Thinking of starting a petting farm/smallholding business.ideas please?

[kellysmall87]

Hi everyone
I am thinking seriously about a smallholding business. I have no land or anything, I only have a few chickens in my yard at the moment! But, it is something I have been thinking of for a few years now. And I want to make it happen.

My ideas are to buy or rent some land and building. Then, to have sections for all the animals; chickens, maybe some pigs, goats etc. Then open a cafe on site and maybe a small gift shop where I can sell my paintings and other craft things. Then while i'm setting up all of this, I could send out posters and leaflets to schools, encouraging them to bring kids along to the farm where they can explore the petting areas; where there will be educational posters explaining the life cycles of animals, and rabbits for the younger children to pet.

I have the dream... now I need to know the basics. What do I need, what do I do to get here? Any advice appreciated!

Kelly.

 

[tbridegroom]

sounds like a good idea to bad you dont own the land to keep overhead down ....and idk if people would pay enough admittion price to cover the cost of feeding all the animals plus what it would cost to house them so their pens arent outside....alot of people try this but you never see it work out maybe since you have the diner you also want to open it might help bring people and kids then youd have to have a good ventilation system because people eating dont want to smell animals......and what would it cost to heat a barn like what you want all winter???

 

[Mattemma]

I would say you have the animals you can now,and save up for a place.Rent is just such a waste. A lot of schools will pay a person to set up at their schools.We have had people come to my kids school with rabbits,baby lhama,large birds....to name a few. Mini pigs are an interest,

I don't know about food and animals.With recent cases of ecoli infections at fair events people are reluctant even with lots of and sanitiser.

We have a local farm that has an educational center.Paid by taxes so it is free admission.They do tractor tours,and you can see a variety of animals.Party room rental costs a bit.Private owned farms have gift shops and food shops.Really busy in the fall.

Check out what is local.Check out peoples web pages.Give it a try on a small scale.See what works.Then expand.

Mini.Mini chickens,pigs,and rabbits,lol.

 

[kellysmall87]

Thanks for the replies thus far! I must point out my location...

I am in wolverhampton which is in England. Wolves (short for wolverhampton) is a city and I live on the outskirts. There's not much here farm wise; there's a local working farm run by the council so its free admission, but when I visit, I hear people moaning that there's very little animals there. Nothing to see and nothing to do..etc. There is a lovely establishment 10 miles from where I live which is closer to what I want to achieve and that seems to really do well. x