning permission, grant applications, construction of new facilities, carparks etc.

P.S. At this stage all of the neighbours have an exotic tresspass story to tell whether it's deer, emus or lamas we've all had an exotic visitor. Usually happens shortly after a new arrival on the pet farm before they settle down.

whelan1

heard sad news today that farmer bill of newgrange farm had an off road vehicle accident over the weekend and is very seriously ill... so anyone that knows him please say a prayer for him:mad:

blue5000

School tours are only on for 1 month of the year, but you have to look after the animals for the full 12 months. It all depends on your location.

jtims

tahnks for the help and advice i still think it would be worth ago as im on a main road near rath wood and local shops and restraunts. my family an i have animals we no about the all year round work with them its not just for a few months of the year its all year round

dodderangler

Depends on the animals you are willin to have on it
Most have the usual cows and calves and maybe odd big bull and then sheep and goats and chickens and ducks but you need to know a lot bout lookin after them
Then theres others that have exotic animals such as ostriches emus alpacas snakes and lizards and small monkeys fish etc
And some have birds of prey
So youd need to know bout each other or hire someone with experience in them animals
I have experience with reptiles and birds of prey but youd need two at least for the exotic ones alone
So question is have you the money for it all and is it worth it
Course it's your decision and wish u all the best in it

whelan1

safety is the big thing as well, one of the local open farms is terrible, my kids always came home with injuries ,so we dont go there anymore... i reported it to the owner the two times it happened but when we went back the problems hadnt been sorted- a swing set not secured to the ground, they had small sqaure bales to climb on to get up to a slide but the twines where sticking out and my daughter tripped and walloped her hip off a wooden board at the top of the slide (that was a very nasty wound) also they had a maze of hay bales and she ran in to another child and busted her nose ( quite unfortunate:cool:)have you visited many openfarms? Are there many in the area already?

jtims

rath wood have a few animals and exotic pets. would i need to look for permission setting up a pet farm to the council as i dont want neighbours complaining

vcsggl

I've been to lots of these - most are not that good!

There is one near us ( in the UK) that my grandsons (5 & 1.5) absolutely love and my wife and I think it's great too - take a look at Cowtastic. http://farringtons.co.uk/cowtastic-farm-park/ - reasonable prices, excellent cafe, lots of things for kids to do as well as interesting animals to see and feed - chickens, ducks goats - the goats have their own climbing frame and the kids love to see them on it! Pedal tractors to ride and some really good grass sledges.

The other one is just outside Monaghan, Sam Moore's Open Farm - great place for kids and grown -ups! He does a good business with local schools as well as tourist visitors there's a description on -http://www.hillgrovehotel.com/Activities.html

Done well it I don't think you could fail to get a decent return on the investment.


George

gctest50

whelan1 wrote: »

safety is the big thing as well, one of the local open farms is terrible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY4emNkdsT8

freedominacup

I was down with the neighbour who has the pet farm the other day. The young labsation bitch he got from me a few months ago was running around the yard while we were doing a repair job on a machine. His workman and himself were laughing that though she seemed cheap at the time (we gave the dog to him) she was looking a bit more expensive now. She had killed and eaten 5 chinchillas in the previous week @ €100 each. They were blaming her at any rate. There were 5 missing and she turned up in the yard on one of the days with one in her mouth.