Lets Chat! Talk about your Farm!

[mikiz]

Yeah I was looking at a property, but most of the 50 acres was wetland, so mosquito paradise in other words.
Not a fan of the biting insects!

 

[Pioneer Chicken]

I've had to make two different trips, one east of Austin and the other east of Houston. Heard about the flooding and was totally amazed at what I saw down there. I've never seen a road blocked off by flooding. Course, I'm not used to the crazy deer down there either. Each time, there was a doe contemplating whether she should cross or not. The second doe (on our trip to Houston area) jumped across the highway just as we passed her. The camper behind us almost hit her, but she turned around. But this doe was between the flooded side road and the highway, so probably trying to find a safer spot from the flooding. Still crazy though!

 

[Pioneer Chicken]

I live on just under an acre with our dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, guineas, and goats. Happy with our poultry, so nothing much has changed with them with the exception of picking up a male guinea since ours unexpectedly kicked the bucket earlier this year.

Mr. Handsome


I had gotten out of the rabbits, but then my mom wanted to try her hand at it, so we bought her a pair for Mother's Day last year. This year, she and my dad have picked up four more does. Hopefully they'll do well with them!!

I've been focusing quite a bit on our goats these past two years. Wasn't getting the milk production I wanted so I sold two of my Nigerians and bought two Lamanchas last year. Had a problem come up with them and found them a pet home a month after they kidded. That left me with three ND does, a ND buck, and nine bottle fed kids. Picked myself up a second registered buck and figured I'd have him breed our unregistered yearling doe. Decided to sell her and her dam to get into registered stock and have since then picked up three very nice registered does. Hoping to pick another doe next month and that should complete our herd for the time being. I do have our Lamancha mix doe who's staying here no matter what; amazing producer and a sweetheart. That being said, I hope to get into full swing with showing, LA-ing, and maybe even DHIR next year, starting in January. The important thing right now is joining ADGA (already a part of AGS) and working with all my goats to get them show ready.

Quintana Cocoa

Diamond Gus



I would love to move to more acreage sometime in the next year or so, but got to wait for the Lord's timing on that one. Then I'd like to get myself a few French Alpines for milk and show as well. Maybe we can even get ourselves a horse or two! And some turkeys...and a few more games and guineas since I LOVE them...and, yeah, I think that's good. Although my dad wants sheep. It'll be one thing at a time, though, that's for sure. : )

 

[Bossroo]

Mikiz: You sound like this is your first real estate transaction. In rural areas get a local lawyer to look over the papers for you. Spend time in local coffee shops - there are always a couple where the ranchers, etc. come in after morning chores for coffee and to schmooze. Thery are worse gossips than old women and if you are careful to listen to what they are saying, you can pick up good information. They can answer your your questions but some of them like to josh newcomers
My uncle Sig, God rest his soul, was a stockman and rodeo rider here in California and in Montana back in the day. He ramrodded a several thosand acre cattle ranch for his uncle in law. When we were younger my husband and I were discussing the feasibility of buying a commercial ranch and raising sheep or cattle. Uncle Sig gave us the most mportant piece of advice I have ever received.
1. Buy water. Water is lifeblood for a ranch. Uncle Sig said don't look at a piece where there is no water, where you have to drill below a certain amount of feet for a well, or the output is not enough. The well must produce a certain amount of gpm (gallons per minute) to support your livestock. On a commercial ranch livestock comes first so you water them then if any is left for you ok. If there is not enough wter to support your operation, run, don't walk, away from it no matter how pretty or cheap it is.
2. Get the water and agriculture test reports Some water and land has problems (that easement was one), water contamination and soil contamination is another. Some beautiful grazing oland might be grazing land because there is contamination under the grass and it can;'t be used for crops. When land can't be used for crops, the grass it grows can be contaminated too which means it will get into the milk and meat of your herd or flock.
I am a cynic and a pragmatist. Do your research while you are saving your money. Read all you can about lumbering going on where you want to buy. Lumber rights, mineral rights and water rights are often sold separately from the land. This means that the owner of those rights can operate on your land to get these items and you will be left with a messy treeless, mined acreage, without any water of your own. Make sure your property retains all those rights. In hard times, you can sell part of the timber or lease some of the mining rights to help costs and tideyoi ove till prices come up again.
3. My advice to you is to subscribe to several local papers in the farm communities you are interested in. Join a grange or local farmers' organization. You will learn about all the problems in the area posed by development, government regulations,etc. By reading all these small town newspapers you will learn everything about the town. If there s a water shortage yoi will found out, if a large corporate ranch wants to take over you will be warned, if the government regs are getting too strict you willknow aa=head of tie and you will be able to talk to different people in the area.
4. Buying ranch property is not just buyin a pretty, scenic plot that will look nice on a postcard. It is a business whether you like it or not and you have to be more careful when you buy acreage that when buying a house in a neighborhood. Water (how much and how expnsive), boundries - have it surveyed before buying. MOST IMPORTANT NEVER TRUST THE REAL ESTATE AGENT WHEN HE WAVES HIS ARMS IN A GENERAL DIRECTION AND TELLS YOU THAT IS WHERE THE WATER/WELL IS. IT MAY ACTUALLY BE ON THE NEIGHBOR'S PROPERTY! This happened to a friend and when I told her she shouldn't have bought without water rights she said tagent didn't think the owner would care if she stuck a pipe in and diverted the water for herself!
The owner took her to court and my friend had to pay court costs as well as a monetary amount for the stolen water. Then the owner build a big fence and diverted the small open area of the stream are into a culvert. My friend could have bought another piece across the road with better gpm dedicated water rights but didn't want to spend another $1000 for the water rights when the agent told her she cold just help herself to her neighbor's water! Water is life in farming/ranching areas not just a pretty place to park your rowboat.
5. Walk the boundaries no matter how much land there is or how steep, etc. Make the agent show you all of it, if he "hasn't got time" for you, make another appointment to come back or get another agent.
6. Your agent should work for you to get the best price and everything you want. It he doesn't seem like he wants to do that or wants to convince you to pay more, he is working for the seller. Hire someone else.
7. Even though it looks like ranch or farm property go to the zoning board and pull the zoning details for the property. Check the zoning restrictions for that property. The zoning regulations may restrict you to certain types of livestock, or minimal squarefootage/acreage per animal. You don't want to buy 10 acres and find out you are restricted to 1 cow or 1 sheep or 1 goat per acre - 10 animals in all. If you buy in a protected green belt, your timber may not be able to be harvested.

Mikiz:

This is the best advise that I have seen in quite a while on this site. When your livelyhood depends on ranching/ farming, you want to have every advantage that one can get. No matter what some wanna be farmers who think that cute pet is of the utmost importance. That " cute " had better produce an income or it has NO value as one's kids want to eat and the Govertment wants it's fair share of profits .

 

[Ridgetop]

Luvmypets:

 

[Ridgetop]

Luvmypets: So sorry - everyone got on to talking about acreage and we never answered your questions about buying another ram. In my opinion you shouldn't bother yet. Let the ram breed his daughter - you won't have any deformities from the breeding.

Here are the questions to ask yourself:
1.How many sheep do you have? If you only have a couple, don't buy another ram. It will be cost prohibitive to feed a second ram if youonly have 2 to 5 sheep.
2.Have you had any other ewe lambs out of this ram? If so, how many? It is not economical to buy another ram just for one ewe. If he only has one daughter in your flock you are not ready for another ram.
3.

You can use the same ram on his daughters and granddaughters for 4 generations before replacing him. BUT DON'T BREED A 5TH GENERATION! that 5th generation will have all sorts of genetic problems.

So here would be my time line - use the existing ram for several more breedings. Once you have about half your flock sired by the old ram - daughters and daughter/granddaughter ewes with 1 to 3 generations of that ram, replace him with a complete outcross ram. That means one unrelated to the original ram. You will save money as you build your herd and that savings can go to buy the best ram you can afford when you do replace him. The ram is half your herd. You want to bring in the best genetics you can afford to buy.

Personally I have kept one ram for several years because we have only gotten 3 ewes out of him. This was ok since we were mainly selling freezer lambs. Now we have several ewes out of him, including a daughter/granddaughter so we bought another ram. I am going to sell my previous ram even though I like him a lot. We also added a couple of ewelings which I am breeding to the old ram this month. Hopefully the old ram might sire a couple more ewe lambs and I can keep the new ram for 3 more generations. I don't like keeping 2 rams because they fight, and I only have 6 breeding ewes right now. Rams are dangerous, untrustworthy and can bend the bars in a pipe corral! I never turn my back on any ram even though the old one (he's only 4) we have is pretty docile. I don't like looking over my shoulder to check where the ram is when doing my chores LOL!

Anyway, using your current ram on his daughters and granddaughters won't be a problem. Just remember to buy a new ram that is not related to him. Too many people get attached to a ram they bred and decide to keep him as a breeder. Don't fall into that trap just buy another in a couple of years.

 

[Ridgetop]

Oops hit the wrong key again!!! Here is the rest of my post Luvmypets!

The 3rd questions is How good is your current ram? If the current ram is a good one then all the above applies. If the current ram is not very good, start shopping for a better ram and replace him as soon as you have enough money to buy a better ram. The ram or buck is half your herd. Their genetics are more important because they will sire all the new babies in your herd. The mothers will only have a couple babies per kidding. The ram can cover 10 to 20 ewes eachbreeding seasion, and put a lot more animals on the ground so you want to get the best sire you can. Does this help you in deciding?

 

[SheepGirl]

My farm: Rae's Sheep & Chicken Co.
Specializing in commercial sheep and started pullets.

My sheep are Babydoll Southdown x Montadale x Texel x Finn x Dorset crosses. I raise them to have lots of babies with big butts (muscling) that grow fast. I've raised them for 9 years. They moved to my farm though back in 2012 and were on a dry lot under the deck from early June to late August, when the fence was put up around 1.5 acres. A "sheep shack" was constructed in Sept 2012. In Feb 2014, an addition was added onto the sheep shack to double it and in Dec 2014, we had a 20x32 carport delivered to use as the barn for the sheep. Right now at the time of the posting I have 19 sheep (1 ram, 9 ewes, 9 lambs) and 1 goat.

I raise started pullets periodically throughout the year. My first batch I started with 57, ended up selling a total of 45, with 3 left over roaming the yard. I lost 9, 3 as day olds and 6 at a couple weeks old when we lost power during a wind storm in February. I have 140 on order to arrive the week of June 10. I have a big profit margin ($8/bird) so I like to raise them as it's easy money and a lot of people love to buy chickens!! Who would've thought?

 

[ldawntaylor]

Hi, I'm not really sure how many acres I have access to. I can ask my step-dad if I really want to know.

Around the place here I have 10 goats. In a few weeks that should be down to 8. One excess buck and one doeling. My buck does not like other males at all. The young doe is too closely related to the buck. I lost too many kids last year from this generation to want to chance another. Out of 8 born only 4 survived.

Along with the goats I have 5 hens, 3 dogs (one is Mom's), and 2 cats.

As for future plans, I would like to build a chicken coop with a cement floor. Make it as an extension of the barn so that taxes won't be affected. Cement floors are so much easier to clean. I also want to get a Nubian doe - Nubians seem to sell better around here.

I have a square foot garden system - fenced in. Each square is 4 foot by 4 foot. Thanks to the goats I have a compost system. I am working on putting herbs in my flower beds. At present I have lemon balm, sage, and rosemary (or maybe it is thyme). I can figure it out when I go outside this evening. Unfortunately my strawberries are rotting while they are too green to pick because of all the rain.

Two dogs are close to the barn and goat's night pen. And one is in an electric fenced yard by the house.

Home is about 20 miles from the nearest grocery store and even further from anything else. Needless to say in a power outage we are almost the last priority.

Lisa