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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Replying to @MorlockP
Recommended books on planning for pasture sizes? Would love to start that research now.
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Andre Voison has a classic “Grass Productivity”, as well as Jim Gerrish’s “Kicking the Hay Habit”. Both recommend management intensive rotational grazing.
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