Starting out in Colac-Otway

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Fri, 01/04/2013 - 17:13 #1

Member for

11 years 3 months
tlatham
Last seen: 01/26/2013 - 12:50
Joined: 01/04/2013 - 14:48

Starting out in Colac-Otway

I am looking to purchase land in the Colac-Otway Shire as a sole-income business enterprise. After reading a few of the tips on this site, I have realised my dream of cattle and grain is a little far-fetched considering my budget. However, I am willing to compromise and what I am looking for is something in the way of orchards, vegetables, chooks and some meat (pigs/cattle/sheep), with a long-term goal of self-sufficiency. Tourism is also an area I am willing to pursue, i.e. farmstays, possible BnB, etc.

I am just a little concerned about the minimum amount of acres to make such a business economically viable, whether cleared land is necessary, and the availibility of water and electricity (however a long-term goal is for the property to be run exclusively on solar power).

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Mon, 01/07/2013 - 21:36 #2
rogermartyn
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/20/2011 - 16:16

Hullo tlatham

Welcome to the forums.

You pose what is a very open question which is difficult to answer with specifics. It would take at least a book to even start covering the possibilities!

I suggest you look at the forum posting http://farmstyle.com.au/question/what-do if you have not already viewed it as it deals with some of what might be of interest to you.

Making a living from the land as a sole-income business enterprise will depend not only on the land in question, but also your own personal preferences and your abilities for involvement including your health and stage of life, the amount of capital you have to invest in the venture and the financial returns you expect. Some are happy to live the good life on the smell of an oily rag while others will prefer to live the good life complete with the Range Rover and annual holidays overseas!

At the very least you will want to sketch out these requirements and perhaps short-list a few farming enterprises of interest and then seek advice from the likes of one of our Farmstyle consultants. I can highly recommend Angus (see http://farmstyle.com.au/farm-consultant-profiles) who knows the farming area around where you are considering very well.

You mention Agritourism as a possibility. Traditional farm-stay and bed and breakfast while certainly opportunities to consider are in reality likely to be greatly influenced by when people can get time to partake in the services you offer, ie during the normal holiday times and weekends so limiting the amount of potential income. The facilities you can provide to house and feed them,will also restrict agritourist numbers. The return on investment is likely to be very poor, in the region of only one percent if that. It is probably more suited to existing well established farming operations with large homestead / shearers quarters type situations where they can capitalise on existing under utlised assets.

Agritourism that can capture bypass traffic and can accommodate large numbers of people at one time, and who will purchase goods from you direct has in my view more potential - as you can far more easily gear up for greater numbers with less capital. Trying to find the right venture is the problem however. Some have done it with Lavender for example, selling high end, high value product direct to the public at full retail. I personally believe there is potential for ventures like milking goats, sheep or cows from which specialist dairy products can be processed and sold on site (income stream) where people also get the opportunity to view or even get involved the production processes including the animal handling, milking, and product processing, especially if it had a sustainable farming bias. This would however require a great deal of capital, knowledge, people skills and above all location, location, location as to where the venture was located. It would however be immense fun to do and be part of.

In general when looking at land, factors such as rainfall, water, access to electricity, the topography and the state of soils, pastures and infrastructure such as fencing, water supply, buildings and yards are of course important and will greatly influence the amount of land your can get for your money. Just getting power from the grid where its not already there can cost upwards of $25,000 for just the first pole making alternatives like solar power a very attractive option for many situations. Poor soil fertility can be expensive to put right but so too can buying improved land. You have a lot to consider.

I hope I haven't discouraged you in what are exciting plans you are have for your long term goals. I do encourage you to think about the issues I've mentioned and to also read and research as widely as possible on what you think might interest you. There is a good range of books for sale in the Farmstyle bookshop which is a good place to start http://farmstyle.com.au/bookshop.

You might also consider attending our upcoming conference 'Road-maps to sustainable small farming and country living' which will take place over a two day weekend this coming August 2013, details of which will be posted on the Farmstyle site later this month. One of the intentions of this conference is to assist prospective small farmers such as yourself on how to go about navigating such decisions as you find your facing.

If you have specific questions you think these forums can help you with, please do not hesitate to post a question. Remember, no question is ever too obvious, too dumb, or too simple to ask!

It's the answers that are usually difficult to come up with!

Keep us posted and if others have any comments / suggestions these would be very appreciated

Roger

 

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