Debts and loans

Another example of integration would be the production of fleeces for spinning if fat lamb production was the main objective. It would not be difficult to start in a small way by including a few ewes giving good quality wool in the flock of draft ewes. When shorn these fleeces could be kept back and sold privately or if preferred could be spun, dyed and knitted into the finished garment, The point to beware of is spending an excessive amount of time in producing an article which does not give a proportional financial return. If, however, you have or can find a contact who is interested in marketing this product for you at a good price, it is worth trying.

If you plan to have any kind of livestock you will have dung and bedding as waste; these are the raw materials for worm farming, This admittedly does not sound very promising at first, but has many possibilities. Freshwater angling is a well-supported sport and not all fishermen have their own garden. Worms can be sent by post giving you a large market to work with.

So in short, when planning what will be done on your smallholding, try to see any way the various projects can be linked so that the by-products or rejects from one can be used by another. The only warning is that the second project should make use of the first, but not rely on it totally so that failure of one means failure of both.

There are those that fit in well with the general ideal of smallholdings: pottery, carpentry, jewellery and other similar pursuits. In other barns you may find racing cars or electronic goods supplies and maintenance. The important similarity is that to be successful the business has to be conducted by mail order or through retail outlets, otherwise the tendency is to fulfil the local need quickly and then to rely on passing trade, possibly holidaymakers or newcomers to the district The exception to this rule is the business that is so specialist that it draws customers from all over the country - or even the world. The racing car example is of this type; although it is a strange companion to smallholding it is a good one because there are few, if any, market forces which affect both simultaneously. It boils down to the old adage dont put all your eggs in one basket.

Although we have suggested that diversity is one of the keys to success, this must not be taken to mean that your resources are to be spread thinly over a large number of disjointed and totally unrelated projects. You should have a plan with major objectives outlined. Within each area there should be as little waste as possible. For example, if goats' milk production was one of the major aims, rearing pigs could prove to be a useful sideline using up any surplus or spoilt milk. Pork is at present fetching a very poor price, but if you can reduce the cost of production by substituting cheaper feed for the expensive bagged type, you can start to see some profit.

When you have a definite idea of what you want to do, test the water with a few letters and telephone calls to possible customers, eg hotels and restaurants if you are planning production of table ducklings. You will also need to know how much (and what) a duckling eats to get it to table weight and hence calculate the cost of production.

You will almost certainly find yourself busier during some seasons of the year than others. This is when you should consider the non-agricultural side of smallholding. Smallholders through the ages have supplemented their agricultural earnings by other income (or possibly they supplemented their income by producing food and selling any excess). Traditionally, it was by what is now termed crafts using the raw materials found in the countryside and fashioning items to be used locally. Today this could mean making walking sticks if you have a good stand of hazel or possibly restoring old cars if you have the aptitude and an empty barn. These ideas may not fit in with the 'good life' idea of smallholding, but they are one of the keys to success. With the right idea and the willingness to apply yourself to the task in hand there is potentially more money to be made in a 20 ft square workshop than on a smallholding of maybe 20 acres farmed conventionally. When you enter the rural community the diversity of enterprises you find being pursued in barns and old sheds is surprising.

There is a danger when looking in from the outside to think, Well, I just put some calves in the field, they eat the grass and when they get bigger I sell them for a profit. Easy money!' Yes? No, I am afraid it does not work like that. There are the vet's bills for dehorning and castration, injections if they fall sick, milk replacer if bucket reared, cereal until they are old enough to tarn-out and, when you have successfully reared them, you find because the export trade for veal keeps the cost of young calves artificially high they are not worth much more than you initially paid for them. Don`t be put off; this is only one case, but at the moment it is true. The market fluctuates and the only way to know what is happening is to follow the market reports in the newspapers or on radio and television. It is important to understand that it is no use trying to beat the large farmer at his own game. He can buy food cheaper in bulk and can buy and sell in larger numbers, getting better deals as he does so. Try to identify a gap in the market or possibly a small-output, high-profit area supplying a specialised product. This could be anything from home smoked bacon to snail farming.

There is always a seasonal local trade for Christmas fare such as turkey and goose which is well worth following - also duckling at these should be looked on as bonuses as they are so short lived; your business should be based on less ephemeral. Do not fall into the trap of only looking to the local mark.

The modern transport network means that with careful planning you can have a national or even international market for your produce.

Choice of enterprise

Once the decision has been made that smallholding is for you, the next step is to formulate some definite plans about what you are going to do on the holding. This choice is completely personal, but must be influenced by market forces. It is useless producing unwanted goods or goods that are produced far more economically elsewhere. The choice of enterprise and the choice of location are inter-related. Having a holding in Orkney and planning to grow early spring flowers will not work out either. Of course, here the cost also plays a large part. As a general rule of thumb the better the climate the more expensive the land, but this is affected by other things like the accessibility of the area from a large conurbation. So you end up with three main considerations: what you would like to do, where it is best to do it and where you can afford to do it. There needs to be some horse trading done here, but do not decide to do something you dislike just for the sake of expediency, because you will have to do it every day.

Time spent in the library is a good investment if only to open up new lines of interest. Browsing through the sections on livestock, natural history and rural interest will usually bring something new to the surface. People have made a living from the most unlikely ventures by identifying a need and supplying it at the right price, which can be surprisingly high for specialist items. Therefore, when you are planning your enterprise, try to select things that are slightly out of the ordinary.