What land size would I need?

3 posts
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 09:49 #1

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RhoFarm
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 02/05/2012 - 09:42

What land size would I need?

Hi,

We are looking at starting a hobby farm, in the Adelaide Hills area.

As a matter of interest, what size land would we need to sustain the following, assuming there is decent rainfall, topping up with hay if needed?

  • A small orchard of fruit tree's
  • 2 milk cows
  • 10 beef cattle
  • 5 sheep
  • Chickens

Our aim would to be self sustainable.

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Sun, 02/05/2012 - 20:09 #2
rogermartyn
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/20/2011 - 16:16

 

Hi RhoFarm

Great to see you're interested in a hobby farm. It is a lot of fun and a great way to connect with nature.

 

Your question is a difficult one to answer, not knowing exactly the type of land in question, so we are going to have to make some assumptions in conjunction with the information you have supplied.

 

You state you are looking to have a property in the Adelaide Hills.

Pasture growth rate data for the area suggest a total of around 8 tonnes kg dry matter per ha. Also, the Adelaide Hills evidently average around 800mm rainfall per year with the rider that as you leave the ranges the locals will tell you that the rain drops " around 50 mm of rain every few kilometres".

For the summer months there appears to be little to no rain, so you will need to farm to accommodate this.

 

So where does this leave you?

 

Lets assume you have a reasonable rye grass sub clover pasture sward.

For 2 milking cows, allow at least 2 ha total.

For the 10 beef cattle (lets assume they're spread between weaner calves and 3 year oldr, allow at least 5 ha area total.

For the 2 sheep, allow 1 ha total  and for the small orchard, 1 ha should be ample and if you're considering a garden, allow at least 1/3 of ha.

This all adds up to 9 ha plus. Allowing room for the homestead, barns, chickens and property access, you'll be looking at least 10 ha or more.

If the land is particularly steep, and 'underdeveloped' (poor pastures) and has significant areas of trees on it, you will need to increase the area accordingly.

As you can see, working out the area of land is not an exacting science, especially in the absence of specific information but I hope it at least give you a bit of a feel for what might be required.

With the number of stock and area you are looking at, it is extremely doubtful that you would be self sustainable economically. However this area with time, would probably be more than enough to make you self sustainable in food. You will need outside income for things like transport, electricity, insurance, clothing, medical, debt servicing etc.

 

All the best with your endeavors and let us know what happens

Roger Martyn

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Wed, 02/29/2012 - 13:38 #3
goodrockpark
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 09/30/2011 - 17:53

My understanding of the Adelaide Hills region is that the average land around there is undulating to steep with limited cropping mainly due to the said slopes and rockiness. Annual  rainfall is around 500/600mm? and land is generally also salt-affected? 

Quick scans show that the average output of grazing seems to be approximately 4 to 5 DSE (Dry Sheep Equivalents) per Hectare. 

Assuming all of this is correct, I'll answer backwards from largest to smallest animals.

  • I'm presuming with your beef cattle you are looking at running a background (steer) operation so you are looking at purchasing weaned calves at ~200 kg and having them gain 0.75 kg/day which means you need 9.0 DSE per steer. At 10 steers that is 90DSE or (assuming 5DSE/Ha) approx 18Ha.
  • With milking cows, it depends on the breed, but assuming some gentle mature 400Kg Jerseys which will be maintaining weight and Lactating - producing 40% of peak milk, then you'll need 13 DSEs or another 5 Ha of land.
  • 5 Mature, wool producing sheep of approx 40 kg gaining a steady 50 g/day is about 1.4 DSEs or 1.5 Hectares.
  • Chickens are the easy thing to calculate here, assuming self-sufficiency for eggs and meat, you could run a breeding programme with Australorps based off a 600m2 area, table scraps and feed bins. 
  • The orchard is a bit more difficult to analyse, I'd be concerned about the salinity of the land, but otherwise, it should be a relatively cheap exercise to set aside a quarter acre (1000m2) do any soil reperations required and running a full gamut of fruit trees.

So, all in all we are looking at approx 26 Hectares (26,000m2 or 65 Acres in the old language)

Obviously the quality and quantity of the pastures are what will change that number. Also, you can go for a smaller property, but you may very well be looking at bringing in additional feed, which along with cartage, can add up to an expensive exercise.

Further reading -- Both the Victorian DPI and NSW DPI have a number of factsheets on DSEs, stocking rates and comparing different livestock. The MLA also have some good information and basic rules of thumb for determining DSEs.

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