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scfarmchick · #1 03/08/12, 02:53 PM

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum and homesteading. We are not complete newbies we have had horses for 16 years, a few laying hens and a couple of sheep in the past. Also we have grown tomatos and herbs in containers. That being said we still have alot to learn. So I want to let y'all ( yes I say y'all I'm form the South) know what our set up and plans are and see what y'all think.

Our main reason for homesteading is to grow or produce as much food for our family as we can. The more research I do on what is in the food we get from the market and restaurants the more grossed out I get. Also being from the South we have an independent streak a mile long, so we don't want to depend on outside sources for ALL of our family's basic needs. We plan to take it slow and go one step at the time.

We have 6 1/2 acres, but we loose some in a treeline/windbreak so I'll round it to 6 acres. The house/yard takes up approx. 1 acre with the garden and chichen coop also in the area. We have 3 fenced pastures approx. 4 acres, 1 acre and 1/2 acre (with a future barn taking put some of this) so it's really a large paddock. We have 3 horses and would like to add a milk cow, chickens, rabbit hutches, and maybe raise one cow at a time for meat and a few meat sheep.

Do we have enough acreage for this? As I said our main goal is to raise good food for our family so we want to do as much grass feed as we can. We have a long growing season here (3 months of winter)

Comments, suggestions, questions......

stamphappy · #2 03/08/12, 06:04 PM

I can't answer your questions, but I wanted to say hello and welcome!

honeyrobber · #3 03/08/12, 06:37 PM

Soils differ greatly within a few miles. So I can not tell you wether or not you need more pasture but I feel you would. I live in TN and used to have alot of horses(upto 28 counting foals). Around here on the best ground you need atleast 1.5 acres per head. If you graze it properly where you can cut hay it helps, but with 6 acres you will not be able to get enough hay cut to have someone bale it. I think your horses will kill more of the pasture than you think. Their hooves are hard on the grasses. I kept 5 mares with foals on 14 acres and was never able to get hay off it but I was able to put 20 head of goats in with them. Horses eat the grass the goats kept the weeds out and kept the fence rows clean. If anything you can add a few goats but sheep tend to eat grass and not brush which would compete with the horses.

Welcome and pick our brains any time. No such thing as a stupid question if you do not know the answer.

sunshinytraci · #4 03/08/12, 07:06 PM

Pasture quality differs from pasture to pasture. Have you improved it at all? How much of it is weeds? It will also differ from year to year depending on the weather. Some years it will provide more feed than others. You are just going to have to live and learn on the pasture question. I've had advice from all over the place on managing my grazing but the only way to really manage it is to learn from experience and that takes time and education.
The only other advice I have to give on that is to never let your animals over-graze your land and never ever feed hay from another farm anywhere near your pasture because it may contain weed seeds. Feed the animals that hay somewhere else like in the barn. You might end up with a weedy out of control disaster that takes alot of money and time to fix.

Anyways, welcome to the forum! Everyone here is pretty helpful and very knowlegeable. I wish you lots of luck, strength, and perserverence in your homesteading!!

Big Dave · #5 03/08/12, 08:29 PM

You have adequate land and fertilizer from the sounds of it. Welcome and happy gardening.

Batt · #6 03/08/12, 08:33 PM

Welcome to the forum!
IMO, on 6 acres, your going to have to forget the milk cow. Provide hay for the steer and horses. Get a couple of goats for the milk and keep the brush under control. As someone stated, Horses and goats eat differently. Wish you the best of luck.

springvalley · #7 03/08/12, 08:45 PM

Just saying Welcome to HT, enjoy the site. > Thanks Marc

Joshie · #8 03/08/12, 08:47 PM

Around here you don't have nearly enough. We've got 27 acres. We've got two horses that are on six or so acres divided into three pastures. They've torn the pastures up so bad last summer that we're going to have to reseed one this year.

A friend of ours advised us against getting feeder calf. He said that if a cow is alone and hears other cattle, it'll try to get out and go make friends. As several neighbors raise beef we've decided not to raise them ourselves. We'll buy them from people we know.

WELCOME!

scfarmchick · #9 03/09/12, 08:19 AM

Thanks for the warm welcome!

The soil on our place is pretty good. It was part of pasture for a dairy for a long time and then leased to farm for a while before we bought it. The twenty acres next door is still farmed, they grow corn, wheat and soy beans with good results. The ground holds root systems real good and our horses really don't do much damage. Because it was tilled and farmed we don't really have pasture grass now, but we are getting ready to seed the 4 acre pasture. At our other place we had good results with planting grass seed and millet seed, we put the horses back on the pasture as soon as the millet came up (about three weeks) and it protected the grass seed. The millet dies off after a while if you don't cut it and by that time the grass is doing well and we did this in pretty much sand at our last place. As soon as we can move the horses back to the 4 acres we will do the same thing on the rest. Hopefully the temps and rain will cooperate with us

A couple more questions for the experts! We are working on the chicken coop and hope to order them in a few weeks. We are going to order 25 (half laying hens and half for meat.) The hatchery offers antibiotics, are these really necessary? I don't mind some much for the laying hens, but what about the meat birds? Also, about grass feed cows for meat and milk. If you supplement hay does that still qualify as grass feed?

Chief Cook · #10 03/09/12, 09:44 AM

SCFARMCHICK, hey and welcome to HT!!! Don't know about your growing situation, just wanted to welcome you to the family! There is so much information on this forum, I'll bet you will be in great hands. Good luck and happy homesteading!

BarbadosSheep · #11 03/09/12, 11:19 AM

Welcome! I am in South Carolina too, just north of Columbia. We are trying to do the same thing you are....decrease our dependence. We have more land than you do, but it's not all available for pasture. We currently have 3 pastures, each of them is cross-fenced with electric wire (or will be soon). I don't have horses though, which are going to be a huge burden on your limited pasture space. I really don't think you are going to have enough pasture for the horses plus your dairy and meat animals so you will have to supplement something with hay. For dairy and meat, you could get Dexter cattle. The don't produce as much milk per day (1 to 1.5 gallons) but that's plenty for my family. I know of a breeder that has excellent prices....PM me if you are interested. I am picking up my calves later this month. I am getting a bull calf too and he will be butchered later on. I also have Katahdin sheep. Sheep are very hard on pasture, which is why mine are all cross-fenced. That way I can rotate the pastures every 6 weeks which keeps down parasites and also lets the grass grow back. I also have Barbados Blackbelly sheep, which are VERY low maintenance.....they rarely even need to be dewormed! But they grow slower too, so it's a trade-off.

honeyrobber · #12 03/09/12, 11:24 AM

Hay is grass and is still grass fed. The cost of hay though you can buy your beef cheaper. I always use the antibiotic for the first few days and then if I notice loose droppings with shipped chicks. I have an incubator and raise mostly my own eggs with these I only use the antibiotics if I notice them getting ill mostly by dropping. You just need to stop using the antibiotic 30 days before slaughter. So with fryers if they get ill and need it they maybe a bit older when you slaughter. Most of the need for it is in the first week of life.

bruce2288 · #13 03/09/12, 01:31 PM

If your main goal really is to produce food. Then I would get rid of the horses. I would guess you have already maxed your pasture. Your land can only produce so much feed, but the great thing is you get to decide how to use it.

scfarmchick · #14 03/09/12, 02:05 PM

BarbadoSheep, we are south of Aiken.

We can live without the sheep, we eat more chicken than anything, so the chickens and rabbits will be the most important. We usually have enough deer processed to last from fall to early summer sometimes longer. I'll look into the Dexter if we decide to raise one for beef, one a year would be plenty for us. We have a line on a free jersey calf, she has two pregnant and if one is a heifer we can get her. I'll guess we will know about mid summer, it gives us some time to decide if we want or can take that on.

We could buy the twenty cleared acres next to us, but going into more debt worries me. Land here is pretty expensive so we are talking around $200,000.00 for that twenty acres and the last time we asked he will not divide it up. Then there is fencing, planting grass ect...

Tricky Grama · #15 03/09/12, 04:55 PM

Welcome! You'll love it here & get lots of great advice.

Patty