Happy to be here......now need advice!

Hey everyone,

So glad I found this great site. My family and I are moving to Dannevirke in December. We will be buying a property early next year and really want some land to keep some animals for pets and ensure my two young boys have enough room to run around.

I love the idea of having a few acres but how much work and maintenance will be needed on the land? We are interested in two houses and they have between 5 and 8 acres. Is this too much?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Is it too much for what? To my mind if one has land then one also has a duty to use that land productively. You should be able to be almost self-sufficient in meat, milk, eggs, and vegetables on that acreage. All other things being equal I would choose the larger acreage. It will be a lot of hard work but it can be done. One of you will of course require a job somewhere else to pay for the things you can't produce.

hi ya ThePowerof One and welcome to the LSB cyber family
Sounds like you got your ideas sorted well
Um 8 acres is ok i guess .. um for me as i want a few beefies , my sheep, chickens , a couple of goats and a couple of piggies .. i would also like igor aim at a bit more land than that
Talk to ( private message ) Terralee on here .. they are at Norsewood not far north of Dannevirke and have round 20acres i think .. but they will be able to help you heaps with the sizes needed riound that area and costs

it really depends on what the land is currently used for, if for timber, or native bush, relatively little work entailed. If in good pasture, either you need animals to graze it and then the work entailed looking after the animals or to buy a tractor and slasher and the work involved in doing that..

Welcome.
Firstly, we don't give advice. You have to pay for that, so if you do want to pay me then I might give advice. We do give suggestions, which is based on our knowledge and experience, but if it is not right for you then I will not take responsibility for that .
Some types of animals need lots of care and attention, especially if you have to constantly ensure that they have enough food, enough water, have not escaped and have not got sick. There is a post on the Your Place forum about how we manage to have "holidays". To most of us, caring for the LSB (Life Sentence Block) is our holiday, so many of us don't get away much as a family.

Power - any amount of land additional to what you have experienced in an urban area is multiplied work wise by say 8 times i.e 1/8th of an acre -v - 8 acres. There are times of the year when you can relax and enjoy and there are times of the year that you will be flat out. Spring being one and Winter the other. Birthing is usually in the school holidays so no holiday for you etc

To be honest - it is impossible to answer that question without knowing what type of land you are purchasing. I have lived on 10 acres of incredibly fertile land against the next 15 acre property being deliberately low fertility to back off on the work load.

I don't know the area so I would endorse Stu's advise to contact Terralee (awesome animal owner) and take direction from her and hubby. They have done the hard yards over the years and that is the best advise you can get.

..and it is not only animals that can tie you to your block. Friends carefully chose varieties and fruit on their land to spread the load over the seasons, and then found that at no point could they take a break...[]
They eventually sold the block to a younger couple because they were supposed to be "retired".[]

Hi and welcome Thepowerofone ...Terry and I would be more than happy to share any of our local knowledge and experience on LSB's ..where we are is a real green belt, summer safe area, surrounded by dairy farms however Dannevirke and from Takapau just a few Ks north of us can be drought prone so you need to bear that in mind when looking at properties

5-8 acres is a good starter size but if you are like me you will soon be needing more land for the ever increasing animals families[^]

Good fencing and outbuildings make maintenance minimal ...I find grubbing thistles very ..relaxing[xx(][:0] cleaning the water troughs is ...refreshing[}]:rolleyes: ....picking up horse pooh is...rewarding[|)][] OK just kidding but the jobs associated with an LSB become just stuff you do and are IMO no more demanding than a section in town[:0] well maybe a little but so much more fun [^]

Animal care is generally routine and pretty much common sense .... and my favourite part of living on an LSB ...anyway feel free to ask us any questions you may have about anything rural around the area[^]

Good Choice ...lovely part of the country this
Cheers