Hi from sunny Rotorua

We have recently moved to our much awaited 2 (and a bit) acre block about 1/2 hour from town. We are loving it! We have 10 Arapawa sheep (see post below!) and hope to have a small flock of chickens soon. We had a successful 1st lambing, even got to see a set of twins being born which was great [^].

Hubbie built some lovely big vege gardens which I sowed recently and lots of seedlings are rearing their lovely little heads!

We would also love to try our hand at beekeeping at some stage.

We are hoping to grow/trade as many of our veges as we can. Tired of freaking out at the forever increasing bill from the supermarket :eek: ! Not to mention the sorry state of their fruit and veges.

So, we are busy as, and being newbies to self sufficiency on the small block we are sure to have lots of questions for you all!!!

Take care

Hi Two Towns. You have just enough land to wish it was more, like us. You may be surprised at the production you can squeeze out of it all the same.

Welcome all the best enjoy thats what it's all about

welcome.
Rotorua is one of my favourite places

I hope that you have legal irrigation. 10 ewes with lambs seems hugely overstocked to me. You are also very close to the cobalt deficient area of NZ, so check with your vet how much and how often you should be giving the sheep cobalt drenches and or injections.
Remember that it is absolutely illegal to sell meat to anyone, or to trade it. If you sell a sheep for meat, the buyer must have cared for it on a daily basis for 28 days before he can get it homekilled for himself, so legally you cannot allow someone to kill a sheep for themselves on your property.

Ha ha, thats 10 sheep all up, including 1 ram and the 3 lambs, which are soon for the freezer!! We have already sold the other lambs to happy homes in the Waikato. We also mean only to trade veges, just to grow as many meat/veges as we can. Sorry my first post wasn't that clear.

10 counting the lambs, thus 6 ewes, seems much more possible. Why did 3 or 4 of them not have lambs? If they have no teeth, or gaps betwen their teeth then they should be sent on their OE (overseas experience) while the price is so unbelievably high.
Lambs taste better when they are not lambs. You usually get more meat, better flavour, and less risk of bacteria growing between killing and chilling if they are homekilled in the following August/September, or if wethers or ewes even that time the next year.
No apology is necessary. Even the most clear posts get sent off track by some of us on here .... not me of course

LongRidge;345494 wrote: If you sell a sheep for meat, the buyer must have cared for it on a daily basis for 28 days before he can get it homekilled for himself.

except for if they have the same type of animal in their regular care....

www.nzfsa.govt.nz/animalproducts/publica...verview-homekill.htm

it says:

• Those who can homekill are animal owners who are actively engaged in the day-to-day maintenance of the animal, or animals of the same kind, for a period of at least 28 days.
  
• Such owners may kill and process the animal themselves on their own property (includes property leased, or where there is other legal right to occupy or use the property), or they may have the animal killed or processed by a listed homekill or recreational catch service provider on the service provider's premises or place or the animal owner's own property.

i read this was so farmers can buy an animal to homekill without waiting 28 days, but can't find that reference just now....

Good spotting tonic.

Good spotting tonic. I forgot that "they" had made that change.

We have used this ruling for a long time now as we have local council who hates us having pigs and now have a bylaw to stop anyone but can't stop us just be a pain so we keep ours at another persons place and get killed there next one on Monday

LongRidge;346022 wrote: 10 counting the lambs, thus 6 ewes, seems much more possible. Why did 3 or 4 of them not have lambs?

Our ewes are 2 years old and each had a lamb, one had twins. We sold the other lambs a few weeks ago as they were not pure arapawa. We now have 6 arapawa ewes and 1 arapawa ram for breeding, and 3 x-bred ram lambs for the freezer. We are looking forward to the next lot of lambs which will be our rams progeny. Apparently Arapawa's can breed twice a year, so it may not be that far away!!