Pictures from the mini farm (hobby farm) (pix heavy)

[lftd&pwrstrok'n]

That is very impressive with that amount of land. Makes me wonder how my neighbors would feel about some cows in the back yard. I just don't have much grass though.

Thank you. The farm beside us just sold about 2 years ago and was subdivided into 5 parts. They started the grading for the 3rd of 4 new homes Tuesday. As they were surveying the property, they did so among rouge chickens The cows have visited one of the other neighbors as they were building their house. Luckily, everyone has been cool, so far, w/ the wandering creatures, but I am going to have to put up some fencing to keep the chickens at bay and provide pasture for the cows. We don't have enough grass at the time to sustain the cows and feed hay daily (extremely expensive at $8 per bale...). Here are more pictures of cows visiting the new construction:

 

[lftd&pwrstrok'n]

Nice. Thanks for sharing. Bee hives look great.

Thank you. I am hoping to be able to expand the hives and be able to retire in about 8 years and produce honey to make a living until I can draw my pension. It is a far fetched scheme since I won't be but 51 at the time, but ya gotta have dreams...

 

[lftd&pwrstrok'n]

Honest question (and I'm a farm kid) what's a miniature cow?

@Laufen, I must stand corrected on some of my info provided earlier. As copied from: http://www.minicattle.com/

MINIATURE CATTLE are the perfect animal for the small acreage farms of the world. They require one-third the feed of standard size animals. Because of their small size, miniature cattle can be handled easily and efficiently without the need for special equipment or special fencing. They are efficient feed converters and easy on the land and pasture. Just great for the small acreage farmer.

• 
  Miniature Cattle are:
• Ideal for small acreage
• Efficient feed converters
• Docile and easy to handle
• Kept on as little as an acre
• Can be as small as 36" at maturity
• Easy on facilities and equipment
• Easy on the land and pasture

These unique cattle breeds are all 42" or less at maturity to be classified as full miniature, over 42" up to 48" are classified as midsize miniature. THE MINIATURE CATTLE BREEDERS SOCIETY invites your inquires into these unique and wonderful animals.

As pointed out earlier, we have 2 grown cows and a calf in a very small area and are having to feed hay daily. We jumped in too soon and in over our heads and are playing catch up now. Once I can get the forest cut and turned into pasture, all will be well.

 

[dial1911]

Thank you and you are correct it is a lot of work, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end. In all seriousness, I hope to grow our bee colonies to have 100 hives in 8 years. At the going price of honey, I should be able to retire and do honey until old enough to get my pension.

Holy cow... or holy honey. Retiring on bees sounds like an awesome plan! You seem to be off to a good start.

 

[lftd&pwrstrok'n]

Holy cow... or holy honey. Retiring on bees sounds like an awesome plan! You seem to be off to a good start.

I am hoping it all pans out. I went to a beekeeping class Monday and the instructor was very forth coming about the profit margins of a bee operation. Not only is there honey to be sold, but also queens and bees. I will take the next class and learn hou to make my own queens; which can be sold to other beekeepers w/ queenless hives. It is a lot of hot and sweaty work (since honey flow is in June and you work the bees in the middle of the day); but hopefully it will be profitable and worth the effort.

 

[dial1911]

I am hoping it all pans out. I went to a beekeeping class Monday and the instructor was very forth coming about the profit margins of a bee operation. Not only is there honey to be sold, but also queens and bees. I will take the next class and learn hou to make my own queens; which can be sold to other beekeepers w/ queenless hives. It is a lot of hot and sweaty work (since honey flow is in June and you work the bees in the middle of the day); but hopefully it will be profitable and worth the effort.

Classes on bee keeping... it makes perfect sense, but I would never have guessed such a thing existed. Sounds like you have found a good hobby there-

 

[lftd&pwrstrok'n]

Classes on bee keeping... it makes perfect sense, but I would never have guessed such a thing existed. Sounds like you have found a good hobby there-

Yeah, it was taught by the president of the Coweta Beekeepers Association, who is a state certified Master Beekeeper. It was a very basic class, so I really didn't learn much new stuff. But, I did get a good detailed list of what flowers/trees that I need to plant to prolong our nectar season to be able to get more honey.

 

[lftd&pwrstrok'n]

 

[lftd&pwrstrok'n]

Sad thing is, this isn't too far from the truth. Total of 85 birds and I got 10 eggs tonight: