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Ballacosnahan Farm History
My family have owned the 187acre farm for over 50 years with a tenant farmer. Over the last 30 years the farm has deteriorated greatly. We had a professional survey done on the state of the farm in 2012 which showed it was in a dire state. I finally took the farm back in 2013 before it completely decayed. When I took back the farm there was not a single stock proof fence left, most of the outbuildings are in a terrible state, the farm house is beyond repair, the farm was covered in metal and other rubbish. A year later we have most of the fencing replaced, the whole farm has been cleared of rubbish, many of the drainage ditches have been re-dug and now working, vast areas of gorse have been cleared and the fields have been topped properly for a second time and already thistles etc are dying back.
We plan to get this farm back to being a viable profitable business within the next 4-5 years. Eventually my daughter and son in law will take over. I am already getting a small income from the sale of my Loaghtan wool and meat and also from selling excess grass off for hay/haylage /silage. We had our first batch of wool spun 18 months ago and have been surprised at the increasing demand for it. We have almost sold all the first batch of 1500 balls and are about to get our second much larger batch done this autumn. We are supplying our wool to Manx National Heritage and Laxey Woollen Mills and sold the rest via our website locally within the UK/IOM and to places as far away as Australia and the USA.
This was to create a proper sound concrete road into the farm instead of the dirt track that became muddy and unpleasant in the winter and to rebuild the barn in a better position. We applied for planning permission to do this which was granted and this phase has been completed over 2 years ago. The tenant was still in place but agreed to this going ahead. The barn is now full of haylage for our winter feed.
In 2013 the tenant left, the first step was to replace all the fencing and clear all the rubbish. As stated earlier there was not a single stock-proof fence on the whole farm and without adequate fencing we cannot farm sheep. With a little help from a DEFA grant we have now re-fenced the majority of the farm with only one 35 acre section left to do which has been left until next year after the ditching is sorted out. Most of the rubbish has been cleared.
We needed certain equipment to run the farm and drew up a list of what we needed in order of importance. We have now got all the most important items and are now onto the items lower on the list but now have what we need to run the farm day to day. We still have to contract out certain jobs but every year the jobs contracted out gets less.
Most farms cannot generate enough income from farming alone and need to look to other ways of maximising what they have. We would like to convert the top floor of the old Granary, the one outbuilding that is in good condition to a 3 bed holiday let. The access to this has the advantage of being behind the farm yard so would not interfere with the use of the farm yard for the stock etc. We have checked with architects and structural engineers that this would be feasible. From our calculations we would recoup the outlay money within 5-7 years but it would generate a regular income to the farm for years to come.
To either convert an existing outbuilding or build an area suitable to hang, butcher our own meat and set up sausage and burger making facilities for all the less popular cuts of meat. Preliminary enquiries show there is a market for this type of special/rare products in the higher end gastro- pubs and restaurants in the UK. Also within the Island Loaghtan sausages and burgers were popular when made a few years ago. We plan to export these to the UK as this would greatly increase our market.
Become a tourist attraction with farm open days where visitors can see Manx Loaghtans up close, feed bottle fed lambs, a picnic area, farm walks, play area and eventually a cafe and farm shop selling wool, rugs, skins, knitted garments etc and if possible our own meat. There is great interest from visitors to see Loaghtans. This year alone we have had 4 large groups and several family groups arrange to come to the farm. Initially we would only open 2 days a week but if demand was there we could increase this especially in the summer months.
We have now completed phases 1, 2 and 3 and are ready to start phases 4. In 5 years time if we can realise the above we will need to employ additional help. We already employ a few people ad hoc for busy times or certain jobs. If all of the above is realised then we will require a farm labourer, people to run the cafe/ shop, butcher the meat and if our sausages and burgers take off then people to help process and package these.
Jenny Shepherd December 2014
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