What Livestock Could I Have for 66.97 Acres of Land? How can I Convince My Parents to let us Move?

[AudreyRockz]

Hi! I'm very new here so I'm sorry if I'm misleading or I posted this in the wrong section.

There is about 67 acres of land for sale in my town and it has nothing to live in (small house, house, hunting cabin, etc.). I really want to get builders to build us a nice house, which I know will be very costly. Nothing fancy, we just need a house for the 4 of us.

I'm not sure if it has enough room for a herd of cows, chickens, goats, sheep, etc. We would most likely plant a vegetable garden near the house.



The land costs $167,500. I don't know if this is too expensive. The land has a few rolling hills, a very small "forest" of trees, a real forest across the road, I'm not sure if it has a well or not.

How can I earn enough money quickly so my parents, sister, and I can get a house built? But before we do all of this, I have to convince my parents.

Please help. I need a list of livestock and a convincing method.

 

[CityFarmer202]

Man.....i wish i could have that much land. You can have pretty much any livestock on that...a cow would be 1 cow per 1 or 2 acres depending on land quality, same for horses. Goats would want the forested area and you could have 6-8 of them per acre. Sheep could be in the pasture areas with around the same stocking as the goats. You could have poultry, rabbits, dogs, pigs, etc as well.
The land price kinda depends on location.....Is it a good area and really nice land, or is it in the middle of nowhere with so so land? Are their any outbuildings or barns? Fences? All these need to be factored in on the price on the land. You could also grow grain and hay to feed your animals over the winter. Good luck!

 

[AudreyRockz]

Well, the area is very nice, it has rolling hills, a narrow trail going on the hills, a great view of the Appalachian Mountains, and more.
I wouldn't say it's in the middle of nowhere.

No barns or outbuildings that I know of. No fences, either. But there is a nice road that is by it.

 

[CityFarmer202]

cool...sounds like a dream property

 

[charnic44]

My family has 60 acres and 50 horses (which is way too many for 60 acres). If its good land with very fertile soil, I would say that these are the maximum numbers of animals you could have total:

Horses: 20 head (30 acres)
Cattle: 15 cow/calf pairs (20 acres)
Pigs: (if kept in pens((each pig needs at least 32 sq. ft)) not free ranged) 3 sows w/litters + 1 boar (1/2 acre if they each have their own pen) 3 butcher hogs (1/2 acre if they each have their own pen ((which isn't needed, just so they each have at least 32 sq. ft.))
Sheep/Goats: 20 head (10 acres)
Poultry: 50 birds (2 acres ((free ranged)) with coops, of course)
Dogs/Cats: However many you want, just don't go overboard (lets say you have 5)) (all 66.97 acres) ((if you just let them run around))
Rabbits: 10 head (if in rabbit hutches big enough, 1/4 acre)
Barn/Corrals: Depending on barn size, total number of corrals, and size of corrals (1 acre)
House/Garden: Depending on house size and garden size (1 acre)

Total Animals: 127
Total Acres: 65 1/4 acres

This is just an estimate. If you want more of one animal, just have less of another.

As for the convincing idea, I got nothin'. Hope this helps!

 

[H Diamond]

The land costs $167,500. I don't know if this is too expensive. The land has a few rolling hills, a very small "forest" of trees, a real forest across the road, I'm not sure if it has a well or not.

How can I earn enough money quickly so my parents, sister, and I can get a house built?

Not to be a downer, but you can't. For a simple house and maybe some fencing/outbuildings (I'm stretching this cost here), you will easily double the price of the land. No well, you are looking at several thousand more dollars. And then you're looking at thousands more dollars to get the animals. For instance, if you're going to run 20 head of cattle, that's going to be close to an additional $40,000 just for the cattle alone.

The problem here is you are going at this backwards. A purchase like this (unless you're rich) takes loans from the bank (or farm credit if you can convince them it will be a real working farm producing a commodity), and banks don't give out loans unless you can afford to pay them back.

What you need to do is sit down with your parents and discuss if you were to sell your current house/property, how much would be left after mortgage repayment to use as a down payment. Subtract that from the estimated intial investment, then use a mortgage calculator to mortgage this out 25 years (give or take) at whatever interest rate you think you could get locally. Then look at what the yearly or monthly payment would be. Figure out what income you would receive form your animals (sale of calves, kids, milk, eggs, etc.. don't forget to figure in death loss and personal consumption) minus your estimated expenses for them (hay, grain, vet, meds, misc supplies) combine that with what you can personally put towards the mortgage from off farm salary and wages, and see if it comes close to what your mortgage payment would be. Don't forget to account for things like increased property taxes, increased utilities, etc.