Things I wish I'd known before I got a Farm...

[Katy]

Quote:
That is a place in the country.

Unless you have a generator or are on rural water, when the electricity goes out, you have no water since wells run on electricity.

If you have to commute to work the price of fuel may become an issue.

Don't expect the farmer next door to change how he's always farmed. Too many people move to the country not thinking about the smells and sounds that sometimes come along with it.

Those are just some of the things off the top of my head that I hear people who move to the country complain about.

 

[timbofarms]

raising a small farm should be a hobby because there ain't alot of profit in it.

 

[sclanimals]

One thing I wish I had known is how much time it was gunna take to run the farm. Sun up to sun down and there is still stuff to do at the end of the day. Between milking goats, feeding pigs, feeding chickens, feeding the pony, cleaning corrals and bird pens, washing feeders and waterers, raising four kids and a husband, cleaning house and tending the garden.....there's not much time for other things (except of course BYC). Even if I had known how much time it was going to take, I would've still done it. I would've written down my plans better and ran them past anyone I knew that farmed to find any flaws in my plans. I just jumped in and have made some mistakes along the way and will continue to make mistakes. This morning I was talking to my mom on the phone about my sick pullet and I told her that I wish I had known what I was doing and she wouldn't have gotten sick, and she said that life is just a learning experience and by the time I'm old I may feel like I know everything I need to about farming. I told her, yeah, but by then it won't matter what I know cause I'll be to old to do anything about it.

I wouldn't give this way of life up for anything. I continue to plan our mini farm as best i can and will probably change that plan 12 times before next year.....but hey, besides family and chickens.....what else is there to think about????

 

[ScrambledAcresFarm]

Since the price of food went up, I notice a lot of people started raising chickens again. I live in the country! I'm 20 miles from the nearest Wal~Mart(Thank God!) I go to animal auctions and can't believe the amount of chickens and all the different breeds! Breeds I didn't know my neighbors had even heard of! The y are selling them, all of them between $6.00-$10.00 apiece! I think I would rather sell chickens then work in town!!

 

[ScrambledAcresFarm]

I've been wanting to turn our 30 acres with a spring and 10 ponds into a mini farm. I never have to worry about water or power! I want a cow, a horse, ducks that ain't afraid of the water(thats another story!), more chickens, 2 pigs and a goat!

 

[keljonma]

Quote:
Yes, all of that and more. Your local county extension agent (for the area where your land is) is a great resource.

There are also a number of great books you can get out of the library. Some of them include:
Country Life: A Handbook for Realists and Dreamers by Paul Heiney
Small-Scale Grain Raising by Gene Logsdon
All Flesh is Grass: Pleasures & Promises of Pasture Farming by Gene Logsdon
The Self-sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour
Today's Homestead by Dona Grant
The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery

Quote:
It depends on what you plan to do with it.


edited for spelling

 

[LoneCowboy]

I live on only an acre and I wish it was more. However I work for lots of people with more. We run a pasture maintenance business so we work on lots of farms such.

Here are some things to think about but may not apply depending on what part of the country you live in and what the laws are.

5 acres or less you might be able to get away without a tractor. We have 1 acre and I wouldn't dream of not having one.

Tractors cost a lot.

Large areas you will have to mow the fields and or do some kind of weed control. Few people will come out to hay small areas. Goats are good weed control for big leafy things, since they are foragers not grazers.

Some areas dictate the number of animal units you can have on your land. I can have 2 animal units. 5 pigs = 1 and 50 chickens = 1 unit.

Water is probably your major issue.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
What kind of business? What kind of farm, what kind of farming? I mean, it just totally totally depends on what you have in mind. Trying to make a living off field crops is going to be different than trying to fill a niche market for greenhouse herbs; market gardening is different than raising free-range broilers and cattle; etc etc etc.

For most (all?) of the possible ways of making money on small acreage with limited farming experience, it probably depends about 80% on your ability to identify a market ahead of time and then GUARANTEE you can fulfil their needs (and that the market will still exist, and buy from you as opposed to anyone else, once your crop or stock are ready).

You sorta need to be able to survive losing money for the first five years. If not longer -- a lot of hobby farms are operated at what is really, if you do the accounting properly, a loss.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Jilara]

Before getting into farming, I recommend anyone read Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." It gets into the realities of small farms and what it takes to stay afloat in the current environment.

My family were farmers right up into the mid-'60's, when my grandmother (who had hit 70) couldn't really stay afloat any more, and "retired," selling of pieces of her property to developers. It's not an easy field to be in.

 

[chiknlady]

Trust me--I appreciate all of the warnings--but I have contacted the Dept of Ag, the Farm Bureaus, The County Development Office, The FSA, The USDA etc. I am actually asking those who are doing it now--what they wish they had known prior to buying, starting, inheriting a farm/homestead. For instance the comment about water and back up power was priceless--I thought about it casually--but not really. Another consideration is proximity to healthcare--it may not matter now--but what if I had an emergency. The crops, livestock etc will be based on what I can manage, but is not really what I am asking here...both of those who are able to sustain themselves and those who have found it hard to make a living--those who feel it was the best choice for a family and those who feel it is too hard for a family-- I would appreciate knowing what is the one thing--if you could reverse time and learn in advance of the school of hard knocks--what would that be?