TOP TIPS FOR NEWBIES

Are you thinking of keeping pigs in 2020? Liz Shankland answers the top 10 questions asked by would-be pig keepers

Why The Good Life has never been more apt

As the Brexit debate rumbles on, we all need to take a long hard look at self-sufficiency, says Adam Henson

Proud as a peacock

Sussanne Chambers runs one of the largest peafowl operations in the UK. Debbie Kingsley meets her and her colourful charges

A Beginners Guide To Alpacas

How can you start a happy, healthy alpaca herd from scratch? Lydia Tewkesbury finds out

Safety First!

During the past decade almost one person a week has been killed as a direct result of agricultural work in the UK, with many more seriously injured or made ill by their work. Charlotte Cooper investigates the relevance of these figures to smallholders.

All Kinds Of Everything

The Freeman family has managed to pack a punch within its eight acres, growing a raft of conventional and unconventional vegetables and keeping livestock too. Susie Kearley pays them a visit

A Fowl Future?

Man has created a commercial hellhole for the chicken and so, asks Andy Cawthray, what does the rest of the 21st century and beyond hold for this most unassuming of creatures?

Gaining The Upper Hand

Smallholders’ hands have to cope with wet, cold, mud and worse 365 days a year. Debbie Kingsley wonders how to keep busy working hands healthy.

Write It Down!

In the third part of our series on successful breeding, Jack Smellie considers record keeping and how it can be fun, useful and reassuring

Poultry With Pride

This month: Rearing, slaughtering and dressing poultry

Super Shetlands

Debbie Kingsley talks to smallholder Becci Helm about her sheep choice

Keeping Lamb Local

Donald is making a success of selling local produce from his croft on the Isle of Lewis

So Rewarding!

Jacqui and Alan Pateman-Jones gave up city careers for the country – and they just love keeping animals

Clearing Out

As winter draws closer, Liz Shankland has been looking at ways of making life less stressful at her new smallholding.

A Great Goat Choice

Debbie Kingsley talks to smallholder Jillian Osborne of Penrhiw Pygmy Goats

Fruit Bushes For Free

Get a cutting, and away you go...

Back To The Land

Kevin Alviti loved his upbringing on a farm and was determined to give his children the same opportunity. He now has a thriving smallholding

What Skills?

In her series for beginners, Debbie Kingsley considers whether you need any particular skills to be a smallholder

Care Of Newborn Animals

Observe some key principles during the birthing process

The Blue Texel

Debbie Kingsley talks to sheep keepers Steven and Hannah Payne about their Tordown flock

The Long View

In the fourth and final part of his series on time management on the smallholding, Tim Tyne considers how to plan for the longer term

It's A Pigs' Life

Shropshire smallholder Sam Gray takes her sow and piglets to a festival

A Fruitful Weekend

Preserve-making days at Otter Farm, Devon

Bee Aware

Kim Stoddart seeks out readers’ comments about beekeeping

Time For A Break

Debbie Kingsley takes us through the year on her Devon farm

Choice Chipper

This new woodchipper is just the job for smallholders

Bird Flu Restrictions Eased in Most Areas

BLACK GOLD Every year a business in the South West creates more than 35,000 tonnes of compost through green garden waste that is collected and processed from all over the region.Coastal Recycling currently works with more than 30 farms across Devon to produce an organic soil conditioner for farmland and fields as an environmentally beneficial alternative to sewage sludge or chemical fertilisers. MORE: http://www.coastaluk.co.uk

Breeding Success

To launch a new series, Jack Smellie asks what successful breeding actually means and what we can do to achieve it

Ice Cream Dream

Sam Bullingham and Katie Bray make luxury ice creams at their Devon dairy… and it is seriously delicious. They talked to Andrei Szerard

Health Planning

Jack Smellie concludes her feature series on health planning on the smallholding