What to do with 2-3 acres of rolling pasture?
 

Hey y'all,
First time posting here. From South Knoxville, Tennessee.

My wife and I recently purchased our first home, which sits on 4.5 acres of land (wooohoooo!) The entire plot has more grass/field than I would like so my wife and I are trying to figure out good options to make the land usefull, fairly care-free, and ideally, productive.

We've started on orchard on a great south-facing slope, but there is 2/3 acres of fenced in rolling pasture that is currently just overgrown with grass, wildflowers, etc. The previous owners kept horses. We could obviously do something like that, or similarly, goats, cattle, etc.

For now, I have a tractor and a bush hog and I'm trying to keep it mowed back. The pasture is a bit large to be cutting more than once or twice a year, so I'd like to figure out a use that would prevent me from having to do that. Obviously, a grazing animal would do the job, but another issue we have is that we like to travel and are not ready to be "tied" to the land so much that we can't leave for a few weeks. Horses, cattle, etc require more attention, yes?

Anyway, what do ya'll think? Whats the best use of this land considering my situation? Is it too small for someone to lease and grow hay on it? Tree farm?

Any suggestions or ideas are welcome.

AG

Welcome :) Do you have a neighbor with cattle? We have a piece of land that we do not use at this time and only about 2 acres of it is cleared for pasture. Our neighbor has cattle and we asked him to include our 2 acres in his fenced in area to keep it clear.

Since you have a tractor, can you use it for hay and sell the hay?

I personally would not get my own animals if you plan to travel weeks at a time (unless you have someone trustworthy nearby who could care for them).

I don't have a neighbor with cattle. I saw someone on Craigslist the other day with a horse that he wanted to board somewhere. I emailed him, but his response was that it was a miniature stallion that wasn't good with kids. No good; I got a youngn'.

Tractor is small. Not even sure what you need to harvest hay...

If you have someone you know with cattle, goats or horses see if they would want to rent the space to feed the critters. That saves you time and energy of keeping it knocked down, and if they are coming to take care of the animals you don't need to worry about them. The past couple years we have allowed a couple neighbors put their animals on our pasture and it worked out well. They were responsible to get and keep the fence in shape, bring their own fencer and they had to water their animals. Hay would be a good option too, trees would need some tending if they are very small so it you are gone it might be hard to keep them watered and cared for.

I sat here a while before posting my response so I probably wasn't much help.

Well, you got a good productive piece of land, but you have sure put some obstacles in the way of benefiting from it. I do not know of any animal you can get that will not require some attention. if you have no experience with animals mistakes you make at first could very well cost you what little profit there would be. The grass as it is will be of no benefit to you, or could be an expense if you have to mow it. The only way I know to get a return on grass is to either sell it as hay (actually to small for anyone to be interested in for that purpose) or harvest it with animals, goats, sheep, cattle. if you are not wanting to be "Tied down" as you put it, then in all honesty these are out of the question. Sure you could leave for a day here and there and you could pay someone to watch them for longer periods. but again much of your profit may be lost to paying for care or other losses from not being there when you need to be.

In all honesty if a person is so inclined they could make a decent profit doing some small farming on 5 acres, but that does not sound like your main intention, as a hobby it will probably cost you. best to leave it empty and pay someone to bushog it a few times a year if you are not really committed to taking care of livestock.

make sure your fences are good, get 2 weaned calves to graze it until the grass is gone then hay them over the winter or sell them. Repeat. Reread your post find a neighbor kid in 4H or FFA and let them do the calves on your ground and take care of it. Then Repeat

If you aren't committed to animals, then don't go that way. We have chickens, ducks, goats and sheep and they are an every-day commitment. I love them, but they are a lot of work. 2/3s of an acre could make a fabulous garden, but even that is a major time commitment. How about Christmas trees? Wouldn't make a lot of money, but there might be a little, for a relatively small investment of time and money.

If you enjoy taking trips and being gone "for weeks" you don't need animals.
Find a small tractor and a bush hog so you can mow as needed

Smaller breed sheep would live nicely there.

Garlic. Would fit your schedule. Hit the festivals to pay for your vacations....

http://www.nationalgarlicday.com/garlic-festivals.html

https://www.garlicfarm.ca/garlic-har...g-pospisil.htm

Just a thought.

geo

Just to clarify you said 2-3 acres in your title and 2/3 in your post. If you have 3 acres you may find someone to cut it for hay. They keep the hay and you don't have to pay for bush hogging. If it is 2/3 of an acre I would just mow it.

Cattle, especially a couple of feeder calves would be your lowest maintenance option. A stock tank for water with an auto-waterer would give you the option of taking trips and just having a friend do a check once a day to make sure they are okay. You will want to work with them to keep them friendly and easier to load on the trailer for the butcher but otherwise freezer beef is pretty low key.

put a add in a local paper to get someone to pasture some form of grazeing animals on it you may find someone to watch over your place while your gone that way

You need way more equipment that 2-3 acres will ever pay you back, unless you plan to raise high dollar hay like alfalfa.....and even then, it's questionable.

What you might do is allow someone else that already does hay to mow/bale yours just FOR the hay (don't plan to get any money), if there is anyone reasonably close that does that.

IF you have, or are willing to build, a small barn with a couple stalls for horses, lot of folks want to board horses. My neighbor does that, and charges 75-100/mo per horse. That would help pay your property taxes.

Downside is allowing folks on your place to fool with their horses.

Cows don't take huge amount of care or work, as long as they can pasture and have water. You need GOOD fencing, especially if you are going to be gone a lot. You'll need a corral with area to load/unload. Feed them in this area (see below) so they are used to coming into it, so when it comes time to load, they don't spook.

You need a way they can access water all the time (you can hook up a float operated water tank) You could put 2-4 cows on that much area (depending on the quality of your pasture), buying 300-400lb spring calves, raise them to 700-900lbs and sell in the fall, keeping one for your freezer. Buy a ton of 14% cattle feed from the local farm store ($300), and supplement their pasture by feeding that when you are home. (you can rig a self dispensing feeder for when you're not) Might have to buy a little hay in the fall to finish out as your pasture winds down. You would about break even by selling the others, basically getting cheap meat for yourself. This is basically what we do with the same amount of land.

A person will drive a mile or two to make 3 acres of hay. Beyond that it gets a cost to travel vs amount you get problem. So, anyone with livestock or making hay in a 2 mile or so circle around you? Anyone making hay near you, even if the live farther away, that can do your small patch as they drive by.

Don't do your own livestock until you feel like staying around. I understand, it's not for you at this time.

Boarding horses. Or other livestock. Oh boy. That can be big money, but -you- take care of the horse, and they just come out of town now and then to visit the horse. It is a nightmare at times dealing with a finicky town person. It can be good money, but it is challenging for sure, and you would be tied down much more than if you had your own livestock. You also have a lot of liability to deal with, extra insurance, etc. you probably would need a little more land, and be able to handle several boarders to make the logistics work out for you. I don't think this is at all for you at this time!

I'd talk about making your own hay, at 3 acres it would be more fun than financially rewarding but it might be worthwhile doing; but when asked about your tractor you just say ,small' which is incredibly unhelpful. :( not sure where to go from there. To my neighbor, a 150hp farm tractor is small. To me a 35hp older farm tractor is small. Nice, but small. Then, I've heard of small lawn mowers, belt driven, called 'tractors' by city folk, and clearly not remotely useful for making hay.

So, I'll just leave the hay part alone. I have a small IHC 300 that is a wonderful hay making tractor....

Paul

Ask around if a local farmer wants to cut it in return for the hay. If the pasture has been kept in good condition and is relatively smooth, and there is someone within a short distance, it can work out for you.

Overseed it or strip till it with native wildflowers etc, and run an apiary. I don't know many (if any) people who'd come hay 2-3 acres.. If you want to hay it, an easy thing to do even w/ a small tractor (I assume 30-40hp), is a sickle bar mower, a roll bar rake, and then pack it by hand...

I think an apiary, and more orchard, nut trees is your best use from what you are describing ..

Hops?

It's already been horse pasture, so board a couple of horses. Screen the people well since they will be coming on your property to take care of the horses and maybe ride. It might still need brush hogged to keep down weeds and help with parasite control.

Even if somebody wants to hay it, you would then need to fertilize it because you are hauling away some of your soil nutrients with the hay.

And, since you sound like the country life is new, make sure everyone in the family has their tetanus shot up to date.

Boarding animals for others is asking for trouble.

You already have the equipment to keep it mowed and it will only cost you a few dollars and a couple of hours

I'm chuckling at people telling him to get horses. I can't think of a more time consuming animal. And before you protest that he wouldn't have to do anything because it's self care board..... OP, go check out the Chronical of the. Horse forums. An hour of boarding horror stories over there will leave you glad you dodged that bullet.

The problem with horses is that a lot of people who own them shouldn't. They can't afford them, they don't use them. Take a few horses on self-care board, and you will eventually end up with an owner abandoning the horse and not paying you. Even with a well-crafted boarding agreement, it will take a long time to complete the necessary steps allowing you to sell the horse. And no one abandons a useful horse. It will be an untrained horse that you will be lucky to unload at kill prices. And chances are, that will be far less than the owner owes you. You will be stuck caring for it and paying to feed it. Feed it? What about the grass, you ask? No, you will end up buying hay year-round. Because a couple of horses can reduce a small pasture to a mud lot in no time. They're not ruminants like cattle and sheep. They have top front teeth. They rip the nicest grass out at the roots and trample the rest down.

I don't think an animal exists that can graze so evenly that no mowing would be necessary. Everyone I know mows afte they rotate their animals out of an area. I would either keep advertising til I found someone with cattle, or invest in a zero-turn mower. Cheaper in the long run

Question does the piece of land in question have water on it? If so lease the property to someone.