Farm status????

[ruth]

I'm wondering if someone can direct me to a link with info on what classifies as farm status, per Feds and per State/County. We are in Louisiana (St. Tammany Parish/County) with 8 1/2 acres and someone told us that one cow classifies as a farm and the parish will come out and dig you a large pond and stock it with fish. Now my husband wants a cow. I'm wondering if one cow, how many chickens??? Don't really want a cow but we do have a small pond that we dug ourselves and any help in enhancing the pond or putting in a large garden would be great. A small river runs through the back of our property and it and the area on each side is protected by the Corp of Engineers and they tell us what we can and can't do with our own property near the river. But I can't find the info on farm status anywhere I've looked on-line.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Contact your county agricultural extension office:

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/our_offices/parishes/St.+Tammany/Features/Contact_Us/

 

[ruth]

WOW - thanks Mac - they have an office here in Covington - I'll call them and see what I can find out. Nothing was coming up under any searches I did - well stuff was coming up just not the stuff I was looking for. I'm figuring as long as I've bought chickens - three batches now - I might as well find out what classifies as a farm - or poultry farm - cause I know come spring when the new chicks hit the 4 feed stores in town - I'll end up with LOTS of little chicks - can't seem to help myself. I'm already planning on getting ducks for the pond and we keep stocking the pond but nothing seems to work. I'm sure before it's all over, I'll be a bonafide FARM.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

"Farm" has varying definitions. Nobody is going to come out and christen your land as a farm. Different governmental agencies have various criteria to judge whether or not you qualify for their programs, but I doubt there is one set definition of a farm in your area. If you want to call it a farm call it a farm... If you want to know whether your land qualifies for assistance from the county, ask the county...

 

[ruth]

Yeah, it's the later that I'm going for. Due to Katrina, we had over 100 trees down in our "yard" area alone - not to mention the woods and creek. Insurance does not cover the cutting up and removal of the trees or filling in the giant "ponds" left when the trees fell over roots and all. FEMA literally blazed a trail through our property in order to get to the creek and clear it out and they cut down even more trees. They had to use our land because it is some of the only level land that provided access to the creek/river. Anyway, if there is a way to get classified as a milk "farm" or poultry "farm" or natural habitat or anything else and have the federal government or local parish help with clean up, repair and/or upkeep of our property, I'm all for it. We have some of the only uncut forest/woods around since we were some of the original inhabitants of this area. Everyone new here and especially all the Katrina refugees from New Orleans that move over here buy the woods and cut everything down - now all the wildlife is on our property and we are trying to maintain a natural habitat for them to live (peacefully without bothering us or our pets and chickens). However our parish is the wealthiest parish around and property taxes are out the wazzoo. They tax our woods the same as subdivision with home tax which means $7,000 a year in property taxes alone. My husband has been wanting a milk cow for a long time and someone here, who got a cow, told us that one cow classifies as a "farm" (didn't say what kind of farm) and that the parish came out and dug them a large pond and stocked it and reduced taxes. Sounds good to me.