Farm: Before and After Pics

[Plowpoint]

I took over this family farm in 2008 and have been trying to make some changes these last 4 years. One major change was converting from a woodlot based farm for profitability, to sheep. I spent 10 months doing some long term farm plans and everything you see here is part of these plans.

A lot of that planning regarded converting some non-producing woodlot back into fields to gain valuable acreage for more feed and sheep. So far I have converted about 12 acres from woodlot back into field, and plan to do another 12 acres at some point. That is across the road making it hard to get the sheep there, so the priority is low on that. All totaled, I have spent about $48,000 to get to where I am today; a sizable investment to say the least, but it all pencils out.

Anyway, here are 12 before and after pictures. Some are subtle, but some are quite dramatic. Number 3 is the most profound along with Number 12. Anyway thanks for looking and hopefully you will appreciate the changes.

Farm: Before and After Pics - a set on Flickr

[willow_girl]

Wow!
Clearing land is hard work!
What did you do with all the wood?

[Jan in CO]

Dramatic differences! Did you do all the clearing yourself or hire it out?

[Backfourty,MI.]

Great job & a lot of work even if you did end up hiring some of it out. A farm or home always has work to do no matter how long you live there. Looks like a really nice place.

[Plowpoint]

I did a little of both. The majority of the wood I cut myself as I am a logger and have cut a lot of wood over the years. I average between 100-150 cords of wood per year.

Two years ago I tried to rent a skidder from a local guy and he said he would bring one over. He is very religious though and has deep convictions about certain things. Since I was going through a divorce I think he thought I needed the money for attorneys and things and I think he felt it would be wrong to rent me a skidder and thus he would be helping me accomplish something unmoral (divorce). Anyway he never brought one over. I actually agree with him; divorce is bad but you cannot control the other person who is dead set on it...but even still, I was not going to use the money for a divorce, I was going to reinvest the money back into the farm.

So a guy was cutting a neighbors woodlot and since he had mechanical equipment, I just asked him if he would log these a few acres I had not got too, which he did. That worked out well.

As for the wood, this will probably floor many of you, but last year was the first year I had a woodstove. I typically sell my wood to papermills or sawmills, then take the money and buy propane to heat my house. It is actually cheaper to do it that way then to burn your own firewood, but last year I had a woodstove given to me and so burned 5 cord of firewood for the first time in decades.

[Alice In TX/MO]

The pictures and your work are MOST impressive!!

Alice

[Tricky Grama]

Nice! Lots of work.

[stamphappy]

Amazing. I'm not sure we could do that where we are at with all the regulations about cutting down trees. Lucky you!

[lmnde]

Am I the only one saddened by this? While I am sure some of the woodland needed clearing out, in order to become more accessible and profitable - IMO you also destroyed a major habitat for wild life. To me that looked like a slightly wooded lot that would have been perfect to run goats first, and once they had taken care of the underwoods, I would have selectively cleared the lot. Perfect to continue running goats, cattle and possibly sheep as well in a slightly wooded, shaded and accessible acreage that preserved as much nature as possible and still is useable for animal farming. Even if you wanted to just use it for hay, you would have still benefited from leaving a few windbreaks for shelter and shade...

[unregistered6474]

It made me sad, too, because I love trees and wildlife. I like things to be a little wild! That said, it's not my land I understand if you needed to do clearing to enhance its productivity.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by lmnde

Am I the only one saddened by this? While I am sure some of the woodland needed clearing out, in order to become more accessible and profitable - IMO you also destroyed a major habitat for wild life. To me that looked like a slightly wooded lot that would have been perfect to run goats first, and once they had taken care of the underwoods, I would have selectively cleared the lot. Perfect to continue running goats, cattle and possibly sheep as well in a slightly wooded, shaded and accessible acreage that preserved as much nature as possible and still is useable for animal farming. Even if you wanted to just use it for hay, you would have still benefited from leaving a few windbreaks for shelter and shade...

I just don't understand this mentality. My farm is a serious venture that supports itself and helps support my family. It is not a wildlife preserve. It does support tons of wildlife but I would never purposely give up profitability to support bambi. If you wish to do so have at it but please don't chastise the op for trying to make a profit on his land. Humans and human needs come before wildlife.

You are buying into the disney type mentality that the UN has been trying so hard to develop for years. Don't buy it. Do some research on Agenda 21 - if the UN has their way we will all be living in cities and there will be large areas - the majority of the landmass of our country actually - that will be off limits totally to humans so as not to disturb wildlife and the natural environment. Look up the proposed maps and most likely where you live will be protected. How will you feel when they move you and your family into a city apartment so your land can be part of the wildlife sanctuary? Actually surprisingly the state of Alabama just elected to have absolutely nothing to do with Agenda 21 and passed a law to that effect - no funding whatsoever for anything related and no compliance in any capacity.

I have a feeling that if things got down and dirty and people needed the productivity of their land for survival that the warm fuzzies for the wildlife would be very short lived. I guess I'm more realistic about it than most because I grew up in a time and place where farming was about survival rather than just a hobby or a casual interest - predators and wildlife that took food from our mouths were eliminated with extreme prejudice.

[hintonlady]

Looks great. certainly a ton of work.

I may have left some of the apples trees though, assuming they aren't crab apples or unless you have more. Fruit trees are just nice to have on a homestead.

Have you put some thought into erosion control/drainage options, water ways etc. New ground can take years to get just right. Some of it looks pretty bare and topsoil is sooooo valuable.

[Bandit]

Cliff
The " Wildlife Fuzzie's " among Us Can't and Won't Ever Get It.
Perhaps those of us here that are considering clearing there land , can post there desire with pictures , and see if the Fuzzy Wuzzies will put There Money Where there Mouth is .
Bandit

[Bandit]

Plowpoint
It looks like You have been a Busy Little Beaver , the farm looks like it is really coming along .
Bandit
Ps
I know I have seen You somewhere else as Drawbar 1 , but I can't remember what forum it was ?
Pps
Just Ignore the Tree Huggers Among Us . We can all hope they keep themselves busy also sending donations to the HSUS adds that pop up here .
While the rest of Us just click on them so HT gets the pennies from them .

[cindy-e]

We plan to clear some of our land, but leave a small woodlot too. But I am scared to do it because I don't know enough about erosion control to pull it off! I have so much to learn before we even attempt it! I am scared that I am going to end up causing a flood on my neighbor's property 'cause it is lower than mine.

[RedTartan]

I need to clear some of my land too. Maybe this is a good place to ask a quick question. I have a lot of "junk" trees. I'm not even sure what they are. The leaves look like aspen and the bark looks like birch (but it doesn't peel like birch.) Anyway they seem to spread underground. I tried to dig one up to move once and was shocked to find it was attached to a larger root of a nearby tree. They also grow about 6 feet per year. I have a ton of these trees with truck diameters of 1 to 1.5 inches.

So here's my question finally: Is it better to cut these trees off as close to the ground as possible or to leave visible stumps so my sheep can see where they are? I'm mostly concerned about my sheep hurting themselves on the stumps. We also have horses. These pastures aren't for the horses, but my dh babies the horses and I can totally see him wanting to put them on there too. What do I do with hundreds of tiny stumps?

[lmnde]

I'm anything but a bleeding heart or a tree hugger. Forget PETA or HSUS - if you looked at my signature, you know they are everything I don't need in my life and then some.

I run a business too - so it is not like I don't get the business aspect of it. But if that has been opened predominantly for grazing land - and also considering shade shelter [not sure where the OP is from, here in GA life stock would croak without shade] + wind breaks, plus rain cover - I don't see where it would have hurt to leave some wind breaks and green shady islands standing. Never mind great hunting! And as some others have brought up the thought of erosion control...

I am the first to admit that I know nothing about sheep [but then again they wouldn't be my first choice of life stock]. From where I am looking, I see optimum goat country, and later [once the underbrush was harvested by the goats and after selective tree removal] cattle as well. Pigs would work well for this too. When I look at land, I look what it would work with as is and then go from there. And yes - a strip mine type farm operation is not what I'd be thinking about. That approach is what got us to non-sustainable farming in the first place...

[kasilofhome]

His land. His dream for it. Your land, your dream. Why does he have to live to pursue your dreams at his sweat and money. Sorry, just plain tired of the how many can not respect people being responsible in working to a personal goal. So, much land is withheld from the public for forests of all types.

[lmnde]

Can you pretty please look beyond my use of the word wild life habitat??? Is that the only word you see in my original post? I don't recall saying anything about not removing the trees, or opening up the area to become more productive or income producing. All I said in so many words was that leaving a shelter belt would have made more sense to me. I'm not sure where that makes me a tree hugger, or where I said anything about withholding land for the public use???

[cathleenc]

You get better, healthier pastures when life is in balance - a place for a few birds, bees, and smaller mammals in a windbreak that also helps control erosion is a win-win for all.

Taking care of the land is not a tree hugger thing. It's common sense.