A full farm on 15 acers or less

autumnprairie

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Royd Wood said:
Sounds like a busy year for you guys
We have chickens (layers & meat), ducks, pigs, sheep, and cattle. Then there is the 2 horses (hay munchers lol) all on 28 acres + we rent a further 30 and have access to hay fields. A yard full of 1960s tractors and machinery. We have a farm store selling all our produce so life is fun but lots of hard work
Good luck and enjoy your farm
are your chickens dual birds or the meat birds that are ready in 11 weeks or less?
 

Royd Wood

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autumnprairie said:
Royd Wood said:
Sounds like a busy year for you guys
We have chickens (layers & meat), ducks, pigs, sheep, and cattle. Then there is the 2 horses (hay munchers lol) all on 28 acres + we rent a further 30 and have access to hay fields. A yard full of 1960s tractors and machinery. We have a farm store selling all our produce so life is fun but lots of hard work
Good luck and enjoy your farm
are your chickens dual birds or the meat birds that are ready in 11 weeks or less?
No meat birds at the moment as we do them on pasture moving runs 3 times a day so seasonal only. They are your11 weeks or less ones but it takes us around 16 weeks
 

autumnprairie

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Royd Wood said:
autumnprairie said:
Royd Wood said:
Sounds like a busy year for you guys
We have chickens (layers & meat), ducks, pigs, sheep, and cattle. Then there is the 2 horses (hay munchers lol) all on 28 acres + we rent a further 30 and have access to hay fields. A yard full of 1960s tractors and machinery. We have a farm store selling all our produce so life is fun but lots of hard work
Good luck and enjoy your farm
are your chickens dual birds or the meat birds that are ready in 11 weeks or less?
No meat birds at the moment as we do them on pasture moving runs 3 times a day so seasonal only. They are your11 weeks or less ones but it takes us around 16 weeks
thanks for letting me know.
 

KinderKorner

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Wow. You sound like me! :weee

I am getting married this fall as well and am wanting to get a few acres to have a small farm. I'm not so lucky to have it given to me though. We are currently looking at buying a 6 acre plot. Then we will be building a small house. Thats so cool that there is someone else out there doing the same thing!

Maybe we can share our ideas and tips as we go along. :clap


Right now I live with my parents on 12.4 acres.

I have a bunch of chickens and a herd of goats. Plus a pig, cats, and horses. But those last ones are just pets that burn through my money. *sigh*


The last year or two my family has purchased all locally grown free range beef and pork (and deer). And now we are looking into eating our chickens.

I'm so excited to start this next chapter of my life. I think 6 acres will be enough for me. Although more would be better, just can't afford it. We'll see if I can squeak by with the 6 acres. haha. Even thats pushing it.

So glad I'm not the only one out there getting married and building a house on a farm this fall.
 

ChristyMarie82

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We rent a small seven-acre farm. The barn is a LARGE converted garage. About six acres of pasture, about an acre of yard. Currently, we have six horses (three ours, three are boarder horses), three cats, three dogs, and I just bought ten chicks (I'm thinking I might buy more). I would really like a couple of calves. We're also going to be building a large coop and splitting it in sections so that we can breed rabbits in a section of it (for meat).

We'll be planting a large garden in the Spring - lots of veggies, etc.

I'm hoping to sell eggs, rabbit and chicken meat, as well as some veggies. I'm not expecting to make a ton of money, at least at first....
 

77Herford

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Ten acres can be more than enough to live off of and make a little money on the side. There are some great books out there for Organic Smal Scale farming. I wish I could think of the ones I have but I'll try and find them.
Carol Ekarius'
Small-Scale Livestock Farming: A Grass-Based Approach for Health, Sustainability, and Profit
 

PotterWatch

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77Herford said:
Ten acres can be more than enough to live off of and make a little money on the side. There are some great books out there for Organic Smal Scale farming. I wish I could think of the ones I have but I'll try and find them.
Carol Ekarius'
Small-Scale Livestock Farming: A Grass-Based Approach for Health, Sustainability, and Profit
I have that one. Very good book!
 

Siouxqie

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We live on a smidge over 3 acres, and we have LOTS of animals:

7 dogs
2 barn cats
1 rabbit
2 parrots
35 chickens
1 mini donk
2 llamas
6 goats (with more coming any day)

We will soon be adding 2 pigs, and four or five sheep. Potentially, once the mini-donk and llamas are gone, we may even get a beef steer.

Even with all of that, we still have plenty of room for a huge garden and grow a decent amount of fodder (feeder yams, beets, corn). Don't get me wrong though, we do buy grain/feed and hay for everyone. With careful planning, you can get a LOT on a very small amount of space. The big thing is the higher-density your animal population, the more careful you have to be with waste management. My husband and I plan to excavate a compost pit so we can bury more of the waste product.
 

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