We currently farm about 350 acres. We try to raise all the forage for a cow/calf operation consisting of around 100 cows and 30 bred heifers. Other than that we have one Australian shepherd and a multitude of stray cats that have wandered in off the road.

In a couple of years when I retire I do intend to have a Jersey milk cow in the mix.

Janet

Carlos,

We have 9 and a half acres, no livestock, are planning to get a small flock of chickens as natural predators for vegetable garden bugs, and are owned by one calico cat. Our acreage is a wildlife refuge (no elephants, but you should see our bobcat!).
Here in Texas we have an expression for eroded, denuded land--"goated out." The Hill Country is especially prone to goating out, but we have seen lovely treed and grassed pastures become a muddy quagmire and a dust bowl in just a year or two because someone insisted on grazing 100 goats where 10 could live happily. Be sure that your 3/4 acre can carry the load of grazing animals. Your county extension agent should be able to help you figure out what is an appropriate number. That said, enjoy your rural area, and cherish it.

Thanks so much for the follow ups! I really value the opinions of the readers on this board.

we live on just under 1 acre..i think it's actually 20 000 sq feet. we have farm field all around our land,and we have access to it..so it seems much bigger when you see it. We have 2 mini female pygmy goats,5 hens,2 ducks(cause we just lost 2 recently to a fox) and rabbits. we have more than enough room for everyone! are you moving to a farm area??

We currently live on a typical 1/6 acre lot in west central FL. We just started clearing a driveway on our 7 acres in SC up near the mountains. We hope to move in a couple years, and do a little 'gentleman' farming.

I have 2.4 acres in southern NH. Half of it is steeply wooded hillside, not good for much other than keeping neighbors at bay :) I have 15 chickens, 2 cats (indoors, so they don't take up much acerage except for in the kitchen) and 2 small birds (again inside). I'd love to have a horse, but our property is just not right for one. Trying to talk the DH into a few turkeys next year.

terryboc,,,you should look into getting some goats...you have the perfect land,they LOVE steep hillsides ect...think about it...they make excellent pets and great for milk and cheese. I keep mini pygmy goats,but you probably have a great place for milking goats of a larger size. :) just a thought

I forgot to mention that I also have 2 dogs and 5 cats in the last write up....

We live on just a bit over 200 acre farm.

Have a pony, two mini-donkeys, a peacock, 10 arucanas, 30+ Japanese banties, 40+ guineas, 8 ducks, 4 dogs (two Great Pyrenees and 2 Min Pins), and one cat.

The pony is for the grandkids,the mini-donkeys.the peacock and the ducks are for fun, as are the gray Japanese banties, the easter-eggers are for eggs, the guineas are for tick control, the cat is for the mice,the Min Pins are inside pets and the Pyrs are to take care of the lot!

I live on 15 acres in SW NH. It houses 2 horses, 2 standard donkeys, 2 pygmy goats, 16 chickens and three cats. About 3 acres of my land is pasture for the equines and I have to manage that very carefully. I feed mostly hay but supplement with grass when its growing. We are doing some more clearing in the hopes of having a small orchard and a garden enough to sustain us (2) for the bulk of the year. My property is bordered on two sides by a good sized brook and my land is teaming with wildlife, deer, moose, fox you name it, which we enjoy. I have a dream of being as self sufficient as possible eventually with our little plot of land.

5 acres with one acre in date palms (will be 3 when we get enough offshoots to plant the whole place) almost 100 citrus trees and a smattering of this and that. It's amazing how much ONE fig tree can make! Takes an hour a day to pick. and a pond with fish. Except for the date garden (we call them gardens not ranches) we should have the place all planted out by 2009.

6 aceres there is pasture, forest and 20 years ago we put in about 1/2 acere pond. One horse, five pigmey goats, seven hens and one rooster. There is extended family so there is a total of six dogs, and nine cats. The pond is stocked with catfish and bass. There are three houses.

3 acres with chickens, ducks, small fruit orchard & very large garden. I try to add something productive each year. :)

We have 40 acres.OUr farm use to be 350 acre farm.BUt when previous owner died they sold all but 40 to the gated community near us for houses.

We currently live on 5 acres in Georgia (USA), moving to 9 1/2 acres in central Kentucky. No stock here, but we're planning on chickens this spring, larger animals later, after fences are better established. The previous owner started & abandoned an ambitious pond project, we'll be looking into some small scale aquaculture. Good luck on your move.

We have 85 acres in Idaho. We have ten horses/ponies, 13 chickens, three dogs and numerous barn cats. We are thinking of adding turkeys next year.

We have 1 and 1/3 acre. Our flock of 23 Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons free-range during the day. They are guarded by a Silver Leghorn Roo, 5 Mastiffs, and a Jack Russell Terrier.

The JRT also fiercely protects our 400+ fruit trees against squirrels. We have a mixture of unusual Tropical fruits(Pitaya, Mamey Sapote, Black Sapotes, Cacao, Breadfruit, Pitomba, Akee, Tamarind), common ones such as Citrus, and low chill Apples/Peaches/Pears/Plums/Blueberries/Blackberries/Grapes.

Our raised-bed veggie gardens feed us very well, with lots left over to give away or freeze. The poultry eat any flawed fruits or veggies.

It is wonderful to just walk outside and harvest fresh eggs, fruits and veggies every day.

Lisa

Currently I have 6 acres, but I'm closing next month on 13 acres. It has a 1 acre pond/lake that looks to have bass in it. I have 1 horse, 13 alpaca, with 4 more cria due Dec-May, 5 cats, 3 dogs (1 Great Pyr and 2 border collie cross), and 12 chickens (mix of bantams and Araucana). I also board 6 alpacas and 1 horse. When I move to the new house, I'm building a larger chicken house to get another 1/2 dozen hens. There are too many organic/family farms in the area to go large scale with the egg business, so I just sell some to friends and at the office. I still work full-time, so my farm grows slowly (plus I'm single and do most of the work myself). I plan on putting in a fig tree and a couple of citrus trees (I'm in an area that can still grow a few of the hardier citrus), and maybe a muscadine vine. I don't plan on gardening large scale, but will put a few vegetables and strawberries in with my herbs and flowers.

We have 32 acres that we hope to start building on in March. About 10 acres will be for horses, the rest will remain natural except for horse trails.

I plan on releasing a half dozen varieties of pheasants and peafowl eventually.

We are on 18 acres where I now breed Mini Rex & American Sable rabbits and several pheasant species(gold, yellow gold, Amhersts, Silver & Peafowl) and some Sumatra bantams . we used to run 35 Corriedale ewes and a small herd of Highland cattle along with a couple teams of Haflingers. I also milked 4-6 goats and made a lot of cheese. Our farm was the base and we ran all over the neighborhood making feed. I bred show bantams until last year; black, white & gold pencilled Hamburgs and Sumatras along with Phoenix. Our bantams were shown from Maryland to Oklahoma and were very successful. Would like to get another small team or even just a good single driving horse. I miss the critters but the work load sure is improved..

We have 10 acres with 5 wooded. Had horses and now moving into raising St. Croix hair sheep need to re-fence for them. Have 2 dwarf Nigerian goats, one ewe St. croix hair sheep, chickens, ducks in other words a petting zoo for now.

Fancifowl,,, you seem to be living my dream! Ever try Swinhoes or Impeyans?

Ever release any ringnecks?

Terry

Had a pair of Swins but lost them.
my son raises 45 thousand ditchchickens a year, down from 85 thou. He works as a propagator for the Pa. Game comission, I have released a few. tried some Qual too which was a bust.

Its been a good trip I can attest to that but a whole lot of hard work. I sometimes think what I could have done with all the money which went into it all!!

I keep plenty busy still, a market garden and I grow a lot of perennials and stuff. Want to build an aviary this year and plant it up, good display for the plants. I figure a pair of Golds, a pair of Snowy calls, maybe a couple Sumatras? Ought to look good.

We have 5.25 acres. Three horses, 7 chickens, 20 ducks, 2 dogs and a cat.

The goal is to be food self-sufficent some day. Still working on getting the critters fenced in properly. Looks like a long term project.

My biggest problem is getting impatient with progressing slowly. I don't have the time or energy to get it all done 'right now'. Love the life!

Fancifowl... Your son has my dream job! Sumatras look so cool in the catalogs. I also like the Japanese longtail birds. I wonder if they'd chase away the pheasants I want to release?

Next year I hope to build a pheasant pen and the following summer, release a mix of Ringnecks, Jumbo ringnecks, Melanistics, Afghan white wings,and Buff ringnecks.

I probably will also release a mix of India Blues and Spalding peafowl.

In England, I know some people have released Red Goldens and in France, people release Reeves. Anyone try these birds in the States?

Fanci, Velvet, Jerry, and all... I appreciate your thoughts and help.

Terry

I had Phoenix bantams, main tails were over 32 inches, some 36+, their saddles dragged on the ground. I made a hybrid breed, took a couple years, from the Sumatra X Phoenix; they were most gorgeous. My sumatras are pretty good still.

The Ringnecks, all the mutations, are wild and have no home terretory, they will disperse probably upon release.
Every year there are about a dozen birds with mutated feather colors from those 45K chicks, I used to het them but no more.

Reeves have been released in the States in afew places, dont really know a lot about that tho. They are the nastiest of the pheasants, I wont have any of them!

The Peafowl will most likely hang around? But under the proper circumstances they can become pests, like California. I dont release mine, they cost too much! And the other pheasants just would not survive, some times 1 gets away and the last its seen, ever.

I'm envious of you all who can measure your land in acres, while I measure mine in feet. :(

We've got a typical suburban lot in Los Angles, although I think it's a bit bigger than the lot that modern homes are built on--our home was built in 1952. But it still manages to house our flock of chickens, my daughter's pet rabbit, a white nectarine, a cherry and blood orange trees, and my husband's pet tortoise he's had since Kindergarten. For about a year we had a neighborhood peacock that had escaped a neighbor's pen who hung out with our chickens and would roost in the neighbor's tree, he was a treat.

The neighborhood kids call our house a 'farm' because of the chickens and the fruit trees. It makes me feel a little sad for them. :(

I grew up on a place that was 1/2 an acre and housed all kinds of animals: chickens, rabbits, ducks, quail, turkeys and horses, with something like 32 fruit trees and a huge vegetable garden. I don't think my parents could have crammed more onto that lot! *L*

Velvet ~:>

Its your attitude which matters! I know several folks on small holdings who do big things and some on large acreages who cant do things even a little bit! I sometimes wish I had less land to maintain.

We live on 4 acres right by the sea in New Zealand. We have poultry and 3 terriers. Great big vege garden to feed us as we're a family of seven. Have a small orchard as well. Pretty much self-sufficient, thinking of getting a milking goat but they are so destructive if they go wandering. Plan to put in some wheat and maise next year, and expand our orchard to stone fruit and nut trees, as well as a few more berries, grapes & olives for oil.

>>>>>For about a year we had a neighborhood peacock that had escaped a neighbor's pen who hung out with our chickens and would roost in the neighbor's tree, he was a treat. Velvet... What became of the peacock?

>>>>>>I had Phoenix bantams, main tails were over 32 inches, some 36+, their saddles dragged on the ground. I made a hybrid breed, took a couple years, from the Sumatra X Phoenix; they were most gorgeous. My sumatras are pretty good still. Fanci, They sound great...did you ever take any pics?

Maiseynz, four acres by the sea sounds wonderful.

I had a bunch of photos up on my web pages, took them all down, maybe will get around to putting them back up if i can do it.? I have sent hatching eggs and quite a few birds all over the country, recently sold all the remaining stock.There may still be some photos of my birds on the longtail forums?

Cant find even 1 photo of the longtails , we lost a bunch and they must have been part of the,m., I will look on longtail forums.

On the Home farm we have 160 acres.We have a small garden but are main crop is organic garlic and shallots for seed sale's and Farmers Markets sale's.We do carry a herd of Soay Sheep to keep the weeds down and for the wool.Life couldn't be Better.

I have about 3.5 acres. Half wooded. 15 chickens, barred rocks, buff orpingtons, silver laced wyandottes, Black Australorps,New Hampshire Reds. 3 Roosters, soon to be 2!We soon hope to have turkeys.
A 40' x 80' garden that supplies my family of all we need in the vegetable department. 2 cats and a Golden Retriever.

We live on a 1/4 acre in a suburban setting.
We have one dog, 7 chickens(all hens) and one rabbit. We are doubling the size of our veggie garden this year & should be able to produce enough this growing season for our family of four. We are adding a small orchard in our front yard. Our plan is to buy the small bungelow & property next door which would add another 8,000 sq ft when it goes up for sale. Eventually I'd love to have 5 or more acres but here on Long Island that much land, even vacant is two million dollars or more.
If we get the house next door I'm getting two pygmy goats.

We just bought 20 acres farmland with home, quanset, woodshop, garage, commercial greenhouse,etc in Sask.
Am looking forwards to enjoying the beautiful open rolling hills and prairies and learning to work with living in the country. My husband is looking forwards to building me a chicken coop and maybe a few little animals for a hobby farm. We can go fishing close by and come home in 5 min when it gets dark. I hope it all works out...

We will soon be moving to 7 acres. Our plan is to be self sufficient and live off the grid. We will have 3-4 mini cattle for milk and the freezer, 2-3 goats for milk and cheese, chickens for eggs and meat, fruit trees, veggies and herbs. we are digging a 3/4 acre pond for fish and fun. We currwntly have 2 Siberian Huskies which are dh's service dogs and a Chihuahua who lives to be a lap dog.
Jo

im jealous of everyone because you all can say you "own" some land. Im renting right now with the hopes of buying this year. Ideally I would like 10 plus acres and would love 40! I want horses, chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, sheep, alpacas, cats, dogs, pigs and every other animal i can get. I sound crazy, but oh well. I want a big farm dangit! I wish i could afford one of million dollar farms ive seen for sale. I want to be as self sufficiant as possible.
Michelle

It's fun reading about all your farms/homeplaces. We've got just under 5 acres in central Virginia and both work away from home. I keep a small flock of 10 hens, mostly Ameraucanas, and a rooster. We've not a nice fenced half-acre that I'd like put some goats in but right now two of our dogs stay in it while we're at work. We love having fresh eggs to eat and I sell a few dozen eggs at my office now and then. I grow tomatoes each summer for our own table. I'd like to raise something that makes money. Anyone here having any success raising meat goats?
-Claire

We live on 8-ish acres in SW Ohio. We really only have 5 1/2 acres...but we are surrounded by 3+ acres of hillside that we use as if it was ours. We have a great neighbor who lets us "pretend" the hills are ours.

We have a mixture of laying hens...mostly Rhode Island Reds. We also have Boer / Alpine goats, 3-dogs & 3-barn cats. We had 3-horses until about 2-yrs ago. We needed the pasture for the goats and the kids lost interest in riding them.

Claire...we have succeeded in spoiling our goats rotten! Is that what you mean? No seriously...I would like to raise meat goats for sale also. Right now we are only breeding the Boers to produce fair wethers. We keep the doelings and our children take the wethers to the fair. This year I have plenty of kids...but some were born to early to take to the fair and some are going to be used as pack goats. Next year I should have plenty of wethers to sell to the other 4-Hers in our area.

I want to do some research into our local market here to find out exactly what they are looking for. What size...what time of year for what size kid etc, etc. I know the Jewish and Muslim community like goats around Easter and EID. It is a work in progress.

Brian

Brian...that's exactly what interests me. I plan to do some research on the ethnic feast days and determine if there really is a mkt for meat goats as I have read. Being located not too far from a metropolitan area seems like the demand could be there. Never really considered the idea until I read Barbara Kingsolver's novel 'Prodigal Summer', where one of the characters ends up raising meat goats and sells to the ethnic community in NYC. It seems do-able. Good luck in your efforts.
-Claire

13.999999 acres. 4 horses, down to 5 dogs, 4 cats I know of. Got a barn on the highway so there's a lot of "Visitors". About 30 chickens give or take a few. Will stop bleeding after we hit 50. :) We also have plenty of wildlife. Deer, foxes, eagles, ravens, an owl, a stork and one of the few places in the area that has Quail. I like it here.

Claire...I do not know how true this is...but a friend of mine who used to raise goats in Kentucky said that Pizza Hut (Tricon Global) is the biggest buyer of goat in the USA. That means all the pepperoni, sausage and hamburger meat on our pizza's are goat! Doesn't bother me in the least if it is...I love chevon.

He used to have 100 - 200 does producing kids all year round. He would ship them to a market in New Jersey. If you can believe him...he said at certain times of the year he would sell his goats for as high as $11 per lb! I thought he was drinking too much...LOL, but you never know.

Reading some auction results from different people on the Yahoo / Boer_Goat_Forum...the smaller goats sell a lot better than larger ones. It seems like 65 - 90 lb goats are what is desirable right now. One guy only got $45 for a 150-wether. It definately will require some research in our respective areas in order to be profitable.

I do not have the land or desire to have a large operation ...but I would like to have a market to sell my kids from our 12 - 15 does. I am also trying to develope some show quality animals I can sell as replacement stock.

I have done a little reading in "Storey's Guide to Meat Goats" where they explain the different ethnic groups and what they are looking for. I highly recommend this book for anyone considering raising meat goats. Storey has another book for dairy goats as well. The diary version is actually better for "goat information" in general.

We just love the goats and would raise them whether they become profitable or not. All my facilities are done and paid for. I need to add onto the barn this spring...but I already have the money "rat-holed" for it. I just have to worry about feeding them now...LOL!

Claire...I wish you well on your goat venture!

Brian