Smallholding starter kit list
The calculator needs JavaScript. The worked example, formula and figures below show exactly how it works, so you can do the sum yourself. A guide based on published specs and your figures, not a guarantee.
Short answer
Worked example
| You enter | Value |
|---|---|
| Your land | 5 acres |
| Paddocks or grazing | Yes |
| Horses or ponies | No |
| Sheep or goats | Yes |
| Cattle | No |
| Pigs | No |
| Poultry | Yes |
| A veg plot | Yes |
| An orchard | No |
| Woodland or firewood | Yes |
5 to buy first, 4 to hire or borrow first, 5 for later, for 5 acres (2.02 ha)
| Kit | What it's for | When |
|---|---|---|
| Wheelbarrow, spade, fork and rake | Every job, every week | Buy first |
| Fencing pliers, a wire strainer and a manual post driver | Mending and putting up fences | Buy first |
| Electric fence energiser, tester and earth rods | Temporary fencing and strip grazing | Buy first |
| Muck fork, scraper and a sturdy barrow | Mucking out | Buy first |
| Secure house and run, and electric poultry netting where foxes are a problem | Keeping poultry | Buy first |
| Topper (or a contractor to top the paddocks) | Keeping paddocks down | Hire or borrow first |
| Pedestrian tiller or rotavator | Breaking and preparing ground | Hire or borrow first |
| Wood chipper | Chipping prunings and brash | Hire or borrow first |
| Brushcutter, with the protective kit the maker specifies | Brambles, rides and rough grass | Hire or borrow first |
| Chain harrow | Spreading droppings and opening up the sward | Later |
| Trailer | Moving animals, feed and bales | Later |
| Quad or UTV (with training and a helmet for a quad, HSE) | Feeding and checking stock across the land | Later |
| Chainsaw, only after training, with protective clothing (HSE) | Felling and cutting logs | Later |
| Log splitter | Splitting firewood | Later |
Source: our suggested order, with HSE guidance (pointers) for chainsaws and quads, checked 21 October 2026.
Show the working
- Land: 5 acres × 0.4047 = 2.02 ha
- Kit: 14 items from your land and animals (5 buy first, 4 hire or borrow, 5 later)
How it works
- Each land use and animal adds the kit it needs (fencing for grazing animals, muck tools for livestock, a tiller for a veg plot, and so on)
- Buy first: kit you'll use every week from day one. Hire or borrow first: kit for jobs you do a few times a year, until you know you need your own. Later: bigger machines once you know your jobs
- Your acreage is shown in hectares; it doesn't change the list on its own
This is our suggested order, not a rule: if you already know a job well, buy for it. Chainsaws and quads need training first (HSE).
Assumptions and sources
The figures this calculator starts from, and where each comes from. The maker's UK spec sheet and your own figures come first: change any figure to match.
This calculator has no built-in defaults: every figure comes from you or the maker's spec sheet.
| Rule | Body | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Training for chainsaw use at work | HSE | Not yet checked against the source: shown as a pointer only |
| Chainsaw protective clothing | HSE | Not yet checked against the source: shown as a pointer only |
| Training for anyone riding a quad at work | HSE | Not yet checked against the source: shown as a pointer only |
| Suitable helmet when riding a quad | HSE | Not yet checked against the source: shown as a pointer only |
FAQs
Guides
Your first year on a smallholding
The first year on a new smallholding: what kit to buy, hire or leave, jobs by season and the rules to check.
Smallholding equipment list: what to buy first
A smallholding equipment list by priority: buy first, hire or borrow, and leave until later, for your land and stock.
Smallholding machinery
The machinery a smallholding needs, from hand tools to a compact tractor, worked out from your land and jobs.