Smallholding in south Leitrim.

JohnandCassie

Hi all,

My wife and I have just bought 1.5 acres near Dromod, I'm wrestling with the plans for our straw bale and cob round house and I hope to submit them next month any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

We want to live off the land as much as we can with hens pigs and a cow whilst growing as much fruit and veg as possible. Is there anyone building anything similar this year who would like two and a half volunteers? And any advice on smallholding is more than welcome!

John and Cassie

Nekarsulm

Welcome John and Cassie. Hopefully you get planning without much hassle. You should aim for a smaller breed of cow, as an acre to do all you plan would be tight enough. I am sure someone with practical expierence will be along soon. N.

marizpan

If its a jersey or similar, you will have plenty of summer grazing for a cow and calf. Assuming you buy in winter haylage and have a good shed/yard to over winter them.
We are doing similar and have pigs, hens, bee etc

JohnandCassie

We do want a jersey , how many more acres would provide enough haylage for a cow and calf? We want to grow Mangelwurzel and the like to bulster her food.

marizpan

Our jersey is kept in for six months of winter and uses about 8-10 round bales. Depending on the land but I would guess it would take two acres of average land to produce that amount of bales. For such a small amount, it is easier to just buy them from a neighbour.
Keep in mind that jerseys are wonderful, quiet cows but they need plenty of feeding, including dairy nuts. If this doesn't suit your ideal, then it might be worth considering a harder dual purpose traditional cow. I have no experience of these and I would imagine it would be difficult to find one that is used as a milking cow, and therefore quiet and easy.

JohnandCassie

Thanks for the advice marzipan. I'll do some more research and make sure a jersey is defiantly want we need.

colrow

A Kerry Cow, is a traditional dual purpose Irish breed, we had two and calves, thery were easily handled and very docile.

tattycat

Don't forget the Dexter. The Irish smallholder cow, duel purpose, meat nd milk. If your determined to have a cow. My goat gives over a gallon a day nd hasn't kidded for 2 years!!
We're over by Killeshandra with just over 3 acres if you want to drop by at some point. W
We've poultry, pigs, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, horses nd a donkey. Also trying to grow!

JohnandCassie

Thanks ,
we'd love to come and see what you guys are doing.
I was dead set on a goat but a book I read convinced me we needed a cow. I've still got to build the house yet so there's still time to change
my mind. How much of you land is used for goat pasture?

tattycat

We've just moved to 3/4 acres nd they generally on tether, with a run off the shed for our lovely inclement weather. Soon to have an area fenced off for them, lucky girls!!
The goats give us all a cow could but are easier to handle, generally!! Also give lovely compost.
Give us a ring sometime nd drop by see whats going on here, might help you to decide what your doing.;))
Give us a call on 08********* nd drop by!
Ps. Remind me where you got the number...lol

Forest Demon

Bad idea sticking your number up on a forum. You should PM it and delete it off thread.

tattycat

Ok folks bit to trusting then.......guess you never know who's trolling....

marizpan

We have had goats and cows. Here are the differences that we found.

While cows are larger animals, they are easier to handle and fence. They are very mellow and like routine. They will wait for you at the gate at milking time and walk into the shed for milking themselves. They really like routine.

Goats can be difficult to fence and tethering can sometimes be the only option. If they get out they will destroy the veg garden and any young trees in minutes. They don't really eat grass until there is nothing better available. They like tree bark, leaves, herbs and flowers more so.
Goat kids are nearly worthless in financial terms. A calf if bred to a beef bull will buy all your winter hay/feed for the cow.

Cow milk is more useful for making cream, cheese, butter etc. goats milk is great for children and makes nice goats cheese.

You will need to keep a 3-4 goats in milk to equal 1 cow.
You will never have too much milk if you keep hens and pigs.

Both have herd number and testing requirements.

tattycat

Hiya Marzipan.
I've gotta say I sell my castrated billy kids for €50, nd last years females went for €100 each. Fair enough they are from show stock, with good milk provenance (granny has given just under a gallon a day for the last 2 years without kidding) but definitely NOT worthless....

marizpan

You clearly have really nice animals.

From our experiences we all found them difficult to sell/give away.
We found that the demand was for in milk does and we were not prepared to hold onto youngsters that long. The male kids were given away free to be reared for meat at a few weeks.
We figured it cost us €100 a year to keep each goat. So if we sold at 6 mths at €50, we still had no profit but extra work. If we reared the does ready to kid and sold for €150, they still made no profit but more work.

colrow

marizpan wrote: »

We have had goats and cows. Here are the differences that we found.

While cows are larger animals, they are easier to handle and fence. They are very mellow and like routine. They will wait for you at the gate at milking time and walk into the shed for milking themselves. They really like routine.

.

Thats just Dairy Cows, beware of beef suckler cows

zoe 3619

Another vote for the goat.:-)can give an average of a gallon a day if you buy a purebred milking goat.if you're short of space,they don't need much grass.browsers rather than grazers,they're happy with the hedgerows,brambles and rough patches.easy to keep,make great pets,and goat's milk is much healthier and more digestible than cows.

tattycat

Thanks Marzipan.
I guess we were lucky with our first girls. We use the milk nd make cheese, and the compost they give is divine. We also show the girls, nd they seem to do quite well, which goes to helping pay for winter bedding ect. As well as selling kids. Hopeing for 1 for freezer this year.....

Stressica

Thinking of getting a goat for milking.

do all goats nowadays need tags ie a pet for milking or just commercial ? I've never seen one with a tag on around here

tattycat

Hiya Stressica. I had to tag mine as I show them. Hate it though, one's still suffering. You should get a herd number, nd yes they like you to tag them. Again I HAD to....

Stressica

Dont like the idea of tagging them but I guess law is law.
Is there alot of red tape with getting a herd number like for a cow?

There is a big fair coming up with a section for goat showing, hoping to meet some people who can give me advice on milking goats/breeds etc

tattycat

I HATE tagging them!! However at one of the show's last year I was asked for my paperwork and taggs checked...Still got 1 girl who has recurring problems with her ear...Which show are you going to

Stressica

Kingdom county fair,

tattycat

Too far away from me!! lol

whereto now

JohnandCassie wrote: »

Hi all,

My wife and I have just bought 1.5 acres near Dromod, I'm wrestling with the plans for our straw bale and cob round house and I hope to submit them next month any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

We want to live off the land as much as we can with hens pigs and a cow whilst growing as much fruit and veg as possible. Is there anyone building anything similar this year who would like two and a half volunteers? And any advice on smallholding is more than welcome!

John and Cassie

Hi guys
I'm really interested in a cob house sometime in the near future so I'm very curious as to how you're getting on, I think its become very difficult to build your own house here now so I'm sure its not straight forward but I hope you get to do it. You'll be able to advise the rest of us then

DirtyDiesels

marizpan wrote: »

We have had goats and cows. Here are the differences that we found.

While cows are larger animals, they are easier to handle and fence. They are very mellow and like routine. They will wait for you at the gate at milking time and walk into the shed for milking themselves. They really like routine.

Goats can be difficult to fence and tethering can sometimes be the only option. If they get out they will destroy the veg garden and any young trees in minutes. They don't really eat grass until there is nothing better available. They like tree bark, leaves, herbs and flowers more so.
Goat kids are nearly worthless in financial terms. A calf if bred to a beef bull will buy all your winter hay/feed for the cow.

Cow milk is more useful for making cream, cheese, butter etc. goats milk is great for children and makes nice goats cheese.

You will need to keep a 3-4 goats in milk to equal 1 cow.
You will never have too much milk if you keep hens and pigs.

Both have herd number and testing requirements.

hi

why do you say "You will never have too much milk if you keep hens and pigs"???

marizpan

Because the surplus milk would be feed to pigs and hens. They'll drink all you can give them.

Raminahobbin

whereto now wrote: »

Hi guys
I'm really interested in a cob house sometime in the near future so I'm very curious as to how you're getting on, I think its become very difficult to build your own house here now so I'm sure its not straight forward but I hope you get to do it. You'll be able to advise the rest of us then

Check out mudandwood.com. I did an intensive course with them a couple of years ago and they really, really help you figure out the ins and outs if the process, giving practical planning advice as well as hands on experience. There's an open day coming up, on Feb 8th, if you think you're interested. It's nice to see the place in the flesh I'm heading down to the open day with some friends, purely because I find the house so inspirational and love being in it :P

Joemassey

I'm surprised i havent heard anyone talking about bees, a few hives will give you as much honey as you want and plenty to sell, got 56 lbs of honey from 3 hives this year,