Bicoastal
Ridin' The Range
New owner of a ~19 acre property in Central Virginia, 30 minutes from Charlottesville. The goal is sheep for competitive sheepdog training as well as raising the kind of meat we like eat. The property is currently fenced in mostly barbed wire that contained beef cattle. A creek running along the back is the sole water source outside of the house. I am waiting on my contract with Natural Resources Conservation Services for financial assistance with an exclusion fence along the creek, cross fencing, and installing water sources.
While I am happy to be eligible for three NRCS programs, it also means waiting until contracts are finalized and funds are distributed, anticipated in July. The delay might be just as well, since lumber prices are so high. Those in the know anticipate lumber prices will come back down in Fall 2021. Expectations are clashing with reality.
I have ordered 20 BBW turkey poults for arrival in June and two Hampshire piglets, if I can get a processing date in 2021.
My background is horses on a 100-acre corn and hay farm, a few roping steers. I have a full-time job and hope the farm can break even on livestock costs through sales and tax breaks.
Early spring farm projects are cleaning out the barn one stall at a time, repairing the tractors -then learning how to drive them!-, building a turkey brooder, rehabbing the chicken coop and run, and installing a pig pen in the woods. I might eat the costs to install a temporary fence for a handful of sheep. I will probably have to buy a truck sooner than later.



The house is older and DIY. Every stone turned over reveals a problem, so it very much needs attention. But the house does not excite me like the barn and property!
While I am happy to be eligible for three NRCS programs, it also means waiting until contracts are finalized and funds are distributed, anticipated in July. The delay might be just as well, since lumber prices are so high. Those in the know anticipate lumber prices will come back down in Fall 2021. Expectations are clashing with reality.
I have ordered 20 BBW turkey poults for arrival in June and two Hampshire piglets, if I can get a processing date in 2021.
My background is horses on a 100-acre corn and hay farm, a few roping steers. I have a full-time job and hope the farm can break even on livestock costs through sales and tax breaks.
Early spring farm projects are cleaning out the barn one stall at a time, repairing the tractors -then learning how to drive them!-, building a turkey brooder, rehabbing the chicken coop and run, and installing a pig pen in the woods. I might eat the costs to install a temporary fence for a handful of sheep. I will probably have to buy a truck sooner than later.




The house is older and DIY. Every stone turned over reveals a problem, so it very much needs attention. But the house does not excite me like the barn and property!