Making use of spare land

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Making use of spare land
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scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Sun Dec 19, 04 11:21 pm Post subject: Making use of spare land

I'm not sure if this is the correct place for this, perhaps Tahir or one of the other mods will move it if neccessary.

I have often wondered whether a local farmer would rent me a corner of one of his fields. Sometimes I see fields which (seem to be) unused, or underused and I can't imagine any self respecting farmer turning down some extra cash.

Before I go and knock on the farmers door, I'd prefer to be forearmed with all the facts. So, has anyone done this before? Can anyone see reasons why it might not be possible (no doubt ther is some Eurocrat red tape in the way!).

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 7:25 am Post subject:
What would you want to use it for. When you say under used, do you mean not having livestock in at all, or very often.

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 8:35 am Post subject:
That would depend on the state of the land in question. Perhaps growing some crops, or keeping some livestock on.

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 9:37 am Post subject:
In which case, I can't see a problem with it. Go and ask, you never know. It is called "keep"

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 9:41 am Post subject:
A keep? Is that a livestock keep? Can you explain more? Thanks

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28248
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 9:42 am Post subject:

alison wrote:

In which case, I can't see a problem with it. Go and ask, you never know. It is called "keep"

Keep? I guess an acronym, but I cannot figure it.

jema

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 9:44 am Post subject:
I was figuring the word Keep as in a 'Keep Net' for fishermen...

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 9:47 am Post subject:
Around here, and I assume in other areas of the country, when you rent land, for agriculture it is called keep. "I have keep at so and so's farm"

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 9:52 am Post subject:

Alison

You seem to have some experience of this sort of thing. So perhaps you can answer one or two questions.

1. Is there some reason why land which appears unused might not be

2. What sort of size of land might a typical farmer be interested in letting me have (obviously I don't want a huge field, but I want to make sure it's worth tha farmers while)

3. What sort of price might I expect to pay (I want it as cheap as possible whilst still paying a fair price!)[/i]

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28248
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 9:52 am Post subject:

alison wrote:

Around here, and I assume in other areas of the country, when you rent land, for agriculture it is called keep.

"I have keep at so and so's farm"

Us small town folk just don't understand Country talk

I was thinking it was an acronym of the general principle:

"It never hurts to ask"

One of my very first jobs was through a temp agency for a pathetic rate, once I demonstrated I could do the job competently, I went straight to the boss and said how about cutting the agency out and paying me the rate for the job. Of course this was against all there agreements with the agency, so I did not think i stood a change. But I got it

You simply never know until you try things.

jema

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 10:04 am Post subject:

When a field appears unused it may just be in the grazing rotation. We have a couple of small paddocks that only get grazed at spcific times of the year, as they are near buildings and are my emergency winter, I have new lambs type grazing, they are also cut for silage, and finally I use one of them for camping for a couple of weeks in the summer. If you hadn;t been around here when there was livestock in you would think they are never used.

What exactly do you want to do. Not all areas will grow crops, so this would depend who you contact. Also, how would you want to harvest them.

How many and what livestock are you thinking. This will determine the size you are looking for.

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 10:10 am Post subject:

I'm thinking of more land than I could get from an allotment, but not too much to handle.

In terms of use, I'm flexible. I'd probaly prefer the livestock angle, but I'm working to the find some land and use it for whatever its best suited to rather than find some land suited to a predefined plan.

If I go the livestock route I would probably be looking to keep goats with the aim of making cheese. Say upto 5 goats.

Crops would be a variety of the usual veg, spuds, brassicas, carrots beans etc. As I say the area I am looking at would not be huge so I would look to harvest by hand, but maybe a few helpers to ease the load.

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 10:14 am Post subject:
I would go for it. Approach the farms direct. Do you have a farmers market near to you. Why not speek to some of the sellers there. It is hard to determine the cost, as not everyone does it for money. I give keep, for straw. Others may work a little on the farm.

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 10:15 am Post subject:
Thanks for your replies Alison, you've been most helpful!

Joey

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 191

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 04 10:30 am Post subject:

If the land is arable. The unused fields you see may be "set aside"
It is a european CAP thing. Or it could be conservation areas or headlands to attract payments from the Countryside Stewartship scheme.
I think the term for renting land on a annual basis is called conacre.
The land is rented for one day short of the whole year. This avoids legal problems if the same person rents the land year after year.

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