# The essentials?



## Rancher6 (May 9, 2012)

Not enough bandwidth here to tackle that one :wink:


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## Rancher6 (May 9, 2012)

Seriously, it's gonna depend on what you plan to do...amount of land/livestock, climate, terrain, insects, forage, drainage, easement and on and on. Every farm/ranch is going to have different requirements. What kind of tractor/implements will you need? Will you need a tractor at all? How about a barn? How big? Fencing, waterlines, electric, well, septic...see? Your question is pretty much an open door without any specifics.

Oh yeah, and you can NEVER have enough tools.


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## BarrelWannabe (Feb 8, 2011)

Ah, ok. Well I'll try.

Itd be about 40-60 acres of pasture land in NE Oklahoma.
It would be a hobby/horse farm. I would like to have half pasture, half hay fields. There would be a barn, probably 60x40 with 4 stalls.

I'm not sure on fencing. I would like no-climb with a top board but I see pipe and cable being easier to maintain. 

This whole thing would be a farm/homestead.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

I'm not a farmer but ever since I was a tot I deemed my future career as "Farmer vet" yep.

It's going to take a lot of things from tractors to a well and good drainage/water system to sturdy barns to a good source of electrical power to enough acreage to fence off pastures to rotate and re-seed or even re-till so the ground doesn't end up barren or a mess. Lots of fencing, an abundance of tools and back-up materials. You have to check the fences (or should!) once a day. Depending on what you specialize in there could be a barn, paneled runs, stys, stables, etc. 

I could be missing a lot of things out, especially since I'm not a farmer. But land is work. Animals on land is more work. Will you have another job or will you make the land your work? Cause if you have another job then you need workers and they have to be there daily so you'll need an area for them to bunk in. 

It's worth re thinking until you find the right arrangement.


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## Rancher6 (May 9, 2012)

BarrelWannabe said:


> Ah, ok. Well I'll try.
> 
> Itd be about 40-60 acres of pasture land in NE Oklahoma.
> It would be a hobby/horse farm. I would like to have half pasture, half hay fields. There would be a barn, probably 60x40 with 4 stalls.
> ...


 
Sounds great. I could fill up a page and a half with tractor and implement suggestions alone for 40-60 acres plus hay harvesting and all the tools you'd need to maintain all that stuff. I think the important thing is, you get the place first and then you figure out what you want to do and what you need.


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## BarrelWannabe (Feb 8, 2011)

True. I just thought it good to have an idea of the equipment I would need. I know I'll need a tractor, trailers, bailers, all kinds of stuuf. Just wanted to get a better idea.


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## Rancher6 (May 9, 2012)

If you can think of it, you'll need it .

For hay alone--unless you custom hire your hay harvesting or get into a deal where somebody cuts & bales for a share of the product--you'll need a haycutter, wheelrake, round or square baler. And, again, unless you want to hire people, you'll have to have the tools & knowledge to maintain your equipment. Hay fields need to be sprayed for weeds and fertilized. Sometimes dolomited, disced up or reseeded. For 40/60 acres I'd recommend a tractor of at least 40hp but bigger is better.


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

I'd go 60 - 70 hp for a tractor on that size property and with those needs, and I would definitley have a bucket or front end loader on it. A 4 in 1 bucket is awfully nice. Besides the equipment Rancher mentioned, you would need a bushhog to move your pastures, something to drag or harrow pastures, a road blade, a manure spreader if you have horses in stalls, a spreader of some sort for lime, fertilizer and seed, a claw or spike if you're going to bale round bales, a hay elevator if you're going to bale squares, hay wagons to help put up hay, at least one "farm truck" that you won't put road tags on....

If you plan on having a garden, or farming anything other than hay, plows or discs are handy to have. 

If you're doing your own fence, a post driver is about as handy as a pocket on a shirt. 

Unless the land is VERY flat, 4W drive on the tractor and/or truck is good to have. 

For a property that size, I would highly recommend a golf cart or some kind of utility vehicle like a John Deere Gator or a Kubota Mule. It might *seem* like a luxury at first, but trust me, it's pretty essential. 

An equipment shed to put all this expensive stuff in; some sort of shop or shed so you can do oil changes, pump up tires and grease equipment.

Separate hay storage is a lovely thing.

I'm going to stop here, otherwise I could go on forever....


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## BarrelWannabe (Feb 8, 2011)

Thanks guys! That's exactly what I wanted to know!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## trvlingheart (Aug 4, 2009)

Something you may want to look into is if the town has a co-op or rental place for some of the less needed items or farm equipment that you may only use a few times a year. My family has most of what they use throughout the year but there are some items that they don't use too often that they just rent or borrow from the local community. Getting to know your neighbors can be worth more than gold, in this case! 

I would suggest seeing if there is a family farm that you can volunteer on during haying season, so you can see what is needed for that if you don't already have prior experience. It's a great way to get an idea of the work and all the equipment that is needed to do it. 

My family has a rag tag group of farm equipment, my parents go to auctions and look for equipment sold on the side of the road. None of what they have is brand new, but of course they pay the price in repairs and such, and it would be a lot higher if they didn't know how to fix a lot of it themselves. There is a running joke in our family that we should own stock in the local farm mechanic's business because there is rarely a day in the year that we don't have some sort of equipment sitting on their lot. 

My parents own 50 acres and, they only just started haying one field of it; they hay about another 140 acres of land around them, which is on lease or just a handshake. We have a heard of Devon Milking cows, 6 horses and a handful of adult Osabaw pigs, a few sheep and goats, and just around 100 chickens. The hay they produce is just enough to get them by through the winter with a little left over for spring. It is a lot of work!! I'm not saying you don't know what you are considering getting into, but it is worth saying a thousand times, it is a lot of work. lol


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## BarrelWannabe (Feb 8, 2011)

I like a challenge! I want to pour my blood, sweat, and tears into my HOME. I'm sure it'll be years and year of hard work, but I'm willing to put in the time. 

I hadn't thought about renting or borrowing. I'm most certianly going to get to know any neighbors I have.


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