Relocating the entire farm...

[STx]

Fir a variety of reasons my wife and I have decided to sell the property we're currently on in South Texas, 36 acres inherited plus 62 acres we're buying from a neighbor, and move to a 190 acre property near Bandera, about 3 hours away. We're under contract on the new ranch and now I'm really start to think about what a hassle it's going to be to move all the equipment, tools, animals, etc. Fortunately, we don't have to sell the current property as part of the purchase of the new so we can take some time to get it all done. Even so, there's so much to do.

So who else has moved after being on a property for 5+ years and accumulating a bunch of equipment, animals and implements? Is this going to be as bad as I think it is?

 

[Peter 315]

I guess one load at a time , Maybe box everything up and hire a mover for the household items ..... start calling friends...and maybe go through the stuff and get a dumpster....good luck.......

 

[STx]

The household stuff is the easy part, maybe 3 trips with trailers we have, fewer if I rent something bigger.

It's really the equipment (tractor, skid steer, UTV, excavator, boom lift, etc.), implements that seem overwhelming.

And the animals. I've got to fence pastures and pens and build shelters for them before I can move them. It's starting to dawn on me how much work I've got ahead of me.

It'll be worth it in the end though. The area is nicer with more to do, the views on the property are a lot better, as well as the vegetation and wildlife mix (we've got lots of Axis), and there's a natural spring on the property that's going to .ale a fantastic building site and natural swimming hole once it's had a little love. The existing house is a little 2/1 that'll do for now but won't be big enough forever.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Love that spring, and the Texas Hill Country. I have often wondered about living out there.

Like me, it sounds like you have a lot of stuff. Sounds like many trips. How many animals do you have? Sounds like preparing for the animals is the greatest task ahead.

 

[JPRambo]

I have been moving from a 4 bedroom home and garage and a 24' x 30' separate garage. I built another 24 x 30 on 7 acres 650 miles north. Slowly moving boxes of belonging. Trailer load by trailer load. No animals but lots of stuff. We usually load the 6 x 12 dump trailer each trip to 'vacation' for the 4 or 5 weeks of recovery time.

 

[EddieWalker]

Congratulations. My original plan when moving to Texas was to be in the Hill Country. Sounds like you found an awesome spot with all that water, and having Axis is a huge bonus. My wife shot three does down near Sonora a couple years ago while I was hunting free range blackbuck and sika. They where the best tasting steaks!!!!

When I moved from CA to TX, I rented the biggest UHaul with a trailer that they had and hauled everything I could fit on it, then flew back and did it again. On the third trip, I drove my truck, with a trailer, and my ex drove her car with her house plants in it. Overall, it was a huge pain trying to decide what to bring, and what to get rid of. After settling in and finally unloading everything from storage, I ended up throwing away about half of what I hauled here. It was overwhelming trying to decide what I would need when I had never lived here. If I ever do it again, I really think that I'll sell, give away, or donate to Goodwill, almost everything.

What happened is a lot of my stuff just didn't survive being in storage. The heat, moving stuff around, and then putting unopened boxes in my garage and having a leak that got the boxes all wet added to the problem. But I've never missed anything that I threw away, and what was really important to me, we treated differently then the stuff that I just couldn't decide on what to do with it when I was packing up and moving here.

In the end, it's just stuff.

 

[STx]

Love that spring, and the Texas Hill Country. I have often wondered about living out there.

Like me, it sounds like you have a lot of stuff. Sounds like many trips. How many animals do you have? Sounds like preparing for the animals is the greatest task ahead.

We've got 3 Nigerian Dwarfs goats, about 30 pigs at the moment but, that'll be 4 at most before we move, and more chickens than I can count. The goats and chickens aren't too bad, they just need a good shelter and a fenced yard, we let the chickens free range during the day.

The pigs, on the other hand, need excellent fencing and a few good sized pastures to rotate through, even with just 4, or they'll destroy the ground. They also need a wallow and some sort of shelter.

 

[STx]

Congratulations. My original plan when moving to Texas was to be in the Hill Country. Sounds like you found an awesome spot with all that water, and having Axis is a huge bonus. My wife shot three does down near Sonora a couple years ago while I was hunting free range blackbuck and sika. They where the best tasting steaks!!!!

I love Axis. I haven't shot a deer in years because whitetail just isn't tasty enough, to me, to be worth the effort to clean and process them. For Axis, I'll probably end up building a walk-in cooler to hang and process them on-site and we'll reduce our beef consumption significantly. There are also Mouflan on the place and the occasional other exotic like Sika, Fallow, Red Deer, etc.

In the end, it's just stuff.

Don't tell my wife that.

 

[radios1]

semi box truck for the household stuff, and a flatbed for 2 machines at a time.. there are trailers you can rent for the animals..

 

[STx]

semi box truck for the household stuff, and a flatbed for 2 machines at a time.. there are trailers you can rent for the animals..

I've got a 26' deck over with dovetail and 16,000# capacity, a 20' GN dump trailer with 16,000# capacity, a 14' GN stock trailer and an F450 to pull them all. I'm going to look at a 40' GN with 25,000# capacity on Monday for the couple of pieces of equipment I had to have delivered because they were too heavy for my trailer. So, I've got the trailers and vehicle to move everything, it's just a matter of the effort and time to do it all.

The fencing won't be terrible either, I've got a post driver for the skid steer and made an attachment to unroll and stretch field fence with the skid steer also, again it's just the time and, hoping I can drive deeply enough without hitting rock where I want to put pastures, I think I can.

I'm probably going to have to break down and hire some help in Bandera to get it done in a reasonable time frame. I'm just so used to working alone, I'm not sure I can work well with others anymore.

 

[Doofy]

Good Luck with the move, property sounds interesting. I had 3 relatives murdered there in 1863 and have always wanted to see the small monument. I've visited the Hill Country but didn't know of the massacre then. Desolate but beautiful area.

 

[STx]

Good Luck with the move, property sounds interesting. I had 3 relatives murdered there in 1863 and have always wanted to see the small monument. I've visited the Hill Country but didn't know of the massacre then. Desolate but beautiful area.

That sounds like an interesting story, I must hear more now.

Where did you visit? I don't really see it as desolate at all, lots of hardwood variety (we'll have live oak, red oak, Mexican white oak, pecan, peach, sycamore, cherry, black walnut, Spanish oak, post oak, hackberry, Huisache, China berry, and others along with the ubiquitous cedar), tons of springs, creeks and rivers (the Medina is just 3 miles from the new land, the Frio, Nueces, Sabinal, Llano and several others have their headwaters in the hill country) and lots of wildlife. The ground had a good bit of rock so there are areas without much grass or ground cover as you get up the hills but the area around Bandera, Real, Kerr and Gillespie counties is pretty green and diverse, especially the bottom land.

Edwards, Uvalde, Val Verde, Kimble and the other Western counties stay pretty dry and sparse/scrubby.

Texas is such a diverse state in terms of geography and ecosystems/micro climates, especially in the hill country, the terrain and flora can change drastically in just a few miles.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I've got a 26' deck over with dovetail and 16,000# capacity, a 20' GN dump trailer with 16,000# capacity, a 14' GN stock trailer and an F450 to pull them all. I'm going to look at a 40' GN with 25,000# capacity on Monday for the couple of pieces of equipment I had to have delivered because they were too heavy for my trailer. So, I've got the trailers and vehicle to move everything, it's just a matter of the effort and time to do it all.

The fencing won't be terrible either, I've got a post driver for the skid steer and made an attachment to unroll and stretch field fence with the skid steer also, again it's just the time and, hoping I can drive deeply enough without hitting rock where I want to put pastures, I think I can.

I'm probably going to have to break down and hire some help in Bandera to get it done in a reasonable time frame. I'm just so used to working alone, I'm not sure I can work well with others anymore. View attachment 662138View attachment 662139View attachment 662140

I've seen some guys do fencing in the limestone. They had a particular sized carbide bit drill on a hilti hammer drill with a big generator. They'd buzz the holes and the T posts fit with just some slight taps, but rock solid.

Sounds like you have plenty of equipment.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

The owner of my company has a big place on 337 between Vanderpool and Leakey.

 

[STx]

The owner of my company has a big place on 337 between Vanderpool and Leakey.

Very nice, we looked at a few properties in there. We decided against them for various reasons, the biggest being not much flat space for animals, lots of solid rock that would be a monster to fence in and 0 cell service in the valleys. The no cell service is great for a vacation place, not so good for full time living.

 

[Doofy]

Tragedy Tree

I was born and raised in West Texas and boy was it flat and sparse. Moved to Alaska at 11 and have never looked back. Visited family in Camp Wood, Kerrville, San Antonio, Lometa and Lampasas. I liked all those areas and would also consider relocating. Finally, after 57 years I am weary of the cold, snow and darkness of winter. I am also ready for trees other than spruce.

 

[STx]

Tragedy Tree

I was born and raised in West Texas and boy was it flat and sparse. Moved to Alaska at 11 and have never looked back. Visited family in Camp Wood, Kerrville, San Antonio, Lometa and Lampasas. I liked all those areas and would also consider relocating. Finally, after 57 years I am weary of the cold, snow and darkness of winter. I am also ready for trees other than spruce.

That's a pretty horrific story, it's a shame the perpetrators never faced justice.

Most of the areas you mention are pretty dry and scrubby with the exception of Kerrville and some of San Antonio. We looked at some properties in Camp Wood, it's on the edge of where the terrain changes from green and diverse to dry scrub.

 

[shooterdon]

BE BRUTAL!!!!!

So much of the junk you will move is junk you may never have any need for. Six years after my move, I regret all the stuff I packed. A lot of it is still packed.

 

[Jim Nelson]

The last 2 times we moved, the first thing I did was call for a dumpster to be dropped off and emptied weekly. There were a few disagreements about what was needed but nothing serious. The dumpster rental was the best money we spent.

 

[Doofy]

If I relocate, it will be with a suitcase and an airplane. We will have our favorite photos and wall art shipped after we find a place. At my age I no longer need all the tools and equipment that's been accumulated over the past 70 years. Footloose and fancy free to find an area we like. We will rent and not buy, no more tenacious roots to tie us down.