Starting Small with Farming / Homesteading, what do we mean?

[@mcchupka9718]

I am starting “slow”. My farm was neglected for nearly 20 years while I was away serving in the military and I still haven’t been able to get back there to “start small” so I have “spent” the last 3-4 years getting things ready. My pastures are almost ready but i still have a bunch of infrastructure to get in place so I appreciate the advice and ideas. It helps to keep me focused and prioritize things. Someday I will get there.

[@SundryTalesOfConstance79WESTY]

Thank you for your service and good luck in your dream farm. It's a lot of work, but great therapy for what we endured.

[@KPVFarmer]

Thank you for serving. I’ve really found spending more time closer to the animals to be beneficial in many ways. And something about just being closer to nature has helped too. Keep moving forward and things will come together. Are you a part of Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC)? I’m curious if any of their resources have been beneficial for you? Cheers 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸

[@mcchupka9718]

@@KPVFarmer thank you for the support. I have not heard of FVC. I appreciate the endorsement but as you might guess, I am independent and maybe even to a fault so I have not been able to bring myself to ask for help nor do I believe I need it just yet. I do have friends (vets) that find farming very therapeutic, as do I, but I am still without the animals. That is partly why I like the message to “start small”, which is solid advice… for many reasons, namely… in case I don’t have it left in me. I am just not in a position where I could benefit from much more than this sort of knowledge and interaction. I plan to start slow and learn/grow fast when I do but cannot quit my day job, my job/family is too far from the farm to get it really rolling well, and my family is not really interested so it will be a tough row to hoe alone… ironically following in my grandfather’s footsteps. “Time, the stuff life is made of but guaranteed to none of us.”

[@Farmingnaturesway]

Farming Nature's Way wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas, we bought 7 acres with only a house and all yard, we got 5 acres fenced with 3 steers, our future milk cow and many chickens, 3/4 acre garden but it took 5 years, starting our KZbin to help others

[@davidmorley523]

Just bought 25 acres in Southeast Oklahoma. Can’t wait to get started on our homestead

[@Imononeization]

Thank you for giving practical thorough advice. We're about to close on 40 acres, and this helps a ton with financials.

[@MarcyOdom.]

Excellent video!

[@shanebenson1988]

Thanks for the video My wife and I are moving into our home we just purchased on 15 acres today. Got about a 5 acre pasture that needs to be fenced in, and then I’ll be on my way to beef as a first time land owner

[@kapitolking]

Ohio family here. Upper Sandusky Ohio

[@jwmcginnis]

Thanks for watching

[@FailingAtFarmChores]

Just as another reference for folks. We have about 40 birds for myself and two others. We are sometimes up to our eyes in eggs. When this happens, we water glass for the times that the girls slow their production. We also use eggs to supplement dog feed. Sometimes we sell a dozen or two. But we can go through 24 eggs in a day, easily. Between a breakfast casserole and then baking for ourselves or for a church get together or something. This is NOT meant to go against anything hes saying in the video. Just letting people look at a way that we're doing things. We still consider ourselves to be small. We have three pigs too. Two gilts that we will breed in a few months and one feeder who will be getting processed arouhd the same time the gilts are bred. Love watching your videos. Theres always so much great info in them. Saving up for that tractor, now. The one that does the most and that i dont have to work on much. Which unfortunately, means $$$. Keep up the great work!

[@jwmcginnis]

Great advice thanks for the addition.

[@RoadKillsRanch]

Great information! I started with 12 meat chickens the first fall I owned my property. All but 1 made it to the freezer. This year I bought 20 laying hen chicks. I lost one early, I started them in February, but the rest made it to spring and I moved them to a shed I repaired while they were growing. Then I bought 4 feeder pigs. 2 of 1 breed and 2 of another. I did a test on meat quality. I did 2 more batches of meat birds, 24 each this time. Family wanted to buy from me from the start but I told them the first batch of everything is "Research and Development". If I don't go to the hospital and I like doing It, You can buy from me on the next batch. I am now selling chickens, eggs, and hogs at the end of year 1. If I had tried to start everything at once I KNOW I would have hated everything and quit. Start 1 thing. If it works do it again but add something else. Start small and grow from your success! Good luck everyone.

[@shanebenson1988]

Thanks for sharing, getting started small on our 15 acre homestead, eventual goal is pork and beef, but I do see myself starting with some meat birds and some laying hens

[@rsteiny24]

First time on the channel. We have been on our farm for 6 years. I 100% agree with your starting small advice. Started with WAY too many chickens and had to figure out how to get rid of the eggs without just giving them away. Started rotational grazing and bought too many reels and posts of a certain kind and not really a fan of them. We tried cattle for the first time and bought 9 head of 700 lb angus heifers to feed out and quickly realized that was not the best decision for our acreage. Cattle are very enjoyable to have, just the model of raising that many on concrete was not the right one for us. They produce a lot of manure and I didn’t have the equipment to move or spread it. Look forward to checking out some of your other videos.

[@SundryTalesOfConstance79WESTY]

Slow amd steady wins the race...4 years ago we bought 31 acres of forest in central Florida...2 years ago We started with 2 Kunekunes gilts(girls). Adopted a barrow (boy) and another gilt shortly thereafter. A year later we started incubating eggs...Now we have the 4 kunekunes, 6 khaki campbell ducks, 2 guard geese, 49 chickens, 2 cats, a pony and a lovestock guardian dog(LGD). We slowly built the infrastructure from mostly pallets and scrap wood. We bought a $10000 Kubota tractor for $4000 that needs $6000 worth of work 😂. Luckliy i can do most of the work on my equipment myself. Great advice my friend!

[@SuperKyle309]

Good talk. i subbed 🙂

[@jaycarroll9058]

Thank you Sir.

[@kenman200]

Thank you

[@darylbrown7849]

Outstanding!

[@emartusodallas]

Thanks so much for sharing this excellent video. I really appreciate all of your suggestions, information and experience .

[@chalisblur]

Good advice!

[@dakollar]

First time here, let’s see how it goes

[@hunterdial]

keep up the vids sir

[@SundryTalesOfConstance79WESTY]

Nooice! 😎 STOC

[@ravenwillowfarmstead]

Great info. We just finished our first year and have about 10 acres perimeter fenced and filled our freezer with chicken. Also build gardens and have a flock of chickens for eggs. We cant keep the eggs in stock, they go like crazy. How far do you recommend leaning into eggs if you are selling out every week? I know you have said eggs are not profitable, but on scale, say 200, wouldn't there be a decent return worth the ROI? $23/50lb feed bag, supplemented from free grocery store produce and only 24 hens getting 6 to 8 dozen a week during spring/summer/fall. $5/dozen.

[@protocolpalpatine]

Noone homestead to make money, they do it to not rely on the system 100%

[@coltongibbs4569]

My old man farms and I’ve had calves before that we raised up on replacement milk and moved them to straight whole corn we farmed and a mixture of protein pellets, we had them In a slatted barn and we got rid of them and butchered, in this upcoming year I’m looking to get more and thinking about pasturing them and was wondering if I can continue to feed them while corn and pellets or if I should switch to buying hay, alfalfa, or grass to feed them if I wanted to breed them. Would the different nutrients effect the breeding or labor of the cattle?

[@John-MichaelLarry]

You mentioned 3+ cows, what about if you only have 2and1/2 or 3 pasture acres. Do you think that could handle 3 cows and would you consider 2 cows and 2 goats a herd?

[@jwmcginnis]

It depends on the quality of land. You could possibly get by with two if your fence is good and you’re willing to buy enough hay.

[@kthatley]

If you’re moving to new land do you keep a year of hay till you figure the rotation out?

[@jwmcginnis]

Depends on the condition of the land. If you want to improve soil just bushhog it back to the soil. If want to save some hay and buy if the late fall when animals are cheaper

[@richardallen4912]

I think the spelling of your title is off.

[@jwmcginnis]

Thanks, lol can’t believe I missed that. Thanks for watching