Southland lsb

Hi all

We are new to Lsb-ing! We are a family of four, 5 lambs (lamb chops, spare ribs, mint sauce, hector and fluffy!), 2 dogs and some fish

We are looking at expanding to some chickens and beef animals, maybe even pigs. Hubby said no to the llamas, goats and peacocks however

Down in the good old south, would love to connect with other young families in the area. Looking forward to getting some helpful advice from the site and living the good life.... But the weeds.... They just grow and grow they don't stop

Thanks
The Henderson's at Little Woods

Welcome.
Firstly, how many hectares of pasture? Fertility of the soil? Previous use? Fertiliser history? Stock water availability?
2. My dogs are trained (well, sort of so lets say "supposed to be") to chase sheep and cattle. To do that they need hunting instincts. Spot was an eye dog and was supposed to stop any animal that he had his eye on from moving. Poultry tend to run off when they are being eyed by a dog, and because he did not have a soft mouth Spot bit the running animal, which was too hard for poultry and piglets.

Welcome to LSB! We all had to start somewhere - and you have the advantage of having a clever hubby, he says no to llamas, goats and peacocks, I note he did not mention ostriches!

I think to key to success is to keep it simple at first, ease your way into it, make friends with neighbours - especially if they have a tractor!.

Chickens and sheep are easy and they eat household scraps. Maybe a neighbour will pay for grazing? you can learn from them without the worry of caring for the stock. First job is to get fences and water up to scratch. You can't beat sheep netting for fencing, the old 7 wire fences, unless well maintained, are bound to let sheep get out.
Good luck!