Hi i am new to this and would like some information please

4 posts
Thu, 01/19/2012 - 16:05 #1

Member for

12 years 10 months
Baggez
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 01/19/2012 - 15:54

Hi i am new to this and would like some information please

Hi

I am from Melbourne Victoria and am currently looking at buying a property located in central Victoria soon with a view for a weekender to begin with then to build and operate a small hobby farm.

 

The property i am looking at is slightly undulated but fairly cleared at around 10 acres fully fenced, there is a small dam and the property is lined with pine trees around the boundary. The only infrastructure on the property at the moment is a 12m x 6m shed with a 1000 litre concrete water storage tank.

I would really like to know if i buy this property wether i could start by purchasing some livestock to accomodate the 10 acres aas there seems to be plenty of long grass/feed within the property.

I am in the oil and gas industry and am a jack of all trades but have never owned live stock, my wife and i will eventually build a house on the property but at this stage we may only visit it twice a month or so.

I am interested in buying young cattle and raising them in readiness for sale as a small hobby/income at a later stage. With what i have explained so far do you think i could keep cattle on the property and if so what would be the best cattle to buy and to raise.

Is the property large enough and in your opinion to cater for cattle and if so how many?

Kind regards

Justin

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Sat, 01/21/2012 - 09:56 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Justin,

You should be able to put up to 8 weaner cattle on the block but I  think that as it is ony a 10acre block that you would not be able to run them all year round on it because of seasonal haying off (drying out of pasture).

 You wouldn't make a lot of money out of it as an enterprise, but you could make a little when you sold them off in 6-9 months because they would have put on quite a few kilos in that time and I guess that it would supply your own meat for youself and your wife too, although if you wanted to use the meat off the block, you would probably have to get them killed at a local butcher's or abbatoire, because of health regulations. In Qld where I live, if they are killed by a mobile butcher or yourself on the property, you cannot take the meat off the property - big penalties for doing that if you are caught.. However, having said that, personally I think that for a hobby farm you need more land because 10 acres after you have built your house, is not going to leave you more than 9 acres to graze your stock on.

hope this helps you with your decision.

regards,

Barb

 

Hi Justin,

Yes understand where you are coming from. If you just want a few animals to have around for pets, perhaps you might consider having two or three dexters and maybe an maybe an alpaca. the dexters are a small breed and easy to handle and the alpaca is an adorable animal. Meat of the dexter is really nice though the cuts are smaller. Guess that if they are pets you probably won't want to eat them though. The alpaca producuces a beautiful fleece that is usually readily saleable to craft groups- unless perhaps you may like to try spinning and weaving/knitting yourself. Sounds like it could be a really nice life style.

good luck,

Barb

 

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Thu, 01/26/2012 - 23:23 #3
Baggez
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 01/19/2012 - 15:54

Thanks Barb

Point taken on rearing cattle to sell, probably a long shot and like you say proprty not big enough

What if we wanted to just farm some cattle without worrying about making a living, i mean is there such a thing as buying some cattle as pets to have around the place?

We have our heart set on this property and it will look fantastic after the house is built but i really want to have some farm animals to share the remaining 9 acres with, i think you get my point?

What do you suggest?

Regards

Justi

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Mon, 01/23/2012 - 08:19 #4
rogermartyn
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/20/2011 - 16:16

Hi Justin

Barb has given you some very good advice.

Small breed cattle should be fun, and physically, much safer to handle than larger breeds if you are unfamiliar with handling stock, something to be considered.

Keep away from sheep, they're work, limit them to just the odd pet or three.

Being a 'part time farmer', you wont want too many stock anyhow, as this will put too much pressure on you to keep on top of things to ensure they're sufficiently fed. It'll be better to be 'understocked' so that there is some built in 'fudge factor'.

The primary reason you'll need stock is to control the grass. Personally, I think it is irresponsible to have a hobby farm and not control the grass - (unless you're trying to revert the land back to native bush etc).  Too often I have seen examples of where people are attracted to the thought of having a small farm after seeing pretty farmland in their travels, only to let the farm they purchase grow rank and thus spoil the vista they were originally attracted to.

In order to control the grass, make good use of electric fencing where possible, it is effective and much cheaper than conventional fencing. It is vital that you can keep stock where you want them to graze otherwise you'll probably find all they'll want to do is camp around a watering hole and stay under shadeleaving significant amounts of area ungrazed.

The other thing to make provision for is a small set of yards, nothing fancy, two small pens would be fine. You will need these in order to look after the stock in order to provide applications of pour-ons for internal and external parasite control or for convalescing the odd sick animal and so on.

Seriously consider getting either a small tractor with a slasher/mower or even a pull along mower than can be towed by a quad bike for the property. This will go along way to helping keep the property looking good by tidying up areas that the cattle can't cope with. For any thing larger than 1 acre, you will need some sort of machine to pull or carry things anyhow.

If the property lends itself, look at dedicating some area back to the environment by rehabilitating some bush land, or planting some natives and so on. These make great picnic areas to take your visitors and attract birds and other wildlife which will also enrich your life.

Get in and have a go

all the best

Roger Martyn

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