Animals require (1) fencing in summer (2) feed (hay or grain) in winter Both cost money. Fencing in 500 acres in Texas is drastically cheaper than fencing in 1 acre in New England bc (a) economies of scale, (b) perimeter-to-area ratio, (c) rocky soil, (d) amateurs vs pros.https://twitter.com/xdmcp0/status/1031204873449234433 …
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2/ Can / should a hobby farmer have a few pigs, a few sheep, and maybe a cow? Sure. ...but scaling it is very hard. Let's say a cow requires 1 acre given the stocking rate (forage replacement) in your area. To double that you need to clear an acre of trees, fence it in...
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3/ And in New England you're zig-zagging around weird property lines and your house and your garage...so you've got the opposite of a circle - you've got something weird and hinky. Very high perimeter to area ratio. ...and expenses go up w the perimeter, not the area.
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4/ The way I fence I have three pressure treated 6"x6"s at each corner, with 4"4 horizontal crossbars, steel rope, and turnbuckles. Kinda like this:pic.twitter.com/RZ6gu60xOy
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6/ Each corner is about $200 in materials (3 pressure treated 6"x6", 4 eyebolts, 2 turnbuckles...) and another $200-300 in labor (use the tractor PHD to dig down 18", find a boulder, have two guys dig it out with digging bars for 2 hours...) In TX 1 mi^2 has 4 corners.
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7/ In NH I've got a 1 acre pasture that's shaped like a boomerang or something and it has 11 corners.pic.twitter.com/bp8VAB01O4
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8/ A square mile of pasture with 500 cattle on it is much easier to manage PER COW. You take out your $250,000 category three tractor a few times a year to fertilize. You have two such pastures and rotate the cows back and forth, etc. On 1 acre a livestock drive is a hassle
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9/ Wife and I take an hour or two off from work and try to shoo a bunch of sheep from one pasture to another ...which are disconnected, bc weird New England layouts ... and 13 of 15 sheep go where desired, and 2 others make a break for it. Result: hours of time lost.
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10/ So, anyway, if I can either double the quantity of sheep I have...or plant a nice little garden plot where I can grow potatoes ... why should I double my sheep hassle? Also: (a) potatoes are tasty (b) this is a hobby (c) and finallypic.twitter.com/zZTlQ0AFGB
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Replying to @randointerneter
you can grow just about anything 1/3 of an acre is HUGE limiting factor is not land; it's your time follow Urban Farmer Curtis Stone on youtube
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