ksia
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What would you do with 5 acres?In 2000 we bought a house in the middle of 5 acres - our dream to have no close neighbours!
Anyway, as town raised folk new to the countryside we were quite happy for our neighbouring farmer to put some cows in from time to time and cut it for hay.
We've slowly been reclaiming parts of it and planting trees and fruit bushes but it's taking alot of effort (esp grass cutting) while they get established.
Our farmer is about to retire and to be honest it'll be nice he's not around as much and but that leaves the whole area for us to deal with.
All our solutions seem to involve lots of work therefore unmanageable - we work (it's meant to be part-time but it's hard to say no to paying work when it's offered) or we sell a part of it but then lose our 'buffer'.
So any ideas? What do you do / would do?
K
ps we don't really want to start relying on new people to help out.
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MarkS
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copice trees.
Firewood.
GRass is just an effort to keep tidy.
Do you want a cow?
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Mary-Jane
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We have five acres and have it divided (roughly) into 4.5 acres for sheep grazing - which is then subdivided into two large paddocks and one small one. The small paddock is for our two rams. The other two paddocks are then used for ewes and lambs in one and yearlings in the other. When the land needs to recover around April, we strip graze with electric fencing.
The rest is divided up into chicken run, polytunnel, kitchen garden with raised beds and a general garden area with large bed for potatoes and onions, comfrey for green manure, the compost heaps and the tool shed.
Hope that helps.
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ksia
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Cow (other livestock) would mean new skills and problems (we have enough of those already) and more commitments - seems a bit scarey to be honest.
trees for coppicing has been our main plan but so far the poor things are getting swamped by grass and need constant attention.
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ksia
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Mary-Jane - thanks - did you know about sheep before you started with them? Is it possible to say how much time they take up - say you spend 1 hour a day dealing with them/ issues around them?
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Treacodactyl
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If you don't want to use the grass for animals I'd try and find a way of planting more trees. Personally I'd go for sweet chestnut coppice as the wood is so useful at so many ages, and I'd mix in some native trees. You might prefer something usable yourselves such as ash coppice as it should be reasonably quick growing and provide excellent firewood. There are various methods of mulching that can reduce the amount of weed cover and therefore trimming. Depending on your area it could be reasonably expensive as you need to by the trees, mulch and the trees' protection. There are all sorts of tree planting methods such as direct sowing which might be worth looking into.
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Truffle
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truffles 
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Mary-Jane
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| ksia wrote: | | Mary-Jane - thanks - did you know about sheep before you started with them? Is it possible to say how much time they take up - say you spend 1 hour a day dealing with them/ issues around them? |
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...hee, hee, hee...rolls over in hysterical laughter...
Sorry ksia. *Cough, cough*
Ummmm...first you should know that all sheep are evil. Second, you should know that they have two ambitions in life - one is to follow the sheep in front of them (and they don't have a reverse gear), the other is to die (from any one of 2,569,895 possible known diseases listed on the DEFRA website).
They can go for days, nay, weeks, not needing attention...then the next second you seem to be constantly in the fields trying to sort them out (see 2,569,895 diseases above). If you have sheep, I guarantee that within a few weeks you will turn up on here, swearing profusely in CAPITAL LETTERS in exasperation.
I'll get my sheep-loving husband to pick this up when he gets home from work tonight. In the meantime many others on here, who also keep sheep, will no doubt give their opinion.
And no - we didn't know a thing about sheep beforehand... 
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boisdevie1
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PIGS. Great for turning over the ground.
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judith
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Do you need to use the ground right now? One option would be simply to get in a contractor to make hay, haylage or whatever and sell that as a crop. No need to learn any new skills for the time being.
If you take on animals without really wanting to have them, I think you will quickly find yourself resenting them and the time you need to devote to them.
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2steps
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orchard?
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sally_in_wales
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Could you short term lease some of it for horsey people to dow whatever they do on it? Sounds as if it worked ok having the farmer graze cows on it, could you offer a short term paddock arrangement?
Coppice sounds good though, so does hay
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tahir
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Hay is by far the easiest option.
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Beckyess
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Half an acre of spuds, half an acre of rhubarb, half an acre of soft fruits half and acre orchard the rest to grazing so I have some meat to go with my spuds lol!
Becky
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tahir
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How much of an area are you planting with trees/fruit?
In my experience establishment is much easier if:
a) you glyphosate the rows that you're planting your trees in, and then mulch heavily
b) plough the area and plant on vigorous rootstocks, it'll be at least a year before the grass is re established so should give the trees a decent start
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judith
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| Beckyess wrote: | | half an acre of rhubarb |
Having seen how much rhubarb can be produced in a 4' x 4' area, the thought of half an acre of the stuff is totally overwhelming!
Just think how many chickens you would need to make custard to go with it.
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JB
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Five acres. I'd plant about 4 acres as native woodland with a future aim of coppiced firewood, foraging, pig rearing etc. and use the remaining acre for crops. Some people might want a few cattle in their rotation to provide for fertiliser but in that area that means cutting back the amount of woodland.
If you need it to generate an income then letting some of it for grazing might be a way to go but it won't raise much money. If you need to raise more money then erect a few loose boxes and set up a serviced livery business.
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Beckyess
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| judith wrote: | | Beckyess wrote: | | half an acre of rhubarb |
Having seen how much rhubarb can be produced in a 4' x 4' area, the thought of half an acre of the stuff is totally overwhelming!
Just think how many chickens you would need to make custard to go with it. |
Hmmm I lurve Rhubarb, rhubarb pie and rhubarb crumble mmmmmmm. I can do loads of chickens too!
Becky
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MarkS
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Harlow carr have the national collection.
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Cho-ku-ri
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If your land qualifies you might get a grant to plant trees via Rural Stewardship grant? If they have any money left. 
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MarkS
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Although I dont think they fund things in Mayenne.
There is (or was ) a similar french scheme though
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Northern_Lad
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| Beckyess wrote: | | Hmmm I lurve Rhubarb, rhubarb pie and rhubarb crumble mmmmmmm. |
you must really love the stuff! I generally have rhubarb pie with cream and/or ice cream.
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judith
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| MarkS wrote: | | Harlow carr have the national collection. |
Of rhubarb?
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Rob R
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Re: What would you do with 5 acres? | ksia wrote: | | What would you do with 5 acres? |
I'd put cows on it, as they're least maintenance of all animals & don't need any extra feeding (I'm guessing all year grazing is possible there) providing they're kept to sensible numbers. Buy calf, turn out, fill freezer  But that's just what I'd do.
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ksia
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Thanks for all these answers....
M-J I've never read such a funny (scarey) account of sheep...they're not evil, they're cute aren't they...ok I'm obviously still a townie!
Yeah, the tree planting has definately been our favourite - it's just I want my forest today! Tahir we've not previously planted as you've suggested but I like your suggestion. I'd roughly say we've already planted up an acre with mixed trees - each hole individually dug into a thicket of grass and then sit-on mower/strimmer/clippers to keep the poor things in view...I guess this is what's worrying us. This already takes such an effort to maintain.
Judith, sound advice and yes probably just getting someone to cut it and bale will be the immediate answer.
Becky, I like the idea of all the produce and am expanding the veg plot into the field. I'm going to do loads of boring rows of strawb runners this year, just for ease of grass cutting and picking. ( I think I've enough rhubarb and spuds though!)
I recently put j.artichokes and raspbs in the field so I guess if we leave them to do their stuff we'll have less field/grass to manage!!
Thanks for all the other responses too.
We'll potter along for now. At least it has just been cut so no panic yet!
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Marionb
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Ksia..... of course sheep are cute M-J loves her sheep really, she just likes to pretend she hates them
A lot depends on what breed you keep. Dont know what breeds they have in France (I think that's where you're from?) but we keep Dorset x Texels and they are pretty good - they are fairly quiet so easier to handle, however they can be quite "solid" and take a bit of effort when turning them over for whatever reason.
And I disagree that sheep only want to die... we've only lost 2 to illness in over 20 years of sheep keeping.. admittedly we dont have many sheep but..... (and 1 of them died with no warning whatsoever so we couldnt have saved her anyway!!)
Its possible to learn as you go along but it would be a huge help to have a farmer nearby who is willing to come along and explain things, show you how to do things, etc and be there when you need advice about anything.
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tahir
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| Marionb wrote: | | Its possible to learn as you go along but it would be a huge help to have a farmer nearby who is willing to come along and explain things, show you how to do things, etc and be there when you need advice about anything. |
Absolutely
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MarkS
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| judith wrote: | | MarkS wrote: | | Harlow carr have the national collection. |
Of rhubarb? |
Yes!
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judith
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I find it somehow very reassuring that there is a national collection of rhubarb.
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bodger
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The cheapest answer to your grass surplus is a good sized flock of geese.
As long as you get them on there before the grass gets long and rank they will keep the area trimmed and neat.
You will have the bonus of producing a very tastey and saleable end product. I'd look at buying goslings at about this time of the year and at a stocking rate of between 8 and 12 per acre depending upon the nature of the land.
I'd plant the area with apple trees or whatever the locals have and then provide protection for them in the form of tree guards against the geese.
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Mary-Jane
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| ksia wrote: |
M-J I've never read such a funny (scarey) account of sheep...they're not evil, they're cute aren't they... |
Oh dear...she thinks I'm joking 
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