perfect amount of acreage for a hobby farm

[cutter99]

@Lizrd

This is terrific advice. I guess I have even more to learn. We have talked about contacting someone to put in beehives. That would definitely be something I’d like to do. Is “green belt” the same as Ag zoning? just trying to learn all of the terms.

No, ag zoning refers to the actually zoning category like residential, commercial, agricultural, transitional. “Green belt” refers to how a property is categorized for taxes purposes.

Another thing to keep in mind is please do not believe what anyone tells you about zoning, green belt status or even if a property can have horses on it. Just because there is acreage, does not mean there are not restrictions on if you can have horses there, how many you can have, and how you can house them. Never make any assumptions- always go to the zoning office yourself and do your own research. Do not even believe your own real estate agent.

[clanter]

@cutter99

No, ag zoning refers to the actually zoning category like residential, commercial, agricultural, transitional. “Green belt” refers to how a property is categorized for taxes purposes.

Another thing to keep in mind is please do not believe what anyone tells you about zoning, green belt status or even if a property can have horses on it. Just because there is acreage, does not mean there are not restrictions on if you can have horses there, how many you can have, and how you can house them. Never make any assumptions- always go to the zoning office yourself and do your own research. Do not even believe your own real estate agent.

while researching, if the property in not within a city but near to make sure the property is not in the Extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of the city/town

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrat…l_jurisdiction

[spirithorse22]

We bought 14.5 acres outside of Lexington, KY. Great barn & house, already fenced & cross fenced. Have four relatively easy keepers.

We wish we could’ve afforded double the acreage!!! Not kidding.

I have to feed hay in the winter but can mostly let them graze for the summer however I have to rotate my fields & will be pretty aggressive about fertilizing. 4 seems to be really pushing it to maintain a thick happy stand of grass & it takes a long rotation to grow it back unless it’s the height of summer.

If you TRULY want pasture that is nutrition and not just recreation, I think 6 acres per horse is probably a better rule of thumb.

[secuono]

@Lizrd

ohmygosh they are adorable! I would never leave the house if I had a bunch of those running around. Are they are fragile as other sheep breeds? Everything I am reading says that sheep aren’t very hardy…

Not in my experience. I’ve only had one die unexpectedly, with no signs, but it was a Cheviot.
Cull any that easily get sick or wormy and soon you won’t have that issue.
I’m changing my lambing season to 3wks later into spring, so I’ll have more grass by the time lambs are grazing, but they don’t really need anything special from me. Shorn yearly, hooves trimmed 1-2x a year, 2yrs & older shouldn’t need deworming, lambs need monitoring for worms if not on rotational paddocks or on tons of land. Don’t let them eat feeds/minerals for other livestock, don’t let them gorge on concentrated feeds, keep on clean ground, fresh water, shade & they’ll be fine.
Figured out how to properly add pics, but its only allowed 5 at a time. Probably a good thing, I’ve got over 7k pics & videos on my phone…haha
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[Xanthoria]

You can’t pic an acreage number. It depends on so many things:
How many animals grazing and what kind? How much grass do they need / tolerate?
Type of land: well drained pasture you can graze all year, slopes and rocky upland that grows poor grass, or boggy land that turns muddy if you look at it?
How much time you have? Small intensively farmed areas with high stock levels need manure picked daily and paddocks rotates/fertilized/harrowed/watered/mowed regularly. IOW it might be cheaper in terms of labor hours to buy twice as much land and manage it less intensively.
How much money? Fencing, property taxes and land are expensive.
Where? A California acre is a LOT more than a Tennessee acre. A UK acre supports a native breed pony year round. In CA you probably need more like 10 acres per head to keep them grazing about 6 months of the year.
Animal keeping style: if they live in stalls most if the time you don’t need much land.
What you like to look at? I like some wild areas, and horses out being horses; others seem to prefer perfect even green pastures without a horse near it to mess it up!

[Kemosabe]

@B and B

Can Connecticut forest burn? Yes, but not easily. The history of forestry, land management and fire science specific to CT is a total off topic though. I am forever scarred by looking at a bit of forest and having the landowner happily tell me how he had leafblown it and tidied it up, including the now very former vernal pool area. Some places don’t need people.
Anyway, I think one of the important things is figuring out what your expectations are for the property, and for sections within this property. A large property can have sections that you really never work with, a small one can’t. However, for some people not being able to physically manage their entire property is a psychological stress. For others, having extra unused space is an asset. For still others, having untouched space that they can escape to and not see evidence of people staring them right in the face is huge.
You can do a lot on two acres, five acres, twenty acres, a hundred acres, but your mindset will probably be different on each on.

When I read your post about the landowner leaf blowing a forest…I felt sick to my stomach.

There is a lot to be said for letting forests alone… on our farm we will harvest some dead hardwood (blown over by a storm) or wood-chip dying pines but the health of the forest depends on decay. That’s where the soil nutrients come from. The interconnectedness of trees, their mutual cooperation, does not need human intervention for the most part

There is so much wonder in a forest from the mosses and lichen to the fungi. The smells of humic earth, the sounds of wind in the branches, of owls, hawks and woodpeckers, of listening to the forest breathe. And the old ones, the oaks and walnuts that were saplings during the civil war, trunks so wide it would take 2 or 3 or more men, arms outstretched to complete the circumference.

Forests are the lungs of earth. Cutting down the old growth forests across the continent has been a devastating loss.

[Lizrd]

@secuono

Not in my experience. I’ve only had one die unexpectedly, with no signs, but it was a Cheviot.

Shorn yearly, hooves trimmed 1-2x a year, 2yrs & older shouldn’t need deworming, lambs need monitoring for worms if not on rotational paddocks or on tons of land. Don’t let them eat feeds/minerals for other livestock, don’t let them gorge on concentrated feeds, keep on clean ground, fresh water, shade & they’ll be fine.

Convincing myself that I don’t.Need.Sheep. So unbelievably cute!

[No_longer_a_rider]

Lizard, some sheep breeds are hardier than others. If you look at the heritage breeds you may find something that fits your climate and does better than the typical commercial sheep.

[cutter99]

Another thing to keep in mind is you may want hair sheep that do not need to be sheared. Sheep shearing is a dying art and it is getting harder to find people to do it. I know farms with hundreds of sheep who have had issues getting a shearer in due to the fact they are so booked up.