1
Business Plan for Whiteley Park Farm.
1.0
This business plan is written as a document produced for all three ventures – to save
repetition. Figures and facts will be produces for each section written, If planning permission
is granted each person involved will choose which ‘ventures’ they would like to follow for
their own incomes and the rest will be divided equally with the aim that each person will gain
experience and help from one another with an equal share in any profits.
1.2
Each business is proposing to have the ability to grow vegetables and salad crops; a
fruit and nut orchard under-sown with herbs and perennial vegetables; a flock of hens and
ducks would be also kept to provide eggs and meat.
Two plots will also keep free range Gloucestershire old spot pigs, for breeding.
1.3
Mutually there is share (1/3) of the fold of pedigree highland cattle (10 mixed heifers
and cows and a stock bull as well as a share (1/3) of a flock of 100 mixed commercial ewes
for breeding offspring to produce high quality grass-fed lamb.
We also intend to grow Christmas trees (approximately 1000 trees planted at 250 a year
over the next 4 years in a half acre plot, 10 meters x 100 meters, could crop at year 2 or 3)
for the autumn market as well as geese and turkeys. Have an apiary of bees to produce
honey for the local market (5 hives), Poultry for sale as point of lay hens and a communal
soft fruit and vegetable plot to make preserves for year round sale.
1.4
Please find functional needs for the business in the document titled ‘The
development proposed is the siting of three temporary agricultural worker’s dwelling in a cooperative agricultural venture.’ – (Points 4.0 to 4.11, page 4 &5).
2.0
Highland Cattle
10 mixed cows and a stock bull – both for meat and selling pedigree heifers for breeding
purposes.
The cattle are all ready on the farm and producing young grazed on the 26 acres of open
heathland. We have 5 calves born already and are expecting another 3 before May. The
cows and bull are all registered with the Highland cattle society and are therefore pedigree
papered. We hope to show the cows eventually at local and regional shows to improve our
Fold name knowledge and therefore improve our income from selling pedigree cattle.
Highlands are renowned for their ability to live only on ‘fresh air’ (as our registered vet put it!)
and therefore require very little upkeep costs, save for worming twice a year, the vet costs
listed below are kept in a contingency fund, for emergencies as we do not envisage requiring
the vet for the cattle routinely. The vet has not had to be called out for these cattle in the two
years they have been kept here. As previously said, our sale prices for the calves we would
hope would be more in the £500 - £750 each price bracket, however the following figures are
based purely on sale prices of 10 month old calves at Bakewell market.
10 calves for sale at 10 months old x £350 = £3500
Worming costs = - £60 a year
Vet costs =
- £100 a year
Transport costs of calves = - £120
Feed costs of cattle = Nothing required as hay is cut from a rental field.
Profit = £3220
Cattle could also be kept under slaughter weight, and sold for £1800 each, however this
could take three years to achieve and we are unsure how our grazing would take to the level
of cattle grazing it at any one time.
1
2
3.0
Breeding ewes
Flock of 100 mixed commercial ewes for breeding offspring to produce high quality grass-fed
lamb + 2 rams.
The sheep are already on the farm, grazed under woodland planted areas.
At a complete lowest lambing percent of 100% (so 100 lambs from 100 sheep) we would sell
approximately 50 lambs a year to private buyers, slaughtered and bagged for £135. Of the
other 50, 25 ewe lambs would be kept to replenish stock (therefore 25 older ewes would be
sent to market as cull ewes, or sold privately to buyers starting flocks) and the other 25
would be taken to market early as store lambs.
25 Store lambs @ 2.06 per kilo (average selling price at Bakewell market 23.03.2015) @
30kg = £1,545
25 Cull ewes @ 91.55 (average selling price at Bakewell market 23.03.2015) = £2288.75
50 Private Lamb sales @ £135 = £6750
Total = £10,583.75
Abattoir costs @ £25 per head x 50 = - £1250
Transport costs = - £60
Medical costs = £500pa
Winter feed costs = £600 in grain, £0 hay as that is cut from rental land.
Shearing costs = Paid back by the National Wool Board, One resident is contemplating
learning to spin wool, so Profit could also be made from balls of yarn.
Total profit = £8,173.75
Transport costs would be reduced as cull ewes would be taken in one batch at the beginning
of the year, with the store lambs and the private sales not being taken to the abattoir until all
50 were accounted for.
4.0
Cade Lambs
Cade lambs are brought in from local farms (or off our own sheep in the event of multiple
births). They require multiple feeds a day and much care. My daughters successfully reared
60 a year at their previous smallholding, selling the meat locally or selling ewes to be bred
from.
Lambs cost about £16 in milk replacer to rear, and require hand feeding at least three times
a day for 5-6 weeks (500ml feeds, three times a day. From experience the lambs struggle to
consume more than this in one sitting, so spread out makes sure they eat their intended
1.5litres a day) – To remove the cost of milk replacer milk taken from our goats or highland
cattle could be used.
Cade lambs profit.
£16 milk x 25 lambs = - £400.
Creep feed = - £200
25 Store lambs @ 2.06 per kilo (average selling price at Bakewell market 23.03.2015) @
30kg = £1,545
Total profit = £945
2
3
4.0
Rare breed pigs
We currently have 11 pigs on site, ranging from 5 months old to 3 years old. The intention is
to increase the herd size to 14 breeding sows as time progresses. Sows are expected to
produce a litter of 8-10 piglets with piglets being sold as weaners at 8 weeks old. A local pig
keeper has offered his boar for service; however it expected that a boar would be bought
should planning permission be approved.
14 breeding sows which produce 20 pigs per year each (over two litters ea) = 280 piglets
280 progeny selling at 8 weeks old * £30.00 = £8400
Input costs = 1 kilo of creep a day for 4 weeks for the piglets (after 4 weeks old)
£6.69 per piglet up to 8 weeks old.
£6.69 x 280 piglets = £1873.20 in piglet food.
Sow input costs = 2.5kg per day per sow for the year (910kg a year)
= £217.90 year per sow * 14 = £3050.60
£8,400
-£1873.20
-3050.60
= £3476.20 Profit.
We would hope that feed costs could be further reduced with feed grown on a communal
fruit and market gardens. The figure is of the lowest estimate, There would be the hope that
piglets would sell for more than £30.00 ea (On my daughters previous smallholding, piglets
were sold privately on facebook and on the internet for £50.00 ea)
This venture would be solely run on two of the smallholdings, meaning a profit of £1738.00
PA per person would be expected.
3
4
5.0
Chicks.
One smallholding will be raising hybrid dual-purpose chicks and point of lay pullets (Amber
stars). These breeds are very popular for small flocks. Cockerels will be raised for meat and
for their role in egg production. Eggs for incubation will be purchased from a reliable contact
in Scotland. In order to have point of lay pullets ready for spring, when demand is highest,
incubation must start in November and the right temperature and humidity must be
maintained during cold winter months. This will require little power but a reliable electricity
supply. The correct temperature must also be maintained for at least 10 weeks after
hatching if POL pullets are to be retained. The first 2 weeks are critical and electric heaters
are the best option to provide constant temperature. From week 3 a wood burning stove is
sufficient. 300 eggs will be hatched per month.
Assuming 75% hatching rate, 2700 chicks will be hatched during the year: 1350 pullets and
1350 cockerels. My daughter’s previous experience has taught us that selling these chicks at
hatch is a very reliable income stream, often having repeat visitors taking 50 chicks at a
time, at £3.00 each. This particular breed can be sexed at hatch, making it a popular breed
for people wanting to rear their own chicks without the hatching element, and without the
worry of rearing a cockerel.
From 1350 pullets hatched per year, 80 over the year would be kept up until POL (18-21
weeks) and then sold for £25 a pullet. 5 cockerels a month from each hatch would be kept to
provide meat for the smallholding.
1270 chicks sold at hatch and within 3 weeks after hatch (gaining £1 a week cost from
hatch) would earn = £3810 pa.
The males would be expected to sell at 0.50p ea, for the individual meat market or for those
to rear on to grow cockerels for breeding purposes. 1210 male chicks x 0.50p = £605
300 eggs cost £80 inclusive of postage and packaging, 12 x £80 = £960
£3810
+605
-960
£3455 Profit, There would be no other ongoing costs, as all heat and electricity will be
provided by solar power or wood (that is collected and chopped from round the farm)
80 Pullets, reared until 18-21 weeks, costing approximately £10 each in feed
80 x £15 = £1200 profit.
4
5
6.0
Rare breed hatching eggs.
Each small holding will also have the option to keep rare breed show chickens, My
daughters successfully reared and bred trios of various rare breed chickens (Wyandotte’s,
Isobel brahmas) and had the work recognised in classes in the national poultry show.
They’re previous experience and work in this area allows knowledge that 6 fertile hatching
eggs are to be sold from these types of rare breed birds for as little as £12.50 per 6, to as
much as £25.00 per box of 6, Both excluding postage & packaging costs. These are sold on
such places as eBay, facebook and ‘preloved’ and then sent through the post at the buyers
cost.
If each smallholding, kept a minimum of 3 rare breed trios, (6 hens, 3 cockerels), over 5
months 630 eggs would be expected. 105.00 boxes at £12.50 = £1312.50 This figure does
obviously not involve feed or bedding costs for the breeding birds, however these are
estimated to be £584 on feed, and £50 on a sand bedding. So Profit stands at £678.50 for
three trios, my daughter kept 12 trios on her smallholding and successfully sold all eggs
each breeding season.
7.0
Eggs for eating.
will have around 40 hens from which we would assume an average of 22 eggs / day or 154
eggs/ week from December through to September after purchasing of the chickens and
housing there would be ongoing costs of feed and egg boxes of approximately £1030.00 pa.
154 eggs per week produces 25 half dozen boxes which we intend to sell at £1.60. No egg
production is assumed for two months of every year.
So 25 (boxes) * £1.60 = £40.00 a week
£40.00 x 44 weeks = £1760
£1760 - £1030 = £730 pa.
.
8.0
Bees producing honey.
Honey production will commence in year 1 with the introduction of five bee hives (and 5 bee
colonies). The intention is to sell the honey at the farm gate, or to local shops, food stores or
health shops at a slightly lower ‘wholesale’ price. Beeswax from the hives could also be used
in hand-made cosmetics. We do not expect the beehives to become profitable until later into
the establishment of the business. This is because of the investment that had to be made in
the hives and colonies.
Each Langstroth hive is expected to produce 12kg of honey a year.
Projected costs: Each Langstroth hive is costed at £124, totalling £620 for 5 hives, nucleus
of bees are priced at £210 each, totalling £1050 for 5 hives. Other costs include: hive tool,
smoker, feeder, veil, gloves which come to £130; honey extracting equipment, £300; and
additional annual costs for the upkeep of hives and combs of around £100 per year. Jars can
be bought in for 58p per 350g jar.
Projected pricing: Each 350g jar will be sold for £3.75
Honey produced each year, 60kg = 171 350g jars
171 x £3.17 = £542.07
Less costs of hive upkeep = £442.07 profit per year.
5
6
9.0
Goats.
5 Boer x goats are to be kept by one smallholding. The Goats are already at the farm.
The will be taken to a local stud goat each year to kid in February. Goat kids sell for £100
each, and usually twin.
They’re milk will be used to rear cade lambs on in April (when they’re own kids have
weaned) and to make cosmetics (lip balms) and soaps later into the business.
The goats would require twice daily hand milking, with the milk being fed to the pigs if there
was no cade lambs to rear until the soap making business could be launched.
10 x goat kids a year @ £100 each = £1000
Hay = £0 as cut from leased land
Medicine costs = £30 a year.
Stud fees = £70 a year
Profit = £900
10.0 Quality salad bags & culinary herbs.
Two half acre plots will be used to grow salad leaves and inter-planted with seasonal
culinary herbs. At any one time it is likely that just over half an acre will be used to produce
salad and herbs with the remaining beds in rotation growing green manure.
Typical salad bags will contain at least 10 varieties of the cultivated herb and salad leaf. For
example, a summer salad bag might contain the following: yellow chard, ruby chard,
coriander, oregano, sorrel, Greek cress, nasturtium, violet, butter head lettuce, and oak leaf
lettuce. A winter salad bag might contain the following: winter purslane, lambs lettuce,
rocket, spinach, golden purslane, tatsoi, mizuna, land cress, salad burnet, pak choi, leaf
radish, lambs lettuce, and mustard. A typical herb bag will contain at least 4 varieties of
cultivated herb such as chives, greek basil, greek cress, and chervil.
Using the marketable annual yield of Cos lettuce from the ‘’Organic Farm Management
Handbook (2011/12)’’ - Lettuces from the range we intend to grow weigh approximately
500g, so 670 dozen lettuces weigh 8,040 x 0.5 = 4,020 kilos. This if far more than we would
need to achieve the sales used in the projection. (Figures for Cos lettuce are used as figures
for other salad leaves are not available)
Projected pricing: Salad will be sold wholesale for approximately £12 per kilo of salad leaf in
line with current market value and will be bagged in 100g, 250g and 500g bags. 100 gram
bags will be sold wholesale to farmers’ market stall holders for £1.20 with a suggested retail
price of £1.50, or sold directly to customer for £1.50. 250 gram bags will be sold wholesale
for £3.00, to be retailed at £3.50 and 500g bags will be sold wholesale to cafes and
restaurants for £6.00. Culinary herb bags will be sold wholesale for £15 per kilo, 50g bags
will be sold wholesale for 75p with a suggested retail price of £1.50 and 250g bags will be
sold wholesale for £3.75 to cafes and restaurants.
We hope to sell an average of 40 x 100g organic salad bags per week February to January
at £1.20 (£2,304); and average of 23 x 50g organic herb bags per week February to January
at £0.75 (£820) and 10 250g organic culinary herb bags per week February to January at
£3.75 (£1,947).
costs for the salad and herb bag element of our small holding business are made up of:
packaging and labels (£275 annually), compost (£700 annually), seeds (£700 annually),
Total expenses (including packaging, compost, seeds etc every year); £1675
Total Profit =
: £3396
6
7
11.0 Market Garden
One hectare of open cultivation to grow a variety of vegetables for sale during most of the
year, with peak months during summer/early autumn. Surplus and non-marketable produce
will be used for home consumption, to produce preserves and to feed poultry or pigs.
One hectare will be cultivated using a 5-year crop rotation scheme: potato – green manure –
legumes – brassicas – root vegetables and the onion family. After harvesting, poultry will be
let out in the harvested area for a short period of time to clear and manure the soil.
Instead of buying transplants, all plants will be grown from seeds on site.
Our crop rotation plans will be developed in more detail after Year 1 taking into account local
demand and soil characteristics. Crops with a shorter production cycles will be grown during
the first two years to maximize marketable yields.
Potatoes 0.22p per kilo
Carrots 0.26p per kilo
Runner beans 2.50p per kilo
Courgettes
0.92p per kilo
Cauliflowers 0.51p each
Onions
0.46p per kilo
Marketable yields and sale prices in the table above are taken from the 2011/12 Organic
Farm Management Handbook. Labour-intensive cultivation is known to produce much higher
yields per ha compared to mechanized cultivation and we believe larger returns are possible
with labour-intensive cultivation and direct marketing.
A website could also be set up to sell these online with a local delivery service.
7
8
12.0 Agroforestry
One hectare approximately will be used to grow top and soft fruit, mushrooms on logs,
herbs and perennial vegetables, the proposed Agroforestry system will be based on a young
woodland ecosystem and will combine fruit trees, native woodland trees, soft fruit, perennial
vegetables and inoculated mushroom logs. In addition to known producers (such as apple
trees and blackcurrant shrubs) there will be unusual species and combinations will be
planted for example hardy kiwi, Szechuan pepper and groundcover raspberries. Unsold and
cosmetically imperfect produce will be preserved as chutneys, pickles, jams etc. Once again
figures for top fruit and soft fruit are based on data from the 2011/12 Organic Farm
Management Handbook. Mushrooms will be sold fresh and dried.
A website could also be set up to sell these online with a local delivery service.
13.0 Christmas trees
Approximately 1000 trees planted at 250 a year over the next 4 years in a half acre plot, 10
meters x 100 meters, crop at year 3 or 4
Trees would be planted on a sloping bank of unused area to maximise grass land on other
areas.
Trees @ £2.42 x 250 a year = £607.50
Sell @ £15 a tree from year 3 = £3750
Profit = £3750 a year
Prices taken from Yorkshire Christmas trees on their ‘buy back’ scheme.
If trees were sold retail from the farm, the price would increase from £15 to £30 a tree.
8
9
14.0
Local Farmers Markets.
Ripley – 1st Saturday of every month
Alfreton – 3rd Saturday of every month
Bakewell – 4th Saturday of every month
Belper – 2nd Saturday of every month
Buxton – 1st Thursday of every month
Derby – 3rd Thursday of every month
Heanor – 3rd Saturday of every month
15.0
Final review of profits.
Cattle =
= £3220
Ewes =
= £8,173.75
Pigs =
= £3476.20
Chick hatching =£3455
Pullets for sale at POL = £1200
Eggs for eating= £730
Honey
= £442.07
Goats =
= £900
salad bags
. = £3396
Market Garden =£6335
Agroforestry
=£8850
Christmas trees =£3750
Total =
=£43,908.02
This figure is for all businesses combined, however if we took this figure and divided it by the
three resident full time workers this would be the equivalent of £14,638 per person per
annum. This is the equivalent of national minimum wage for 43 hrs a week per person. This
figure does not include earning from any ‘rare breed hatching eggs’. (estimated to be £678.50
per person per annum)
This figure does not include the annual SFP made by DEFRA.
There are minimal costs of yearly land maintenance, the property is owned by myself with no
outstanding debts. Solar panels, machinery and most equipment are already in possession.
Any buildings needing to be built (for chickens etc) would be built by ourselves for as
minimal costs as possible to avoid impacting business earnings, and would be bought out of
capital that is already in possession so that any earnings could be paid as wages or
reinvested into the business
We are obviously not blinded into believing that these figures are achievable from year one,
The Christmas trees and bees will take until year two and three to become profitable, and we
are aware we need to find our gap on our particular market, Year one will be taken to build
our businesses, dig our gardens and manage the land in order to achieve our visions and
estimated profits in year two and three..
9
10
16.0 Simple breakdown of yearly expenditure.
£500 a year farm insurance
£275 van insurance
£20 pa rental on the 14 acres next door
£540 communications (telephone and internet access)
£1000 Fuel expenditure to markets and other events
£1000 Market stall rentals.
It is anticipated that poly-tunnels and brooder sheds will need to be built should planning
permission be approved for the residential units and further permission from the LPA would
likely be sought further into the project. However I hope you can understand that we are now
at a point in our businesses where we cannot progress any further without permission from
the council; we simply cannot set up the chicken business without being onsite or fund
anymore infrastructure without knowing that it can be protected from vandalism and theft.
10