Acreage vs smaller block living.

PS cheap and good dirt do not go together, most of these hobby blocks and weekenders are garbage land wise, good farmland is not small nor cheap, so depends on what you call cheap.

 

I guess it's a romantic idea for me to be able to spend time in a place further away from Sydney and to chill or work if I want to but may not be efficient use of money.

 

So what would you recommend in terms of price range and size and where we should look at?

The other thing is to buy a small place jn blue mountains... Yes I live in fantasy sometimes.

 

A lot of newcomers to where I am do just that, work in Sydney a day or two, keep their offices but work from home a lot and travel up to the city when needed. Great tax deductions for high income earners! We're at Berry, about 2 -2.5 hrs from the CBD. Im lucky in that I work close to where I live on the farm which makes it much easier. Also, being a teacher we get good holidays which helps with running it - It's my therapy! We currently have around 80 head of cattle in total, about 30 breeders and 20 calves on our place and about 30 steers or yearling heifers on the place we lease next door - they're calves that we grow out and sell at about 2 yrs. Sold 9 about a month ago for $1400 a head. Prices are up ATM!! In reality 100 acres is a difficult size. Yes its run as a business but not big enough to make a living out of, but still a lot of work so you need to really have your heart in it. Where we are 100 acres is a big block, but to any 'real' farmer its just a big backyard. Leasing the place next door gives us a better crack at it.

I actually grew up on the place I live at now. It was originally my grandads so its been in the family for 65+ years. Dad died about 10 years ago and mum was up here by herself for a few years but decided it was time a few years ago to move into town after 42 years, so we bought the farm from the family and moved from the dream home to the old fibro farm house!

Visitors are welcome at any time, but you might be given a job!

 

Thanks @Allgood Berry is beautiful. We once stayed in a place with cattle in the backyard... Our kids love the cooks, ducks and other farm animals.

Sounds like a plan to visit you in Berry. The town has a lot of good shops. The real estate is so pricey now.

 

Probably fair money, it depends what you're after. I think the cows in the pic are just for show. Those green hills in the background will be brown and dry in summer, so if you want to see it at its worst, go now. Good for motorbike riding and to keep a horse. Maybe it would be better to look for a bush block that doesnt require stock. They're generally cheaper but good for recreation. I lived in Yass and taught in little schools at Rye Park near Reids Flat. Its lovely but very different to where I am now. Dad always used to say that down here we talk about how many cattle to the acre, where out there they refer to how many acres for a cow!

I'd be going something like this...
467 Mills Vale Road Laggan NSW 2583 - Lifestyle for Sale #7737675 - realestate.com.au

 

Agreed. The cheap places like the ones above really are places to escape to, not to run stock on. There's good grazing farmland up and down the coast but its pricey. Otherwise you can do well on a bigger scale in places like Goulburn, yass, gundagai or out through the central west (Cowra, Canowindra, Forbes, Bathurst) but a lot of the central west gets more into cropping, as it does up west like Wagga or up north.

 

Your own mountain range...you will be fit if you walk around this every other weekend !

When I was looking , I really wanted around the 100 acre as you could borrow a decent amount if it is the right block, on large blocks your going to get commercial style loans and LVRs if you need to borrow.

I nearly got a place on 36 acre with a good house with town water, when I missed this we started to look at smaller and smaller places, I used to say no way would go to country to live on a suburban style block, as time passed, this is exactly what we are thinking of now, but if we like the area, will probably then look for 5 acre in or next to town, but they are not cheap in nice towns.

You need to narrow down what you want or want to be able to do, then you can target certain areas.

 

Yep. Thanks for all the heads up. A lot to think about.

 

Hi Allgood, curious are you actually making more than $20k a year on your cows after hard expenses (eg not time), then once you take time into account (8 hours a week? +/-) you're basically making about $40 an hour for your time.....albeit you have the benefit of "living the dream" on a big block AND get the various tax benefits on having a business you can write off personal expenses with.

I could be wrong on my estimations and would really like a bigger discussion if you could provide some insights from your personal experience.

 

If anyone else is living on 50 to 500 acres I'd also be interested in hearing your experiences.

 

We're currently on 26 acres and love it.

As most said - carve off a suburban sized backyard and fence it. We have this, plus a second 1 acre lawn area with a garden boarder and fruit trees ... can whizz around the whole thing in around an hour on the zero turn ride-on once every 1-2 weeks.

I also do (ahem) spray the boundaries rather than lawn edge.

The rest is paddocks - two fat horses, some grapes, a bit of garlic ... and anything left over, the neighbour puts his cows on. Can't remember the last time I wandered down to the bottom 10 acres ... which is cow country.

Probably the best bit - as far is hubby is concerned - is the 8 bay farm shed

 

Lizzie if wanted, could you build a cabin type accomodation to let out during the weekends for additional cash? Just thinking that if we buy the right size land, we could add something like this to the property for additional cashflow whilst living in the main dwelling.

 

Have you considered geese? They eat grass, are excellent guards, produce eggs and meat.

 

They grow stuff on them, agist their horses on them, market garden etc etc
Generally you are allowed a shed and often used as a weekender so may have a bio loo and a shower hooked up to rainwater tank.
There was a block across the river from mine that was dirt cheap as you couldn't build on it. Lot 131 Swan Street Henley Brook WA 6055 - Farmlet for Sale #7708223 - realestate.com.au

 

We have council approval to build up to 5 tourist accommodation units ... and went thru the process of getting plans drawn up ... but then decided we didn't want to mix business and personal (home) and bought a separate, established tourist accommodation property 10 minutes away.

Once you have agistment or tourist accommodation on your property, the property no longer becomes "exclusively" yours as you have granted (paying) randoms full access

 

Hi Dean,
We might turnover $20k a year but that barely covers expenses. I just use it to spend it on the farm (or reduce the overdraft!) Small scale farms like ours arent really profitable when you take into account the land value etc unless you include a niche market like marketing your own beef or accessing the tourist market like Lizzie said.

Additional costs for us include: Fencing materials, drenches, pasture improvement, fuel, repairs and maintenance to machinery as well as other business related expenses such as a vehicle, phone, rates and the mortgage all of which is nice to be able to run through the business and lower my PAYG salary, the tax credits also go back into the farm. As an hourly rate youd be so far behind that it would be embarrassing to add up, but for us its not really about that, its more a lifestyle thing.

My dad had an income producing farm that he made an income out of, but it was cropping and sheep and wasn't as 'lifestylish' as where we are now! Many farmers make a good go of it, particularly if they inherit the place and have low overheads. A good harvest can set them up for years.

Totally agree. We looked really closely at turning our house into tourist accommodation (yes, it's that small!) and building a new PPOR but couldnt bring ourselves to sell our soul by having people on site all the time. The privacy and seclusion is what we love about where we are. Mind you, there's a good tourist market here and we'd probably be able to get $450-500 most weekends so it's filed away as something to think about for retirement if we need to.

 

But realistically, consider what people do. They wake up, eat breakfast, head out to do tourist stuff and not get back until later. Many will also have dinner elsewhere. Unless there is some attraction on your property, people will sleep, eat and be out.

 

I know, but Im a perfectionist and I'd spend my whole time worrying about everything being perfect for them and everything else would suffer!

 

My wife's looking at running weekend yoga retreats. Yoga studio for classes during the week if she chooses, and was thinking of putting a cabin on the property and charge weekend private yoga class bundle.

Can't decide how much acerage is needed. Thinking max 5ish, min 2ish. And if you don't hire it out, friends can come stay in the cabin.
Will be checking with council during the week on the cabin.