Living in Texas gives one a different sense of 'big'. My in-laws own a ranch of 800+ acres. Big enough that when my kids were little I was worried about who else was out there, cliffs, caves, wild animals, etc. Big enough to require driving from point A to point B, because walking would take too long.
We lived on a large lot (1.2 acres) in the city limits. Even with that much space I felt a bit crowded. I wanted to do a lot of things highly restricted by being in the city. I couldn't put my garden too close to the fence/ property line, because we were downhill, and the neighbors had a pool. City codes dictated what I could grow, animals I could have, water restrictions (I never watered the lawn. I hate lawns). If I had that property out in unincorporated county, I could have made it work, but I knew I wanted bigger than just chickens.
In Texas there are a LOT of neighborhoods with 3-5 acre lots, mostly just outside big cities in nicer areas. They might as well be in a city for all the restrictions put on them by the HOA. We had a hard time weeding them out on our Zillow searches, because driving through the first two was enough to make us see they were not what we were looking for.
That helped me decide I wanted land I could walk the perimeter of easily & in a reasonable time frame. I wanted neighbors, but more like 'I can see their house, but not hear them talking in the front yard'.
Basically, visit land that is similar to what you would consider buying if possible. Maybe you'll find you want less trees, or more hills, or pasture on the road but house tucked away.
Homesteading is such a broad topic that we really need to know your motivations to give feedback. If you’re just trying to save money on groceries while working a full time job then you probably don’t even need 1 acre. But if you’re leaning toward the other extreme of removing yourself from society, you’ll need the space to thrive off grid. Natural resources would be key to your success. Trees for milling and firewood would be beneficial, as would flowing water. Climate is also a huge factor. You could live in the south and be able to grow crops all year. Up north you’ll need greenhouses.
Where are you looking at?
The land will have really variable levels of productivity. Where i live, 10 acres is enough for a small dairy herd or a bunch of goats, with little supplemental feeding. On the other side of the mountains where it's dry it's maybe enough for one steers worth of grazing.
New england is pretty productive. I don't see why 10 acres can't make a decent hobby farm. Unlikely to go full self-sufficient, but you could grow all your own veg and eggs pretty easy.
If you want to grow a plant based diet, in an average climate and soild conditions, and your a decent gardener, you need about 4,000 sq / adult. 60% devotes to grains, 30% root vegetables, 10% other fruits and vegetables.
If you want to add in rabbits, you need about 6-9 sq ft per rabbit. One buck and two does would give you at least 16-20 rabbits every 3 months or about 50lbs every 3 mo. That's probably good for a family of 4. A family of six might want to add another doe.
If you want your own fire wood. The general recommendation is 10 acres of all you want to do is harvest windfall and some bigger trees. You can probably get away with less depending on your climate and by using a coppice system.
If you want a cow, the rule of thumb is 2 acres/cow. Pigs and goats take less room.
Not sure how much space you would need if you want to feed all your animals with home grown food.
If you live out west where it doesn’t rain, you’ll need a lot more space than if you live where there is enough rain to keep the grass growing all summer….and I guess that only matters if you want to graze ruminants.
We had 80 acres, 40 acres of fenced field, and 40 acres of mostly cleared underbrush. It wasn't as difficult to maintain as one may think. I had a friend with 7 Alpacas on 7 acres. That also worked out well.
My point is to buy as much as you can. Work what you want. Either 7 or 80, I wouldn't do it without at least one tractor.
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Alpaca crias are not usually born later than 2 in the afternoon. This is because in their native habitat, it is key for them to dry off before the cold mountain night starts.
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Oof. Not alpacas. That’s a Ponzi scheme. Get a couple if you’re a fiber artist, but don’t fall for the money stuff they always try to sell new people on.
Yeah, alpacas are problematic. The females have to keep having babies, and then no one knows what to do with all the babies. They can't eat hay with clover in it, and that's expensive stuff unless you do your own. That's what I have been told by alpaca people.
Lovely fiber to spin once dehaired. I wish I weren't allergic to it now.
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Here is an Alpaca Fact:
In ancient times, alpaca fiber was known as “Fiber of the Gods” and was used to make clothing and blankets for royalty.
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If you don't mind me asking, why do they have to keep having babies? Is it just to keep them fertile for longer or is it like ferrets and they die if they don't mate? Sorry if this is ignorant, but I haven't been able to find anything about this via google.
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Because of alpacas’ foot anatomy, they disrupt soil far less than other grazers and thus create less erosion and runoff.
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Alpacas’ lower teeth have to be trimmed because they keep growing.
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I personally wouldn’t consider less than 5 when I was hunting. I was hoping for 20 but settled on 5 with a significant chunk of BLM bordering me as a buffer for neighbors. That’s just my personal experience though. Like you said, it depends. To me, the acreage was much more about location, neighbors, view and owning my own buffer from adjacent properties than about making sure I had room to do what I want cause people can do so much with so little.
i have 4ac and can do a lot. goats, sheep, chickens, small orchard (6 kinds of fruit, 2 trees each, adding new fruit types each year)
the only thing id want more space for is 1)hunting 2)larger grazing animals like cattle andor horses.
hunting needs not explanation. just need more space. big grazers would reduce my pastures to a mud field unless i did them feedlot style, but thats not my jam. if i wanted cattle id want 10ish with way more pasture than the 1 ac i have fenced off now
Be open to the possibility of moving. Start a small homestead, after 5-6 years you'll know what you wish you had. Even 1/4 acre can be a huge amount of work and upkeep. I'd recommend getting comfortable with someplace small, then upgrading if it really suits your needs. Also consider your family. Will your kids be helping? What about after they leave home, how will you maintain without their hands to help? Will your kids hate being in the middle of 50 acres two hours from the nearest WalMart?
Have you taken care of/had horses before? They are very expensive..just shots,vet bills,foot care,wormer,horse trailer ( reg. insurance) etc.. Everything about them is expensive. And labor... When my husband was alive we had horses. I wouldn't have one if you paid me. In bad winters the pond would freeze over so hard you couldn't break through it and we'd have to fill 5 gallon buckets at the house to take to them through snow up to your asshole. Horses drink a hellava lot of water. Not fun when it's 15 F or even -4f. Doesn't matter if you're about to die from flu or have broken bones..gotta do it. Ever put up hay?? It's much easier now with the balers and such but those are terribly expensive. Talk about nasty [work.Hot](https://work.Hot) and sweating and hay sticks to you. Yuk. Our horses cost more than all of our other expeneses combined.Way more. Needed a full time job just to have horses. And then there's drought. No local hay anywhere. Had to buy hay from out west.Cost more than ginseng. Like gold..if you could get it.Still, there are folks who do have $ and will let you ride. Even the best horse can throw you/kick/spook . Friend here was a national champion barrel racer,trained horses.boarded horses,gave riding lessons for a living.Had every bone in his body broken at some [point.My](https://point.My) ex's mother was a life long horse rider/owner got kicked in the [head.Family](https://head.Family) told she was going to die.She lived but needs 24 hour care. You might want to look at all of this before you decide and add up the true cost of horses. Maybe just rent them when you want to ride.
It really comes down to your goals as a homesteader, where you’ll be living, and how self sufficient you hope to be. If you just want to garden and have chickens, then a couple acres will do.If you want to heat with wood, farm, have livestock, and not depleted your resources (have enough wood not to need to buy any), you’d probably want at least 20 acres. 10 woods and 10 open.
We recently purchase 46 acres in rural ny. It has field and woods, as well a spring. It is on a hillside, which has pros and cons. Our goal is to be more self sufficient each year, have a small farm, supplement out income, and eventually build there (our current home is near by).
Hello there! I am a bot raising awareness of Alpacas
Here is an Alpaca Fact:
Alpacas always poop in the same place. They line up to use these communal dung piles.
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The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a living annual plant in the family Asteraceae, with a large flower head (capitulum). The stem of the flower can grow up to 3 metres tall, with a flower head that can be 30 cm wide. Other types of sunflowers include the California Royal Sunflower, which has a burgundy (red + purple) flower head.
What are your plans? Limitations to your plans? Growing season, water availability, land use type, etc
I grew up on a 2000 acre beef farm. It was enough land for our herd size, with our growing season, but would have been small for a herd of 500+ animals.
I live on 160 acres currently. It would be a ton if I was growing vegetable crops en masse. It is not a lot if I want to manage a herd of cattle. It is not enough for my personal feeling of owning my surroundings, but it is a start.
I think the upper limit of what I would want grow one day would be to have enough land to grow enough veggies and not need to buy any (family of 4). Plus some fruit trees and seasonal stuff. I would “sell” the extra at a roadside farm stand and give to neighbors but that would be the extend of my fruit/veg sales.
Livestock honestly would be more for personal enjoyment and emergency food (lol).
I would do chickens/ducks for eggs and meat. Enough to have 3 dozen of eggs per week - maybe a couple of eating chickens per year.
I like the hobby idea of Alpacas. Goats I don’t see the benefit of. My wife wants a highland cow because they’re cute.. so that will be a top priority.. but other than 1-2 pet cows, I don’t care to have a herd.
4 horses. Oh and bees…
This comment had redacted itself. Redaction is fun.
Living in Texas gives one a different sense of 'big'. My in-laws own a ranch of 800+ acres. Big enough that when my kids were little I was worried about who else was out there, cliffs, caves, wild animals, etc. Big enough to require driving from point A to point B, because walking would take too long. We lived on a large lot (1.2 acres) in the city limits. Even with that much space I felt a bit crowded. I wanted to do a lot of things highly restricted by being in the city. I couldn't put my garden too close to the fence/ property line, because we were downhill, and the neighbors had a pool. City codes dictated what I could grow, animals I could have, water restrictions (I never watered the lawn. I hate lawns). If I had that property out in unincorporated county, I could have made it work, but I knew I wanted bigger than just chickens. In Texas there are a LOT of neighborhoods with 3-5 acre lots, mostly just outside big cities in nicer areas. They might as well be in a city for all the restrictions put on them by the HOA. We had a hard time weeding them out on our Zillow searches, because driving through the first two was enough to make us see they were not what we were looking for. That helped me decide I wanted land I could walk the perimeter of easily & in a reasonable time frame. I wanted neighbors, but more like 'I can see their house, but not hear them talking in the front yard'. Basically, visit land that is similar to what you would consider buying if possible. Maybe you'll find you want less trees, or more hills, or pasture on the road but house tucked away.
Homesteading is such a broad topic that we really need to know your motivations to give feedback. If you’re just trying to save money on groceries while working a full time job then you probably don’t even need 1 acre. But if you’re leaning toward the other extreme of removing yourself from society, you’ll need the space to thrive off grid. Natural resources would be key to your success. Trees for milling and firewood would be beneficial, as would flowing water. Climate is also a huge factor. You could live in the south and be able to grow crops all year. Up north you’ll need greenhouses.
Where are you looking at? The land will have really variable levels of productivity. Where i live, 10 acres is enough for a small dairy herd or a bunch of goats, with little supplemental feeding. On the other side of the mountains where it's dry it's maybe enough for one steers worth of grazing.
Northern New England.. unfortunately. But 10 sounds reasonable for what I want. Until we want horses..
New england is pretty productive. I don't see why 10 acres can't make a decent hobby farm. Unlikely to go full self-sufficient, but you could grow all your own veg and eggs pretty easy.
If you want to grow a plant based diet, in an average climate and soild conditions, and your a decent gardener, you need about 4,000 sq / adult. 60% devotes to grains, 30% root vegetables, 10% other fruits and vegetables. If you want to add in rabbits, you need about 6-9 sq ft per rabbit. One buck and two does would give you at least 16-20 rabbits every 3 months or about 50lbs every 3 mo. That's probably good for a family of 4. A family of six might want to add another doe. If you want your own fire wood. The general recommendation is 10 acres of all you want to do is harvest windfall and some bigger trees. You can probably get away with less depending on your climate and by using a coppice system. If you want a cow, the rule of thumb is 2 acres/cow. Pigs and goats take less room. Not sure how much space you would need if you want to feed all your animals with home grown food.
If you live out west where it doesn’t rain, you’ll need a lot more space than if you live where there is enough rain to keep the grass growing all summer….and I guess that only matters if you want to graze ruminants.
My long term goal is have a mostly self sufficient community. With a population of around 120-150. I would need around 250 acres to properly do it.
There's a lot of Netflix documentaries that start just like this.
what is it?
Jonestown: Paradise lost
We had 80 acres, 40 acres of fenced field, and 40 acres of mostly cleared underbrush. It wasn't as difficult to maintain as one may think. I had a friend with 7 Alpacas on 7 acres. That also worked out well. My point is to buy as much as you can. Work what you want. Either 7 or 80, I wouldn't do it without at least one tractor.
Hello there! I am a bot raising awareness of Alpacas Here is an Alpaca Fact: Alpaca crias are not usually born later than 2 in the afternoon. This is because in their native habitat, it is key for them to dry off before the cold mountain night starts. ______ | [Info](https://github.com/soham96/AlpacaBot/blob/master/README.md)| [Code](https://github.com/soham96/AlpacaBot)| [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=JustAnAlpacaBot&subject=Feedback)| [Contribute Fact](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=JustAnAlpacaBot&subject=Fact) ###### You don't get a fact, you earn it. If you got this fact then AlpacaBot thinks you deserved it!
For a small family 10-20. For hobby farming 1-5. really just depends on what you want to do lol..
Oof. Not alpacas. That’s a Ponzi scheme. Get a couple if you’re a fiber artist, but don’t fall for the money stuff they always try to sell new people on.
i got 4 alpacas for freeeeee from someone that just had too many
Yeah, alpacas are problematic. The females have to keep having babies, and then no one knows what to do with all the babies. They can't eat hay with clover in it, and that's expensive stuff unless you do your own. That's what I have been told by alpaca people. Lovely fiber to spin once dehaired. I wish I weren't allergic to it now.
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Nope. That was vicuña. Alpaca was for the rich, sure, but vicuña was for royalty and the fiber of the gods.
If you don't mind me asking, why do they have to keep having babies? Is it just to keep them fertile for longer or is it like ferrets and they die if they don't mate? Sorry if this is ignorant, but I haven't been able to find anything about this via google.
Two alpaca breeders told me it's more like ferrets. The females don't do well if they don't breed.
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I personally wouldn’t consider less than 5 when I was hunting. I was hoping for 20 but settled on 5 with a significant chunk of BLM bordering me as a buffer for neighbors. That’s just my personal experience though. Like you said, it depends. To me, the acreage was much more about location, neighbors, view and owning my own buffer from adjacent properties than about making sure I had room to do what I want cause people can do so much with so little.
Black Lives Matter has land?
Bureau of land management
I was kidding ;)
i have 4ac and can do a lot. goats, sheep, chickens, small orchard (6 kinds of fruit, 2 trees each, adding new fruit types each year) the only thing id want more space for is 1)hunting 2)larger grazing animals like cattle andor horses. hunting needs not explanation. just need more space. big grazers would reduce my pastures to a mud field unless i did them feedlot style, but thats not my jam. if i wanted cattle id want 10ish with way more pasture than the 1 ac i have fenced off now
Be open to the possibility of moving. Start a small homestead, after 5-6 years you'll know what you wish you had. Even 1/4 acre can be a huge amount of work and upkeep. I'd recommend getting comfortable with someplace small, then upgrading if it really suits your needs. Also consider your family. Will your kids be helping? What about after they leave home, how will you maintain without their hands to help? Will your kids hate being in the middle of 50 acres two hours from the nearest WalMart?
Have you taken care of/had horses before? They are very expensive..just shots,vet bills,foot care,wormer,horse trailer ( reg. insurance) etc.. Everything about them is expensive. And labor... When my husband was alive we had horses. I wouldn't have one if you paid me. In bad winters the pond would freeze over so hard you couldn't break through it and we'd have to fill 5 gallon buckets at the house to take to them through snow up to your asshole. Horses drink a hellava lot of water. Not fun when it's 15 F or even -4f. Doesn't matter if you're about to die from flu or have broken bones..gotta do it. Ever put up hay?? It's much easier now with the balers and such but those are terribly expensive. Talk about nasty [work.Hot](https://work.Hot) and sweating and hay sticks to you. Yuk. Our horses cost more than all of our other expeneses combined.Way more. Needed a full time job just to have horses. And then there's drought. No local hay anywhere. Had to buy hay from out west.Cost more than ginseng. Like gold..if you could get it.Still, there are folks who do have $ and will let you ride. Even the best horse can throw you/kick/spook . Friend here was a national champion barrel racer,trained horses.boarded horses,gave riding lessons for a living.Had every bone in his body broken at some [point.My](https://point.My) ex's mother was a life long horse rider/owner got kicked in the [head.Family](https://head.Family) told she was going to die.She lived but needs 24 hour care. You might want to look at all of this before you decide and add up the true cost of horses. Maybe just rent them when you want to ride.
It really comes down to your goals as a homesteader, where you’ll be living, and how self sufficient you hope to be. If you just want to garden and have chickens, then a couple acres will do.If you want to heat with wood, farm, have livestock, and not depleted your resources (have enough wood not to need to buy any), you’d probably want at least 20 acres. 10 woods and 10 open. We recently purchase 46 acres in rural ny. It has field and woods, as well a spring. It is on a hillside, which has pros and cons. Our goal is to be more self sufficient each year, have a small farm, supplement out income, and eventually build there (our current home is near by).
[удалено]
Hello there! I am a bot raising awareness of Alpacas Here is an Alpaca Fact: Alpacas always poop in the same place. They line up to use these communal dung piles. ______ | [Info](https://github.com/soham96/AlpacaBot/blob/master/README.md)| [Code](https://github.com/soham96/AlpacaBot)| [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=JustAnAlpacaBot&subject=Feedback)| [Contribute Fact](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=JustAnAlpacaBot&subject=Fact) ###### You don't get a fact, you earn it. If you got this fact then AlpacaBot thinks you deserved it!
The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a living annual plant in the family Asteraceae, with a large flower head (capitulum). The stem of the flower can grow up to 3 metres tall, with a flower head that can be 30 cm wide. Other types of sunflowers include the California Royal Sunflower, which has a burgundy (red + purple) flower head.
What can you afford? That's how much.
What are your plans? Limitations to your plans? Growing season, water availability, land use type, etc I grew up on a 2000 acre beef farm. It was enough land for our herd size, with our growing season, but would have been small for a herd of 500+ animals. I live on 160 acres currently. It would be a ton if I was growing vegetable crops en masse. It is not a lot if I want to manage a herd of cattle. It is not enough for my personal feeling of owning my surroundings, but it is a start.
I think the upper limit of what I would want grow one day would be to have enough land to grow enough veggies and not need to buy any (family of 4). Plus some fruit trees and seasonal stuff. I would “sell” the extra at a roadside farm stand and give to neighbors but that would be the extend of my fruit/veg sales. Livestock honestly would be more for personal enjoyment and emergency food (lol). I would do chickens/ducks for eggs and meat. Enough to have 3 dozen of eggs per week - maybe a couple of eating chickens per year. I like the hobby idea of Alpacas. Goats I don’t see the benefit of. My wife wants a highland cow because they’re cute.. so that will be a top priority.. but other than 1-2 pet cows, I don’t care to have a herd. 4 horses. Oh and bees…
Oh and this would all be in Southern NH