Dreamer from the suburbs

3 posts
Fri, 03/23/2012 - 16:27 #1

Member for

12 years 9 months
dreamingcityboy
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 03/23/2012 - 16:08

Dreamer from the suburbs

I've lived in the suburbs all my life, but have always felt a strong "calling to the land". I remember being a preschooler telling everyone I was going to be a grazier!

I've come to a point in my life were I can afford to buy property, and would like to. I've been causally looking around my home area, and land here is quite expensive. Honestly, for the price of an smallish urban block here, I could get 1000+ rural acres.

Which brings me to my dream. I've always wanted to have a "boutique" farm, growing my own 'style' of free range eggs and grass-fed dairy. I understand these would both be pretty labour intensive, but I would like to get there eventually.

How difficult would it be for me to buy a large rural property and over a course of years "transition" into it being my main income source? I figure I'd start out just running beef or sheep on the property and having it as a kind of weekender, whilst living and working in the city, and as my skills improve get more adventurous and start the poultry and dairy?

Has anyone else made this move? Or have any comments to help guide me?

Thanks so much!

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Sat, 03/24/2012 - 21:04 #2
Alternate RV
Last seen: 10/05/2012 - 08:43
Joined: 01/08/2012 - 08:23

Dreams keep us going :)

Buying a farm is easy, keeping it alive is the hard part. Unless you have had some previous experience it will be a steep learning curve and could be costly. Sites like this can provide invaluable advice but without knowing the property details it is hard to give specific advice. I would not suggest a large holding, limit your land area to around 200 acres (farmable). Large parcels require a bit of work with fencing, weed and pest control. Once you get a grasp on animal husbandry, paddock rotation and feed maintenance then you can go bigger.

How much work you can get done on weekends will depend on how big a property and your livestock numbers. You will find it very draining trying to maintain a city job and a country income in the making. If living off-farm you will need a friendly neighbour to keep an eye on things while you're not there. This isn't usually too much of a problem especially if you can offer some feed, water or other trade commodity.

You might want to also consider share farming as a starting option.

Dane

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Fri, 03/30/2012 - 20:09 #3
frisbie
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 09/23/2011 - 16:27

I grew up on farms but got districted by a city career. As the saying goes, you can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy...

It's not practical for me to let go of the city just yet (though I can't wait). In the meantime, I am setting up the farm for the future -planting fruit and nut trees that should be productive in 5 years. There's tons lof work to do with irrigation and fencing.  This way I can walk away from it and not be too worried.And it's really only sustainable while I still have a regular off-farm income.

The equation changes completely if you have livestock. Who is going to look after them if they get through the fence, get attacked by ferral dogs, eat toxic weeds, run out of water, or any number of other risks? My suggestions is to make a start on the things that take a long time, and which don't need you to be there!

 

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