And you have to make sure you take care of any noxious weeds that your acreage may grow as they can be a real problem when people who think that a plant that grows a pretty flower or looks pretty in their garden let it get out of control and spread to neighbouring properties. Check with the local council or rural lands protection board/LHPA and find out what plants are a problem in that area and if they have a list of what you can and cannot grow. Lantana for example is a very pretty plant, but if let grow wild it is a huge noxious weed issue.
My parents found maintaining their acre and large house to be too hard so they sold it. It took them 25 years to get it and by that time the "slaves" had grown up and left home so do it now while you have the extra hands
Just something else. Maintenance is a bit about attitude. When we lived in suburbia DH hated mowing, now he enjoys it, same with gardening. It is his wind down time after working in an office all day. Things like raking leaves etc is exercise. When I lost a fair bit of weight last year, it coincided with when I was doing a lot of garden maintenance. So whilst the maintenance can seem to be a negative, you can turn it into a positive. Of course though, there are days when you just don't want to do it like anything else.
I know what you're saying Astrid. I find pruning/weeding our current backyard fiddly. Not much room between plants whereas somehow mowing a big area seems more rewarding and relaxing. I think DP would be happy mowing too - quick results and not much skill/gardening knowledge required.
We're also looking at another one on Sat that is on a three quarter acre block so that sounds much more manageable!
Oh, man, how daunting...I recently agreed to look again at 100 acres+ properties after I thought we'd agreed to downsize our vision to about 30! DP reckons he can take care of fences when he buys a portable sawmill (he hasn't even seen one in operation yet, so we can't count on this!), and that 50 head of steer will be very low-maintenance...but he's going to keep working and I'm supposed to raise our two children, contemplate a third and somehow finish my current degree and look at a fourth year (to actually make this study count toward a qualification...) as well as help look after 100 acres. Considering all I wanted from a move to acreage was to keep horses without having to agist (agisting only one horse now, but want my kids to ride and DP wants to have a horse but only if we own land), it's a big ask!
Just last night an acquaintance was telling me that maintaining her 12 acres was difficult, with just horses on it. And today another friend was saying that she gets help (cash in hand) to maintain her 40 odd acres that she keeps goats on, and sometimes the goats make mince meat of fences - if goats do that, we're going to spend a lot of quality time fixing cattle fencing...
That 6 acres of land in Tonimbuk is looking REALLY attractive...!
Sheesh, reading this I feel I've waded in way over my head...
Goats are much harder on fencing than cattle. Our fencing keeps the cattle at bay, but the goats have this way of finding one small hole and then trying to make it bigger. Could have cried when one got into our veggie patch and took out a 1/3 of the corn.
Maya, if he thinks that he is going to be able to contain 50 head of cattle, and steers at that, with timber fencing then he is in for a shock LOL. Cattle are fence wrecking buggers and he will find it very very hard to keep up with maintaining fences because they push up under them all the time. Plus there is NLIS (National Livestock Identification System) to worry about where all your livestock has to be ear tagged and you will have to have this if you are to sell livestock at market (which I assume is the plan because there is no point in having steers otherwise) as well as a property identification number and keep all the correct paperwork as well.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks