Farm Dreams

Homesteading, Organic Gardening, How to Farm, Preparedness, Self-Reliance

Small farm and just me (mostly)-can it work?

Hello! I'm a 43 year old gal and my husband and I live on five acres. Probably 2 is tillable, more of it is possible pasture. We have three daughters, who have variable interest in farming topics. Here is my dilemma.

I'm interested in making about 30-40,000 a year from things we do/grow on this land. I'd like to replace my nursing job one day in the future, and that is the amount of money I'd need to make to do so. My particular love is fiber and sheep. Now, currently, we have no barn and we have no fence for keeping sheep, so those would be initial expenditures. I'm doing my research about those things. I'm also considering getting a type of sheep is that not a lot of people have in this area of the country, so that would make me one of the few breeders of this kind of sheep, and also one of the few suppliers of fiber from them (I have heard others are interested, so I doubt I'll be the ONLY one where I am, but I'll be in on it when there aren't too many).

I also love herbs, I'm a handspinner and have considered adding a small building to teach that and other kinds of pioneer crafts. I'm thinking of all the ways I could do the things I love and be able to make it work on our small farm. We may be adding more acreage in the future, another 12 acres that lies behind us, but that is not certain for the moment, and depends a lot on what our future plans are.

Here's another issue: my husband is a network engineer, drives to the city each day, and really doesn't have much of an interest in helping me with all of this at all. He probably would, in a pinch, but wouldn't want any regular chores where he had to fool with farming stuff. He has a nice tractor, and would help me till things, or move things, but it's not his thing. And that's okay, you know? I mean, not everyone wants these things. But I do. I've tried to fit into the city nursing scene, and all it got me was miserable. I like being back home in a small town, and I'd LOVE for me to be able to make a comparable living from this little farm, doing things I love.

I'm interested in creating spinnable fiber from my flock and taking it to shows for sale, selling the sheep, raising herbs of various types and creating things with them, teaching crafts, and other ideas. Sometimes I wonder if wanting all of this and knowing it's going to be me and sometimes help from my kids is asking too much. Maybe it's too much work for just me? My husband might like to help once in awhile with things, but he's not going to be going out there and setting a schedule for himself to get things done, planning, setting goals, etc, like I would.

Right now I am doing private duty nursing, but that won't last forever, so I'm making plans for how to transition into these dreams. I've talked to my husband, and he's willing to help me put in a good woven wire fence. As for the building, that will take some time. I'm thinking it will take every bit of 2 years before I can have the fencing and the building to be ready for the animals. Hubby feels that's a realistic goal. My kids say they are willing to help out. I have a 20 year old daughter who might be around sometimes and says she's okay with helping, a 14 year old who will probably help SOME, and a 10 year old who says she's excited about it, but she has never done farm work! HAHA! I grew up on a farm with my grandpa, and I loved the work, but it was hard!

So what do you think? Is it possible to make that sort of money doing what I'm talking about? To be honest, that number is just an ultimate goal. If I made as little as 24,000 a year it would be doable for my family because of my husband's income (and I am figuring that half of it would go to taxes and supplies). Can someone give me some more ideas, let me know if I'm asking too much of myself, smack some sense into me (LOL)?

Thanks!

Cara

Tags: farm, fiber, handspinning, sheep, small

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Carol Grosser on May 27, 2012 at 2:04pm

I don't know much about raising sheep, but I grew up on a farm where sheep and goats were raised along with cattle. The problem then was getting the best out of two local shearers. So, you will either have to learn how to shear yourself or have a professional nearby to hire. With area shearers, my father sheared twice a year--spring and fall. I had to bottle feed the babies that were left behind when the shearing was finished. Additionally, my cut off the tail of the lambs and I hated listening to the screams of the babies when that was done. I asked him why he did it and he said the tails would get caught in the bramble-type plants and the lamb would starve or thirst to death. So you won't have that problem to deal with. Most ranch lands in Texas (a drought-prone area) that ranged sheep are permanently devastated, i.e., nothing but the caliche subsoil is there if the rancher didn't cut volume of sheep to current conditions. I was told that sheep pull up the roots of the browse instead of cutting it so that it is a species hard on the land. With your plan where you rotate that might not be a problem. I would start out with only a few, two to three, sheep to learn about them. As an adult, when I started my goats, I started with 2, a male and a female, and kept the offspring to grow the herd and my knowledge as I went. One of the things I learned by inexperience was that goats will eat store-bought sweet feed until they will die so I had to learn to store the feed where they couldn't get to it, including lifting the lid of a garbage can with their teeth.

If you can earn above your expenses, you will be doing something that very few full-time, lifelong ranchers ever have. As a full-time rancher, my father's biggest annual income was $3,000 and that was when he worked outside for the county road. Prices for beef is about the same now as it was then. The only reason we as a family unit survived is that expenses were nil as we produced just about all our food and lived very frugally. But, given my discouragement in that respect, I think if you start with a couple sheep and get used to their ways you can figure out if it is something you want to continue. Oh, my father had no shelter at all for his sheep or goats. The only time they were in the barn was during shearing. So you can probably delay the shelter, but that might not be the case with really cold winters. With the internet, you have resources to find that out.

Good luck and I hope to hear that you have some yarn available for me to buy as I knit because I love homemade knitted socks. I am learning to knit everything because being short means most slacks/shorts go up to my chest.

Cara Randall said:

Oh, no, I wasn't put off. Heather, you made some good points for me to keep in mind. I have to keep this "real", otherwise it will get too big for me to handle and nothing will work the way I hope! The breed of sheep I am planning on is Coopworth. I'm in contact with some breeders in West Virginia, because there are no breeders nearer to Indiana. However, I did read that one lady south of me is thinking of bringing some in, and she already has a sheep farm, so she'll be able to do it before I'll be ready. In which case, it would be nice to be able to purchase Coopworths from her, and NOT have to travel to West Virginia! I've been spinning some roving from the very sheep bloodline that I'd be looking at buying, and it's a nice wool for outerwear, with a few fleeces-the owners have told me-being soft enough for next-to-skin items. It's great, because the people who I'd be purchasing from are a wealth of information concerning raising Coopworths, and I need that kind of help!

My husband came home suggesting hoop houses for the sheep rather than the expense of a barn. I'm afraid I wasn't too receptive to the idea, and that was mean of me because I shouldn't dampen down his ideas like that. I looked up some pictures and saw what he was talking about, and I guess it COULD work. I guess I just had a traditional barn built up in my mind. I don't want to do things half way and end up with sheep that we can't properly take care of. I want to do things right from the beginning, ya know, and I tend to get a little critical if I think my hubby wants to just slap things together and call it good. I know I want to have a very good perimeter fence, with temporary fencing that can be easily moved on the inside to place the sheep on different pastures. RIght now, I can see we have 4 sections that we could break up and rotate the sheep on, each section being about about an acre in size. The extra grazing can be done on some land that is in behind us that we don't currently own, but hope to in the future. The owner is my grandpa, and he doesn't mind if we graze the sheep back there, so that works out nicely! This lower field is also where we could take a substantial amount of hay for winter. I wonder, if we had sheep graze it first in the springtime, and then rotated them to the other pastures for later in the year, could we get the first pasture to grow big enough for taking hay off of it that same year? Not sure on that one...

Anyway, I think we have plenty of good pasture, with possibly a few improvements to be added to give them optimal nutrition. The water source would be our well, but we run into problems with it going dry at times when we have weeks of no rain, so that problem would increase with livestock also drinking from it. I'd have to think about that situation. A dry well means a run to the local springs to get water, which is a pain for my husband to deal with. Drilling a second well is out of the question due to expense at this time.

I think putting up the fencing, and getting some chickens going along with the herbs might be the best places to start. I didn't expect sheep to come into the picture for another couple of years, anyway. I'm trying to take things slowly!!!

Cara

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Permalink Reply by James Paul on May 27, 2012 at 9:21pm

Carol Grosser said:

I don't know much about raising sheep, but I grew up on a farm where sheep and goats were raised along with cattle. The problem then was getting the best out of two local shearers. So, you will either have to learn how to shear yourself or have a professional nearby to hire. With area shearers, my father sheared twice a year--spring and fall. I had to bottle feed the babies that were left behind when the shearing was finished. Additionally, my cut off the tail of the lambs and I hated listening to the screams of the babies when that was done. I asked him why he did it and he said the tails would get caught in the bramble-type plants and the lamb would starve or thirst to death. So you won't have that problem to deal with. Most ranch lands in Texas (a drought-prone area) that ranged sheep are permanently devastated, i.e., nothing but the caliche subsoil is there if the rancher didn't cut volume of sheep to current conditions. I was told that sheep pull up the roots of the browse instead of cutting it so that it is a species hard on the land. With your plan where you rotate that might not be a problem. I would start out with only a few, two to three, sheep to learn about them. As an adult, when I started my goats, I started with 2, a male and a female, and kept the offspring to grow the herd and my knowledge as I went. One of the things I learned by inexperience was that goats will eat store-bought sweet feed until they will die so I had to learn to store the feed where they couldn't get to it, including lifting the lid of a garbage can with their teeth.

If you can earn above your expenses, you will be doing something that very few full-time, lifelong ranchers ever have. As a full-time rancher, my father's biggest annual income was $3,000 and that was when he worked outside for the county road. Prices for beef is about the same now as it was then. The only reason we as a family unit survived is that expenses were nil as we produced just about all our food and lived very frugally. But, given my discouragement in that respect, I think if you start with a couple sheep and get used to their ways you can figure out if it is something you want to continue. Oh, my father had no shelter at all for his sheep or goats. The only time they were in the barn was during shearing. So you can probably delay the shelter, but that might not be the case with really cold winters. With the internet, you have resources to find that out.

Good luck and I hope to hear that you have some yarn available for me to buy as I knit because I love homemade knitted socks. I am learning to knit everything because being short means most slacks/shorts go up to my chest.

Cara Randall said:

Oh, no, I wasn't put off. Heather, you made some good points for me to keep in mind. I have to keep this "real", otherwise it will get too big for me to handle and nothing will work the way I hope! The breed of sheep I am planning on is Coopworth. I'm in contact with some breeders in West Virginia, because there are no breeders nearer to Indiana. However, I did read that one lady south of me is thinking of bringing some in, and she already has a sheep farm, so she'll be able to do it before I'll be ready. In which case, it would be nice to be able to purchase Coopworths from her, and NOT have to travel to West Virginia! I've been spinning some roving from the very sheep bloodline that I'd be looking at buying, and it's a nice wool for outerwear, with a few fleeces-the owners have told me-being soft enough for next-to-skin items. It's great, because the people who I'd be purchasing from are a wealth of information concerning raising Coopworths, and I need that kind of help!

My husband came home suggesting hoop houses for the sheep rather than the expense of a barn. I'm afraid I wasn't too receptive to the idea, and that was mean of me because I shouldn't dampen down his ideas like that. I looked up some pictures and saw what he was talking about, and I guess it COULD work. I guess I just had a traditional barn built up in my mind. I don't want to do things half way and end up with sheep that we can't properly take care of. I want to do things right from the beginning, ya know, and I tend to get a little critical if I think my hubby wants to just slap things together and call it good. I know I want to have a very good perimeter fence, with temporary fencing that can be easily moved on the inside to place the sheep on different pastures. RIght now, I can see we have 4 sections that we could break up and rotate the sheep on, each section being about about an acre in size. The extra grazing can be done on some land that is in behind us that we don't currently own, but hope to in the future. The owner is my grandpa, and he doesn't mind if we graze the sheep back there, so that works out nicely! This lower field is also where we could take a substantial amount of hay for winter. I wonder, if we had sheep graze it first in the springtime, and then rotated them to the other pastures for later in the year, could we get the first pasture to grow big enough for taking hay off of it that same year? Not sure on that one...

Anyway, I think we have plenty of good pasture, with possibly a few improvements to be added to give them optimal nutrition. The water source would be our well, but we run into problems with it going dry at times when we have weeks of no rain, so that problem would increase with livestock also drinking from it. I'd have to think about that situation. A dry well means a run to the local springs to get water, which is a pain for my husband to deal with. Drilling a second well is out of the question due to expense at this time.

I think putting up the fencing, and getting some chickens going along with the herbs might be the best places to start. I didn't expect sheep to come into the picture for another couple of years, anyway. I'm trying to take things slowly!!!

Cara

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Permalink Reply by Cara Randall on May 28, 2012 at 9:07am

I agree. Now I'm doing whatever I have the time and energy to do on my own, and trying not to think about how I wish things would progress faster. My husband has made it clear that he doesn't see himself as a farmer or someone who does a lot of the work on this endeavor. That's fair, I guess, but I hope he will help me when I need things done I simply can't handle on my own. My kids are the same way, they could care less...I'm just trying to make a difference, little by little.

Cara

Summer said:

Thank you for starting this discussion as I am finding it very helpful. I am in a very similar situation. While my husband is very supportive, he is unable to farm with me full time right now, so it is just me for the most part. I don’t have very much good advice to add like so many of these replies, honestly as a newcomer I don’t even understand some posts, haha. It sounds as if you do so that is a plus.

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Permalink Reply by Cara Randall on May 28, 2012 at 9:27am

Tim-not sure where Washington County is, is that where you are located? Turkeys are cute, but I don't really see myself raising them on a level where I'd be selling to any major chains. It's a good way to make money, I guess, if all those places are going into it. I don't like McDonald's, or most fast foods, and I wouldn't really want to market to them. I'd never raise sufficient quantities in the way I think they should be raised, and I'm sure they are going to be looking at more commercial farmers than someone like me with my 2-3 acres. I wouldn't want to be a slave for McDonalds. After watching the movie, "Food, Inc." and seeing how things have to be on your farm when you are working for the big companies, I don't really want to go that route at all. But thanks for the market tip. It's something to keep in mind!

Cara

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Permalink Reply by Cara Randall on May 28, 2012 at 10:04am

I'm guessing you meant Louisville, KY. I'm not interested in growing stuff for people like Tyson. I'm looking at self-sustaining my own family on what I grow and make, having a much healthier diet, and making enough money with items like wool, meat and other products from my sheep to help my family financially. Large-scale producers like Tyson are one of the big problems with our food chain-in my opinion, and I don't really want to be in the business of helping them do it. Nothing personal, I know farmers do decide to go into that line of things and jam 5-6 adult chickens in a 12 x 12 pen, melt their beaks off so they can't peck one another, never let them see the light of day, and then ship them off to places like Tyson and others, but that's not my thing. Call me more of a hippie, I guess, I think the better the animal is treated, the better source of nutrition they are...and it just seems right to me that they have something of a good and natural life.

I know you're just trying to help me find ideas on the money end of things, but I'll take less money-way less-before I go into business with the big food producers. Thanks, though...I don't want you to think I"m beating you up!

Cara

Tim Tompach said:

I lived in Clark County,Indiana right across the Ohio River from Louisville,Indiana. Washington County,Indiana is north of me on US Hwy 50 where Salem,Indiana this where the Turkey farmer building like crazy. Tysen chicken plant in Corydon,Indiana looking to grow this year need 200 more poultry farmers. The market of poultry and growing indoor fish farmer is where the big money at in Farming right now.

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Permalink Reply by Cara Randall on May 28, 2012 at 10:06am

I love herbs! That's part of what I want to sell to help make money. Right now I'm investigating all the products that can come from sheep which might interest me. I like the idea of making sheep soap, sheep cheese, and possibly some sheep pelts in addition to the high-quality spinning wool. And of course, sheep meat. But herbs, yeah, those are one of my favorite things to grow and learn about!

Cara

Tim Tompach said:

My wife has friend growing herbs in a greenhouse setting on a small farm selling them in flea markets on weekends and county market in front of court houses. Her friend sell year around and doing very well. She want me to built her a greenhouse to try out the herbs business.