I'd like my land to be more useful

[Runestone]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this question but here goes.

Currently, I have about 35 acres of hayfields. My plan is to have some turned over to pasture for a few sheep (no more than a dozen), and one or two draft horses. Obviously, I'm going to keep some of the fields for hay purposes. However, I'd really like to have some grains planted that I can use for making my own bread [DH is going to bake as soon as the new masonry stove is installed ] and also a bit to supplement for the animals when I do get them.
My question - How many acres would I need to plant to have enough grains for my own purposes? Would 1 acre be enough, would I need to do 10? I haven't got a clue, so any help would be appreciated
Thanks!

[turtlehead]

Well there are about a brazillion variables that can affect the answer. Please be forewarned I have absolutely NO practical experience with this but we've been thinking along the same lines here. These are things we're considering:
How many people do you want to feed?
What types of grains do they like to eat (wheat, oats, corn, amaranth, barley...)?
How many animals?
What types of grain?
Is your climate suited to growing the grains you desire?

Once you've figured all that out, the amount of land required will vary depending on your soil.

This info is from John Jeavons' "How to Grow More Vegetables" book and will give you at least a clue

Wheat - 151 pounds consumed per person per year on average. On average you can get about 5 lbs. per 100 sq ft (no acreage figure available in this book).

Oats - 6.5 lbs per year, 4.4 lbs per 100 sq ft
Rice - 21 lbs per year, 13 lbs per 100 sq ft
Corn - 152 lbs per year, 17 lbs per 100 sq ft

Hope that's at least a jumping off point for you.

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by turtlehead

Well there are about a brazillion variables that can affect the answer. Please be forewarned I have absolutely NO practical experience with this but we've been thinking along the same lines here. These are things we're considering:
How many people do you want to feed?
What types of grains do they like to eat (wheat, oats, corn, amaranth, barley...)?
How many animals?
What types of grain?
Is your climate suited to growing the grains you desire?

Once you've figured all that out, the amount of land required will vary depending on your soil.

This info is from John Jeavons' "How to Grow More Vegetables" book and will give you at least a clue

Wheat - 151 pounds consumed per person per year on average. On average you can get about 5 lbs. per 100 sq ft (no acreage figure available in this book).

Oats - 6.5 lbs per year, 4.4 lbs per 100 sq ft
Rice - 21 lbs per year, 13 lbs per 100 sq ft
Corn - 152 lbs per year, 17 lbs per 100 sq ft

Hope that's at least a jumping off point for you.

An acre is 208 ft. X 208 Ft. or 43,560 SQFT. so using your #'s
Wheat for 150 lbs would be a swath 20ft wide and 150ft long or if you planted a acre it would be enough for 14 people.
Growing grain is pretty easy IF you pick the right one for your area. Harvesting can be difficult, But also depends on the type.

[Terri]

Look up the average yeild per acre for your area. A bushel of grain is about 50 pounds (excepting that oats run lighter), so if the average is 30 bushels of wheat per acre that is 50# times 30 bu = 1500 pounds of grain per acre

[fantasymaker]

Id think an acre planted to a varity of grains would be plenty for a small family and likey the the stock as well. The stock will proably use far more than you

[diane]

I would strongly recommend reading the book by Gene Logsdon about raising grains on a small scale. It is wonderful and encouraging from planting to harvesting and storing. We did wheat, millet, buckwheat, grain sorghum and corn and it was really fun to eat the works of our hands and to have it to feed. I wrote about our experiences quite extensively for Carla Emery's book, but alas she died and it never got published. I don't even know what happened to all the stuff we posted in the testing forum.

[fordson major]

would help too know what kind of soil you have and if you want too farm conventionally or organically! we have had sheep a number of years and have grown grains on clay, loam and sand. ph and soil moisture too!

[Ross]

Quick no brain strain math, with substantial deviations for soil and weather etc. Here in E Ont we get 2 tonnes (2200 pounds per tonne if you need to old school back to pounds) of oats or barley to the acre if its fertile, drained and weed free. N Ont will not be far off but safe to guess at 1.5 tonnes per acre. Don't add fertilizer or control weeds and that will drop by as much as 75% or even wipe out the stand if the weeds are bad enough.

[Paul Wheaton]

While I've worked on wheat farms doing all sorts of stuff many years ago, it is soooooo different when you are going to do a small patch on your own.

The big trick is the harvest: getting it from the field into a bucket full of grain. It just seems like a lot of work. I've read a great deal about it, but it all seems like such a huge task.

A 50 pound sack of organic human grade wheat sells for something like 14 bucks. Harvesting by hand just seems like so much work that it isn't worth it.

A combine buzzes along at five miles per hour, cuts a freaky wide swath and then separates the chaff so quickly!

How long does it take to fill a five gallon bucket with wheat kernals when you are doing it all by hand?

[rileyjo]

hi Runestone,

Your latest issue of Harrowsmith has an article on Red Fife wheat. Have you received your copy yet? Also, my favourite farming mag "SmallFarmCanada" has a feature for small scale grain producers in every issue.

I have an allday District 13, Hort Society thingy to attend tomorrow (yawn). There is supposed to be a dude from AgCanada attending. I will try and corner him for a chat.

Have you bought any fencing yet? Maybe DH will surprise you and have all the front pasture fenced by the time you get back from your trip. Your wonderful DH is capable of creating magic while you are away.