# Is 7 acres enough?



## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

Okay, we're still on the lookout for the perfect place for us, some land to call home... and we've had many options, but none of them have panned out to be what we're looking for exactly.

SO, our newest option is 7 acres with an older mobile home on it.....for $23,000!!!

Is that big enough for several dexters or mini jerseys? 

What could you do on 7 acres? 

we're thinking, live in the mobile til our current home sells, pay off the rest of the land/house there, and then look at newer modulars or Kit homes and build or move it in, and then get rid of the older mobile home.

After dreaming of 20-40 acres though, 7 just sounds small to me  Do you think its enough for a few cows, chickens, a garden and a 'homestead' with room for 8 kids to run wild?


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

The number of cattle you mentioned will take less acreage than the acreage required for the 8 kids to "run wild" Please do not look to NC as a location for kids to "run wild" as I already have enough problems with such a situation.


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## ebook (Sep 19, 2006)

One thing to think about is how much space is the house/yard/buildings going to take up? If you start out with 7 acres (and assuming it is all open pasture) you may only have 4 or 5 left after you add in some buildings, your yard, and your house. That being said, Dexters can stand to be on smaller parcel of land ... especially if you do some rotationally grazing on the pasture. One of the problems I could see with only having 7 acres is that you will probably have to buy in your hay, which can be expensive from time to time (like this year). 

So, by "several" what do you mean? And how much are you willing to pay for extra hay or feed?


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

well, I would like to have one for milk and one for meat...and probably have a calf around much of the time...but not more than three I'd guess  

I'd just heard they were the kind of animals that needed buddies to go wtih them and I dont want a lonesome cow.

no idea what feed or hay costs for cows???


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

In our area 1500 lb round bales of prairie hay (not rained on) is going for $40 a piece. Of course if you want to bring in alfalfa then it goes up quickly from there. 

Heather


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

we have had 4 cows and 2 calves running on one of our 7 acre(apx) pastures this summer with plenty of grass left and its very rocky, every body else is in other pastures. we do hay on other peoples places, so the hay costs us much less so we can run more. 

if you can afford hay in the winter you should be fine. esp if you fertize and seed with good grazing stuffs like clover ect.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

The cow pictured in my Blue cow thread has been on 1 acre all summer long. Of course this is MN, and grass grows well here.


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

Depends on which end of Kansas you are in, but, by the time you take out space for home, outbuildings, garden, and 8 kids, I would say your 7 acres will be a little cramped. Chickens need space too. For the cows You will have to buy hay and have room to store it for winter. Not to sound discouraging but I think I would look for a few more acres.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

One or two cows can do well on five acres, if you plan it right. You may still need to bring in off-farm inputs such as hay and feed occasionally, but that's offset by the price of beef and milk.

Plus, they don't graze like horses do. A horse pulls up the grass by the roots, destroying it, while a cow takes off the tip and actually stimulates the grass to grow. A field of weeds can be slowly turned back into a productive grass pasture by a couple of cows grazing it. 

On 7 acres, you should definitely "have a cow".


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

Currently we have just under an acre, a corner lot, so we lose some ground on both sides for easements, we have a garden that is 28x20 ft, a hen house with chicken yard that is about 15x40, a trampoline and a swimming pool (the inflatable ring type)... and plenty of yard to mow 

we also have planted five apple trees, three apricot trees, two pear, two plum and one peach in the 5 years we've been here.. No doubt they'll all be in FULL production this next spring/summer when we're gone (sigh)

Im thinking an acre for house/yard and an acre for outbuildings and garden, still leaves us 5 for pasture??? 

dh drove by the area, but we dont have the exact address yet, just know its around 9 miles east of Winfield Ks.... but he did like the area that was out that way, he just doesnt know which house it is because its a for sale by owner with no sign out in front. We're driving by it tomorrow if we can get the address from the lady tonight.


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## Hovey Hollow (Apr 25, 2005)

I've got three Dexters on our 5 acres and I'm sure that at least one almost two acres is the house, yard, garden, orchard and barn. The rest is divided into two pastures. They haven't been able to keep up with the grass in one pasture this year. Last year's drought was a different story. I had to rotate them through the yard too and we started feeding hay earlier.


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

We had five acres a few years ago, and it was a nice sized homestead. There were maybe 3 or 4 acres under good fence, with a barn and chicken coop. The front part of the property had the house, and room on both sides for a nice big garden. One year we ran hot wire around the garden on one side and put the cow over there for an alternate pasture. 

We kept a few goats, one or two calves at a time, and the chickens. 

The first year we were there, someone came and cut hay for us and we got quite a bit off the field. But, of course, the field needs to be managed for hay, and cut at the right time.

My concerns would not be so much with the size of the land as with other things. How will you manage with eight children in an older mobile home? How many bathrooms will you have? Are there any fences, or will you be having to spend the first year and lots of money putting them up? Are there any outbuildings in place? Are there trees? Too many might mean not enough grass, but no trees means no shade, not much variety, no fruit, nuts, etc. Does it have a well? What kind of soil? What do the pastures look like? What kind of street is it sitting on?

mary


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

My concerns would not be so much with the size of the land as with other things. How will you manage with eight children in an older mobile home? 

We know it'll be tight for a bit, but we will be trying to get our current home fixed up to list for sale and dont think we can do that while we're living in it. The lady says the house IS livable, not sure what her definition is of livable though... anyway, it'd only be for a short time, until this house sells and we have the equity to use towards something bigger, better or an addition if the exsisting house is in good condition.


How many bathrooms will you have? No idea, but we only have ONE now....sad, huh? since our oldest three are girls, it IS a challenge, but we've managed this far, we can do it a little while longer. there will be an end in sight.


Are there any fences, or will you be having to spend the first year and lots of money putting them up? 

no idea about fencing either, but that is one thing we'll be checking on when we go look tomorrow.

Are there any outbuildings in place? 

No outbuildings, but there is a cement slab for a 2 car garage which we plan to build fairly soon after we get there so we have storage space right off the bat.


Are there trees? will know more when we see it


Too many might mean not enough grass, but no trees means no shade, not much variety, no fruit, nuts, etc. Does it have a well? 

Yes, its on well water....


What kind of soil?

she did say it was some rocky and rolling hills, but definitely garden spots available

What do the pastures look like? 


What kind of street is it sitting on? 

Sitting on a paved street, but has a long driveway back from the road. Its 15 miles from where dh works, but all paved road which is important to him for the wear and tear on the cars.


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## JulieLou42 (Mar 28, 2005)

Our plot of land is 7.5 acres mostly in orchard grass that needs refurbished, with about 1 acre for the house and barn-to-be. 

I have one cow hotwired on approximately 1.3 acres, and it didn't keep her fed very well this year, so had to put her on hay about three weeks ago. We are in Zone 5. The 4 tons of hay was $440.

Ag Ext. Agent said that my remaining six acres should carry 4 cow-calf pairs, or 6 feeder calves, if I use rotational grazing method...that hasn't come about as of yet!!!

I plan to put a small henhouse and run on wheels on the pasture next year. We have a garden plot 20x40 fenced off from our dogs, that keep all other four-legged critters off the property, but that's up close to the house..."kitchen garden." I will be planting shade trees and maples, and some more pines near the house, as well as some thornberries and grapes. What fruit trees I plan on will also go in near the house. [The acre on which the house and barn sit is all that's flat on the land.] 

There are evergreen trees all along one side of the property and in the gully, where there's also brush and trees.

I have all my fencing plans laid out on paper maps of the land, and have marked about where all the native brush and trees are found. I suggest you do likewise, using a good, sharp pencil and eraser and ruler!

It's fun! And WORK!!!


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

JulieLou42 said:


> The 4 tons of hay was $440.!


Whoa! Someone seen you coming..........


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## freeholdfarms (Aug 10, 2007)

Don't know about Kansas, but in TX you get a big property tax break with 10 acres or more.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

Musta been some awsome hay!

We have 2 and a touch acres shaped in an L. 1/2 an acre has our house, a four car garage which is our barn/machine shed and a chicken coop and run and our rabbit cages along with a decent yard. the 1/2 acre behind that has our garden and more yard that has several apple trees and is where we run our rabbit tractors. The back acre is currently fenced ito sixths one has a 10x12 shed which I built on a concrete pad that was all ready there and is permanent pasture for our cows. One third is fresh alfalfa/clover/timothey pasture which is fenced in half to provide some rotation to keep the pasture in good shape. One third was planted oats with timothy/clover/bromegrass this year to provide pasture next, but due to the dry weather, none of the grasses showed up which will cause a problem. The last sixth is planted to squash and pumpkins and was scheduled to be oats/grasses next year.
the sixths will be rotated through garden/seeding/pasture.
The half acre was enough to run 2 smaller heifers last year but this year again due to dry conditions it wasn't. We did have a different mix of animals this year...1 big heifer and 2 smaller animals but we ended up taking them off pasture and alternating feeding them hay in the barn and tethering them in other areas. We sold one smaller heifer as soon as she reached 500 lbs instead of keeping her a bit longer because of the lack of pasture.
We have to buy all of our hay at the moment and I don't see that changing with only 2 acres. If I had another 5 I think our hay situation would be OK if I managed it well and kept it in good shape. Since we also have goats and rabbits that can use the hay along with the cows. With 5 acres available along with our 1 I would keep the animals on the one acre divided into at least quarters for rotating the stock. I would keep the 1 acre in shape with fertilizer top dressing as need along with trying frost seeding in more clover/timothy when needed. I would not worry much about the alfalfa and probably wouldn't even seed it in there as it doesn't hold up to pasturing as well as other grasses. I might look at trefoil though, it seems to hold up well. I would keep the five acres just for crops divided in fifths with corn in the rotation to help provide a bit of supplement for the hay. An acre of corn grown the old fashioned way with just manure as fertilizer won't go very far but it would help. For that reason I would keep most of that land in hay, 3 in hay, 1 in new seeding/oats and one in corn, rotated yearly just to start, then see how things look after a coupla years.


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## doulanobles (Aug 15, 2006)

I'm in eastern Wa. and hay is about $100 a ton here too, depending on the quality.


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

Darby - Once you go east of Hwy. 77 Soils become rocky and sparse quickly, unless it is bottom land along rivers or creeks.
My thoughts would be to try to find a location between Hwy 77 and Hwy 81. 
Due to water quality issues, you may find that having a place with Rural Water is advantageous. If a property is serviced by it's own well, insist on running water and tasting it before buying. Fill a bath tub or a cattle tank, then drain it and see what stays behind  .

My 2 cents, LOL.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

If you want your eight kids to be able to "run-wild", you'd probably need to put an 8' chainlink around the 7acres with serpantine wire on top! I think even if you had 1000 acres, they'd find a way to venture off of it. Kids are a lot like cows, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence". 

Seriously, it seems a bit small to me for the size of your family. You might check in to the possibility of more surrounding land coming available at a later date.


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

keep in mind the older three are girls and not outside near as much as the four rowdy boys. If there is room for a four wheeler or go-cart and a tree house or swing set/fort, then we'll be okay  

ya'll talk about a big family like its a lot of work, but we've lived on .8 of an acre for 5 yrs with them and its all about what you're used to really  its NEVER boring, thats for sure!


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## JulieLou42 (Mar 28, 2005)

Tinknal: That's what hay is currently going for here...it was more last year, much MUCH more. It's 2T. orchard and 2T. stemmy timothy.


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## RosewoodfarmVA (Oct 5, 2005)

We went from 2/3 acre to 7 and 1/2 acres. After about 3 years outgrew that and so bought our 123 acre farm. Now that we've been here 6 years I'm starting to eye the neighbors' empty unused fields! What sounds like so much quickly shrinks once you get to know it and use it. You'll always find something to fill up your land, whether its 10 acres or 1000 acres. I find myself saying "if only I had so-and-so's fields (neglected neighbor's prop.) then I could really do such-and-such!" As you get to know a prop. it suddenly gets smaller.

If you can afford it I would say get more land than you think you would need. If you don't end up using all of it you can always sell a lot off of it. But if you only buy a smaller place then after a few years decide you need more, it will be mighty difficult to convince a neighbor to sell you a few acres of his prop! And after putting in so much work making that smaller place home it'll be hard to sell and move to a bigger one.


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## DKWunlimited (Sep 11, 2006)

If ya give a mouse a chicken, then she'll want cows, and the cows will want hay, so then the mouse will want fields to plant, and before you know it, she'll want bacon to go with them there eggs..... You know how the story goes.

YES, 7-10 acres will be fine for your crew. More land would just give mason more trees to fall out of on his head! Besides, your husband wants a motercycle, not a combine! LOL


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

watchit sister! no, really... watchit! LOL

We're still looking... we just cant make that little house work for us, no matter how temporary... 

now we're looking in the direction of land first, then move a house in or whatever... we found 50 acres, willing to divide into 20/30 or 25/25 for $1400 an acre, so thats pretty good


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

Open farm land across the road from our farm sold at auction for $1400 and $1700 an acre. So I would say $1400 an acre isn't bad at all.

Heather


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## FrankRichards (Dec 9, 2004)

tinknal said:


> Whoa! Someone seen you coming..........


Here in New England first cut is four bucks a square bale or $200/ton. Second cut? You mean someone has some of last year's left?


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## harplade (Jul 14, 2005)

having done something similar to what you are talking about-I would be more concerned with putting my 8 children in a trailer for any period of time. Our experience with living in a slightly used trailer for a year was many trips to the doctor's office, both kids diagnosed with asthma, recurrent croup, etc, etc. In South Louisiana, the FEMA trailers are being reported to cause similar symptoms-it's the formaldehyde. I would ask lots of folks about their experience with a trailer before putting that many children in one. 

Just my 2 cents,
Harplade


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