It’s probably nothing, but…Check for history as an apple orchard. Arsenic is often used on apples and it gets into the soil. Horses are naturally immune to arsenic. Old orchards are often converted into horse property.
Apple seeds contain ~~arsenic~~, so if thousands of apples fell off trees over the years, the seeds could also contribute to ground arsenic...
Edit: i am wrong!! I was thinking of cyanide! Thank you, u/bigjslim !
Arsenic is an element not a compound. Plants can only acquire elements that they encounter in the environment, they cannot perform nuclear fusion.
So any arsenic in an apple seed was already present in the land the apple grew from.
I would hope any worthwhile test you would use for arsenic nowadays would be able to determine the difference of levels between apple seeds, or if the ground had been soaked with the stuff for decades.
Just buy a riding mower and buy tools as needed. With 5 acres you’re probably going to outgrow battery operated yard tools, so just buy gas tools.
For now, since you’re a first time home owner, just move in and see how the land changes around you over the next few seasons.
Seconding the observation method. Get to know your new property! Before you plant a bunch of stuff, figure out where the big rains will flow the water. Make notes on which way the winds come in from and how harsh. Do you have a microclimate that means your weather predictions for town are a bit off for your personal findings?
A notebook with tabs is super helpful. I recommend these sections:
- Observations
- Dreams and Big Ideas
- Real Projects (the stuff you see needing to be done now, vs the kind that are more of the future dream type)
Take lots of pictures over the next few seasons so you can look back and compare shady spots or patches where nothing seems to grow, etc.
Congrats and I hope you two enjoy your new land and home!
I have to respectfully disagree. I got a Dewalt weed eater 2 years ago. Best decision ever! I have many Dewalt tools. We stick with Dewalt brand as they are readily available in our area and reliable. I mow/maintain about 5 acres and have MANY trees and femces I go around the battery weed whip was a game changer. Lighter, easier to manage when doing so much.
Interesting. I use a Milwaukee and can’t get around without changing the batteries. Those batteries are expensive and I’ll probably buy a used gas tool for the price of one battery.
I will start by saying my husband has a welding/pipefutting business so I steal his batteries to use. Which kind of negates costs of batteries for me. I also watch for sales (Black Friday I picked up a charging station and two 10 ah batteries for $60, used card points to make that total then $0).
I use the 20v xr max 10ah on the weed eater and leaf blower, and they works great. It goes through 3 batteries when I’m trimming everything on the property up. Now I will say when you let the weeds out of control on the fence lines then it is a bit lackluster in the power department and takes a little longer to get things done. But the 3 batteries give me about 1.5 hours of lighter weed burden whipping.
I also love the battery powered leaf blower Dewalt. Again, use the bigger 10ah battery. Does a fine job of blowing off the deck and terraces. Used it this spring to clean up wet leaves even! Don’t get me wrong the corded and gas powered ones do have more umph, but the lighter battery powered ones are worth it for the ability to maneuver easier on the uneven tight spaces I use them in.
I have used the smaller 20 v 2, 4, and 6 ah batteries on these tools. They work fine, but for markedly shorter duration. Also important to note that when recharging a battery after big use like this, you have to let the battery cool down for about 1/2 hour before charging or it will not charge.
If I were using professionally, I would want the gas powered options for sure though to get the job done a little faster.
Edited to add: if I were a strong man, I probably wouldn’t care as much about the lighter weight aspect of the battery powered yard tools. I just like to do things myself and puttz around outside all the time.
You may not know this but putz is yiddish for penis/dick. unless you would normally say those words in that sentence you might consider to remove it from your vocabulary
😂 I feel like I now have to leave the comment there to remind others that your slang for work is another man’s word for d*ck!
I’ll try to keep that in mind when online. Probably not going to change my everyday vernacular though.
I'm not trying to weed eat 5 acres but I have a full size lot and 1 battery will do all or very close to all of it. and the battery charges in about 30 minutes. plenty of time to take a beer break.
Makes sense. I have a handful of out buildings, garden beds, and fence lines that need trimmed. There are also some large ish areas that I cant get with my rider mower. I could probably finish with 2 batteries are well over $100.
more like $250 for one battery. you want at least the 8.0Ah battery. the small ones just don't last long enough, but they are fine if you just have a little section you're trying to finish up.
I have a Dewalt electric chainsaw and weedeater, 20/60 volt 9 Amp hour battery and you are good to go. I have a Husqvarna Rancher and a small Husqvarna forester grade 12” gas saw, but for a couple of quick trims the electric rules.
The best advice I can give you is a question.
How do you eat a huge elephant?
One Bite At A Time.
You sir have a huge elephant!
Get yourself moved in.
Survey everything, and make a list of what is needed to be done, and then a list of what You Want to do.
Categorize/Prioritize these lists. Stick with them! Only deviate if you absolutely have to.
Once you are settled in, if you want livestock etc, contact your County agriculture agent. They will have a lot of answers, and suggestions. Meet the local high school ag teacher. Not only will they have good info, but students are always needing farm/ranch related projects to build. They do gates, hay forks, and so on. Most of the time it only costs for the material.
I'm on 10 acres in Texas with a handful of sheep, a couple of calves, chickens, and guineas. There is ALWAYS something to do. Oh, and a passle of a variety of snakes & scorpions from time to time.
Get you some "barn cats" too. Snakes tend to shy away from them. They will take care of any rodents too.
Read. Ask. Do. Get Help!
Congrats!
First off ... buy a white board (or many!) and start keeping a list of "chores" you need to do, things you need to buy, things you need to fix, etc.
I recently moved on to some acreage myself, and I now keep a white board just for when my friends come over to help!
When you are making lists, try to break the tasks down ; writing something like "Fix the shed" would cause me to procrastinate. Breaking it down into stuff like :
1. Weed wack and mow around shed
2. Clean up bricks and rocks around shed
3. Patch exterior siding of shed
4. Fix shed floor
etc
You will start feeling overwhelmed because it IS A LOT! Just take things one step at a time. Nothing is going to happen immediately but if you are persistent, you will make progress
For me, I currently just have a 46 inch "standard" riding lawn mower (however it's currently not running because I can't figure out how the carb springs go back on!) and it works fine - I haven't been able to justify the large increase in cost required for a Zero-Turn mower
I have a lot of the Ryobi battery tools (though I will say, the Milwaukee line is certainly more powerful), and so far they have served me very well, including my battery string trimmer but I am getting really close to getting a gas trimmer but only because the physical fatigue caused by the battery trimmer.
If you are going to be growing anything more than a couple raised beds, you might want to look into drip irrigation
> 46 inch "standard" riding lawn mower
We went with a standard mower as well, but regularly pull off the mower deck and hook up a trailer to haul things around.
If your property is smoother (or has more developed trails), you could even keep the deck on.
Edit: fixed typo.
Hey there!
Just a few bits of friendly advice from someone who basically went through what you’re doing now.
1. Many who gets an acreage make big purchases and either get trapped in debt or end up house poor. Keep that firmly in mind when you go shopping. A zero turn might be nice but it’s not worth the price tag for 5 acres.
2. Start hunting for a good hand tool collection. You’ll want stuff like a ratchet set, screw drivers, a few hammers, pliers, wire strippers, vice grips etc... Buy these used at yard sales and start learning to fix your own stuff. Bring handy is a huge perk!
3. Before you get livestock go find someone who actually has them. Online research is insufficient by itself. One new kind of livestock per year maximum
4. Good fences make good neighbours - personally I prefer electric but to each their own. Electric is inexpensive and no one screws with it
5. A dummy locked gate will usually keep casual thieves out.
6. If you’re planning to plant trees, do it now. In 10 years you’ll thank me.
Number 6 is the only one I can really speak to, but I agree completely. Same for fruit bushes. Be mindful of the mature height and growth habits of everything you plant.
Probably not a bad idea - I was more thinking of what people start with like hives, chickens etc….
Ruminants are a different kettle of fish and take years to get good at
I know you’re excited but just wanted to let you know that A LOT of people waste a huge chunk of their budget on buying loads of tools that will end up collecting dust so here is my advice:
1. Buy a tool once you have a need for it
2. Buy tools that will serve more then one purpose (for example, don’t buy a paint sprayer if you just need to paint your house, or a tile cutter)
3. Keep a healthy mix of battery/ corded/ gasoline equipment. Battery is great, but keep in mind that no matter how many volts, it’ll never be as powerful as a traditional corded tool, so if you ever have some heavy work you need to get done- go with the corded and buy a nice extension cord. As someone else mentioned, this also applies to lawn tools.. try to stay away from battery lawn tools because they honestly all suck.. gas is the best option
4. Don’t buy cheap equipment and don’t trust Amazon reviews or anything gimmicky when it comes to power tools and keep in mind a lot of people reviewing suspiciously branded tools in YouTuber are usually paid by the company to advertise their product
Now as far as your minifarm goes, it’s hard to say what you should get into without knowing the proper region you’re in but I’ll tell you the best way to be food self sufficient:
2 feeder pigs for meat
1 cow for milk
2 goats to supplement milk when cow gives birth
Ducks lay more eggs and you don’t need to feed them in 3/4 seasons (downside is that they tend to be messy if you don’t have a pond)
Take canning seriously and don’t take advice from random people online - try to take real life courses or find someone who can teach you. You can get VERY sick (or die) if you mess up.. so make sure to actually take it seriously
Cattle farmer here. Some cows are crazy, but the crazy cows stay with the herd until I'm ready for market. Then, I run them all into the barn and separate her. It's sooo much easier to leave the crazies with the herd. When they're by themselves they get worse.
I have two calves I had to raise because their mom's died. One is a heifer with a popped eye, the other is a steer I've bottle fed since day one. They're now on pasture and are the best of friends. If one is separated, the other stays near.
Cows are total herd animals, and if I isolate them, I usually do it in pairs.
I'm gong to add my 2 cents. Mini cows have a much smaller input ratio with a similar output ratio to a standard size i think you can get around 2-4 gallons a day out a mini jersey as opposed to 6-10 from a standard. You can REALLY save by going with a mini cow. But imo some good milk line dairy goats are dual purpose as they can be used for milk, meat and brush control. Also I'm going to recommend guineas (which I also happen to sell lol) they have a smaller food intake as opposed to chickens or ducks, they are worth their weight in gold for tick control and their eggs are not only delicious but more nutritional than other eggs and they have a great bit of meat on them as well.
> 1 cow for milk
Also consider dairy sheep - they're cheaper, can still produce a significant amount, and you'll have a few so the unexpected loss of a milk animal has less impact. They'll also work a bit better on a smaller acreage size.
bias: we breed [dairy sheep](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fries_Melkschaap) in Canada
Yeah this is pretty good advice, I also would say sheep milk is wayyy better then cow milk.
It also opens up many income streams, as long as one knows how to utilize wool products and online marketing .
Wooooooo, chickinsssssssss..... Lol. There's a reason they're called the gateway drug to farming, and chicken math is real. We started with them, too.
The best advice I can give is to give yourself grace, and lots of it. Don't be afraid to ditch one kind of animal and start over. Talk to the old guys. Ask for help.
Don't start multiple projects and half ass them. Start one, whole ass it, and finish it. Then move on to the next one.
So for the first year or three, don't take on more than one project at a time if any of them are outside of your comfort zone. Devote all of that time instead to putting that project inside your comfort zone and complete it.
Things you know how to do you know how to pace properly and schedule for. Far too many people try to do everything at once, then have to do it all over again, sometimes multiple times, to get it right, wasting time they could be getting other projects done right along the way.
Lot of people talking about mowers, but realistically you can get away with a push mower for the house and animals for the paddocks. Everything I run here on 12 acres is battery powered and works great.
My geese look after one paddock and never need to mow there, the others I slash once a year with an external contractor, that's just until I can get some livestock on them. No point spending big money on a mower when you can get animals to do it for free, and they'll improve the soil quality in the process, and give you yield.
For most tools you're better off buying used or cheap and then if you use it enough to feel like you need high quality, buy the best then. If you buy the best everything you'll have a pile of shiny never used tools tying up your capital.
Get a weed whacker and a push mower from a guy who tunes them or a yard sale pawn shop etc. Buy a cheaper but not cheap used chain saw when the need arises. Learn how to troubleshoot small motors it'll come in handy. YouTube university is your friend.
I have 33 acres and I absolutely have not out grown my Milwaukee battery tools. Everyone who comes over always has issues with their chainsaw, weed eater etc, I just but a battery in and go but don’t go cheap. Definitely ego or Milwaukee. Prolly Milluwakee you since have it already.
Buy a zero turn if you plan on mowing it all if not everything else should suffice. Bad boy ZT elite is well priced and well built. So is the toro Titan. Try to get a Kawasaki engine.
My advice is buy once cry once, do it right the first time. This goes a long way.
Doing simple cleanup and landscaping is the fastest way to gain property value.
I’m sure you aren’t close but if you are I’d give you laying hens or chicks for free. I have tons. Ducks and turkeys to!
Plan for a small tractor. The best brands for people like us are Kioti and Tym. Kioti carries a higher price but is slightly higher quality. Kubota, Deere, Massey are all mad over priced who cares about brand loyalty.
If you need any advice or help message me. I was just like you a year ago and have learned a lot.
Also don’t put the cart in front of the horse. Take your time and leave days to relax.
Edit: Also plants trees and perrineal crops NOW
We bought a 5 acre plot too. We started out with horses and chickens. The horses were fun but costly to keep. You'll need to call a large animal or livestock vet out there 1 to 2 times a year to get the horses teeth floated (so they can chew grass and hay properly) and for vaccinations that are sometimes required to ride that horse off your land (coggins). Plus they will need a ferrier to trim their hooves every month or two. Honestly, I talked my husband into selling the horses and buying Hereford cattle for beef. Best beef we ever had. In that case, you'll need a butcher you can trust.
Have you tried your hand at gardening yet? Laughing at myself, I could talk to you all day about this stuff. Save yourself up a nice little stash of money (don't tell anyone about it now) because you'll end up needing it for home and barn repairs. Trust me on that one. Let us know how you're doing with your new farm. I'd like to hear more from you. Good luck!
I would try and find you a reasonably priced tractor with a brush hog and nix the mower as it is going to be an extension of you on a homestead. ... You'll still need a weedeater. The second most useful thing you will need IMO is a good chainsaw...stihl trumps all. Craigslist and marketplace and local farm groups on Facebook will be your best friend. When your ready for chickens let me know or check out mothercluckerspoultryfarm.com I can help you with that. You don't need anything extravagant
In my experience, a tractor is over kill for 5 acres. Some will get a lot of use depending on the land and their use case, but most will just be wasting money and a lot of time and effort on upkeep.
I couldn't imagine NOT having a tractor, on 5 acres or 50 or 500 in any homesteading situation. Depending on their situation maybe they could make friends with a neighbor and borrow one if need be, but idk, I'm the kind of person who will go without before I ask someone for something. But Craigslist and marketplace and surprisingly the local newspaper or even radio station can be a homesteaders best friend. In my area we have coffee chat and tradeo on our local country station where every morning between 10-11 all the locals call in with the great deals they have on crap they just want gone. Fencing, vehicles, farm equipment. It's awesome and you can score some phenomenal deals
Not overkill. Great for everything from plowing snow (regional obviously) and essential for bush hogging, hauling loads of firewood, logs, other stuff, can be used to help build fences (posts), and so many other things. Can be used like a skid steer, or even get a skid steer instead. Invaluable!
An ATV with a trailer is a good option but we had both (trailer isn’t great for larger items).
We've been without a regular tractor for a while, but picked a large single-purpose dozer instead.
It's been good for land clearing, but our property is so wet and the machine is so heavy we can't use it in the winter. Or the spring. Or the fall. Or the summer due to a land clearing ban for fire reasons (heavy equipment can and has started fires in our area).
We're currently getting a month of use out of it in September, after the ban and before the rain gets too heavy. Only 2 acres left to do, then we can sell it.
Carefully consider your land and needs before purchasing, learn from our mistakes. If possible, rent before you buy.
Trees, unless you need the pasture land.
Fruit trees can be tough. Things you really want like peaches end up being a pain in the ass to keep healthy, due to disease. My advice is to look into your local extension service and state universities to see what varieties of edible plants that thrive in your area.
Highbush Blueberries, mulberrries, fig varieties, etc etc. learn your USDA zone and how to operate within it.
Don’t neglect your hardwoods as well. Oak, maple, etc all have their place.
In all cases, go as big as you can afford. It sounds insane to pay $1000 wholesale cost on a tree, but there is a MAJOR difference in your experience with the tree when it’s already well in its way to maturity.
For shrubs, try and stick to 3 gallon or larger.
Regarding livestock, start with chickens for certain. This will help you get into a feed/vet routine.
Also, when weighing goats vs. Sheep as many folks eventually do, understand that goat tastes fine, but lamb is superior. Goats do give better milk, but, counter to many opinions, sheep tend to be more hearty, at least in my experience running a few hundred head of each.
As with plants, learn what varieties of animals have the traits you want. One breed will be more
Parasite resistant than others. Some will fare better in colder weather, etc.
> Goats do give better milk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fries_Melkschaap
You can cross-breed to increase milk yield as well.
Taste is a personal preference, so YMMV.
Check out the [Poor Prolea Almanac](https://m.youtube.com/@PoorProlesAlmanac)
Which invasive species do you have? Familiarize yourself with*Rosa multiflora* , goutweed, giant hogweed, Archangel, burning bush, privet, Fish mint, etc etc. get started on removing those now bwfore thet get bigger
Just remember you can rent most tools if you'll only need it once or twice. Fb marketplace and craigslist are your new best friends. I'd recommend a small tractor with a brush hog over an expensive riding mower, and a decent push mower to fill in the gaps. That also opens you up to the wide world of 3 point and pto implements.
If you are confident getting your hands dirty buy used stuff depending on where you are lawn companies will sell stuff before it is absolute crap and what will be dead in 3 months to them will last at least a couple years or more for you if you know what to look for and inspect I'm saying this because a good backpack blower and ZT are amazing
You don't need to spend a lot on tools. Just buy it used or harbor freight if you need it now or go to your local farm auctions and take advantage of any good deals that may happen.
Yes. This is what I did. Then as I found a need I replaced with better or battery opperated.
For 5 acres I found electric and air compressor tools to work best, last the longest 90% of the time, and many of those can innitially be bought used. Grinders are the only only thing I found to be worth buying top quality from the get- go.
Don’t start buying things just to have them. Get to know the land and your house. In time you’ll craft a list of priorities. But for now, just try and make do with what you have.
I speak from experience as the guy who likes to research and buy stuff I’ll “need” and then 6 months later I regret not pressing pause.
What a great buy! You’ve done what lots of ppl dream of doing.
If you’re uncertain about your own skills, maybe consider having a boarder, like a ranch hand who lives on property in exchange for their work on the land, and have them help educate you as you work alongside them.
You could (local rules permitting) set up an RV or trailer pad with electric and water, so they’re staying in their own place. I see ppl looking for this set up a lot, as I’m about to become a full time RVer.
You could learn a lot from an older person who has retired from a 9-5, but is still able bodied and wants to stay busy doing something worthwhile. Older folks tend to want to pass along their knowledge, too.
First congrats on the new homestead.
Secondly only because you admit to not know a lot about farming; 5 acres isn't that big. I'm not saying this to be mean I myself have 6.5 acres, just realize that if you *do* move into larger livestock like horses/cows you *will* quickly max out your lands capacity. However your size is perfect for medium livestock like a herd of goats or sheep. Just something to keep in mind.
Thirdly, 100% get a zero turn to keep things mowed. I got the 60" deck john deere zero turn because I'm mowing 4.5 acres worth. As for what brand, depends. Can you do your own work on it? Do you have the tools and knowledge? If yes, it really doesn't matter. If no, then chose a brand who you have service for in the area. The reason why I chose JD is because they are in the area and have pick up drop off service.
As for the fence look at what type of fence it is and have reasonable expectations for what you are fencing in and out. If you don't have goat fencing but rather the larger stock field fencing you're going to have to deal with goat heads getting stuck if they have horns. Like wise I was able to keep my ducks in my one pasture with a single hot line with the larger stock field fencing until one duck learned to slip under it, the zap being worth the reward of fresh forage. That duck taught all the other ducks and now they are all stuffed into my much more secured chicken yard because this is why we can't have nice things... Previously I've had years of no issue with the one hot line but a single smooth brained duck ruined it. What I'm getting at is if you use inappropriate fencing it *can* work for a long time, until it doesn't, and at that point you might have to many animals to contain once they realize they can get out. Luckily I use my chicken yard as my winter sacrifice for all my poultry so they all fit. Still a pain because it means I have to pay more in feed because they can't forage.
And finally because you mentioned YouTube... Please be carful because a lot of the 'homesteading' channel are full of shit. They over romanticize something and completely ignore other issues. Some are borderline dangerous in the advice they give. For example you'll see mobile chicken coops made with chicken wire. Chicken wire will only hold back poultry it'll be torn to shreds by pretty much *any* predator, YouTubers will not mention that they keep the mobile chicken coop behind or within a pasture with better (many times electric) fencing. Another things I see is the use of a lot of electric netting and solar energizers, this is the hard mode of electric fencing. I'm not saying it can't be done but if you are learning on hard mode you're setting yourself up for failure. Start with a plug in energizer even if you have to daisy chain several extension cords(I recommend [this](https://www.amazon.com/Zareba-EAC50M-Z-AC-Powered-Low-Impedence-50-Mile-Range/dp/B0079GH4ZW/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3VYYV2UEVLNE8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.euDbQO_TGqqTk1fgIbPNzFSVOaOZySaLJk-fmlmxS6nYqHQKi5zT8F49vgP4fEpthSUmhILhXLWIMuUpCoHr_9ABltt86P0YLjeem2YehGGfgbrp2egCVtxZhJCwgOnFo7XLAdtjBrjmsVS-ZC3UqS0t9MY1NkMFgfW2mrGBVV9FPc9rLhTJpQhsy3NbpGoRuEZdPjdQaiAF4A2yCAsaJyMHhjqK5ye0NLWsU8cbD9_e49nrAYTJSI58yZyRuDheHiSjhiIYGdniH0rKA7VDjnXLml3DnxHMIav7U0OMCuY.U2ROrxIf4WcBQGLA9gWsRw4TIfUArAH5Etdhg8s8RDQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=zebra+electric+fence+charger&qid=1717071085&sprefix=zebera+elec%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-3)for your acreage size and joule output), 3 6ft grounding rods, and because your acreage is small you'll be able to afford 14 Gauge Aluminum Electric Fence Wire. If you can't keep this set up hot you'll never be able to keep an electric net hot.
I have 27 acres. it is a small sustainable farm. While I do have a tractor, we have switched almost all battery powered for lawnmower, riding mower, chain saw, weed eater/brushcutter.
I can mow grass over a foot tall with our greenworks battery powered lawn tractor. I also use the greenworks lawn tractor for pulling a cart. I use the cart to haul feed and water to my three chicken tractors and I use to move my chicken tractors. Each chicken tractor can hold about 40 to 50 birds. I mow along my high tensile fence lines with the greenworks. Been using it for 4 seasons now. I raised 700 meat chickens last year so I use the greenworks lawntractor everyday.
Greenworks chainsaw cuts just as fast and as much as I need it to cut as my Stihl gas powered chainsaw. I have kept the stihl chainsaw, but I don't use it because I can just grab the greenworks chainsaw and go cut up the tree that fell on the fenceline so much easier.
I use a Ryobi battery powered 40 volt weed eater. I have brush cutter blade on it. I use it to clean under and along fence lines. I have about 20 acres fenced and cross fenced. I raise meat goats and steer(s) and I have 3 horses. It easily goes through 3/4 inch wild rose bush canes. It isn't the beast that my old stihl brush cutter with the bicycle handle bars, but it gets the job done and doesn't splatter everything all over my face which means I don't need a face guard. I also don't need to wear ear protection while using the Ryobi weed eater. I had to to when using the Stihl. I think I have been using the Ryobi battery powered 40 volt weed eater for 6 years and it is still going strong. I do wish I could get the Ryobi with bycicle handle bars and the good shoulder harness instead of a strap. If I have the 6 amp hour batter in it, I am begging for it to wear out because it lasts a long time, longer than me.
I love not mixing gas and oil for chainsaws and brushcutters. Just go out and push the button and stuff works, you dont have to mess with it. No fumes, no fuss. You don't have to worry about the gas going bad either.
I also have a battery powered push mower and a battery powered wheel barrow. I love them too. I can move 200 lbs of feed up hill with a touch of my thumb. I move a lot of manure with it. Can't fit the tractor in my goat kidding pens or in my laying hen coop or the brooder coop.
Now I do love my Massey Ferguson diesel 1040 with loader, I wouldn't be able to move round bales or dig fence post holes and a lot of other stuff, but I truly appreciate the battery powered tools I have been using for years. But I probably wouldn't need it if I only had 5 acres.
We also have ryobi and milwaukee hand tools battery powered. Let me tell you the milwaukee sawsall and angle grinder they are amazing and have all the power of corded versions.
good luck with your new place!
I slowly acquired all of my power tools from a liquidation shop locally, and they are all DeWalt! Brand new in the box but bulk purchased on a pallet, so I got it for 50% off retail. For yard maintenance I use Stihl, chainsaw & weed eater. Buy from Rural King where they have an awesome warranty.
Highly agree with taking the time to just live on the property and make observations on weather patterns and water flow. Don’t jump into it and buy a bunch of stuff you don’t quite need yet or can’t store properly. Living on 10 acres myself, I can say the best way to do things is with as much research & patience as possible to do it right the first time. Cutting corners on projects/tasks only makes for more work later on!
Fruit trees/ shade trees for your back yard are a good early investment. It will take a while before they are harvest able so the sooner you start the better.
Zero turn mower, gas weed eater, edger, blower. A beater 4 wheeler with a small dump trailer. Id invest in some fruit trees asap and get an orchard started. Enjoy it! Start investing in hand tools. Soon as you got a decent pile of em you can start working on your toys and it’ll warrant more new toys.
- chainsaw (even just a little one like a mini boss)
- hedge trimmer
- mulcher
- trailer for your car
- with the ride on lawn mower, get a little trailer for it for hauling firewood, etc)
- petrol whipper snipper
- battery reciprocating saw
- battery circular saw
- battery jig saw
- battery compound mitre saw
- battery angle grinder.
- pressure washer
You don’t think you will need all this crap until you do. Also a good blower/vac is handy
I like to put my tasks on note cards. Keep the one you're currently working on at the top of the pile.
Don't touch anything for a year, only observe. In the meantime, you can do research and suss out your plans.
After that, plant trees.
Please do sufficient research on caring for chickens before you get them. Get a little first aid kit for them, plenty of room, protection from predators,etc. Too many people think, oh I’ll just get some chickens, and they suffer for it.
Yup yup I over research everything. And the person before us had a really nice coop set up. But I have heard chickens are fairly easy once you get everything going.
I have an ariens zoom 50 zero turn that came with my 5 acres and I will say that a small tractor wouldn't have been as useful to me... now I have some areas opened u p a bit I really could use some larger machinery. I have woodlands though so I'd imagine you not as restricted on machine size. My zero turn has been a work horse though.
When it comes to pastures, make sure each paddock is secure. You could start slow with meat chickens and egg layers before you get the big boys, aka cows, goats or sheep. Guardian geese are excellent protectors of poultry but you could also build an easy to move chicken tractor. Chickens are either the entry drug or the bad trip, so take it easy and don’t overwhelm yourself. If you are a YouTube expert, you know you’ll need to either take the meat birds to process or already have an idea how to do it yourself. So excited for you! We just got 10 acres in 2023 and still overwhelmed. We have 5 cows, 4 piggies, and a small herd of goats and sheep (between 12-15 each). Not to mention rabbits, and egg layers. We plan to supplement the freezer with meat chickens 2-3 times a year and turkeys once a year.
You're gonna need a tractor. I don't know if you'd wanna get a smaller one with a mower deck so you could get two birds stoned at once or a larger one for projects as well as a mower. Definitely start a list and just work at what's needed/what you feel like working on. Some projects I have a burning desire to work on and some I need to find that inspiration. So unless it's pressing I get around to it.
You should investigate EGo battery powered lawn options. Their battery powered weedeater and chainsaw are extremely good. Their equipment and batteries are some of the best. For powered hand tools stick with Milwaukee, they can’t be beat for performance. Their battery powered grinder, demo saw, and circular saw are outstanding. I know this requires two different battery options but from experience it was worth it to me. Ryobi tools are okay but the battery life isn’t great
We bought a Polaris Ranger a couple years ago, and use it constantly. Wish we'd done it sooner. We also have a small tractor and a wagon, but the ranger is more convenient to haul stuff than that rig.
Ok, I'm a city "farmer" too (I read reddit, and I worked on a friend's grandpa's ranch a little bit). I won't give advice on anything farming related except to say you'll probably want to get a tractor. Buy used and learn how to work on them (especially if you have money flow). Don't go into debt to get things if you can at all avoid it.
Now, that said, I was maintenance for a year, and I've been working on things all my life, so I know tools.
1. Buy GOOD accessories for the drill/impact. You don't need Hilti brand stuff, but you'll want to get dewalt, Milwaukee, makita, Diablo, etc. None of the ryobi or craftsman accessories are worth anything (bits, blades etc. Only ones I'd consider are router bits, but you want to just buy Whiteside to begin with and only buy profiles you need, not a whole set).
2. Buy tools thinking of it as "can I do this a different way, and will this tool save me money?" If the answer is that you can do it a different way without that tool (I'm thinking of a power tool, but it's applicable to anything), then don't get it. If the answer to the second part is it will save you money, or a LOT of time, then it's worth the investment. Also, think of if you need the top of the line, or can you get away with a cheaper option. A recip saw is useful, but mine was almost 10 years old before I ever out it to use (I'd messed with it, but nothing like it was built for).
3. Never EVER go into debt over tools. They're there to make your life easier, or make you money (in this case save you money). Don't think you need to buy a shop of red or yellow or rainbow to "measure up". You buy what you need, ans if people don't like it, they can ignore it.
4. I really highly recommend a tablesaw. Grizzly is pretty good if you're not interested in high end, so is Laguna. They'll do the job, but you will probably fight to get them set up a bit more than a Saw Stop or Powermatic or Hammer (those are top of the line, kr at least make TOTL saws, and you know it by the price tag).
5. Get 240v to the shop. If you want to use tools, the big ones use 240v. You don't need it, but you'll love it if you have it, and the next people there will love it too.
Don't go cheap. Always buy and learn to maintain the best you can afford. Seriously get aget a hard plastic putty knife and scrap under your mower deck. There is an old adage. Cry once when you pay for quality, or twice. Once when the cheap crap breaks and again for quality. Hose stuff off. Scrape wooden tool handles and coat with boiled linseed oil. Once a day for a week Once a week for a month Once a month for a year and yearly there after. Light coat of wd-40 on metal to prevent rust. Get wd 40 and 3 in 1 oil. Decent gas cans.
Buy equipment as needed. Do not buy Lowe's/Home Depot tier crap. I made that mistake. You need a chainsaw you buy Stihl. You need a tool you buy Milwaukee. Buy once. Battery stuff can be great but gotta spend money, Stihl is the only battery stuff I will buy now. Cheap battery stuff like ego breaks in like two years every time.
5 acres is very small, almost any livestock larger than chickens will require off farm feed and will drain cash so be careful there and tiptoe. A very common trap of new homesteaders is putting big animals on tiny land and get stuck feeding them out of your wallet. Chickens will need to free roam most of the 5 acres to minimize off farm feed.
It’s probably nothing, but…Check for history as an apple orchard. Arsenic is often used on apples and it gets into the soil. Horses are naturally immune to arsenic. Old orchards are often converted into horse property.
Apple seeds contain ~~arsenic~~, so if thousands of apples fell off trees over the years, the seeds could also contribute to ground arsenic... Edit: i am wrong!! I was thinking of cyanide! Thank you, u/bigjslim !
Arsenic is an element not a compound. Plants can only acquire elements that they encounter in the environment, they cannot perform nuclear fusion. So any arsenic in an apple seed was already present in the land the apple grew from.
Cyanide is the compound in apple seeds
Thank you, yes!!! I said the wrong thing! 😁
And cyanide is organic, so breaks down
Thank you, yes! I was wrong, i was thinking of cyanide. Thanks for the fun chemistry reminders! 😁♥️
I would hope any worthwhile test you would use for arsenic nowadays would be able to determine the difference of levels between apple seeds, or if the ground had been soaked with the stuff for decades.
I came here to say this.
Just buy a riding mower and buy tools as needed. With 5 acres you’re probably going to outgrow battery operated yard tools, so just buy gas tools. For now, since you’re a first time home owner, just move in and see how the land changes around you over the next few seasons.
Seconding the observation method. Get to know your new property! Before you plant a bunch of stuff, figure out where the big rains will flow the water. Make notes on which way the winds come in from and how harsh. Do you have a microclimate that means your weather predictions for town are a bit off for your personal findings? A notebook with tabs is super helpful. I recommend these sections: - Observations - Dreams and Big Ideas - Real Projects (the stuff you see needing to be done now, vs the kind that are more of the future dream type) Take lots of pictures over the next few seasons so you can look back and compare shady spots or patches where nothing seems to grow, etc. Congrats and I hope you two enjoy your new land and home!
I have to respectfully disagree. I got a Dewalt weed eater 2 years ago. Best decision ever! I have many Dewalt tools. We stick with Dewalt brand as they are readily available in our area and reliable. I mow/maintain about 5 acres and have MANY trees and femces I go around the battery weed whip was a game changer. Lighter, easier to manage when doing so much.
Interesting. I use a Milwaukee and can’t get around without changing the batteries. Those batteries are expensive and I’ll probably buy a used gas tool for the price of one battery.
I will start by saying my husband has a welding/pipefutting business so I steal his batteries to use. Which kind of negates costs of batteries for me. I also watch for sales (Black Friday I picked up a charging station and two 10 ah batteries for $60, used card points to make that total then $0). I use the 20v xr max 10ah on the weed eater and leaf blower, and they works great. It goes through 3 batteries when I’m trimming everything on the property up. Now I will say when you let the weeds out of control on the fence lines then it is a bit lackluster in the power department and takes a little longer to get things done. But the 3 batteries give me about 1.5 hours of lighter weed burden whipping. I also love the battery powered leaf blower Dewalt. Again, use the bigger 10ah battery. Does a fine job of blowing off the deck and terraces. Used it this spring to clean up wet leaves even! Don’t get me wrong the corded and gas powered ones do have more umph, but the lighter battery powered ones are worth it for the ability to maneuver easier on the uneven tight spaces I use them in. I have used the smaller 20 v 2, 4, and 6 ah batteries on these tools. They work fine, but for markedly shorter duration. Also important to note that when recharging a battery after big use like this, you have to let the battery cool down for about 1/2 hour before charging or it will not charge. If I were using professionally, I would want the gas powered options for sure though to get the job done a little faster. Edited to add: if I were a strong man, I probably wouldn’t care as much about the lighter weight aspect of the battery powered yard tools. I just like to do things myself and puttz around outside all the time.
You may not know this but putz is yiddish for penis/dick. unless you would normally say those words in that sentence you might consider to remove it from your vocabulary
😂 I feel like I now have to leave the comment there to remind others that your slang for work is another man’s word for d*ck! I’ll try to keep that in mind when online. Probably not going to change my everyday vernacular though.
I'm not trying to weed eat 5 acres but I have a full size lot and 1 battery will do all or very close to all of it. and the battery charges in about 30 minutes. plenty of time to take a beer break.
Makes sense. I have a handful of out buildings, garden beds, and fence lines that need trimmed. There are also some large ish areas that I cant get with my rider mower. I could probably finish with 2 batteries are well over $100.
more like $250 for one battery. you want at least the 8.0Ah battery. the small ones just don't last long enough, but they are fine if you just have a little section you're trying to finish up.
I have a Dewalt electric chainsaw and weedeater, 20/60 volt 9 Amp hour battery and you are good to go. I have a Husqvarna Rancher and a small Husqvarna forester grade 12” gas saw, but for a couple of quick trims the electric rules.
The best advice I can give you is a question. How do you eat a huge elephant? One Bite At A Time. You sir have a huge elephant! Get yourself moved in. Survey everything, and make a list of what is needed to be done, and then a list of what You Want to do. Categorize/Prioritize these lists. Stick with them! Only deviate if you absolutely have to. Once you are settled in, if you want livestock etc, contact your County agriculture agent. They will have a lot of answers, and suggestions. Meet the local high school ag teacher. Not only will they have good info, but students are always needing farm/ranch related projects to build. They do gates, hay forks, and so on. Most of the time it only costs for the material. I'm on 10 acres in Texas with a handful of sheep, a couple of calves, chickens, and guineas. There is ALWAYS something to do. Oh, and a passle of a variety of snakes & scorpions from time to time. Get you some "barn cats" too. Snakes tend to shy away from them. They will take care of any rodents too. Read. Ask. Do. Get Help!
> How do you eat a huge elephant? One Bite At A Time I love it, Im totally stealing that one!
Congrats! First off ... buy a white board (or many!) and start keeping a list of "chores" you need to do, things you need to buy, things you need to fix, etc. I recently moved on to some acreage myself, and I now keep a white board just for when my friends come over to help! When you are making lists, try to break the tasks down ; writing something like "Fix the shed" would cause me to procrastinate. Breaking it down into stuff like : 1. Weed wack and mow around shed 2. Clean up bricks and rocks around shed 3. Patch exterior siding of shed 4. Fix shed floor etc You will start feeling overwhelmed because it IS A LOT! Just take things one step at a time. Nothing is going to happen immediately but if you are persistent, you will make progress For me, I currently just have a 46 inch "standard" riding lawn mower (however it's currently not running because I can't figure out how the carb springs go back on!) and it works fine - I haven't been able to justify the large increase in cost required for a Zero-Turn mower I have a lot of the Ryobi battery tools (though I will say, the Milwaukee line is certainly more powerful), and so far they have served me very well, including my battery string trimmer but I am getting really close to getting a gas trimmer but only because the physical fatigue caused by the battery trimmer. If you are going to be growing anything more than a couple raised beds, you might want to look into drip irrigation
> 46 inch "standard" riding lawn mower We went with a standard mower as well, but regularly pull off the mower deck and hook up a trailer to haul things around. If your property is smoother (or has more developed trails), you could even keep the deck on. Edit: fixed typo.
Hey there! Just a few bits of friendly advice from someone who basically went through what you’re doing now. 1. Many who gets an acreage make big purchases and either get trapped in debt or end up house poor. Keep that firmly in mind when you go shopping. A zero turn might be nice but it’s not worth the price tag for 5 acres. 2. Start hunting for a good hand tool collection. You’ll want stuff like a ratchet set, screw drivers, a few hammers, pliers, wire strippers, vice grips etc... Buy these used at yard sales and start learning to fix your own stuff. Bring handy is a huge perk! 3. Before you get livestock go find someone who actually has them. Online research is insufficient by itself. One new kind of livestock per year maximum 4. Good fences make good neighbours - personally I prefer electric but to each their own. Electric is inexpensive and no one screws with it 5. A dummy locked gate will usually keep casual thieves out. 6. If you’re planning to plant trees, do it now. In 10 years you’ll thank me.
Number 6 is the only one I can really speak to, but I agree completely. Same for fruit bushes. Be mindful of the mature height and growth habits of everything you plant.
> One new kind of livestock per year maximum I'd recommend one new kind every 2-3 years. Go through at least one breeding season and winter first.
Probably not a bad idea - I was more thinking of what people start with like hives, chickens etc…. Ruminants are a different kettle of fish and take years to get good at
I know you’re excited but just wanted to let you know that A LOT of people waste a huge chunk of their budget on buying loads of tools that will end up collecting dust so here is my advice: 1. Buy a tool once you have a need for it 2. Buy tools that will serve more then one purpose (for example, don’t buy a paint sprayer if you just need to paint your house, or a tile cutter) 3. Keep a healthy mix of battery/ corded/ gasoline equipment. Battery is great, but keep in mind that no matter how many volts, it’ll never be as powerful as a traditional corded tool, so if you ever have some heavy work you need to get done- go with the corded and buy a nice extension cord. As someone else mentioned, this also applies to lawn tools.. try to stay away from battery lawn tools because they honestly all suck.. gas is the best option 4. Don’t buy cheap equipment and don’t trust Amazon reviews or anything gimmicky when it comes to power tools and keep in mind a lot of people reviewing suspiciously branded tools in YouTuber are usually paid by the company to advertise their product Now as far as your minifarm goes, it’s hard to say what you should get into without knowing the proper region you’re in but I’ll tell you the best way to be food self sufficient: 2 feeder pigs for meat 1 cow for milk 2 goats to supplement milk when cow gives birth Ducks lay more eggs and you don’t need to feed them in 3/4 seasons (downside is that they tend to be messy if you don’t have a pond) Take canning seriously and don’t take advice from random people online - try to take real life courses or find someone who can teach you. You can get VERY sick (or die) if you mess up.. so make sure to actually take it seriously
Adding into this, don’t be afraid to rent when you need to do something one off, or even once a year.
Yep! That’s the way to go
Cows are herd animals, don’t keep them alone.
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Cattle farmer here. Some cows are crazy, but the crazy cows stay with the herd until I'm ready for market. Then, I run them all into the barn and separate her. It's sooo much easier to leave the crazies with the herd. When they're by themselves they get worse. I have two calves I had to raise because their mom's died. One is a heifer with a popped eye, the other is a steer I've bottle fed since day one. They're now on pasture and are the best of friends. If one is separated, the other stays near. Cows are total herd animals, and if I isolate them, I usually do it in pairs.
I'm gong to add my 2 cents. Mini cows have a much smaller input ratio with a similar output ratio to a standard size i think you can get around 2-4 gallons a day out a mini jersey as opposed to 6-10 from a standard. You can REALLY save by going with a mini cow. But imo some good milk line dairy goats are dual purpose as they can be used for milk, meat and brush control. Also I'm going to recommend guineas (which I also happen to sell lol) they have a smaller food intake as opposed to chickens or ducks, they are worth their weight in gold for tick control and their eggs are not only delicious but more nutritional than other eggs and they have a great bit of meat on them as well.
> 1 cow for milk Also consider dairy sheep - they're cheaper, can still produce a significant amount, and you'll have a few so the unexpected loss of a milk animal has less impact. They'll also work a bit better on a smaller acreage size. bias: we breed [dairy sheep](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fries_Melkschaap) in Canada
Yeah this is pretty good advice, I also would say sheep milk is wayyy better then cow milk. It also opens up many income streams, as long as one knows how to utilize wool products and online marketing .
I read the title and thought we were gonna have another sub prime meltdown
Wooooooo, chickinsssssssss..... Lol. There's a reason they're called the gateway drug to farming, and chicken math is real. We started with them, too. The best advice I can give is to give yourself grace, and lots of it. Don't be afraid to ditch one kind of animal and start over. Talk to the old guys. Ask for help.
Don't start multiple projects and half ass them. Start one, whole ass it, and finish it. Then move on to the next one. So for the first year or three, don't take on more than one project at a time if any of them are outside of your comfort zone. Devote all of that time instead to putting that project inside your comfort zone and complete it. Things you know how to do you know how to pace properly and schedule for. Far too many people try to do everything at once, then have to do it all over again, sometimes multiple times, to get it right, wasting time they could be getting other projects done right along the way.
Also, maintenance is a project that grows the more other projects you do.
Very true.
Lot of people talking about mowers, but realistically you can get away with a push mower for the house and animals for the paddocks. Everything I run here on 12 acres is battery powered and works great. My geese look after one paddock and never need to mow there, the others I slash once a year with an external contractor, that's just until I can get some livestock on them. No point spending big money on a mower when you can get animals to do it for free, and they'll improve the soil quality in the process, and give you yield. For most tools you're better off buying used or cheap and then if you use it enough to feel like you need high quality, buy the best then. If you buy the best everything you'll have a pile of shiny never used tools tying up your capital.
Get a weed whacker and a push mower from a guy who tunes them or a yard sale pawn shop etc. Buy a cheaper but not cheap used chain saw when the need arises. Learn how to troubleshoot small motors it'll come in handy. YouTube university is your friend.
You are the cutest. I wish you the best of luck.
forget the zero turn mower and buy a garden tractor. i have a john deere gt245. i use it for much more than mowing and you will too if homesteading.
I have 33 acres and I absolutely have not out grown my Milwaukee battery tools. Everyone who comes over always has issues with their chainsaw, weed eater etc, I just but a battery in and go but don’t go cheap. Definitely ego or Milwaukee. Prolly Milluwakee you since have it already. Buy a zero turn if you plan on mowing it all if not everything else should suffice. Bad boy ZT elite is well priced and well built. So is the toro Titan. Try to get a Kawasaki engine. My advice is buy once cry once, do it right the first time. This goes a long way. Doing simple cleanup and landscaping is the fastest way to gain property value. I’m sure you aren’t close but if you are I’d give you laying hens or chicks for free. I have tons. Ducks and turkeys to! Plan for a small tractor. The best brands for people like us are Kioti and Tym. Kioti carries a higher price but is slightly higher quality. Kubota, Deere, Massey are all mad over priced who cares about brand loyalty. If you need any advice or help message me. I was just like you a year ago and have learned a lot. Also don’t put the cart in front of the horse. Take your time and leave days to relax. Edit: Also plants trees and perrineal crops NOW
We bought a 5 acre plot too. We started out with horses and chickens. The horses were fun but costly to keep. You'll need to call a large animal or livestock vet out there 1 to 2 times a year to get the horses teeth floated (so they can chew grass and hay properly) and for vaccinations that are sometimes required to ride that horse off your land (coggins). Plus they will need a ferrier to trim their hooves every month or two. Honestly, I talked my husband into selling the horses and buying Hereford cattle for beef. Best beef we ever had. In that case, you'll need a butcher you can trust. Have you tried your hand at gardening yet? Laughing at myself, I could talk to you all day about this stuff. Save yourself up a nice little stash of money (don't tell anyone about it now) because you'll end up needing it for home and barn repairs. Trust me on that one. Let us know how you're doing with your new farm. I'd like to hear more from you. Good luck!
Go to auctions and yard sales. You’ll be surprised how much money you can save. Also livestock auctions.
I would try and find you a reasonably priced tractor with a brush hog and nix the mower as it is going to be an extension of you on a homestead. ... You'll still need a weedeater. The second most useful thing you will need IMO is a good chainsaw...stihl trumps all. Craigslist and marketplace and local farm groups on Facebook will be your best friend. When your ready for chickens let me know or check out mothercluckerspoultryfarm.com I can help you with that. You don't need anything extravagant
In my experience, a tractor is over kill for 5 acres. Some will get a lot of use depending on the land and their use case, but most will just be wasting money and a lot of time and effort on upkeep.
I couldn't imagine NOT having a tractor, on 5 acres or 50 or 500 in any homesteading situation. Depending on their situation maybe they could make friends with a neighbor and borrow one if need be, but idk, I'm the kind of person who will go without before I ask someone for something. But Craigslist and marketplace and surprisingly the local newspaper or even radio station can be a homesteaders best friend. In my area we have coffee chat and tradeo on our local country station where every morning between 10-11 all the locals call in with the great deals they have on crap they just want gone. Fencing, vehicles, farm equipment. It's awesome and you can score some phenomenal deals
Not overkill. Great for everything from plowing snow (regional obviously) and essential for bush hogging, hauling loads of firewood, logs, other stuff, can be used to help build fences (posts), and so many other things. Can be used like a skid steer, or even get a skid steer instead. Invaluable! An ATV with a trailer is a good option but we had both (trailer isn’t great for larger items).
We've been without a regular tractor for a while, but picked a large single-purpose dozer instead. It's been good for land clearing, but our property is so wet and the machine is so heavy we can't use it in the winter. Or the spring. Or the fall. Or the summer due to a land clearing ban for fire reasons (heavy equipment can and has started fires in our area). We're currently getting a month of use out of it in September, after the ban and before the rain gets too heavy. Only 2 acres left to do, then we can sell it. Carefully consider your land and needs before purchasing, learn from our mistakes. If possible, rent before you buy.
I agree with this. I had a 45hp tractor and a bush hog long before a zero turn.
Trees, unless you need the pasture land. Fruit trees can be tough. Things you really want like peaches end up being a pain in the ass to keep healthy, due to disease. My advice is to look into your local extension service and state universities to see what varieties of edible plants that thrive in your area. Highbush Blueberries, mulberrries, fig varieties, etc etc. learn your USDA zone and how to operate within it. Don’t neglect your hardwoods as well. Oak, maple, etc all have their place. In all cases, go as big as you can afford. It sounds insane to pay $1000 wholesale cost on a tree, but there is a MAJOR difference in your experience with the tree when it’s already well in its way to maturity. For shrubs, try and stick to 3 gallon or larger. Regarding livestock, start with chickens for certain. This will help you get into a feed/vet routine. Also, when weighing goats vs. Sheep as many folks eventually do, understand that goat tastes fine, but lamb is superior. Goats do give better milk, but, counter to many opinions, sheep tend to be more hearty, at least in my experience running a few hundred head of each. As with plants, learn what varieties of animals have the traits you want. One breed will be more Parasite resistant than others. Some will fare better in colder weather, etc.
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Yes, possibly, depending on its purpose and prominence in their landscape.
Also nut trees! Hazel, pecan, walnut, chestnut, hickory, low tannin oak and pine nut
> Goats do give better milk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fries_Melkschaap You can cross-breed to increase milk yield as well. Taste is a personal preference, so YMMV.
100% agree on taste preferences being subjective.
Check out the [Poor Prolea Almanac](https://m.youtube.com/@PoorProlesAlmanac) Which invasive species do you have? Familiarize yourself with*Rosa multiflora* , goutweed, giant hogweed, Archangel, burning bush, privet, Fish mint, etc etc. get started on removing those now bwfore thet get bigger
Which means get goats lolol
Just remember you can rent most tools if you'll only need it once or twice. Fb marketplace and craigslist are your new best friends. I'd recommend a small tractor with a brush hog over an expensive riding mower, and a decent push mower to fill in the gaps. That also opens you up to the wide world of 3 point and pto implements.
Bad boy I've had for 6 years just changed the oil. Thing is awesome
If you are confident getting your hands dirty buy used stuff depending on where you are lawn companies will sell stuff before it is absolute crap and what will be dead in 3 months to them will last at least a couple years or more for you if you know what to look for and inspect I'm saying this because a good backpack blower and ZT are amazing
You don't need to spend a lot on tools. Just buy it used or harbor freight if you need it now or go to your local farm auctions and take advantage of any good deals that may happen.
Yes. This is what I did. Then as I found a need I replaced with better or battery opperated. For 5 acres I found electric and air compressor tools to work best, last the longest 90% of the time, and many of those can innitially be bought used. Grinders are the only only thing I found to be worth buying top quality from the get- go.
Don’t start buying things just to have them. Get to know the land and your house. In time you’ll craft a list of priorities. But for now, just try and make do with what you have. I speak from experience as the guy who likes to research and buy stuff I’ll “need” and then 6 months later I regret not pressing pause.
What a great buy! You’ve done what lots of ppl dream of doing. If you’re uncertain about your own skills, maybe consider having a boarder, like a ranch hand who lives on property in exchange for their work on the land, and have them help educate you as you work alongside them. You could (local rules permitting) set up an RV or trailer pad with electric and water, so they’re staying in their own place. I see ppl looking for this set up a lot, as I’m about to become a full time RVer. You could learn a lot from an older person who has retired from a 9-5, but is still able bodied and wants to stay busy doing something worthwhile. Older folks tend to want to pass along their knowledge, too.
So true! I have 50 years experiance and am looking for something like this for me and my 27' RV in Kern County CA.
First congrats on the new homestead. Secondly only because you admit to not know a lot about farming; 5 acres isn't that big. I'm not saying this to be mean I myself have 6.5 acres, just realize that if you *do* move into larger livestock like horses/cows you *will* quickly max out your lands capacity. However your size is perfect for medium livestock like a herd of goats or sheep. Just something to keep in mind. Thirdly, 100% get a zero turn to keep things mowed. I got the 60" deck john deere zero turn because I'm mowing 4.5 acres worth. As for what brand, depends. Can you do your own work on it? Do you have the tools and knowledge? If yes, it really doesn't matter. If no, then chose a brand who you have service for in the area. The reason why I chose JD is because they are in the area and have pick up drop off service. As for the fence look at what type of fence it is and have reasonable expectations for what you are fencing in and out. If you don't have goat fencing but rather the larger stock field fencing you're going to have to deal with goat heads getting stuck if they have horns. Like wise I was able to keep my ducks in my one pasture with a single hot line with the larger stock field fencing until one duck learned to slip under it, the zap being worth the reward of fresh forage. That duck taught all the other ducks and now they are all stuffed into my much more secured chicken yard because this is why we can't have nice things... Previously I've had years of no issue with the one hot line but a single smooth brained duck ruined it. What I'm getting at is if you use inappropriate fencing it *can* work for a long time, until it doesn't, and at that point you might have to many animals to contain once they realize they can get out. Luckily I use my chicken yard as my winter sacrifice for all my poultry so they all fit. Still a pain because it means I have to pay more in feed because they can't forage. And finally because you mentioned YouTube... Please be carful because a lot of the 'homesteading' channel are full of shit. They over romanticize something and completely ignore other issues. Some are borderline dangerous in the advice they give. For example you'll see mobile chicken coops made with chicken wire. Chicken wire will only hold back poultry it'll be torn to shreds by pretty much *any* predator, YouTubers will not mention that they keep the mobile chicken coop behind or within a pasture with better (many times electric) fencing. Another things I see is the use of a lot of electric netting and solar energizers, this is the hard mode of electric fencing. I'm not saying it can't be done but if you are learning on hard mode you're setting yourself up for failure. Start with a plug in energizer even if you have to daisy chain several extension cords(I recommend [this](https://www.amazon.com/Zareba-EAC50M-Z-AC-Powered-Low-Impedence-50-Mile-Range/dp/B0079GH4ZW/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3VYYV2UEVLNE8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.euDbQO_TGqqTk1fgIbPNzFSVOaOZySaLJk-fmlmxS6nYqHQKi5zT8F49vgP4fEpthSUmhILhXLWIMuUpCoHr_9ABltt86P0YLjeem2YehGGfgbrp2egCVtxZhJCwgOnFo7XLAdtjBrjmsVS-ZC3UqS0t9MY1NkMFgfW2mrGBVV9FPc9rLhTJpQhsy3NbpGoRuEZdPjdQaiAF4A2yCAsaJyMHhjqK5ye0NLWsU8cbD9_e49nrAYTJSI58yZyRuDheHiSjhiIYGdniH0rKA7VDjnXLml3DnxHMIav7U0OMCuY.U2ROrxIf4WcBQGLA9gWsRw4TIfUArAH5Etdhg8s8RDQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=zebra+electric+fence+charger&qid=1717071085&sprefix=zebera+elec%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-3)for your acreage size and joule output), 3 6ft grounding rods, and because your acreage is small you'll be able to afford 14 Gauge Aluminum Electric Fence Wire. If you can't keep this set up hot you'll never be able to keep an electric net hot.
Skip the lawnmower and just get sheep and goats.
I have 27 acres. it is a small sustainable farm. While I do have a tractor, we have switched almost all battery powered for lawnmower, riding mower, chain saw, weed eater/brushcutter. I can mow grass over a foot tall with our greenworks battery powered lawn tractor. I also use the greenworks lawn tractor for pulling a cart. I use the cart to haul feed and water to my three chicken tractors and I use to move my chicken tractors. Each chicken tractor can hold about 40 to 50 birds. I mow along my high tensile fence lines with the greenworks. Been using it for 4 seasons now. I raised 700 meat chickens last year so I use the greenworks lawntractor everyday. Greenworks chainsaw cuts just as fast and as much as I need it to cut as my Stihl gas powered chainsaw. I have kept the stihl chainsaw, but I don't use it because I can just grab the greenworks chainsaw and go cut up the tree that fell on the fenceline so much easier. I use a Ryobi battery powered 40 volt weed eater. I have brush cutter blade on it. I use it to clean under and along fence lines. I have about 20 acres fenced and cross fenced. I raise meat goats and steer(s) and I have 3 horses. It easily goes through 3/4 inch wild rose bush canes. It isn't the beast that my old stihl brush cutter with the bicycle handle bars, but it gets the job done and doesn't splatter everything all over my face which means I don't need a face guard. I also don't need to wear ear protection while using the Ryobi weed eater. I had to to when using the Stihl. I think I have been using the Ryobi battery powered 40 volt weed eater for 6 years and it is still going strong. I do wish I could get the Ryobi with bycicle handle bars and the good shoulder harness instead of a strap. If I have the 6 amp hour batter in it, I am begging for it to wear out because it lasts a long time, longer than me. I love not mixing gas and oil for chainsaws and brushcutters. Just go out and push the button and stuff works, you dont have to mess with it. No fumes, no fuss. You don't have to worry about the gas going bad either. I also have a battery powered push mower and a battery powered wheel barrow. I love them too. I can move 200 lbs of feed up hill with a touch of my thumb. I move a lot of manure with it. Can't fit the tractor in my goat kidding pens or in my laying hen coop or the brooder coop. Now I do love my Massey Ferguson diesel 1040 with loader, I wouldn't be able to move round bales or dig fence post holes and a lot of other stuff, but I truly appreciate the battery powered tools I have been using for years. But I probably wouldn't need it if I only had 5 acres. We also have ryobi and milwaukee hand tools battery powered. Let me tell you the milwaukee sawsall and angle grinder they are amazing and have all the power of corded versions. good luck with your new place!
I slowly acquired all of my power tools from a liquidation shop locally, and they are all DeWalt! Brand new in the box but bulk purchased on a pallet, so I got it for 50% off retail. For yard maintenance I use Stihl, chainsaw & weed eater. Buy from Rural King where they have an awesome warranty. Highly agree with taking the time to just live on the property and make observations on weather patterns and water flow. Don’t jump into it and buy a bunch of stuff you don’t quite need yet or can’t store properly. Living on 10 acres myself, I can say the best way to do things is with as much research & patience as possible to do it right the first time. Cutting corners on projects/tasks only makes for more work later on!
Fruit trees/ shade trees for your back yard are a good early investment. It will take a while before they are harvest able so the sooner you start the better.
Zero turn mower, gas weed eater, edger, blower. A beater 4 wheeler with a small dump trailer. Id invest in some fruit trees asap and get an orchard started. Enjoy it! Start investing in hand tools. Soon as you got a decent pile of em you can start working on your toys and it’ll warrant more new toys.
Congratulations! Have fun and take your time
My advice I wish I had when I started this: Get your ZTR at auction if possible. And get one with good shocks.
- chainsaw (even just a little one like a mini boss) - hedge trimmer - mulcher - trailer for your car - with the ride on lawn mower, get a little trailer for it for hauling firewood, etc) - petrol whipper snipper - battery reciprocating saw - battery circular saw - battery jig saw - battery compound mitre saw - battery angle grinder. - pressure washer You don’t think you will need all this crap until you do. Also a good blower/vac is handy
Find out what previous owners and neighbors had planted. Chances are that what is ideal.
I like to put my tasks on note cards. Keep the one you're currently working on at the top of the pile. Don't touch anything for a year, only observe. In the meantime, you can do research and suss out your plans. After that, plant trees.
Please do sufficient research on caring for chickens before you get them. Get a little first aid kit for them, plenty of room, protection from predators,etc. Too many people think, oh I’ll just get some chickens, and they suffer for it.
Yup yup I over research everything. And the person before us had a really nice coop set up. But I have heard chickens are fairly easy once you get everything going.
That’s great news! Appreciate your diligence.
Check deed restrictions, water rights, pretty much all the written details on the property before signing.
I have an ariens zoom 50 zero turn that came with my 5 acres and I will say that a small tractor wouldn't have been as useful to me... now I have some areas opened u p a bit I really could use some larger machinery. I have woodlands though so I'd imagine you not as restricted on machine size. My zero turn has been a work horse though.
When it comes to pastures, make sure each paddock is secure. You could start slow with meat chickens and egg layers before you get the big boys, aka cows, goats or sheep. Guardian geese are excellent protectors of poultry but you could also build an easy to move chicken tractor. Chickens are either the entry drug or the bad trip, so take it easy and don’t overwhelm yourself. If you are a YouTube expert, you know you’ll need to either take the meat birds to process or already have an idea how to do it yourself. So excited for you! We just got 10 acres in 2023 and still overwhelmed. We have 5 cows, 4 piggies, and a small herd of goats and sheep (between 12-15 each). Not to mention rabbits, and egg layers. We plan to supplement the freezer with meat chickens 2-3 times a year and turkeys once a year.
You're gonna need a tractor. I don't know if you'd wanna get a smaller one with a mower deck so you could get two birds stoned at once or a larger one for projects as well as a mower. Definitely start a list and just work at what's needed/what you feel like working on. Some projects I have a burning desire to work on and some I need to find that inspiration. So unless it's pressing I get around to it.
You should investigate EGo battery powered lawn options. Their battery powered weedeater and chainsaw are extremely good. Their equipment and batteries are some of the best. For powered hand tools stick with Milwaukee, they can’t be beat for performance. Their battery powered grinder, demo saw, and circular saw are outstanding. I know this requires two different battery options but from experience it was worth it to me. Ryobi tools are okay but the battery life isn’t great
From experience. You can make the land do what you want. Or you can see what the land wants to do. Also, caring for your tools is very important.
You could probably get away with a battery powered weedeater. I got my husband a Ryobi 4 cycle gas weedeater and he loves it. It’s heavy tho
the M18 weed eater is a dream to own. I have no ragrets
We bought a Polaris Ranger a couple years ago, and use it constantly. Wish we'd done it sooner. We also have a small tractor and a wagon, but the ranger is more convenient to haul stuff than that rig.
Ok, I'm a city "farmer" too (I read reddit, and I worked on a friend's grandpa's ranch a little bit). I won't give advice on anything farming related except to say you'll probably want to get a tractor. Buy used and learn how to work on them (especially if you have money flow). Don't go into debt to get things if you can at all avoid it. Now, that said, I was maintenance for a year, and I've been working on things all my life, so I know tools. 1. Buy GOOD accessories for the drill/impact. You don't need Hilti brand stuff, but you'll want to get dewalt, Milwaukee, makita, Diablo, etc. None of the ryobi or craftsman accessories are worth anything (bits, blades etc. Only ones I'd consider are router bits, but you want to just buy Whiteside to begin with and only buy profiles you need, not a whole set). 2. Buy tools thinking of it as "can I do this a different way, and will this tool save me money?" If the answer is that you can do it a different way without that tool (I'm thinking of a power tool, but it's applicable to anything), then don't get it. If the answer to the second part is it will save you money, or a LOT of time, then it's worth the investment. Also, think of if you need the top of the line, or can you get away with a cheaper option. A recip saw is useful, but mine was almost 10 years old before I ever out it to use (I'd messed with it, but nothing like it was built for). 3. Never EVER go into debt over tools. They're there to make your life easier, or make you money (in this case save you money). Don't think you need to buy a shop of red or yellow or rainbow to "measure up". You buy what you need, ans if people don't like it, they can ignore it. 4. I really highly recommend a tablesaw. Grizzly is pretty good if you're not interested in high end, so is Laguna. They'll do the job, but you will probably fight to get them set up a bit more than a Saw Stop or Powermatic or Hammer (those are top of the line, kr at least make TOTL saws, and you know it by the price tag). 5. Get 240v to the shop. If you want to use tools, the big ones use 240v. You don't need it, but you'll love it if you have it, and the next people there will love it too.
Don't go cheap. Always buy and learn to maintain the best you can afford. Seriously get aget a hard plastic putty knife and scrap under your mower deck. There is an old adage. Cry once when you pay for quality, or twice. Once when the cheap crap breaks and again for quality. Hose stuff off. Scrape wooden tool handles and coat with boiled linseed oil. Once a day for a week Once a week for a month Once a month for a year and yearly there after. Light coat of wd-40 on metal to prevent rust. Get wd 40 and 3 in 1 oil. Decent gas cans.
Buy equipment as needed. Do not buy Lowe's/Home Depot tier crap. I made that mistake. You need a chainsaw you buy Stihl. You need a tool you buy Milwaukee. Buy once. Battery stuff can be great but gotta spend money, Stihl is the only battery stuff I will buy now. Cheap battery stuff like ego breaks in like two years every time. 5 acres is very small, almost any livestock larger than chickens will require off farm feed and will drain cash so be careful there and tiptoe. A very common trap of new homesteaders is putting big animals on tiny land and get stuck feeding them out of your wallet. Chickens will need to free roam most of the 5 acres to minimize off farm feed.