Acres

[Morgk]

How many acres is a good amount to homestead?
I would be having couple cows and pigs, rabbits and quail, turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese. I will be having also horses and goats and cats and dogs. I think 15-20 acres would be good plus a garden and orchid

 

[LizzzyJo]

How many acres is a good amount to homestead?
I would be having couple cows and pigs, rabbits and quail, turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese. I will be having also horses and goats and cats and dogs. I think 15-20 acres would be good plus a garden and orchid

How many cows? How many horses? What type of horses? Will the cows be pasture fed or grain fed and for what % of the year? Will you be raising baby cows or horses? How frequently?

 

[Artichoke Lover]

How many of each animal are you wanting to have? Do you want them to live primarily off of grazing and foraging? Both of these make a big difference. Horses will need at least an acre per horse minimum and some places recommend two for the first horse and then add an one per subsequent horse. Chickens can live on as little as 10 square feet per bird. But feed costs will be higher than if they were allowed to free range. It also depends on the quality of the grazing land.

 

[Morgk]

How many cows? How many horses? What type of horses? Will the cows be pasture fed or grain fed and for what % of the year? Will you be raising baby cows or horses? How frequently?

2-4 cows
I have a pony and a paint
The cows will be a breeding stock that would forage most summer and raising their calf’s for butcher. They’re going to be dexter so milk or beef. And no horse babies as their geldings

 

[LizzzyJo]

Great point about quality of land. For many types of land 2 horses on two acres would be a mud pit.

 

[Morgk]

How many of each animal are you wanting to have? Do you want them to live primarily off of grazing and foraging? Both of these make a big difference. Horses will need at least an acre per horse minimum and some places recommend two for the first horse and then add an one per subsequent horse. Chickens can live on as little as 10 square feet per bird. But feed costs will be higher than if they were allowed to free range. It also depends on the quality of the grazing land.

I was thinking/goal:
2 horses: pasture and hay
2-4 pigs: a breeding stock and piglets- foraging and grain
15 goats for selling babies and milking grazing and hay with grain
4 barn cats- feed
2 dogs inside and outside-feed
10 bantam chickens- penned up with feed and 40 standard size chickens- foraging
4 geese- foraging
10 ducks- penned up
5 breeding stock for meat rabbits and 3 pet rabbits- cages/ tractors
30 quail- cages
5 meat turkeys a year- foraging
130 broiler chickens- foraging

 

[Morgk]

In so it’s pretty good land. I would say more forest- and then good grazing/ fields

 

[humblehillsfarm]

How many acres is a good amount to homestead?
I would be having couple cows and pigs, rabbits and quail, turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese. I will be having also horses and goats and cats and dogs. I think 15-20 acres would be good plus a garden and orchid

It depends on what you want to accomplish with your homestead. You can definitely grow all of your own produce for a year on a 1/2 acre or less, but if you wanted corn for grain, or other grains, you'd need more land. If you want meat, dairy, or eggs, you'd need more land. If you want to be self-sufficient with their feed, you'd need even more land. I personally feel that more vegetable-based diets require less land than higher meat-based diets. I found an article which sited several sources that generated land needs for self-sufficiency, and the estimates were all over the place. One source stated 17 acres per person, while another said 2 acres for a family of four. I fully believe you'd need to plan an ultra-efficient plot with no room for error if you wanted to homestead on 2 acres of land and be entirely self-sufficient, but that's just me.

My feelings are, buy as much land as you can reasonably afford. Look for land with an open water source (stream or clean pond), pasture, and perhaps some wooded area for hunting, or grazing if you want goats.

Here is what I have: We own 4.68 acres, much of which is on heavily wooded hillsides. We have perhaps 1.5-2 acres actually usable to us, but goats could make quick work of the remaining if we get any. We'd still need to buy alfalfa for the winter. We couldn't grow it. I have 17 chickens and they have plenty of room, but feed costs go way up in the winter. The laying flock free ranges. We raise our own meat chickens, but again, we have to buy the feed. Ultimately you'll likely pay more to raise meat birds than to buy chicken at the store. Rabbits are a more feed-efficient meat source for sure. I grew about 50-80% of all of my own produce for the year last year with two garden plots. One is about 40'x60' and the other where I grew popcorn and potatoes is 20'x30'. The popcorn was a flop, so I lost valuable produce there. I didn't do well with sweet corn either, so there is certainly room for improvement. My annual grocery bill went from about $5,538 to in 2019 (with only 10'x20' garden, 7 laying hens, 0 meat birds in 2019) to $3,174 in 2020. However, spending in other areas (animal feed) did increase.

If you can't have an orchard, there is always the opportunity to network and trade with other homesteaders. For example, I acquired several bushels of apples and pears, but I traded them for eggs, a couple meat chickens, and some homemade soap. It'll take years to have a "fruitful" orchard.

It is important to remember to set reasonable goals. You'll kill all of the fun if you try to be 100% self-sufficient in your first year. It's taken me three years to get to where I am now, and I'm still learning more and more every year (like popcorn doesn't work, and we eat more potatoes than I realized).

Homesteading and self-sufficiency is a journey with virtually no end, but in my opinion it's one of the most rewarding journeys.

 

[LizzzyJo]

As a fellow homesteader - I love where you mind is. I agree this sounds like heaven. But, let me warn you of something. Heed my advice or not, but at least hear it:

ONE ANIMAL TYPE AT A TIME.

You already have horses and chickens. Add one other species to that the first year. ONLY ONE.

The next year, add the next.

I know it sounds so slow and you want heaven on earth now.

But each species comes with its own learning curve and a new property will have curves of its own. Take it slow so that the animals don't pay the price.


Ok, soap box rant over.

 

[Morgk]

Yes. That’s a good idea. I want to be at lead 50% self sufficient. I’m by myself so all this will would be buy me. Plus I’m hoping to be a vet tech and have a full time job. So I’m looking for something that can handle what my needs are. That’s when I think to myself living by myself that not to much on my plate. So that why I’m leaning to 20 acres. I’m in one income