the homestead life, where can i learn about the lifestyle of farming?

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willsoenn said:
163 acres with a all year round spring running through and a road going through the half. my great great grandparents farmed on my dads side. my great uncle still owns the family farm elsewhere on much greater acreage but the land is becoming barren there, i think during the 1900s it was greener. that place not the most fertile soil and is quite windy a lot of the time.

i want to start a farm but then i dont know i be happy not with the right one. country life. the 160 has a rock quarry i hear there's 250k worth of rocks, 4k for 12 pallets. i estimated a gross income of 20,000 a year raising livestock based on google/auction sales. maybe more maybe less. and then i dont know if the animals would need to be trucked all the way to billings for auction, thats more than an 8 hour drive by truck)

i need to talk to people learn about it, right now all i know is from google. chickens, goats and cows. maybe sheep. or pigs.

theres no house there, estimated 30-40k to connect to the electrical grid. i gotta think small scale with enough income to expand.
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I would like to offer a little advice
You
You said
“i want to start a farm but then i dont know i be happy not with the right one. country life.”

Move to your family land but do not sever ties in the city, start a small vegetable garden about a 1/4 acre size
Spend a year tending that garden whole you decide to stay or go
At the end of the year you should be able to make a decision
What I am saying is ease into this life style be sure of what you want. Once you server the old life it is really hard to get back
 
Pureopal2001 said:
Why without animals?
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From 1951 till 1969, I was both being trained for prepping and survival, In the 60's I started my personal research/study into maximizing the probability of survival. At the end of 1969, based on all I was taught/learned, I made my decision. I moved to Alaska. Where land was "free" and abundant food was "free". In the last near 54 years, I have never regretted that decision.

Plus, I hated getting up at 3:15 to milk cows, before going to school.
 
Pureopal2001 said:
Why without animals?
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They have to be cared for
Do you have a baby?
They require a lot of attention just like animals do

Well, let me say this
IF you treat the animal right, it requires time
If you let it live in its own poo poo and drink
 
best advice i got for you is to take a job on a ranch or farm in area....you can see what it takes then.
 
Amish Heart said:
You should of adjusted your milking hrs. I'd do 6 am and 6pm.
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Would be impossible to milk and feed 27 head, change to school clothes, walk/run the half mile down the driveway, and catch the 7:05 school bus.
 
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Sourdough said:
With or without animals.......??? If I was to ever do it again, it would be without animals.
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Chickens and goats pretty much mind themselves, But where you live, I see your point. No sense in feeding the bears and wolves.
 
Sourdough said:
Would be impossible to milk and feed 27 head, change to school clothes, walk/run the half mile down the driveway, and catch the 7:05 school bus.
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Forget the bus and home school
You would receive a better education and be able to schedule it around chores
 
Sourdough said:
From 1951 till 1969, I was both being trained for prepping and survival, In the 60's I started my personal research/study into maximizing the probability of survival. At the end of 1969, based on all I was taught/learned, I made my decision. I moved to Alaska. Where land was "free" and abundant food was "free". In the last near 54 years, I have never regretted that decision.

Plus, I hated getting up at 3:15 to milk cows, before going to school.
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I never got up that early to milk a cow.
Milk is not as important as meat & compost for all the plants.
Poultry for eggs, meat, goats for milk, butter, chesses & meat, compost.
Pigs & rabbits are easy to keep, meat & compost.
 
Frodo said:
Forget the bus and home school
You would receive a better education and be able to schedule it around chores
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You may not comprehend this was (70) "SEVENTY" years ago. You may not know my parents never finished sixth grade in school. My father could not read or write or comprehend math. They were born in the mid 20's in worse than dirt poor poverty. There is a massive generational gap of comprehending reality on this forum. Translated: Some are delusional.
 
I have this book, I use it to compare what I think will work, with what others have done.
I have watched 90% of the Youtube vids Joel Salatin have made over the years Also Justin Rhodes Youtube vids, too.
On all these farms the children are involved & making money.
Some of the people Joel & his son Dan have trained are making a living do this. But all the plans are scalable for home farmer.
 
Amish Heart said:
Nope, they don't mind themselves, they need minding.
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Whats to mind? food, shelter, water and a vet house call once a month.

I'm going to look dumb, does the FFA still do that?
 
Some do
Arizona

The Monument Valley FFA runs a veterinary clinic at its school, allowing students to get hands-on experience. The chapter is currently filming a TV show about it.
 
They used to drop by once a month to check our livestock as part of the veterinary training program, our critters got free health care and they got trained. win-win.
 
Amish Heart said:
You should of adjusted your milking hrs. I'd do 6 am and 6pm.
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I milk the goat whenever I get up once a day
doesn't seem to hurt anything

the thing I don;t like about milking is all the dirty dishes it creates

but yes, animals definitely take time and effort and money too, we spend most of our time taking care of the animals , which includes cleaning barn, maintaining the pastures, fencing, regular hoof trimming, knowing basic vet care since they always need something when nobody can come out right now ( screw the FDA and their new no antibiotic rule!! ) and you can't just leave them on go on trips either
 
Sourdough said:
Would be impossible to milk and feed 27 head, change to school clothes, walk/run the half mile down the driveway, and catch the 7:05 school bus.
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if you have that many , you should probably have a milking machine
plus most homesteaders that only want to provide food for themselves only need to milk 1 or 2 animals
we get enough milk for just us with 1 milk goat
 
Amish Heart said:
That was when he was a kid, probably the late 1940's or so. The milking was probably done by hand. I know my grandpa did milking by hand around the same time period and earlier.
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oh, missed that,sorry
yeah, my grandma told me that had been her job as a kid, milk the cows before she went to school, but I dont think they had that many, they owned the local pub but everyone back then was also a farmer
 
Something basic you might want to know about farming is that there is a whole lotta NVA labor?

If you spend a lot of time working for the corporate "man", you are probably introduced to the economic concepts of VA labor and NVA? NVA is non-value added labor. Their supervisors are trained to recognize this and endeavor for continued improvement on increasing VA labor and decreasing NVA labor. It's about efficiency in the hyper competitive corporate world.

But the farm homestead (as opposed to the corporate homestead) is different? And it should be. You should find joy in all those non value added labor tasks that you must perform. Because you're not getting paid for it. And that also opens a whole can of worms about the sin of wages: pay for time. In the real essence: time is value-less.

But I digress! The point is: you will spend the majority of your time doing non- value added labor on a homestead farm. Your reward is joy. Not fiat currency?
 
Magus said:
Whats to mind? food, shelter, water and a vet house call once a month.

I'm going to look dumb, does the FFA still do that?
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I am going to take a stab at this with out ever raising nary a yard bird but I have consumed many over the years
Yard birds are not very social around each other and are very brutal. Cooped up they will kill each other and the wounds can become infected spreading disease
If they free range they have eggs every where and it literally is like hunting Easter eggs everyvday
So they have to be cooped up and minded ( maybe reminded). not to kill each other
Sourdough said:
You may not comprehend this was (70) "SEVENTY" years ago. You may not know my parents never finished sixth grade in school. My father could not read or write or comprehend math. They were born in the mid 20's in worse than dirt poor poverty. There is a massive generational gap of comprehending reality on this forum. Translated: Some are delusional.
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me no comprendo, me cra cra zeeee
But still luv you! You # one
 
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