Acreage vs smaller block living.

I remember when you bought those other blocks, had a brick retaining wall IIRC ?

How can it be that isolated yet only 2.5 acres and with town water out the front ?

PS double check the rates, normally you pay for town water if it passes even if not connected.

 

Today was a mowing/slashing day. I spent the weekend actually Googling 'most efficient ways to mow paddocks' and it came up with some interesting ideas. Yes, I am a nerd
Unfortunately my areas aren't exactly rectangles so some of the methods would need to be refined but I saw the Zamboni method and thought that might be a really good fit as my tractor is pretty old (70+) and turning it is a lot of effort and this has nice big turns.
I did about 4 acres today and I'll give the method about a 7/10 with the 3 being deducted due to the shape of our areas - curves introduce areas that require additional handling but still I think an improvement on my last method which was start at the outside and and go in and in and in.
The other 4 acres will be ready to mow in about 2 weeks and I have another method to try then.

 

Have you thought about mowing it with sheep, or a bovine even ?

 

Absolutely - just need more fences first. There is only one side fenced at the moment and we need to fence the other side and the front
Then trying to decide if we fence off the house garden and let the lawnmowers free range the rest of the property or make some fenced areas for them
We also don't want them unattended at the moment so won't get them until we move in towards the end of the year

Currently mowers we are considering
- Dorper or Wiltipol sheep as they are self shedding
- goats (probably Nubian or x)
- Alpacas (to guard against snakes and foxes)

 

Soooo who has animal mowers?

 

While not mowers we do have goats, only a couple, they are a right royal pain in the buttocks. Any weak point in the fencing they will find it, they seem to be good escape artists. Then they come and sit on our front porch and climb over everything while pooping on everything. Even once came out to find them sitting on the roof of my car

 

Well, I'm not getting a goat after reading this lol.

 

Not the car!!!! I'm reconsidering goats now

 

@Westminster : might i suggest checking if you can plant your acreage with a native plant called saltbush. I watched landline sometime back and apparently it can be made into quite a quality feedstock and has commercial value.

oh found the link as below
Salt of the Earth

 

Of course i live on it, there is a house on it.

But nah, the house was already there and I'm in north west Tasmania.

Running cost is probably mainly just the whipper snipper fuel, so it's not hugely costly, maybe 300 per year on fuel as a guess, I haven't actually calculated it but i'd assume fuel cost p/a would be around about there.

Minus however much it would cost (If at all) for a fuel reduction burn once every so.

But in the grand scheme of acreage living, 4.7 acres isn't a huge amount, but it's probably the most i'd really want to have.

 

you are living the dream mate.

 

just had to search through this post to see what my original post was as it was telling me I had already posted in here. Almost spot on 1 year later we settled on our property, 18th nov last year

 

Started this last night....lol....if your not put off already....

Goats are a pain, get out all the time, damage gardens, climb on things and will push you over if not careful if you feed them, if you don't they become wild.

Lot of even small places just have the regular sheep, our family has dorpers, but not as lawn mowers.

Cattle can be hard on fences & need a bigger place really, or weaners maybe.

Alpaca, well, they do not do much at all, dog is better at keeping foxes at bay.

 

My reason for wanting acreage down the track is so I can buy a John Deere, grab some beers and spend the weekends mowing my lawn.

For now the restored Scott Bonnar will do on my mere 700m2.

 

You might not need beer - it's very soothing just driving 'round and 'round and 'round

 

Goats no go

Alpacas are cool. Go visit the alpaca farm in toodyay. A few locals used to walk their alpacas through to town! That's retirement! Leave city life and farm some alpacas!

 

We went from 600SM to 10 acres last year.Bought a decent ride on and sprayer unit,1st thing i bought was a chainsaw.Seems to keep everything under control.No animals except 3 dogs,cat &Hector the roo.

 

Funny that, i get some great ideas on the ride on.

 

I don't often venture outside the Other Assets section of the forum so only just saw this thread.

I posted on another thread about our 1.25 acre retirement home in North Maleny found here:
When did you decide to retire? (1)
When did you decide to retire? (2)

Be aware that if you own animals you might be kissing goodbye to any future holidays unless you pay someone to look after them (bloody expensive) or have family / neighbours / friends who can do it.

We only have a few chooks so easy for the neighbours to look after when we're away on our regular breaks.

If you have great aspirations of growing lots of veges / herbs / fruit trees you will need a decent water supply. If not on town water the Rainwater tank(s) will unlikely be enough especially in the dry season. A bore or dam etc is necessary. We're fortunate up here as the bore water is amazing quality. Less salt than town water in fact from memory according to the test. Many use the bore solely for their water supply to the house and gardens. We have tanks with the bore used to top up the tanks and swimming pool if they get low in dry season. Our vege, herb and fruit trees need a lot of water. Most of your vege gardens and fruit trees will need to be netted or the birds and possums etc will eat it all.

Remember that we all get older so large lots of land if not planned well can get to be too much of a burden with age. Health issues can also throw a spanner in the works if there is too much to manage.

Another useful piece of machinery is this:
Piecemaker - 850 B&S - Greenfield Mowers

Most of our pruning from trees are chipped in this machine and used to mulch some of the gardens. Very little garden waste leaves the property. The larger branches (> 100 mm) that can't be chipped are used in the landscaped gardens as features and to reduce erosion on garden slopes.

We use gas for hot water heating (compact instantaneous system) and cooktop. The gas company deliver and exchange the large gas bottles on demand and even swap our BBQ gas cylinder. In fact the BBQ gas bottle exchange is way cheaper than BBQ Galore and even Bunnings. Plus the gas company deliver to your door, fantastic.

Internet access is slow but NBN is coming in the near future.

Power supply can be less reliable in some rural areas. Plus you need electricity to pump water from your tank so a generator is well worth owning. Another expense which can be significant if you want a good quality generator ( eg Honda) that won't harm electronic devices.

It can be expensive getting setup for living on a large piece of land. And maintenance can also be costly and time consuming depending on how well you want to maintain your land.

We chose this lifestyle to keep us active and to have lots of productive interests in retirement including growing veges / herbs / fruit trees, home brewing, wine / cider making, preserving (jams, chutneys, relishes, pickles, tomato pasta sauces), canning, sausage making, cheese making, baking artisan breads (no knead), freezing / drying produce, soaps, lip balms, cosmetic creams plus other hobbies. We still want to enjoy life and not be spending all day outside in the harsh sun. So we have planned our landscaping and gardens so maintenance isn't excessively time consuming. Eg the orchard and vege gardens have automated water supply.

I admit that this has turned out to be a more expensive life style than expected. Then we like our house and surrounds to look nice and well maintained not for others but for us. Fortunately we can afford it. But do go into it with eyes wide open. Many assume that tank water and bores will be cheaper than town water. But pumps need to be replaced and power to run them, tanks maintained etc. Ride on mowers, machinery, generators are expensive to buy and costly to services unless you can do it yourself. We also have 110sq metres of timber decks which need maintaining eg oiling every six months. Plus we have a swimming pool so power and maintenance for that.

But we love our lifestyle in retirement. We never get bored and always have a reason to look forward to getting out of bed in the morning other than the chooks screaming their guts out wanting food. They're extremely spoilt pets, but our only pets.