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Cattle in winter


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you should not have a problem with someone cutting and bailing expect to be paying about £25 per bale. you can ship hay from orkney full loads do work our cheaper but then your faced with shipping costs and either 1 or 2 ferry fares. but don't give up on your dream. number of bales per acre depends on quality of grass and fertilizer which again adds to your costs and liming. you will also need extra land to keep your animals on.  importing cows up here depending whre from may have a few issues that you will need to deal with.

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it was record breaking wet up here you would have had serious issues with doing that here. there was land at the south end that had been a dairy farm on sale recently. not sure if its sold. if you see the add for 700 acres for 30k don't even look at it its let common grazing which you will never be allowed to regain. the most you wuld get is 700 a year in rent. with the tennant having the right to buy it off you for under £20 an acre.

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iv spoken to animal health and as we are bvd and tb herd, it shouldnt be a problem, though the ferries said they might re-test them on the day they were travelling, though i didnt think that was an instant test so wasnt sure how that would help.

my foundation cows were born on shetland so hopefully they havent softened up too much down here, ha.

no, im not giving up the dream, iv had a firm offer on the house but cant accept it til iv found somewhere for us all to go. 

funnily, it was cheaper for 5 ponies, 6 goats and 7 cattle to travel to shetland than me and the kids with the car. 

there was a croft on unst with 65 acres for £100k, albeit sold, thats exactly the sort of place im looking for.

i can wait. i remember my grandmas words, " whats worth having is worth waiting for"... :razz:

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  • 2 weeks later...

its lovely but really you just as far as the north of yell minus the ferry fare. each farm is different. ours is peaty soil over gravel it gets very boggy very quickly. if the soil is thin or diffrent it may be better but a shed would still be the best. google eshaness storms

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They will be fine in spring- autumn your asking a lot of the cows to stay out. take the lessons learnt from the old crofting community if they brought there cows in then there was a very very good reason to do so. it maybe be tempting to try to keep them out all year but really not good for them or the ground.

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