Management of extra acres

2 posts
Sat, 01/12/2013 - 09:06 #1

Member for

11 years 8 months
Allie
Last seen: 01/12/2013 - 11:31
Joined: 08/12/2012 - 19:19

Management of extra acres

Hello,

My partner and I are shortly moving to the Northern Rivers region from a city house to some country acres. Our plan is to be semi self-sustainable with a veggie patch, some fruit trees, about 5 chickens and 2 milking goats. We plan to work full time initially, hopefully pulling back to 3 days a week so this is all we think we could manage.

When we have been looking for properties, we have found that many small properties don't have the house that we'd like on it and the ones we do like have large acres - sometimes 100 acres or more. Would it be possible to lease these acres? What do we need to consider and how does it work? How do you find people who might want to lease land?

If we found a property with 10 acres more than we need, which low maintenance animals could keep the pasture down? Would 2 horses manage on only 10 acres? I've read 4 sheep per acre - is that right? I'd prefer animals that are happy for human contact.

Also, I've been advised that worms are rife in the Northern Rivers region and that goats should not be kept on pasture to stop the worm breeding cycle. Does this also apply for horses and sheep?

Thanks for your help - I am a complete novice but am keen to learn and want to make sure I make the right choices for the land.

Allie

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Sat, 01/12/2013 - 11:21 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Allie,

Congratulations on getting out of the rat race. My idea of hell would be living in the city.

 To answer your question on acreage, personally I would always opt for a larger property because it gves you more options when you are not too limited for space. If you fence off a reasonable area for your house yard- say an acre or so, then that will allow you to have an area for growing your vegies and fruit trees that are stock proof. Then on the rest of the property you could run a few head of cattle, a horse or two and some goats. Regarding goats there are two things to consider. If the goats are running in the paddock then you will need correct fencing for them as they are great escape artists. you can fence with sheep mesh, or electric fencing. The best fence is an adapted barbed wire fence. four strands of barbed wire as the negative wires and run a live plain wire underneath the bottom strand and then run a live plain wire between each strand of barbed wire. Never energise the barbed wire as this could be dangerous if a child or elderly person is caught on it.

 If you plan to run some cattle on the property you will need to set up some yards so that you can load, unload and work with them. A set of portable yards is probably the way to go for smaller acreages.

To manage the worm burden in cattle and goats or sheep you can cross-graze them, which means running them in the paddock together. Because cattle, do not share the same species of parasite worms as sheep and goats they are not in general infested with the same type of worm. The worms that infest all species of ruminants are picked up from the grass while grazing. So running the different species together means that when the cattle consume grass with parasite worms which infect goats or sheep on it, then because the parasite cannot live in cattle it is killed in their digestive system. The same applies with species cattle are prone to when they are eaten by goats or sheep. However, you should still have a worm check done on a regular basis, approximately every 6 months, or if they begin to lose wieght or scour to ensure the health of your stock and if necessary drench with an oral drench as recommended for the particular species. You can read my article on parasitic worms on the Farmstyle website.

Regarding the ammount of live stock you can run on a given acreage, this always depends on how much pasture and water (the latter very important) there is available. A good place to find this out is to introduce yourself to some of the people in the area you are interested in and ask them. Country folk are very friendly, which is one of the reasons I love living in the country. The neighbours will always give you your privacy but if you are ever in need of help, they will be there and willing to help.

 If you wish to ajist cattle on your property the local and country newspapers or the community notice board are always a good place to start. To ajist you will need a set of yards and will need to provide secure fencing with ample water and pasture. A word of caution on ajisting: always get an agreement in writing with the owner of the stock as to what is expected. For instance the cost per month to them (paid monthly in advance), how long the notice must be for them to remove their livestock (because you don't want to keep their stock until they eat your pasture to the ground). Include anything else that both they and yourself want regarding both their and your obligations respecting the ajistment. An agreement in writing will save any unnecessary hassles and bad feelings if everything is spelled out clearly. As the old saying goes, 'a verbal agreement is only as good as the paper it isn't written on'.

Good luck with your move and finding your property.

Barb

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