ENSJ
Chillin' with the herd
What would your dream farm be? If you had unlimited resources and all the time in the world (plus enough people to help with whatever size operation you wanted).
Mine is the following. I'd like a holistic farm, actually more like a commune because I'd like enough land to house people for free (only pay for utilities) who work there so they can save more of their wages. Ideally I'd be able to help out in all sectors, but I'd have specialists in each sector working there.
Principles used: Permaculture, syntropic, agroforestry, rewilding
Size: 200+ acres (I would need a TON of land for my ideal set up)
Location: I'm from Belgium, but most agricultural land is bought up by large farms that are mono- and dualcultured. Sweden has a similar climate but less rain and more open country.
Marketing: Short chain, CSA style with on-site store and farmer markets. Workshops would also be organised to educate the public (milking masterclass, making dairy products, composting workshop....) and events would be organised every season to connect the public with the farm (easter hunt, summer harvest festival, halloween and winter fair). Every two weeks I'd host a social restaurant where people low on funds can have a three course meal.
Housing: I'd prefer an L-sized farmhouse. One side is only a ground floor housing a kitchen/living space, half bath. The other side would have a ground floor and one story. The ground floor would house a library, office, bedroom and attached bathroom. The second floor would have an appartment (separate entrance from outside but also possible to enter inside via staircase) with 2 bedrooms. I would offer this appartment to my grandparents when they can't live alone anymore and need more help.
Next to the house I'd have a Japanese garden with a swim pond, a home gym with wellness (see Revonia cellars for what I'd have in mind), and two small guest houses incorporated into this garden.
In front of the house there'd be small yard where I have some linden trees, flowers, herbs and a chicken coop for 6-10 hens for my own supply of eggs.
Behind the house there'd be a terrace with a shed (used for grooming dogs), and an in/outdoor kitchen connected to root cellars. These root cellars would have different rooms, one for veggies, one for fruit, a middle one connecting these two for processing things (also the one connecting to the kitchen). The middle root cellar room would also connect to a meat room and cheese cave.
Infrastructure (buildings...):
The first barn you'd see is an L-shaped one (actually two barns attached to each other with a covered porch). One side is turned into a farm store and café (cheap drinks and light snacks). This side would also house a small bakery, creamery and meat shop to process products.
The other side would have a polyvalent room I'd use for events, workshops and education. This room has a view (which can be closed off) into the cow milk parlour.
In front of this barn is a terrace where people can sit outside. Next to that terrace there'd be small orchard with dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees and some geese.
Parallel to the store barn but behind it is a garage shed where I keep the larger machinery and tools (think small tractor, small combine harvester, pulling carts...). This also has a garage section that can be used for repairs on machinery.
In the middle section of the property there are the barns (in between pastures) for livestock. There'd be a full barn for cattle. Two barns for goats, plus lean-tos to house goat bucks away from the does. A barn for sheep, plus lean-tos in the pastures. Sheds for pigs and a stable for horses.
There would also be coops for clan and line breeding chickens, plus larger coops for non-breeding egg-layers and bachelor pads for roosters and meat chickens.
Also coops for geese and ducks.
A rabbitry, set up for colony breeding would also be there. The bucks would be housed inside in large hutches with a run outside and the does would be in a large in- and outdoor setting. The kits, when sexed would be separated in other large pens to finish growing before processing.
In the back of the property, far away from the rest of the fowl I'd have aviaries for game birds. Quail, pheasant and partridges. I'd also consider a coop for guinea fowl if the place was large enough that they don't run into too many chickens.
In the meadows I'd have bee stalls for their hives as well as a shed where I can collect their honey and beeswax and pollen and process them.
Nex to the wood forest I'd have a small lumber yard, with an attached woodshop, blacksmith shop and pottery. Around here I'd also keep the mobile abbatoirs (which can be rented out to other farms in the neighbourhood). I'd have one for poultry, one for cattle and pigs and one for sheep and goats. There'd also be a tannery there to process the hides and furs and a small fiber mill to process the fiber from sheep and goats.
There would be a vermicompost installation as well as an aquaponics building where I raise fish and rice.
The storage sheds for the produce would include one where we keep fruit with a cider brewery attached to it. This brewery would also have equipment to make apple cider vinegar and normal fruit juices. Also a corn crib and a granary with a mill attached. These two larger storage sheds would be connected in the middle with a space where you can package items etc.
On the property there would also be greenhouses. Some lath houses as well. And dry compost toilets around the property for visitors and workers (with running water for hand washing off course).
Other structures I'd keep woud be mews for hawks and falcons I'd fly to keep birds off the orchards and to hunt with. There'd also be barn that is equipped for a vet so that animals can be treated on site by a visiting vet and be quarantined if necessary.
I'd also have a mobile milk parlour to make it easier to milk the sheep in the fields. The cows would be in the milk parlour attached to the farm store and the goats would have their separate parlour in their barn.
Of course a solar array and several working wells would also be necessary. (I'd also cover a lot of buildings with solar panels). In my ideal world there are already good batteries that turn solar energy into hydrogen to store for long term use. Good internet would also be necessary off course.
Land:
The land would be diverse. There'd be pastures of course for holistic rotational grazing. The guineas, chickens, ducks and geese would be allowed to free range. The pheasants and partridges would have large flight pens to house them in (they can enter these from their aviaries). The quail would be kept in aviaries.
There'd be enough land for this pasture and to grow corn, grains and hay and straw.
Vegetable patches would be either in ground (for animal feed) and in raised beds (for sale). I'd combine these with fruit bushes and herbs.
As said before, there'd be heathland and meadows for bees and wildlife. Some ponds would be added here as well (for fish, geese and wildlife). There would also be ponds in the large park/food forest. Here I'd house geese and ducks. In this forest there'd also be a sensory garden for dogs, a playground for children and walking trails.
Another forest would hold trees used for nuts (pecan, walnut, hazelnut, hickory...) and lumber. Some pigs would also be put out here for free ranging. In this forest ther'd also be streams and ponds for fish.
There would also be orchards (apples, nectarines, pears, cherries, peaches...). My climate is too cold for citrus so I wouldn't have those.
Animals:
Now for the animals I'd like to keep, preferably I'd be able to keep enough of each breed to sustainably keep my production running):
* Chickens for meat and eggs: White Leghorn, Sussex, Barred Plymouth Rock, Black Copper Maran, Buff Orpington, Australorp, Wyandotte, Welsummer, Salmon Faverolles, Deathlayer, Cream Legbar, Silverrund Blue (or Isbar as it's also known), Bielefelder, Barnevelder, Penedesenca, Braekel, Campine, Vorwerk, Lakenvelder, Easter Egger.
I'd keep a large flock for just eggs and some breeding pairs (line and clan breeding for some breeds). There are definitely some breeds on there I'd keep for conservancy purposes such as the Deathlayer.
* Ducks for meat and eggs: Aylesbury, Silver Appleyard, Buff Orpington, Saxony, Swedish Blue, Magpie, Cayuga, Eend van Vorst (one of my country's heritage breeds and endangered)
* Geese for meat, eggs and down: Embden, Pilgrim, Flemish goose, Brecon Buff, Roman (the non-tufted version).
* Pheasants for meat: Ring-necked Pheasant and SIlver Pheasant. Other pheasants I'd like to keep are the Green (Japanese) Pheasant, the Copper Pheasant and the Mikado Pheasant.
* Quail for meat and eggs: African Harlequin, Chinese, Japanese, Bobwhite
* Partridges for meat: Bamboo partridge, Red-legged partridge and Gray partridge
* Guinea fowl for meat if I have enough space so they have less chance of running into free range chickens.
* My predator birds: Peregrine falcon, Goshawk, Red-Tailed hawk, Harris Hawks
* Rabbits for meat and fur: Champagne d'Argent, Belgian Hare, Harlequin, Belgian Beveren, Stone rabbit (the oldest endemic breed of my country). I'd have large hutches for the bucks with their own runs and a indoor/outdoor colony setting for the does and their kits. The kits would be separated when sexed and put into different pens (one for bucks, one for does) until processing.
* Rabbits I'd keep as pets: Holland Lop, Dwarf Hotot, Dwarf rabbits
* Goats (preferably smaller sized versions of the standard breeds by crossing with Nigerian dwarf bucks. I'd keep one herd of pure Nigerian, then a herd of the sweeter tasting mini breeds, then a herd of the swiss style mini breeds, meat and fiber goats are also in separate herds) for dairy:
So a herd of Nigerian Dwarfs. Then a herd of mini Nubian and Golden Guernsey. Then a herd of mini Toggenburg, Oberhalsi, British Alpine, Saanen and Sables.
* Goats for meat: Kinder
* Goats for fiber: Pygora and Nigora
* Pigs for meat and lard: Kunekune, Berkshire, Tamworth, optional Hampshire.
I'd keep two females and one male plus one whether for each breed. Them and their offspring would all be pasture raised.
* Cattle for dairy and meat (also the smaller sized versions): Jersey, Belted Galloway, Belfair/Belmont, optional Dexters.
I'd keep 10 cows for dairy (Jersey) and about 4 Galloways for meat specifically. I'd cross the Jerseys with the Dexter for a good dual purpose breed (Belfair) that leans towards dairy production. Breeding for pure Jerseys would be done through AI, for the crosses with a Dexter bull. Galloway I'm on the fence between AI or a bull on the property.
* Sheep for meat and fiber: Mini Cheviot (I believe this is the Brecknock Hill breed) and Black Welsh Mountain sheep. 15 females of each with a ram for breeding. (rams housed separately from the ewes outside breeding season)
* Sheep for meat, fiber and milk: Icelandics. I'd keep a herd of 30 females with a ram.
* Horses for milk, riding and draft work: I'd love to have a couple of Icelandic horses. Other breeds I'm interested in for draft work are the Fjord, Haflinger and Finnhorse.
* Mini donkey's to keep the meat sheep company mostly and because they are cute. Probably 2 jennies and 1 jack.
* Fish for the fish streams and ponds: Trout (brook, rainbow, brown), Salmon (probably Atlantic or Pink), Crucian Carp, Bass, Bream, Perch
* Fish for aquaponics: Tilapia, Sunfish, Shrimp (grey and pink)
* Bees: Honey bees, not sure yet on which species.
* Insects (for feeding animals and vermicompost: Tiger worms, Mealworms, Crickets, Waxworms...
* Barn cats
* Dogs for guarding: Old German Shepherd, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Belgian Malinois
* Dogs for company: Toller, Northern Inuit Dog
* Dogs for herding: Australian Shepherd, Koolies
* Dogs for hunting: German Shorthaired Pointer, French Brittany, Welsh Springer Spaniel, Viszla (Tollers are also gun dogs so they could be here as well)
* Dogs for livestock guarding: Maremma, Kuvasz/Akbash
So yes. This would be my ideal dream farm. I'd do the majority of the administration and have some bookkeeprs to keep on track with the financials and taxes. Preferably I'd be knowledgeable in everything for a bit so I can rotate around the farm helping out (and jump in when someone is sick/on vacation). What would yours be?
Mine is the following. I'd like a holistic farm, actually more like a commune because I'd like enough land to house people for free (only pay for utilities) who work there so they can save more of their wages. Ideally I'd be able to help out in all sectors, but I'd have specialists in each sector working there.
Principles used: Permaculture, syntropic, agroforestry, rewilding
Size: 200+ acres (I would need a TON of land for my ideal set up)
Location: I'm from Belgium, but most agricultural land is bought up by large farms that are mono- and dualcultured. Sweden has a similar climate but less rain and more open country.
Marketing: Short chain, CSA style with on-site store and farmer markets. Workshops would also be organised to educate the public (milking masterclass, making dairy products, composting workshop....) and events would be organised every season to connect the public with the farm (easter hunt, summer harvest festival, halloween and winter fair). Every two weeks I'd host a social restaurant where people low on funds can have a three course meal.
Housing: I'd prefer an L-sized farmhouse. One side is only a ground floor housing a kitchen/living space, half bath. The other side would have a ground floor and one story. The ground floor would house a library, office, bedroom and attached bathroom. The second floor would have an appartment (separate entrance from outside but also possible to enter inside via staircase) with 2 bedrooms. I would offer this appartment to my grandparents when they can't live alone anymore and need more help.
Next to the house I'd have a Japanese garden with a swim pond, a home gym with wellness (see Revonia cellars for what I'd have in mind), and two small guest houses incorporated into this garden.
In front of the house there'd be small yard where I have some linden trees, flowers, herbs and a chicken coop for 6-10 hens for my own supply of eggs.
Behind the house there'd be a terrace with a shed (used for grooming dogs), and an in/outdoor kitchen connected to root cellars. These root cellars would have different rooms, one for veggies, one for fruit, a middle one connecting these two for processing things (also the one connecting to the kitchen). The middle root cellar room would also connect to a meat room and cheese cave.
Infrastructure (buildings...):
The first barn you'd see is an L-shaped one (actually two barns attached to each other with a covered porch). One side is turned into a farm store and café (cheap drinks and light snacks). This side would also house a small bakery, creamery and meat shop to process products.
The other side would have a polyvalent room I'd use for events, workshops and education. This room has a view (which can be closed off) into the cow milk parlour.
In front of this barn is a terrace where people can sit outside. Next to that terrace there'd be small orchard with dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees and some geese.
Parallel to the store barn but behind it is a garage shed where I keep the larger machinery and tools (think small tractor, small combine harvester, pulling carts...). This also has a garage section that can be used for repairs on machinery.
In the middle section of the property there are the barns (in between pastures) for livestock. There'd be a full barn for cattle. Two barns for goats, plus lean-tos to house goat bucks away from the does. A barn for sheep, plus lean-tos in the pastures. Sheds for pigs and a stable for horses.
There would also be coops for clan and line breeding chickens, plus larger coops for non-breeding egg-layers and bachelor pads for roosters and meat chickens.
Also coops for geese and ducks.
A rabbitry, set up for colony breeding would also be there. The bucks would be housed inside in large hutches with a run outside and the does would be in a large in- and outdoor setting. The kits, when sexed would be separated in other large pens to finish growing before processing.
In the back of the property, far away from the rest of the fowl I'd have aviaries for game birds. Quail, pheasant and partridges. I'd also consider a coop for guinea fowl if the place was large enough that they don't run into too many chickens.
In the meadows I'd have bee stalls for their hives as well as a shed where I can collect their honey and beeswax and pollen and process them.
Nex to the wood forest I'd have a small lumber yard, with an attached woodshop, blacksmith shop and pottery. Around here I'd also keep the mobile abbatoirs (which can be rented out to other farms in the neighbourhood). I'd have one for poultry, one for cattle and pigs and one for sheep and goats. There'd also be a tannery there to process the hides and furs and a small fiber mill to process the fiber from sheep and goats.
There would be a vermicompost installation as well as an aquaponics building where I raise fish and rice.
The storage sheds for the produce would include one where we keep fruit with a cider brewery attached to it. This brewery would also have equipment to make apple cider vinegar and normal fruit juices. Also a corn crib and a granary with a mill attached. These two larger storage sheds would be connected in the middle with a space where you can package items etc.
On the property there would also be greenhouses. Some lath houses as well. And dry compost toilets around the property for visitors and workers (with running water for hand washing off course).
Other structures I'd keep woud be mews for hawks and falcons I'd fly to keep birds off the orchards and to hunt with. There'd also be barn that is equipped for a vet so that animals can be treated on site by a visiting vet and be quarantined if necessary.
I'd also have a mobile milk parlour to make it easier to milk the sheep in the fields. The cows would be in the milk parlour attached to the farm store and the goats would have their separate parlour in their barn.
Of course a solar array and several working wells would also be necessary. (I'd also cover a lot of buildings with solar panels). In my ideal world there are already good batteries that turn solar energy into hydrogen to store for long term use. Good internet would also be necessary off course.
Land:
The land would be diverse. There'd be pastures of course for holistic rotational grazing. The guineas, chickens, ducks and geese would be allowed to free range. The pheasants and partridges would have large flight pens to house them in (they can enter these from their aviaries). The quail would be kept in aviaries.
There'd be enough land for this pasture and to grow corn, grains and hay and straw.
Vegetable patches would be either in ground (for animal feed) and in raised beds (for sale). I'd combine these with fruit bushes and herbs.
As said before, there'd be heathland and meadows for bees and wildlife. Some ponds would be added here as well (for fish, geese and wildlife). There would also be ponds in the large park/food forest. Here I'd house geese and ducks. In this forest there'd also be a sensory garden for dogs, a playground for children and walking trails.
Another forest would hold trees used for nuts (pecan, walnut, hazelnut, hickory...) and lumber. Some pigs would also be put out here for free ranging. In this forest ther'd also be streams and ponds for fish.
There would also be orchards (apples, nectarines, pears, cherries, peaches...). My climate is too cold for citrus so I wouldn't have those.
Animals:
Now for the animals I'd like to keep, preferably I'd be able to keep enough of each breed to sustainably keep my production running):
* Chickens for meat and eggs: White Leghorn, Sussex, Barred Plymouth Rock, Black Copper Maran, Buff Orpington, Australorp, Wyandotte, Welsummer, Salmon Faverolles, Deathlayer, Cream Legbar, Silverrund Blue (or Isbar as it's also known), Bielefelder, Barnevelder, Penedesenca, Braekel, Campine, Vorwerk, Lakenvelder, Easter Egger.
I'd keep a large flock for just eggs and some breeding pairs (line and clan breeding for some breeds). There are definitely some breeds on there I'd keep for conservancy purposes such as the Deathlayer.
* Ducks for meat and eggs: Aylesbury, Silver Appleyard, Buff Orpington, Saxony, Swedish Blue, Magpie, Cayuga, Eend van Vorst (one of my country's heritage breeds and endangered)
* Geese for meat, eggs and down: Embden, Pilgrim, Flemish goose, Brecon Buff, Roman (the non-tufted version).
* Pheasants for meat: Ring-necked Pheasant and SIlver Pheasant. Other pheasants I'd like to keep are the Green (Japanese) Pheasant, the Copper Pheasant and the Mikado Pheasant.
* Quail for meat and eggs: African Harlequin, Chinese, Japanese, Bobwhite
* Partridges for meat: Bamboo partridge, Red-legged partridge and Gray partridge
* Guinea fowl for meat if I have enough space so they have less chance of running into free range chickens.
* My predator birds: Peregrine falcon, Goshawk, Red-Tailed hawk, Harris Hawks
* Rabbits for meat and fur: Champagne d'Argent, Belgian Hare, Harlequin, Belgian Beveren, Stone rabbit (the oldest endemic breed of my country). I'd have large hutches for the bucks with their own runs and a indoor/outdoor colony setting for the does and their kits. The kits would be separated when sexed and put into different pens (one for bucks, one for does) until processing.
* Rabbits I'd keep as pets: Holland Lop, Dwarf Hotot, Dwarf rabbits
* Goats (preferably smaller sized versions of the standard breeds by crossing with Nigerian dwarf bucks. I'd keep one herd of pure Nigerian, then a herd of the sweeter tasting mini breeds, then a herd of the swiss style mini breeds, meat and fiber goats are also in separate herds) for dairy:
So a herd of Nigerian Dwarfs. Then a herd of mini Nubian and Golden Guernsey. Then a herd of mini Toggenburg, Oberhalsi, British Alpine, Saanen and Sables.
* Goats for meat: Kinder
* Goats for fiber: Pygora and Nigora
* Pigs for meat and lard: Kunekune, Berkshire, Tamworth, optional Hampshire.
I'd keep two females and one male plus one whether for each breed. Them and their offspring would all be pasture raised.
* Cattle for dairy and meat (also the smaller sized versions): Jersey, Belted Galloway, Belfair/Belmont, optional Dexters.
I'd keep 10 cows for dairy (Jersey) and about 4 Galloways for meat specifically. I'd cross the Jerseys with the Dexter for a good dual purpose breed (Belfair) that leans towards dairy production. Breeding for pure Jerseys would be done through AI, for the crosses with a Dexter bull. Galloway I'm on the fence between AI or a bull on the property.
* Sheep for meat and fiber: Mini Cheviot (I believe this is the Brecknock Hill breed) and Black Welsh Mountain sheep. 15 females of each with a ram for breeding. (rams housed separately from the ewes outside breeding season)
* Sheep for meat, fiber and milk: Icelandics. I'd keep a herd of 30 females with a ram.
* Horses for milk, riding and draft work: I'd love to have a couple of Icelandic horses. Other breeds I'm interested in for draft work are the Fjord, Haflinger and Finnhorse.
* Mini donkey's to keep the meat sheep company mostly and because they are cute. Probably 2 jennies and 1 jack.
* Fish for the fish streams and ponds: Trout (brook, rainbow, brown), Salmon (probably Atlantic or Pink), Crucian Carp, Bass, Bream, Perch
* Fish for aquaponics: Tilapia, Sunfish, Shrimp (grey and pink)
* Bees: Honey bees, not sure yet on which species.
* Insects (for feeding animals and vermicompost: Tiger worms, Mealworms, Crickets, Waxworms...
* Barn cats
* Dogs for guarding: Old German Shepherd, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Belgian Malinois
* Dogs for company: Toller, Northern Inuit Dog
* Dogs for herding: Australian Shepherd, Koolies
* Dogs for hunting: German Shorthaired Pointer, French Brittany, Welsh Springer Spaniel, Viszla (Tollers are also gun dogs so they could be here as well)
* Dogs for livestock guarding: Maremma, Kuvasz/Akbash
So yes. This would be my ideal dream farm. I'd do the majority of the administration and have some bookkeeprs to keep on track with the financials and taxes. Preferably I'd be knowledgeable in everything for a bit so I can rotate around the farm helping out (and jump in when someone is sick/on vacation). What would yours be?
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