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We are looking for a house in rural Virginia and found one that is on a small farm (4.5 acres). They have a few cows and maybe some goats, no crops that I could see. The problem is that neither me nor my wife knows the first thing about farming and at least I have little interest in learning. Yet we love the property and are trying to figure out what we could do with the land otherwise. A lot of it is now grass, so without something to graze we would have an awful lot of mowing to do. Any ideas? Is it possible (practical) to have people "board" their livestock on your land? My best idea so far is to build a baseball stadium and see if they come :-)
You want the pastoral look, without the pastoral labor. No can do. Zoning laws probably prohibit you from establishing and managing a small high-value hardwood plantation, which is also a lot of work, trust me.
Fruit trees, berry bushes. A vegetable garden for yourself or a bit larger perhaps. Forget livestock other than maybe bees, rabbits, or chickens. Buying feed gets expensive, and there's no money at a small scale in cheap commodities like soybeans.
I don't know if anyone has addressed this in the comments above, but what is your water situation like? Do you have access to good-quality, cheap water? By good quality, I mean water that isn't saline or sodic. If you do, you can rent your land to vegetable farmers for a share of the crop and/or cash rent. If you don't, then your options are limited to grain crops, hay, or certain vegetable crops adapted to dryland farming, such as potatoes, onions, squash and corn. You're not going to make any money with grain crops or hay though.
An acre of land devoted to thirsty vegetables will consume 27,000 gallons of water per week during dry periods.
Just curious, if 4.5 acres is really big yard, what is the minimum acreage to be considered a farm? I understand it depends on what you are planting. What would be the min acreage for let's say corn to make reasonable money?
I don't know if anyone has addressed this in the comments above, but what is your water situation like? Do you have access to good-quality, cheap water? By good quality, I mean water that isn't saline or sodic. If you do, you can rent your land to vegetable farmers for a share of the crop and/or cash rent. If you don't, then your options are limited to grain crops, hay, or certain vegetable crops adapted to dryland farming, such as potatoes, onions, squash and corn. You're not going to make any money with grain crops or hay though.
An acre of land devoted to thirsty vegetables will consume 27,000 gallons of water per week during dry periods.
(last paragraph).........I really doubted that, but did an internet search and found out that 1 inch of rainfall over 1 acre = 27,000 + gallons.
Just curious, if 4.5 acres is really big yard, what is the minimum acreage to be considered a farm? I understand it depends on what you are planting. What would be the min acreage for let's say corn to make reasonable money?
....."minimum acreage for a farm ".....
Where my farm was located ( central MN ) you had to have at least 10 acres to even get your place an agriculture classification for property tax purposes.
Just curious, if 4.5 acres is really big yard, what is the minimum acreage to be considered a farm? I understand it depends on what you are planting. What would be the min acreage for let's say corn to make reasonable money?
Define reasonable. I know many people this year that are going to be happy if they just break even. The last decade has been pretty crazy, but maybe over the long term you could assume making $30-50 an acre? Maybe.
Think twice before you board horses...you will completely give up your privacy with owners coming and going. Also you will need extra insurance.
I agree with others, buy a riding mower...pay a kid $10/hr to be the mower jockey. Enjoy!
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