How many acres is enough?

[Beekissed]

In this state, you merely have to have 5 acres to be able to call it a farm.

 

[terri9630]

Around here it isn't how many animals per acre, it's how many acres per animal. Our average rainfall is 10in and we have been way below avg for several years now. I think last year we had 3 1/2" and that was mostly snow in Feb and Dec.

Make sure you can irrigate crops if needed.

 

[BarredBuff]

In this state, you merely have to have 5 acres to be able to call it a farm.

We have 2 acres and got a farm ID on it. Collectively we have 5 acres though on the entire homestead.....

 

[pinkfox]

this is definatly a good point, different municipalities will have different rules and regs reguarding what you can do.

my house is 4 1/3rd acres which in the town i lived in in CT i would legally be able to have up to 1/4 an acre of vegatbales and up to 10 hens
however here in rural TN i can do whatever i want with it...if i wanted 100 goats (why anyone would i dont know) but i could...
so it means i can do alot more with less land here than i could even think about doing in CT simply because of municipality regulations.

 

[ninny]

Thanks for the replys. Sorry it took me so long to get back. We are looking at 5 to 20 acres on the Iowa/Illinois border. Iowa side. For some reason I forgot to add dog boarding/training to the list. I talked to the local extension office and they said berries are the way to go. I'm trying to find the local ordinances but not having much luck. A friend of ours bought two acres only to find she can't have livestock. The city takes so much land for different things. I'm really not wanting this to happen to me. I don't think we will be heating with wood. We also want a pond or space to put one in.

 

[Theo]

Look at land quality too. Iowa and Illinois undoubtably have extensive soil surveys that you can look at, probably online. I mention this because where I live, the Willamette Valley in Oregon, a lot of farmland is marshy and only marginally useful for crops. It does grow grass pretty well, but it is not suitable for year round pasture.

You will want to see if the soil in the parcel you are looking at is suitable for the types of crops you are interested in growing, for pasturage and so on.

 

[peteyfoozer]

also consider neighbors. 5 acres isn't much if you have someone who complains on the next 5 over!
I ran a full scale horse training business on 3 acres, but I had good neighbors at the time. Then we had some other people move in and it was a headache and a half. Now we live on 250,000 5 hours from town and no more problems.

 

[hensnchicks]

I think you are looking at sufficient acreage at 20 acres or so. I don't know what kind of property you are looking at but there is excellent farmland in Illinois/Iowa and sells for $7500-$8500/acre. We farm approx. 600 acres and of that acreage the house and lawns are on 7 acres and the orchards on 10 so judging by that 20 acres should do you good. Have fun.

 

[terri9630]

I think you are looking at sufficient acreage at 20 acres or so. I don't know what kind of property you are looking at but there is excellent farmland in Illinois/Iowa and sells for $7500-$8500/acre. We farm approx. 600 acres and of that acreage the house and lawns are on 7 acres and the orchards on 10 so judging by that 20 acres should do you good. Have fun.

Here people complain about $4000 an acre for stuff near town. Of course its desert, no water, but still way higher than the $1500 per acre we paid in S. Tx. I can't imagine buying much land for $8000 an acre.

 

[hwillm1977]

I think you are looking at sufficient acreage at 20 acres or so. I don't know what kind of property you are looking at but there is excellent farmland in Illinois/Iowa and sells for $7500-$8500/acre. We farm approx. 600 acres and of that acreage the house and lawns are on 7 acres and the orchards on 10 so judging by that 20 acres should do you good. Have fun.

Here people complain about $4000 an acre for stuff near town. Of course its desert, no water, but still way higher than the $1500 per acre we paid in S. Tx. I can't imagine buying much land for $8000 an acre.

Yep.. location makes a huge difference... for farmland here you can get 200 acres of riverfront land for about $170,000 (with a 5 bedroom house and barns, only 60 acres of that is cleared, drain-tiled fields)... or you can buy an undeveloped woodlot that is 300 acres on a dirt road without services or a house for $45,000.

Here's the place we were looking at: http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=11255899&PidKey=14355917

Personally I think 20 acres is a great size for a hobby farm, not too small but not overwhelming either.