Govt Stimulation burning a hole in my pocket.

[baymule]

You are off on an adventure! I love the place. How far is it from your work? What about where you live now, sell it or rent it out? Yeah, you need some sheep, a couple feeder pigs and a steer to Feed out.

 

[CrealCritter]

You are off on an adventure! I love the place. How far is it from your work? What about where you live now, sell it or rent it out? Yeah, you need some sheep, a couple feeder pigs and a steer to Feed out.

Just a little bit further from work. I should have no issue either selling or renting, still haven't worked through the details yet. I'm really counting on you guys to get me off on the right "hoof", eventually.

Here's the barn I have to work with. Sliding doors on both ends. I plan on having a big part of the inside as my wood shop. Someone started framing the back side of the barn for stalls, but I could change the configuration. This back side of the barn faces east. There is a stack of reclaimed steel roofing on a pallet also, I believe enough to put a lid on it. About 10 acres is fenced in with barbwire T-posts and I believe just one run of electric wire on the top.

Front side of the barn

Back South/West corner the pond is near the middle of the picture, that you can't see because of the trees. But it's not to far away to where I could pipe rain water run off to it, to keep it full. Plus I could keep a water water trough full. With a little planning...

Framing start of the "stalls". The lower part of the roof faces east. With my sawmill it won't be a big deal to cut lumber to finish what I need for whatever configuration is best for animal a shelter

 

[baymule]

That barn will make a great wood shop. You could also store hay for animals in part of it. Concrete floor? Put hay on pallets and stack it up.

 

[CrealCritter]

That barn will make a great wood shop. You could also store hay for animals in part of it. Concrete floor? Put hay on pallets and stack it up.

Yep cement floor. How many hay rounds does a cow eat over the winter? And what about sheep too?

 

[farmerjan]

Got to figure for 1 small sq bale per day per "cow". We roll most of our hay, in big rolls of 5x5 and 5x6 which are about 20-25 sq bales, in each. We figure a bare minimum of 1 roll per head per month.... all depends on how cold, how much snow, how much "picking" in the pasture...etc and so on. So figure more like 2 rolls and then you will have plenty of a "cushion" if the weather is rough or there is a drought or real cold late into the spring or whatever. If it is in the barn it certainly won't go bad. Don't know what your pastures will hold there, but we figure 1 cow/cf pair per 2 acres here.... You can run about 4-5 sheep per 1 head of cattle.... again, depends on the pasture/grass. Barbed wire fencing may not keep the sheep in. It is okay for horses and cattle, all according to how many strands and how far apart they are. You can always run a strand of electric inbetween the existing wire to discourage reaching through ; because you know no matter how much good stuff they have right there in front of them, it is ALWAYS BETTER on the other side of the fence.

OH, FORGOT TO SAY CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW PLACE. That is really great.

 

[wyoDreamer]

@CrealCritter Congrats on finding a place!

As far as animals go, you can contact the local Extension office in the area to get specific information about the land such as soil type, fertility, stocking rates. Those guys are paid to help you figure out what your land will support.
Here is a general information PDF on animal stocking rates if you want to get all sciencey and mathmatical about it. It is from the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service - your federal tax dollars working for you).

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1167344.pdf

Basically - 1 AU (Animal Units) = 1 cow = 1200 lb so 1 AU = 3 sheep that weigh 400 lb. each

The local Extension Service and the NRCS are really busy this time of year working with farmers planting, signing up for programs and such, but later on in the summer they will have time to work with you. Even just meet in the office and get some local advice. Our Extension Agents around here are a great source of info on the land, most of them are locals.

 

[CrealCritter]

@CrealCritter Congrats on finding a place!

As far as animals go, you can contact the local Extension office in the area to get specific information about the land such as soil type, fertility, stocking rates. Those guys are paid to help you figure out what your land will support.
Here is a general information PDF on animal stocking rates if you want to get all sciencey and mathmatical about it. It is from the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service - your federal tax dollars working for you).

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1167344.pdf

Basically - 1 AU (Animal Units) = 1 cow = 1200 lb so 1 AU = 3 sheep that weigh 400 lb. each

The local Extension Service and the NRCS are really busy this time of year working with farmers planting, signing up for programs and such, but later on in the summer they will have time to work with you. Even just meet in the office and get some local advice. Our Extension Agents around here are a great source of info on the land, most of them are locals.

My that's awesome info thank you

 

[CrealCritter]

We are getting a home and termite inspection. It's kind of senseless really because I'll be the one to fix whatever they find. But then again a second pair of eyes is good also.

 

[CrealCritter]

Signed the loan paperwork this afternoon. I couldn't believe it, all the properties I own look really good on paper. I turned to my wife and said dang we're rich! Let's sell it all and go tan our buns in the Bahamas

We meet the home inspector guy Monday @10:00AM to go over what he finds. He's got two hours scheduled to dive into the house.

It's hard for a guy (me) to really dive in and check things out with Wife and Realtor lady in tow. I told my wife he'll flush all the toilets, turn on all the sinks, open all the windows, crawl through the attic, check the electrical, heat/AC, plumbing, basment and foundation, roof, etc... All those things I really wanted to do myself but can't with a just a walkthrough... Atleast I'll have a better picture of what I'm looking at after reviewing his report.

 

[CrealCritter]

Got to figure for 1 small sq bale per day per "cow". We roll most of our hay, in big rolls of 5x5 and 5x6 which are about 20-25 sq bales, in each. We figure a bare minimum of 1 roll per head per month.... all depends on how cold, how much snow, how much "picking" in the pasture...etc and so on. So figure more like 2 rolls and then you will have plenty of a "cushion" if the weather is rough or there is a drought or real cold late into the spring or whatever. If it is in the barn it certainly won't go bad. Don't know what your pastures will hold there, but we figure 1 cow/cf pair per 2 acres here.... You can run about 4-5 sheep per 1 head of cattle.... again, depends on the pasture/grass. Barbed wire fencing may not keep the sheep in. It is okay for horses and cattle, all according to how many strands and how far apart they are. You can always run a strand of electric inbetween the existing wire to discourage reaching through ; because you know no matter how much good stuff they have right there in front of them, it is ALWAYS BETTER on the other side of the fence.

OH, FORGOT TO SAY CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW PLACE. That is really great.

So the rule of thumb around here is one cutting that one ton of hay is equal to approx 40~ 45 bales or 4 to 5 rounds. One acre generally yields approx two tons of hay. There are normally two cuttings per season around here. A good year will yield three cuttings, a drought year just 1.

I need to do some more figuring, but I believe I would have no problem feeding a couple of beef cattle and handful sheep or so...