How do we shape-up our smallholding?

[farmerswifey]

I wasn't sure where to put this but here seems as good as anywhere :)

We live on a 30 odd acre small holding in Wales currently breeding rare breed sheep. So far this year we have made £4.82 from the wool marketing board (with a further £40 or so pound still owing) We're going to making £2000 or so from the sale of some sheep and approximately £6000 from a holiday cottage we rent out.

All in all, my husband and I make about £8000 between us (+child benefit). That has to clothe, feed and pay all of the bills for us both, our 1 year old daughter, 6 dogs and a cat. It a bit of a stretch (massive understatement)

We don't want to work away from the small holding if we can help it (obviously we will if it comes to it) but we could really use some ideas on how we could up our income.

However lame the suggestions sound, it would be great to hear them. We've got outdoor space, a couple of free barns and we are willing to put in lots of hard work, we're just rubbish at ideas.

pick your own pumpkins, other pyo?

Chickens? They're fairly easy to keep and you can sell the eggs, or the chickens as meat, or hens which are layers.

Or if you fancy, you could breed pure breed chickens and sell either fertilised eggs (they are often sold by mail order) or chicks (I personally don't think mail order is very nice for this, but some do do it, otherwise farmers' markets, farm fairs or have people come and collect).

I know a few smallholders who top up their income quite substantially with chickens.

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply thus far. The husband and I are going to have a good read through together and then reply properly tomorrow.

Oooo and for the campers you could do 'weekends' foraging, survival skills / bushcraft, yoga, ummm that sort of thing

Sell hatching eggs on ebay? - more lucrative than selling eggs for eating.

Make cheese from sheep's milk?

Events such as festivals on your land?

Put your smallholding into organic conversion - as I understand there's a hefty grant available for that these days.

Do you claim the entitlements - SFP etc?

Also in terms of general benefits do you claim tax credits?

What about renting out some of the barn for inside winter lose boxes for local horses/ponies.

Google free range chicken franchise - there are big franchises out there for people with land willing to run an egg business!

Just thought of something else - be careful of spending a 40 hour week on the smallholding chasing a profit of £50 a year on an activity. Niche products are all well and good but you have to sell a lot of quantity to make a profit. It might be an idea if one of you looks to earn a regular wage outside of the smallholding even if just part time. I know it's not something you want but would probably be the easiest way to earn money. If there are holiday cottages around - perhaps offer a service to clean them weekly - agree with others your first priority should be converting barns to holiday lets - also very top range yurts - maybe with free chickens to look after like feather down farms do. We would love a smallholding but can't make the figures work yet on paper so am jealous! :0) let us know how you get in xxx ps can make money through alpacas but tends to be through sale of calves to new alpaca owners, not wool although it's lovely there is not enough demand.

Assume you are claiming SPS from the RPA? Sorry if I missed that..

Invest money in an excellent website and sell stuff direct to consumers.

Particularly meat, if you can process and pack it you can sell direct and it may cover the cost of delivery if you organise it properly.

Camping needs planning permission - apply now even if you don't actually use it. Make sure you have good warm facilities and a communal area for fires etc.

No to the cattery - it would not sit well with other work such as meat and camping.

If you haven't got the money now to invest in anything at all, consider letting your house out for Christmas and new year to a large group and you could make £2k instantly.

The camping wedding idea I would think is the easiest and most fruitful long term venture.

Is there anything like this running in your area .... only £50 for 10 sessions and loads of ideas, help and expertise to call upon.

How about offering a haulage company somewhere to park up their lorries?