Any hobby farms or homesteaders?

[Maya]

My parents have an acerage and would love to get into raising a couple animals. They previously had horses.

What would you suggest? I think they should get some chickens a it would be fun to have some fresh eggs.  According to county rules they are allowed 2 hoofed animals. What would you get or avoid?

[Maya]

OK, just looked at the numbers and they're allowed a few more than I initially though. They have 3.4 acres total, but likely 3 acres of "farmable"

The number of livestock or poultry allowed under the Animal Control Bylaw is as follows:

One (1) large animal per acre (40 lbs. and over) - bison, horse, cattle, swine, donkey, mule, oxen or large controlled animal or wildlife.
Two (2) medium animals per acre (20 - 40 lbs.) - sheep, goats, or medium controlled animal and wildlife.
Twenty (20) small animals per acre (less than 20 lbs.) - poultry or small controlled animal and wildlife.

[Fishindude]

If you are going to raise animals, it may as well be something that will put some food on the table.
Chickens are by far the easiest and most affordable to get into, and it only takes a half dozen or so to provide all of the eggs you can eat.   Could also buy "roaster" chicks, raise them to butchering size, process them yourself and put a bunch of good meat in the freezer.
Raising a couple hogs from feeder pig size to butcher wouldn't be too tough either, but you need a real stout fence or enclosure, and there is some stink and mess that comes along with them.

Cattle require a large fenced area.  Horses are pretty worthless unless you are a rider.
I wouldn't have much interest other than as an interesting pet, but some like goats for both their milk and meat.

[Frugal Lizard]

Grew up on a sheep farm - don't get sheep.  They are hard to learn how to care for.  We also raised pigs (7 each year, the six we sold put ours in the freezer), turkeys ( usually a dozen and a half), the roaster chickens and always had two dozen laying chickens.  My mom sold the eggs to neighbors.   We always had one goat to lead the sheep.  If there was more than one mature goat, they didn't stick with the sheep and went wherever they wanted to go.  There were goat footprints on the dining room table.  They figured out how to open the back screen door. 
The other issue to consider is what other animals are around.  We would loose sheep every year to domestic dogs and later to coyotes.  My dad finally installed a perimeter electric fence (pretty costly) to keep the sheep in and the added benefit- keep the coyotes out.  Culture did change and people don't let their dogs run at night, but we lost a lot of sheep (and some dogs never came home). Your folks area may have other predators.  Last spring my friends had a massacre in their roaster chicken house.  Probably a mink. 
If I had that amount of land, I would farm fruits and vegetables.  I hate killing things.  Animals really tie you down to being at home all the time.

[Mtngrl]

I second the notion to look at raising fruits and vegetables rather than animals. Animals take a lot of care -- feed, vet care, shelter, fencing, protection from predators. And then, of course, you have to kill and butcher them when the time comes. I think you would have fewer outlets for selling them and making a profit as well.

Whereas, you can sell vegetables and fruits out of your front yard or at a local farmer's market. Most of the small-scale hobby farmers I have known specialize in something that sells well -- flower bouquets, gourmet herbs, heirloom tomatoes, berries, etc. It's like any other business -- look at your market, find a niche and focus on developing a loyal clientelle.

[Rezdent]

OK, just looked at the numbers and they're allowed a few more than I initially though. They have 3.4 acres total, but likely 3 acres of "farmable"

The number of livestock or poultry allowed under the Animal Control Bylaw is as follows:

One (1) large animal per acre (40 lbs. and over) - bison, horse, cattle, swine, donkey, mule, oxen or large controlled animal or wildlife.
Two (2) medium animals per acre (20 - 40 lbs.) - sheep, goats, or medium controlled animal and wildlife.
Twenty (20) small animals per acre (less than 20 lbs.) - poultry or small controlled animal and wildlife.

Hmm.  These laws look confusing to me.  A regular sheep or goat will be 100 lbs or more at maturity yet they are listed in the 40 lb range?

If your parents have experience with horses, they would probably adapt well to sheep or goats.  As another poster mentioned, there is a lot more trouble with predators like coyote and neighborhood dogs.  Goats are harder to live with, sheep are harder to keep healthy.

Rabbits can be profitable but will need to identify the market before starting as they can be difficult to market.

Bees are great if they are already raising fruits or vegetables, but the startup costs are high and there is a learning curve.

Ducks are also good IF you identify a market before starting.  Muscovy ducks don't quack and are easy to care for; Indian Runner ducks are great for eggs.  I don't recommend geese when first starting out because they can get really aggressive and are large enough to really hurt you.

[Frugal Lizard]

Those laws are confusing - most of my dads sheep weigh 40 pounds dressed!

[worms]

I think we would need more info to give good advice.  Whereabouts are you and what is the nature of the land.  Also whether you really want this to be for revenue or simply home consumption.  Add in some info on the labour inputs that your parents can cope with and how much capital investment (if any)  you envisage at startup.

[DebtFreeinPhilly]

Whatever you do, start small and go slowly.

Personally, I would get a bee hive, 3-5 ducks, and 3 rabbits (2 does, 1 buck). The bee hive benefits everyone around and is pretty simple to care for. Ducks produce large eggs, can provide meat, and are easier to care for in my opinion. Rabbits breed like crazy and are great for meat. With this set up, I would have enough meat and eggs for the family for the whole year (+/-) with minimal input on my part.  These would tak about an acre of land to raise. The other two acres would be a vegetable garden and fruit trees.

[Paul der Krake]

Horses are pretty worthless unless you are a rider.

They are worse than worthless- they are active destroyers of wealth that make children look like a bargain! Even breeding horses for racing seems to be an expensive hobby with little chance of turning a profit.

In Kentucky there has been a lot of talk about rich people buying up "farms" around Lexington and receiving preferential tax treatment to subsidize their riding habit.

[Fishindude]

You are correct about horses Paul der Krake .
Have watched quite a number of horse hobbyists literally "lose the farm" due to pissing away so much time and money at this hobby.

First you buy the expensive place in the country with a bunch of land, buy a couple nags and all of the tack & gear for you and entire family, then a big truck and horse trailer rig, a big barn and indoor arena, tractor, vet bills, feed bills, etc. start adding up.   But the last straw is when you become so involved in this hobby and the time and travel that go with it that you disregard your work / income source and that goes to crap.  Pretty soon it's auction time.

[Goldielocks]

I had a summer job once, interviewing / surveying small hobby farmers for Environment Canada. Saw LOTS of hobby farms..

If they have a good solid 2 Acres (plus) of good grass field, I would get a beef heifer or steer.   Buy at less than 1 year old, after all antibotics and shots are done, raise for 2 years, slaughter.

They do not scream like goats, are easy compared to sheep, do not need the daily attention of chickens, maybe even easier than pigs.  No problems usually with predators, but you do need a strong fence, wind shelter, can't completely ignore them.  Your parents are already used to large animals, anyway.

With good winter feed/hay, water source (vitamins) and salt lick, they need very little attention during the week, and let you go away for a couple of days.  Self feeding in the summer on the grass.  The best part, is like a pig, they can be a cost savings in terms of food prices.

Problems / costs are for rare --> annual vet checkups (and you need to validate feed is adequate), animal getting out, difficulty in finding slaughter facility (but only every 2 yrs), near trailer to move. 

[Captain and Mrs Slow]

Frugalwoods is in thier first year of homesteading and have a great blog on it?

[kapnfriday]

I second what bhleigh said about starting small whatever you do.  I've found chickens to be extremely easy and very productive.  I keep them only for eggs - no butchering.  We currently have 9 but have had as many as 12.  Their housing and runs are built with three things in mind: 1 - predator protection, 2 - not having to tend to them everyday, 3 - low maintenance. 

Our set up is called a chicken moat - basically two enclosed runs that are attached to the coop and encircle our garden area.  This allows the birds to do more for me than just provide eggs.  They help with pest control (hornworms = yummy) and they can be released into the garden at the end of a season to help weed, till, and fertilize.  My compost set up is next to the garden so when I clean out the coop (maybe 20 min once a month) all the poop and bedding goes right into the compost. 

We are routinely away for 3-4 days.  Just top off water and feed when we leave. When we get back gather eggs.  You can check eggs every day if you want to but it's not required. 

We have enough egg surplus to sell them and cover 80% of our feed & bedding cost. 

[FrugalFarmer]

Grew up on a sheep farm - don't get sheep.  They are hard to learn how to care for. 

I am beginning a farm/homestead.  This is my first year, and it was mostly cover crops/land rehab to get ready for real crops.  I've been planning to add a few sheep.  Could you (or anyone) offer any tips or specific cautions about sheep? 

[Trudie]

+1 for chickens and easy to grow veg.  The two are symbiotic... chickens will eat up a lot of your veg crop.  And it's easy to start with.

As to what other livestock... what is it you like to eat?  I vote for pig.

[Papa Mustache]

Friend raised a pig. It made a hole in the backyard. What a mess.

[Fishindude]

Friend raised a pig. It made a hole in the backyard. What a mess.

Yea, those darned things live like pigs :)

[Trudie]

Friend raised a pig. It made a hole in the backyard. What a mess.

They can make a mess, but they also eat anything... so if you have table scraps it's worth it.

[Frugal Lizard]

My dad used to teach a sheep husbandry course every winter.  It was about 14 sessions. Lambing is intensive.  If you want them to live you have to be there.  In my dad's case he sleeps on the couch so he can monitor the ewes through the cctv.  He is old now and only wants to go out to the barn at 3am if something is actually happening.  He sleeps off and on on the couch for three weeks and flips on sheep TV every hour.  This seems like torture to me so that is why I am not big on sheep.  Survival of the lambs is pretty low unless you put in the time to ensure that the newborns are nursing well.  You need really good fences to keep them in and predators out.  And you have to be able to rotate the pastures so that they don't get worms. Farming brings a lot of gross situations in my experience.  My dad picked sheep because he grew up on a dairy farm. He keeps the sheep even though none of us are interested in farming. They reduce his stress he claims.  I can think of a lot of other ways to reduce stress!

[LazyBones]

There is already some good information from others, so I will keep my response short.

If your parents decide that they really want to raise some sort of animals, my personal vote would be for something that will get you something more than just meat and/or fur/hides in the end.  So something that produces milk, eggs, honey, or wool along the way is a good option in my opinion.

With that said, it is very easy to romanticize the hobby farm lifestyle, so start small and go slow. 
A great option is to first find some locals that are already raising animals and ask if you can help them out on occasion throughout the season to see how you like it before you get way ahead of yourself.  Ask questions, and most importantly, just learn, learn, and learn.
The benefit of doing this is that you don't get into something that you don't like.  It will also help you to do things right the first time when you decide to get started off on your own.  It will also help build some personal connections with others if you need help...and you will need help. 
You will notice that people that are into hobby farming tend to also be into bartering, so it's nice to be able to trade some fresh eggs for some fresh milk, etc.