Quiz: How Savvy Are You With Cheap Farm Hacks?

[BYH Project Manager]

Let’s be honest for a second. Farm life is amazing… but it can also be messy, expensive, and just a tiny bit chaotic. One minute you’re feeding animals. Next minute you’re fixing a gate with baling twine and wondering where all your money went.

Sound familiar? The good news is this: smart farmers don’t always spend more. They just get more creative. So here’s a fun little test.

Are you a full-blown farm hack genius… or still paying retail for everything? Grab a cup of coffee, keep score, and let’s find out.

How to play:
Give yourself 1 point for every “Yes.”

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The Questions​

1. Do you reuse old feed bags, buckets, or tubs for storage instead of buying new containers?
2. Have you ever fixed fencing or gates using baling twine, wire, or scrap wood instead of new hardware?
3. Do you collect rainwater for animals or gardens to cut down your water bill?
4. Have you turned pallets or scrap lumber into shelters, nesting boxes, or feeders?
5. Do you ferment feed or soak grains to stretch your feed budget?
6. Have you insulated water buckets with tires, foam, or hay to slow winter freezing?
7. Do you use kitchen leftovers or garden scraps (safely) to supplement feed?
8. Have you built a DIY mineral feeder or hay rack instead of buying one?
9. Do you save jars, bottles, or old containers for storing meds, seeds, or supplies?
10. Have you created shade using tarps, old sheets, or natural trees instead of expensive structures?
11. Do you batch chores (feeding, cleaning, refilling) to save trips and time each day?
12. Have you ever looked at “trash” and thought, “Hmm… I can use that on the farm”?

(Be honest. We all do it.)

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Your Results​

0 to 3 points – The Farm Fresh Starter ​

You’re just getting warmed up.
You probably still buy things new and neat.
Nothing wrong with that… but your wallet might disagree.
Time to start seeing everyday items as farm tools in disguise.

4 to 7 points – The Practical Problem Solver ​

You’ve got some solid tricks up your sleeve.
You know how to stretch a rand or dollar and make things work.
With a few more hacks, you’ll be unstoppable.

8 to 10 points – The Budget Ninja ​

Now we’re talking.
You rarely pay full price for anything.
Your place probably runs on repurposed materials and clever fixes.
Neighbors secretly wonder how you do it.

11 to 12 points – The Legendary Farm Hack Master ​

Are you even running a farm… or a recycling empire?
You can build a shelter from three pallets and pure determination.
Nothing goes to waste.
If there were an award for “Most Likely to Fix Anything With Twine,” you’d win every year.
Teach us your ways.

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Wrap-Up​

The truth is, some of the best farm ideas come from simple creativity, not money. A few small hacks can save hours of work and hundreds in costs over the year.

So now we’re curious…

What’s the cleverest cheap farm hack you’ve ever used or invented? Share it below and inspire the rest of us!

 

[Baymule]

winner, winner, chicken dinner! I am a Master!!!

I used to hoard lumber in a major way. I worked at a garbage company and sorted through the roll off boxes that came in. I tossed used lumber out, put it in the truck and took it home. I pulled nails and stacked it in the garage. I also haunted the reject rack at Lowes, buying lumber at reduced prices. It drove my husband nuts. We couldn't get a vehicle in our 2 car garage for all my crap in it. Fast forward several years, we bought a place in another area, retired and moved. I hauled my precious hoard of valuable building materials and stacked it under the new carport that had no room for a vehicle. I even had power line poles.

We hired a couple of men to build us a barn. 36'x36' with a 12' alley, 15' high in the alley. They rummaged through my pile and found what they needed. I had enough power line poles except one and we cut a big cedar tree to make up the difference. I had to buy 22 2"x6" twenty feet long for rafters because I didn't have enough. Also had to buy the decking for the roof. Bought all new R panel metal. Insurance appraised the barn at $36 thousand, cost including labor was under $8,000 and half of that was the metal.

My husband never doubted my insanity again.

Now I'm a widow, moved to a bigger farm, 25 acres and I reign over it, the Queen of Scrap and Crap.

I use pallets to build Pallet Palaces. I even dragged @Ridgetop into my madness AND found a feed store that had stacks of FREE pallets for them to pick up! I use pallets to throw up quick pens, T-posting them in place. For a long stretch of pallet fencing, use a H formation for strength. -I-I-I-I Place a few t=posts to hold it in place and instant fence.

I use cow panels bowed over in a hoop, covered with tarps to provide shelter for my sheep, chickens, and to keep round bales from getting rained on when I set one for the sheep. A round bale lasts them awhile and once I take the net wrap off, rain would spoil the hay.

Hay string! I like the string that comes off round bales the best and braid it for added strength. Rope! Tied in a loop, it makes hinges. Tied in a bow, it makes gate closures. Tie sheep and goat wire to t-posts for a temporary pen that is still there 3 years later.

Empty feed sacks go in the house for kitchen trash bags. I fold over the top and use duct tape to close it up. Coffee cans have multiple uses. The bright colors make them easy to see, especially when deconstructing something, making sure fence staples, nails, screws and other metal that can puncture a tire or hoof, go in the can instead of dropping on the ground.

Worn out leather gloves are saved. A patch of leather makes a quick gate hinge for small gates or door hinge to a chicken coop.

End pieces of lumber, cut in squares, triangles and rectangles, painted bright colors, makes great children's blocks that they love playing with.

I was given a pile of odd PVC pipe. I measured each piece, drew up plans and built a chicken tractor.

I still hoard lumber. When I tear something down I keep the materials and reuse them. Metal roofing gets used over and over. I patch the holes using black roof pitch.

I recently built lambing jugs from free pallets and used tin I already had. I used half hog panels for a "yard" I wound up building 5 jugs from free or what I already had. In the picture below to the left, you can see a hoop shelter over a round bale of hay and a portion of a Pallet Palace to the left of the hay bale.

 

[SageHill]

Just a budget ninja here.

 

[Mini Horses]

It gets the job done!! Used & free are perfect. Another re-purposer here. I've had some successes at various auctions where the bldg materials weren't an item many bidders wanted....obviously not farm auctions

Barn clean outs to garden....I never need to buy fertilizers. Save seeds.

#1-12....yep, I do them all.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I have been known to hoard a board!

I'm rarely a buyer of brand-new wire.
I go, in a flash, to my wire stash.

Feed sacks abound to help clean up around.

Hay twine is best - it beats all the rest.

Stock panels win as a home for a hen.

I have buckets galore. Always looking for more.

Ok, ok I see ya'll rolling your eyes, lol. I'll spare ya'll any more of my silliness, lol!

 

[Mini Horses]

Not silly -- necessarily frugal.

 

[farmerjan]

Same here for me.... have done all the things at one time or another... still do most...

Let the lawn get high... mow it. Let it dry... use sweeper and collect for use in the chicken pens over the winter months.. fill feed bags with grass, leaves etc, to dump in pens for chickens to pick through and scratch around... beats buying shavings... Also shred paper/ non glossy junk mail....and use it mixed in with the lawn leaf stuff for the houses ... it'll work fine in the compost pile...
Save the cold water that comes out of the "hot" faucet while running it to get the hot... use it to water plants, take out to chickens......I used to have a cistern... clean water was too precious to waste down the drain...

Cut heavy laundry detergent jugs to make feed scoops....

 

[akroberts 1085]

I'm working on getting more of my stuff that I need to make a fence around my garden area and I will be adding a duck den. I have a bunch of rocks and am going to use those for the seating area and garden to try to keep the weeds out. I have a bunch of PVC pipe and still looking for more. I'm going to try to get some stuff done for this year and maybe next year I will have everything where I want it to be and done.

 

[fuzzi]

winner, winner, chicken dinner! I am a Master!!!

I used to hoard lumber in a major way. I worked at a garbage company and sorted through the roll off boxes that came in. I tossed used lumber out, put it in the truck and took it home. I pulled nails and stacked it in the garage. I also haunted the reject rack at Lowes, buying lumber at reduced prices. It drove my husband nuts. We couldn't get a vehicle in our 2 car garage for all my crap in it. Fast forward several years, we bought a place in another area, retired and moved. I hauled my precious hoard of valuable building materials and stacked it under the new carport that had no room for a vehicle. I even had power line poles.

We hired a couple of men to build us a barn. 36'x36' with a 12' alley, 15' high in the alley. They rummaged through my pile and found what they needed. I had enough power line poles except one and we cut a big cedar tree to make up the difference. I had to buy 22 2"x6" twenty feet long for rafters because I didn't have enough. Also had to buy the decking for the roof. Bought all new R panel metal. Insurance appraised the barn at $36 thousand, cost including labor was under $8,000 and half of that was the metal.

My husband never doubted my insanity again.

Now I'm a widow, moved to a bigger farm, 25 acres and I reign over it, the Queen of Scrap and Crap.

I use pallets to build Pallet Palaces. I even dragged @Ridgetop into my madness AND found a feed store that had stacks of FREE pallets for them to pick up! I use pallets to throw up quick pens, T-posting them in place. For a long stretch of pallet fencing, use a H formation for strength. -I-I-I-I Place a few t=posts to hold it in place and instant fence.

I use cow panels bowed over in a hoop, covered with tarps to provide shelter for my sheep, chickens, and to keep round bales from getting rained on when I set one for the sheep. A round bale lasts them awhile and once I take the net wrap off, rain would spoil the hay.

Hay string! I like the string that comes off round bales the best and braid it for added strength. Rope! Tied in a loop, it makes hinges. Tied in a bow, it makes gate closures. Tie sheep and goat wire to t-posts for a temporary pen that is still there 3 years later.

Empty feed sacks go in the house for kitchen trash bags. I fold over the top and use duct tape to close it up. Coffee cans have multiple uses. The bright colors make them easy to see, especially when deconstructing something, making sure fence staples, nails, screws and other metal that can puncture a tire or hoof, go in the can instead of dropping on the ground.

Worn out leather gloves are saved. A patch of leather makes a quick gate hinge for small gates or door hinge to a chicken coop.

End pieces of lumber, cut in squares, triangles and rectangles, painted bright colors, makes great children's blocks that they love playing with.

I was given a pile of odd PVC pipe. I measured each piece, drew up plans and built a chicken tractor.

I still hoard lumber. When I tear something down I keep the materials and reuse them. Metal roofing gets used over and over. I patch the holes using black roof pitch.

I recently built lambing jugs from free pallets and used tin I already had. I used half hog panels for a "yard" I wound up building 5 jugs from free or what I already had. In the picture below to the left, you can see a hoop shelter over a round bale of hay and a portion of a Pallet Palace to the left of the hay bale.

 

[fuzzi]

11, because #5 doesn't appear to apply to my chickens, unless making mash from the crumble dust counts?

When I have purchased rolls of fencing or hardware cloth I keep the wire used to hold it in a roll.

Feed sacks make trash bags.

Straw bale twine is reused, too.

I made my chickens a roost from a couple pallets.

When I needed an in-coop brooder I just enclosed the roost with some scraps of plastic chicken "wire".

Nesting boxes are made from buckets used by hardware stores to sell chain by the foot.

Just to name a few...