Farming on 1 acre or less - Hints, Ideas, Failures, Post it all

[SuburbanFarmChic]

So I thought I would start a thread for people that are trying to backyard farm on 1 acre or less. Post what works, what doesn't, what your successes or failures are. Hints, ideas and suggestions welcome!


We are on 1/2 an acre with the house roughly at the center. There is a garage on the back left hand corner which we call the upper part the the yard. We're on a slight hill.


We get a LOT of wind and are fairly open with a southernish exposure so wind/solar power are on our dream list.

We have a small rabbit area and way too many goats at the moment due to taking in bottle babies to flip.

We have 4 apple trees, 2 pear trees, and one peach. The pear and peach are blooming this week.

We also have a small coop with 4 slacker hens in it. Our big coop took a major wind hit last fall and we chicken liquidated. Rebuilding and restocking this spring. Maybe.


Things I wish I had done.

Put the goats on the cruddiest part of the yard even though it is closer to the neighbor because we could be gardening the nice flat spot that they have now.

Put the farm animal supplies storage shed inside the fenced part of the yard so I have less gates to go through loaded w/ buckets.

Put the water collection tank on the uphill downspout. That water goes more for the garden than the animals and gravity feed will only get you so far. Then it's bucket time. I may drain and move it this summer.

Put in a row of divider posts to separate the goat area in 1/2 for when we have a buck. (that is happening this Spring)

Built a separate cage, stall, house, etc for milking. I have WAY too much help when I try and milk.


Things that work.

Having the goats visible with the electric fence CLEARLY labeled. We get lots of neighborhood people dropping by with "can I feed the goats x, can I buy the little one, can my daughter pet the gray one, do you have any eggs for sale, can I buy a rabbit, do you want my pumpkins/christmas tree/yard clippings, etc" They are a draw and we are slowly converting those around us to be backyard farmers. There are now 2 other people in our "development" that have goats and the family kitty corner to us now has chickens.

Keeping a quieter rooster and selling fertile eggs for 5.00 a dozen. Just as backyard crosses of brown egg layers. Helps the chickens pay for themselves and I don't have to deal with chicks and egg turning. If I do feel like doing peeps, then the mixed pullets sell for 5.00 each and the roosters go to freezer camp when they are of age. Or put them on CL for that same purpose at 3-4.00 each. I raise the roosters up on food scraps so I don't have actual money in them.

Find a local farm that will store round bales for you. We have a friend that field stores them under a tree break so they are mostly sheltered. We go pick up 2 every month and he loads them with his tractor and we just push them off the truck. Keep 10-15 square bales on hand for emergency feed, bedding, birthing clean up, nest boxes, etc.


Will post more as I think of it. What are your ideas? Thoughts?

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Wow - all that on one acre? I have 4 acres and think I have a lot. How close are your neighbors? How do you keep your neighbor's happy?

 

[daisychick]

We live on an acre. The house sits along the front by the street, behind that is a nice fenced in back yard, then husband's "area" with a few small work sheds and a big driveway to park things on, then the back 1/4 is fenced for the animals.

I ran a fence down the middle of that 1/4 and planted pasture grass. We have irrigation water so it worked out great. We have one old horse that will stay here until she dies, she is my girl. We keep her in a dry lot pen and feed her hay. In the summer I let her out for an hour or 2 a day to eat on the pasture. I try really hard to limit her time out there so it lasts us quite a while. We have a big metal lean to type structure that runs the width of the animal pen. I made a chicken coop in there and have about 25 layer hens. I keep a rooster so I can sell fertile eggs or hatch new chicks which I do every spring. I sell off any extras and older hens and just keep rotating in new birds each year. I often sell a lot of eating eggs to neighbors and friends so it helps pay for feed. I also penned off a section for goats and now have 4 does and a buck. I plan on letting the goats have their turn on the pasture and just rotate everyone so it doesn't get grubbed down. The rest of the time the goats are just fed hay on a dry lot. I plan on milking them this summer and my dream is to become good at making cheese. I also plan on feeding out unwanted wethers for a source of meat.

I have learned that you have to be flexible with where you pen or put the animals. I rearrange this sometimes because I learn a different way might give me more room. When you don't have a lot of room you have to be flexible and inventive on where you place everything.

I have a nice garden plot and I plant all kinds of stuff. I also have 3 apple trees, 2 plum, and 1 cherry. I want to add a few more cherry trees this spring. Putting a tank under a down spout is a great idea and I need to try and do that. I could use the water for the garden!

I always wish I had more land, but I am pretty happy with what I have been able to get out of my tiny little acre.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Most of our neighbors are great and love stopping by to see the goats and baby rabbits and such.


I also include them when I do big beef orders and drop off farm "extras" like some eggs or tomatoes or a salad mix. I do my best to let them see that living near a "farm" has its bennies.


I will try and draw out a diagram of how we are laid out. We use nearly every sq foot. Some of it is just designated as play/hang out/or dog area but I think having some open spaces is important.


There is no zoning in our area. Only development covenants. People shoot zoning down EVERY time it comes up for a vote. We are in a very old development that has no HOA or covenants. Basically they sold off lots and people slowly built what they wanted. There are trailers next to nice old farmhouses, next to a mechanic, next to a 1960s rancher, blah blah blah.


Right now our yard is a huge freaking mess because I slacked off all winter on the little clean up jobs. We're also getting ready to redo the dividing fence between the goats and the yard because I've left the electric off to many times and they pushed through it. I need to do a major shed clean out and dump run.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

I always wish I had more land, but I am pretty happy with what I have been able to get out of my tiny little acre.

I started with a small town lot and then we expanded to our 1/2 acre place and we have plans to move to a 10acre farm in about 5-6 years. (we have friends that want to retire, build a cottage on the property and we'd make payments on it until they pass and then buy the farm from the estate and the remainder of the balance. It's a very long term plan but I'd happily die there)



Starting small lets you REALLY utilize a larger property when you get there.

 

[marlowmanor]

This thread is nice to read. We live on 3/4 acre (I think, it may be 1/2 acre). The whole front yard is basically hillside. Our home is on top of the hill. The backyard is where the animals are. The goats have their shelter and small lot to run in when we are home during the day. The chickens have their lot. Currently we are at 8 chickens but I am getting a few chicks today so that number will likely double! We are planning to fence in half of the front yard where there is lots of brush and have the goats there we just have to get the tposts and get it going one day. I would love to be able to free range our chickens but it isn't possible right now. I don't trust that they would stay in the yard or return to their pen. One day we will live on a larger lot. I dream of having a small farm on 2-4 acres.

 

[redtailgal]

I cant add anything to this, and wouldnt know where to begin, we are a large operation on too much land.

However, if someone doesnt mind sharing landscape style pics of their setup, I'd love to see.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

We have 1 acre and have: 4 goats (2 adults, 2 kids), 5 sheep (3 adults, 2 lambs), 1 pig, 4 rabbits, and various chickens (about 25). We have also raised many meat birds and various turkeys, but we currently don't have them (they're in the freezer). I made a layout of the property so people can see what we do. Many people ask how we fit it all in, but honestly it fits really well.

The blue is the property line. The orange line is the sheep pasture and poultry pen. The yellow square dot is the chicken coop, and against it is the pink dot/sheep shelter. The red block behind the barn is the hog pen (that also holds other things when the pig isn't in it, like rams or bucks, etc). The pink rectangle on the short end of the barn is the proposed rabbit area. The rabbits are currently in the barn, but we'll be making a roofed structure so we can hang cages underneath. The green areas in the front yard (road side of pic) are the gardens. As you can see, we have LOTS of extra, un-fenced space that we put to work w/ temporary electric fences, for grazing. Hubby tells me the kids need room to play too, but hey, can't they play with the sheep as they're grazing? I still think we have plenty of room on the property.

I do have to take precautions that my pasture doesn't get ruined, so we fence a "sacrifice area" in the sheep pen. They're currently in it now, and not happy about it, but there's no pasture so they're on hay only.

Just ask any questions you have. Not sure what else to type.

 

[redtailgal]

Thanks for sharing that.

I dont really have any questions, was just curious about set ups.

 

[OurWildHeart]

I'll make sure to keep an eye on this topic. I have an acre to use. Hoping to keep a family cow/chickens(& ducks in side pen)/maybe goats/etc. Plus some sustainable gardening. I'll be sure to update on my journey with how I did things.

I have a lot of the land to use still because the house is small, which I do appreciate actually. The only thing on the land are some baby citrus planted by the landlord. But all that means is irrigation everywhere, he put taps every 10 feet. No hauling water or expensive 200ft hoses for me.

The dog pen is finished, always, always, always spend money on what you need for enclosures before making the jump on the new addition. I learned that the hard way, chickens are waiting for a transfer to a coop as well.