Hey there, this looks like a good place to introduce myself and get some input from like-minded people at the same time.
Last summer I bought 5 acres in the country, inland northwest. House, shop, garden, fruit trees and chicken coop included. I want to arrange it with some thought and purpose.
This is a "hobby farm" (I have a job in town) and a place to raise kids. They're my real "crop" and they need interesting outdoor spaces and chores to do. I had ducks, horses, geese and dogs when I was a kid, and worked summers on a produce farm... so I'm not unaware of the effort a place like this takes.
What I want here is a general purpose arrangement. I'm thinking three grass pastures that I can rotate, graze, or bale as I have time or see fit. I anticipate sheep, goats, perhaps llamas, or whatever the kids want to have down the road. I'll probably have my parents two horses here off and on. Each pasture will open to central corral spaces, which in turn open to a stall in the prospective barn... so I can feed from one indoor spot regardless of pasture rotation.
I plan on building a reel-up style sprinkler with a 60ft rainbird head to drag through the center of each pasture, for irrigation. Water is cheap, I have almost 3 million gallons allocated to me per summer, for $175.
The central barnyard I tried to make as large as possible, so I can turn trailers around. It makes the North pasture smaller, but in terms of space used day-to-day, I think the trade-off is worth it. Turning the barn on a slant doesnt appeal to my OCD, because it does funny things to the corral shape and makes it harder to run the tractor through, but I'm trying to maximize wintertime sun exposure, while minimizing property blindspots. The duckpond will be directly observable from the house, for kid safety.
Obviously this is a long term plan that will take years, but I'm a planner and like to think ahead so that it doesnt go haphazard. I invite your thoughts!
Last summer I bought 5 acres in the country, inland northwest. House, shop, garden, fruit trees and chicken coop included. I want to arrange it with some thought and purpose.
This is a "hobby farm" (I have a job in town) and a place to raise kids. They're my real "crop" and they need interesting outdoor spaces and chores to do. I had ducks, horses, geese and dogs when I was a kid, and worked summers on a produce farm... so I'm not unaware of the effort a place like this takes.
What I want here is a general purpose arrangement. I'm thinking three grass pastures that I can rotate, graze, or bale as I have time or see fit. I anticipate sheep, goats, perhaps llamas, or whatever the kids want to have down the road. I'll probably have my parents two horses here off and on. Each pasture will open to central corral spaces, which in turn open to a stall in the prospective barn... so I can feed from one indoor spot regardless of pasture rotation.
I plan on building a reel-up style sprinkler with a 60ft rainbird head to drag through the center of each pasture, for irrigation. Water is cheap, I have almost 3 million gallons allocated to me per summer, for $175.
The central barnyard I tried to make as large as possible, so I can turn trailers around. It makes the North pasture smaller, but in terms of space used day-to-day, I think the trade-off is worth it. Turning the barn on a slant doesnt appeal to my OCD, because it does funny things to the corral shape and makes it harder to run the tractor through, but I'm trying to maximize wintertime sun exposure, while minimizing property blindspots. The duckpond will be directly observable from the house, for kid safety.
Obviously this is a long term plan that will take years, but I'm a planner and like to think ahead so that it doesnt go haphazard. I invite your thoughts!