Ideas please

3 posts
Sun, 06/21/2015 - 20:40 #1

Member for

9 years 4 months
prince
Last seen: 06/21/2015 - 20:40
Joined: 06/21/2015 - 20:33

Ideas please

Hi new to the site.

My wife and I are looking into starting our own small hobby farm.

we are looking at Tasmainia. We want to do bees for honey for us and to sell. We want to do chooks for us and to sell. and some fruit trees for us and to sell. and we want to try wild mushrooms and maybe a few goats for meat if room permits. Proble is we want all this and don't know where to start. or how big of a block we need. any help would be good on all my topics.

Thanks Craig

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Mon, 06/22/2015 - 11:47 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Craig,

And welcome to the forum.

Where to start? First of all you need to make sure that you have good fencing, water and shelter for animals and birds. You should make sure all the infrastructure for these are in place before you purchase your livestock. How much land? Well that depends on soil, climate, location and so on. Personally, I would always opt for the largest block I could afford (including council rates). This allows you to expand your business and gardens with less restrictions. I would suggest starting slowly with only one or two things such as your chooks and vegies for instance, then adding your orchard and bees etc., one by one as you learn to handle each element of your farming enterprise.

 

There is a wealth of info available on this website, which should prove very useful to you.

 

Good luck in your future enterprise.

Cheers,

Barb

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Mon, 06/22/2015 - 12:00 #3
rmcpb
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/22/2012 - 11:13
Craig, Now that you have thought up lots of options I would reverse the procedure and start looking for blocks that suit you in the area you are interested in. All of the ventures you mentioned have different requirements so once you find a place one of the steps in deciding would be to see what it can support and where your markets are, etc. Of those ventures bees, chooks and a small orchard would need the least land but you would really want north facing, loamy slope with a fair area of native bush nearby for the bees. The trees would grow better in loamy soil, the chook pasture would be easier on loamy soil and you would have to grow lots of different plants that flower at different times for your bees. I know nothing about mushroom farming and only a little bit about goats but they take more room and you need good fencing. Also, with any hoofed animal some hard, rocky areas are good to wear their hooves down or you will be trimming them all the time. Good luck in what you choose. Rob.
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