Ideas for Using Acreage?

[tortoise]

I'm back again after a summer hiatus! I'm looking for project ideas, but google is failing me!

I have land to work with, but we're not doing much with it. There's some forested, some rented crop land, more pasture than our animals use but not well fenced enough to rent, a little swamp, and riverbank.

We have enough garden and animals for most of our family's needs.

I could do more, but I'm not sure where to start! I walked out with hubby while he checked his game cams. My tame dairy goat buckling followed us. I'm seriously thinking of training him for packing, because I'm not comfortable driving the ATV, and hauling tools/etc 1/2 mile for a project hasn't been happening. My goat was super cool, stayed closer than our dogs, and was fine being lifted over a fence. Pack goat solves a problem of carrying stuff out, so now I can daydream about what I could possibly do with the space and resources.

What would you do?

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

could you add more edible landscaping? berry bushes or fruit trees?

 

[Alaskan]

Updating this thread from 2016.

The goats ate down the brush on the hill pasture and its suitable for grazing sheep now. I have visions of putting an AGH out there, but not this year.

I still have a sense of "not doing enough" with this place. Maybe my 2022 garden plan and growing grain will change that feeling.

Think wildlife habitat.

Figure out what wildlife are endangered/in need of help in your area, and manage for them.

It might be something as easy as putting up a bunch of nest boxes. Often cavity dwellers need more housing.

Or.... maybe you can manage for ground dwelling birds. Those might also need nesting places and more watering sites.

 

[FarmerJamie]

could you add more edible landscaping? berry bushes or fruit trees?

Mmmmmmm, raspberry/blackberry bushes

 

[tortoise]

If the hillside might be too much for the brush hog - why NOT run animals on there to keep it down? Could you put some wethers on there in the spring, let them keep it cleared all spring and summer, then butcher them in the fall? Let some brush re-growth happen in late fall and early spring and then stock it again with something you will butcher again the following fall?

Just an idea because I like to let my animals do my work for me, lol!

If you don't stock critters on it, is it suitable for growing anything there without a lot of extra work like terracing?

Updating this thread from 2016.

The goats ate down the brush on the hill pasture and its suitable for grazing sheep now. I have visions of putting an AGH out there, but not this year.

I still have a sense of "not doing enough" with this place. Maybe my 2022 garden plan and growing grain will change that feeling.

 

[tortoise]

We have 2 wether sheep to slaughter this year. We have wool mix sheep. The wethered goats are 5 years old. They keep a brush hillside tolerably maintained. I don't like paying for hay for them in winter but hubby doesn't mind. He gets old round bales for them, and the waste goes onto the garden for mulch.

 

[flowerbug]

Mmmmmmm, raspberry/blackberry bushes

small black and red raspberry are normal sandlot colonizers here, but blackberry is a hard no from me as they can get so invasive and hard to remove for others in the area.

blueberries and bush cherries, choke cherries, any winter berries that birds can eat later on after the cold arrives. seed producers (also check for invasive status).

we used to see Bob Whites here at first and more pheasants but i haven't seen a Bob White in 20yrs or more and the pheasants are not as many either with the field to the south of us being farmed instead of left as an open field.

we have tons of wild turkeys around along with plenty of other wild-life.

 

[flowerbug]

Ground dwellers, at least in Texas, were hit hard when fire ants came in.

fire ants can do a lot of damage. finding predators and ways of dealing with them is important. it seems that the crazy ants have provided some competition now but i don't know how far those ants have spread yet. sure am glad up here that we don't get fire ants.

 

[baymule]

Do you, or are you planning on slaughtering your wethered goats and lambs? What kind of sheep do you have? We have Dorper/Katahdin cross ewes with a Dorper ram. We had our first taste of our own lamb a few weeks ago and it was the best meat I ever tasted.

I think I would start working on a permanent fence on the 20 acre pasture around the parameter. The electric fence would work in the meantime. Once you get the pasture fences, then you could rotate sections of it with the electric fence.

I love my wagon. I would recommend that you get a large one.

 

[tortoise]

I've been thinking more about this. I'm fixing to get rid of a few goats. I'll have a hillside to do something with. What would you do with an acre or so of hill? There are tons of brush branches, not sure if they're dead or just been eaten bare. I don't know how much brush I'd be fighting with. I don't know if it's too steep to brush hog with the tractor.