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The ugly part of setting up a homestead, the initial costs.

Well it has been a fairly busy week this week and plans are starting to solidify even more.  Until this week we had played with the idea of staying in the Military for one more tour, I had been nominated for a follow on tour with the Defense Attaché Service and I had been offered an opportunity to go to Ottawa Canada for my next tour.  This would have pushed my homestead plans back three years but would have been close enough for us to work on the property and get on a little stronger financial footing before making the leap. On the other hand, it would have put me at 50 before starting my homestead adventure.  This week the choice was taken out of our hands as my functional branch in the army (Finance) declined to let me stay with the attaché service, they wanted me back with Big Army.  Meaning after this tour in Jordan I would go where ever the army needed me. 

Often in the Army we say we know when it is time to go, when to retire and hang up the uniform, well I was pretty sure that this was the time before, and now I know it, just do not see going back to the big Army after this.  So now it is time to get down to the nuts and bolts of the homestead and for me that is balancing wants/needs and resources.    I am much luckier than most of my counter parts starting on this adventure of homesteading.  As a Military Retiree I will have some income coming in regardless of what the homestead does so that does give me a considerable advantage.  I am going to be able to start with a nice plot of land and depending on how things work out this summer may have a house next to it and be debt free on the property and house (I am selling two other properties to pay for this one, should have the equity enough to cover it).  Both of our kids are out of the house (son is in the Air National Guard and Daughter will be in her Senior year of College when I get out) so it is just myself and my wife to worry about.

So this week has been about working on the Financial Plan to see what my initial set up costs will be for non-housing homestead expenses, there are still some costs that I have not been able to estimate such as the livestock irrigation system but at least I am getting a better feeling as to the overall cost.  There are still a lot of variables that will greatly depend on if we can purchase the house next door (which already has a barn on the property).  

The initial seed costs are still up in the air because I have not decided how much I will be planting the first year, I am still strongly considering a small first year planting with the first year crops being primarily for seed harvesting but I am going to budget $2000 for seed for both the crops and garden.  All seeds will be heritage type seed so that the seeds for future plantings can be harvested from the current year crops.  So I see the higher cost of initial seeds as a one-time purchase. 

Livestock purchases will be about $11,000 plus another $1000 in transportation costs and another $2000 for a used livestock trailer.  This will cover the cost of 3 Galloway cow calf pairs, 4 Registered Kinder Goats (three does and a billy), 2 Registered Large Blacks Pig (Hog and Sow), 1 feeder LBP, and 1 non-reg meat sow (undetermined breed), 50 Plymouth Rocks Chickers and 4 Silver Fox Registered Rabbits (3 does 1 buck). 10 Geese, 15 Ducks, and 10 Pearl Guianas (All birds are a straight run).

The pond area will be about $2700 and does not include the actually enlarging it out, it includes the aeration system, water fowl house, and the solar/wind system to power the aeration and irrigation systems. The electrical, pumping and aeration systems will be housed in a portion of the water fowl house. 

We have about $8300 budgeted for a used ATV powerful enough to pull a 36-inch powered tiller as well as the tiller.  The Tiller package includes a Culti-Packer attachment to assist when planting grass crops. 

The last major cost I budgeted for is the Fencing.   We will need about 5000 feet of external high tensile electric fencing and about 5000 ft of Electric Polywire or Poly tape for internal pasture separations.  We have budgeted about $7500 for fencing.  This is all assuming that I do all the required labor!

This brings us to just below $36,000 and does not include the costs for additional buildings that will be needed nor livestock irrigation yet!  Now some of the costs will qualify for USDA cost sharing (for practices that are good for the environment) as part of the farm bill passed a couple years ago such as the fencing and watering systems (to promote intensive grazing). 

With any luck we will be able to purchase the property next to ours this summer and if that does happen then we will be able to start on making more finalized plans not to mention keeping our eyes out for used equipment that we can purchase at discount prices rather than at market prices when we need to get started! So until next week… 


If there is something you want to hear about let me know and it could be next week’s blog topic!

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