Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

Best way to find out about the grass is to take a sample to your local extension office. They'd be able to (hopefully) tell you what kind of grass is there and if it's suitable for cattle. If it's not, you may need to plow it under and reseed. Another thing you could do is to just throw grass seed on top. Even putting out hay can put out seeds.
 
Cattle actually like trees. They provide appreciated shade & wind block for the animals.
 
Mini Horses said:
Cattle actually like trees. They provide appreciated shade & wind block for the animals.
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Good point-guess I'm just using to seeing treeless pastures. To Deb's point, I'm assuming the county agent could also tell me which trees are not good for cattle (poisonous, etc...). I am getting a little ahead of myself at this point as I haven't even seen the property house yet (going Saturday), but we're excited because it's been a long winter and this is the first thing that has come on the market in a while.
 
Yep, they could. There are also websites that will tell you what's poisonous-as long as you know what you're looking at.
 
I remember hot summer days when my grandfather's cows would go over to the edge of the field to be in the shade of the tree line.

It's been a long time since we went house hunting, but I remember how much fun it was. I also remember I wanted a house something awful, and I had to be careful not to settle for one just because I wanted a house and property so bad. I'm glad I fought off this temptation, because when I saw the house we did buy, I knew right it was the one for us, and I haven't regretted it. Don't jump; you'll know the right place; you'll feel it! Best of luck on Saturday.
 
Haha, where we live now, we bid on it (HUD repo) and hadn't even seen it. Our DD found it, her and DSIL looked at it and said go for it, so we did. We signed papers at real estate office after winning the bid, then went to look at it. We went from a 2500 sq ft brick home with 2 car garage to a 1500 sq ft double wide. We couldn't be happier.

Why don't you check out HUD repos for your area? They typically go up for bid for 9 days, highest bid is the winner. Then the headache, frustration, and crazy begins.
 
Hiya. Trying to do too many things on a small space can turn into too much work and take away the enjoyment. Keep it simple at first. The chickens are easy and then think on selling or trading eggs for other things you want such as milk. Plan the garden around easy to store stuff and then things you can process and store. Fruit and nut trees are also great and low hassle. Definitely go for a pig or two. They can also be used to clear and plow new garden/veg areas.
 
Problem is, he lives in NJ. You can't get raw milk from a farmer unless you own the cow. My hubby is constantly asking about getting it and I have to keep reminding him that we can't get it. And, I am NOT going over the bridge to another state where I can get it. It wouldn't be worth the bridge toll to say nothing of how far we'd have to go to get it.
 
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