Farming Lessons for Homesteading

For those who want to homestead instead of making a living from farming here is a post for you.  I'll start with the one I forgot from the Farming Lessons post (#10):

Live within your means:  The least expensive way to do this is start where you're at.  Raising chickens or keeping bees doesn't take much and will build confidence.  If you're ready to move, realize that you need a lot of capital to invest in what you're going to live ON not IN.  Spending money on credible fencing, water infrastructure, perennials, good livestock that will replicate etc. is more important than what you will live in when starting.  I'd rather live in a mobile with productive land than a nice house with little or no livestock and no farming infrastructure.  The house won't feed you but a mobile will free up necessary capital for your endeavor to eventually produce food for yourself (and hopefully others) indefinitely and reduce your cost of living.  I think this is the crucial aspect of homesteading that most don't understand.

Don't become dependent upon inputs.  Grass really is what will make you money (not the kind you smoke, well, I guess that does too but there are other blogs about that).  It took me about a year to realize this, grass will be the center of your endeavor if you raise cows (meat or dairy) or sheep.  And in relation to cows, I think dairy is one of the most profitable.

Calvin & Dairy Queen: a 1,200 lb carbon based milk making machine.  Grass uses the sun's energy to pull minerals from the ground and produce vitamins.  All DQ has to worry about is eating and refining it to produce nutritious fats, enzymes, minerals and vitamins.  DQ has friends that create nutritious meat in the same way (Big Ag's milk and meat are nutritionally inferior, for example, the ratio of good to bad fats is the opposite of that for grass fed animals).

Establish perimeter & paddock fencing AND have a grazing plan in place BEFORE you start collecting animals.  If not you will unnecessarily waste time chasing animals in addition to impairing the future productivity of pastures by over-grazing them.

Learn about the pros & cons of land features.  If you're going to graze sheep and cattle, don't buy a pile of rocks (unless all you want to raise are goats).  I've seen property that has more rocks than dirt just below the surface. Look at the size of the trees (shorter trees may indicate poor soils, disproportionally wide trunks indicate rocky soil) and the topography of the land (southern facing slopes are better for pasture, northern facing for trees).  How accessible is water? Can you build swales with ponds and slow the passage of water thru the property?  There is a lot to consider, research what features are most beneficial to what you want to do.

Before you buy, talk to the neighbors.  Stop them on the road, knock on their door (I know this can be unnerving, I'm always afraid of being greeted by a shotgun).  Ask what are the problems with the area, why shouldn't one live here? Any regrets? Go to the local store, gas station, etc. and ask the same questions. You'll get valuable information about the neighbors, local gov. and potential problems.

Don't assume you need a lot of acreage.  It is amazing what can be produced on only a few acres.  Renting fallow land is also very inexpensive.

Corroborate what you hear/learn.  For example, some may say a particular type of pig is the way to go.  We're familiar with one called the Osabau.  Some say it's great to raise on grass and its meat supposedly offers higher Omega 3s.  They're expensive too.  Others will agree that they do eat grass, BUT take more than twice as long to fatten, and they don't get as big as common pigs.  Net result is that you pay more for a pig that will grow slower (without inputs) and nets less meat.  Moral of the story is talk to multiple people who have done what you're interested in doing in order to avoid costly mistakes.

Diversify but not too much.  This mostly applies to those who want to make a living farming. We've observed that the successful farmers diversify but only in their area of specialty.  For example, one farmer we know only offers meat, but he diversifies in beef, lamb, pork and chicken.  The successful vegetable farmers we know offer 90 different vegetables.  A berry producer we know offers various berries and orchard fruit.  It's the same with successful dairy farmers.  I think the key is that they can function stack infrastructure that they otherwise would need to reestablish in a different configuration if they pursued something outside of their general area

Efficiency is key, build it in early or you are doomed.  Water access is a great example.  Build ponds & swales to fill the ponds, install gravity fed troughs and or drill wells and install irrigation before collecting animals or planting.  I have witnessed both animals and plants being put in place first and trust me - water infrastructure seems like a lot of work initially but it exponentially saves time later and you will definitely need that time to work on other things.

Function Stack.  This truck can carry most of the family, move animals, tow, dump dirt, etc.  There are nicer and newer pick ups but they would limit what I can do. Buy things that allow for multiple uses.

Live free:  Thanks to that supposed wonderful emancipator we eventually got the 13th amendment, so live like it.  Doing what you'd like on your property without having to worry about permits or someone interfering with what is yours and making your life miserable is wonderful.  You see an unwanted pest in the garden?  "Boom," problem solved.  Want a pond?  Excavate.  Want an addition to your house?  Just build it.  Need to remove a tree?  Take your pick.  Shed?  All you have to care about is what size, color and where you're going to put it.  Is that Ford costing too much to maintain?  Well it sure would make a good parts car.  What would you like to raise?  Anything you want.  The list goes on and on, and guess what?  Where more freedom exists it's cheaper to live!  The multiple multiple thousands you'd spend on property taxes can be less than $10 for the same acreage (at least where we're at).

Now here are a few things to look forward to:

Installing cattle gates (as has been mentioned before, no need for a gym membership out here).

From the scalder to the plucker (Caleb is working the cones [which you can barely see behind TJ] and prepping the chickens for TJ to scald).

And straight into the hands of a consumer (I've skipped the messy stuff in between).

Oh yeah, in relation to living free being inexpensive... that also mean you have to be resourceful.  This is actually a county maintained road.  I had to figure out a way to get past this tree or take a different route that would take me 20 miles out of the way.

I had some straps in the van so I pulled limbs off to make space and drive around the trunk.

Bee gauntlet: we were moving hives and the entrance covers came off on two (look closely at the bottom left of the two closest hives).  We placed the intact hives first and the last intact hive was behind these two agitated hives.  The worst part was getting stung in the face (we only brought one veil with us).

Grazing and milking.  Notice the area partitioned by electric wire. By managing where and how much time cows spend in a particular area you will significantly increase the production of grass.  Don't cut cows loose to roam wherever they want in a pasture.  Managed grazing allows one to maintain more cows than is otherwise possible on a particular piece of land.

Function stacking activities: farming (that's a piglet), fishing (note the tackle box) and swimming with Sam.