Bought a farm, now what?

[Redneck in training]

We also purchased land with grazing contract. My experience is that the guy would care less for your land. Our land was overgrazed causing erosion we have to deal with till today. When the contract expired I told him to get his cows and leave. Then we decided to plant soy because the price for beans was pretty high. I talked to my neighbor farmer and we did it 50/50. He did all the work with his machines and gave me 50% of the net. When the soy beans price collapsed it was not worth the effort to plant it anymore and we decided to restore prairie. Before planting the soy first time we had to remove many (perhaps a thousand or more) unwanted trees, fix some erosion etc. Therefore we hired a guy with CAT D8 bulldozer who did this kind of work for living. It took him about 8 hours (plus one hour cleaning the machine) to clean about 35 acres. When he was done there were only few roots sticking from ground that I later on pulled out with my little tractor, there were no stumps, no chips and there was several large piles of trees on the perimeter. Cost 1100 USD. We were not charged for transportation because he was terracing and building a pond on property across the road. He had 5 way blade. He would stick one corner of the blade under the tree then lift it up pulling all the roots with it. When he had sufficient number of trees pulled he would push them to a pile. If I find pictures I will post them later.

 

[bspeedy]

Are you yearning for pasture land to lease? If not, why not just let it grow to forest. I'd rather have peaceful woods than a bunch of barren pasture with someone else's cows in it. 40 grand is a ridiculous figure. I'd never put that in my land to go un-recovered. If you have 40 large burning a hole in your pocket, spend 20k on a tractor with implements and 20k on a mini excavator and make some nice trails. Clear what you want to clear and soon you will have it looking nice. Then, keep the machines or sell them. The cow guy is paying literally NOTHING for grazing cattle. Don't see how that would even begin to be worth it to you. 5 grand - real money. 5 hundred??? Seriously???

 

[bspeedy]

My thinking is continue the lease at $500, I will clear the land but he has to take responsibility for bush hogging it. Does that sound reasonable?

Why would you lease 65 acres for 500 a year? The next question is - why buy acreage if you could lease the use of it for eight dollars per acre, per year. That dollar figure hardly pays the taxes. AND, I don't understand the logic of putting 40K worth of work in for a 500 dollar per year return. 4% return on 40 grand is 1600 per year. Put that money in mutual funds and you'll be miles ahead without fooling with leases and cows.

 

[cmaxwell]

The way we've approached spending money to clear the land is more about re-capturing the beauty of the land for our personal enjoyment. We believe that we will build a house on the property in 2 to 3 years, but we're not certain. If we end up spending $40k to clear the land, we're somewhat betting that the capital improvements will make the land worth more should we ever decide to sell.

 

[N80]

If you don't _need_ pasture then forget about trying to rehab 65 acres into pasture. Spend some time on the land. Choose a house sight. Plan smaller more scenic pasture/fields/lawns and forget about going down to bare dirt. If you're not going to farm it or _make_ money on the reclaimed pasture then no need to do all that. You have a blank slate. Get a 50-75 hp 4wd tractor and a good chainsaw and make the place the way you want it.

And, as others have said, a 75 hp tractor with a heavy duty rotary cutter is a beast. Look around and see what they mow power line right of ways with. Just an uparmored tractor with a beast of a rotary cutter. Stumps, rocks, no problem.

But, I don't even think you need that. I bought a 240 acre place fifteen years ago and have cleared out my roads and 4-5 acres of open space which is now almost lawn-like. I did that with a lightweight 45 hp Kubota and a chainsaw.

 

[TractorGuy]

I can't wrap my head around buying a place that someone has a grazing lease on without knowing the terms of the lease. Do you know if you can even tell the cattle guy to go? I wouldn't let someone use 5 acres of my land for $500 per year.

 

[WVH1977]

If you don't _need_ pasture then forget about trying to rehab 65 acres into pasture. Spend some time on the land. Choose a house sight. Plan smaller more scenic pasture/fields/lawns and forget about going down to bare dirt. If you're not going to farm it or _make_ money on the reclaimed pasture then no need to do all that. You have a blank slate. Get a 50-75 hp 4wd tractor and a good chainsaw and make the place the way you want it.

And, as others have said, a 75 hp tractor with a heavy duty rotary cutter is a beast. Look around and see what they mow power line right of ways with. Just an uparmored tractor with a beast of a rotary cutter. Stumps, rocks, no problem.

But, I don't even think you need that. I bought a 240 acre place fifteen years ago and have cleared out my roads and 4-5 acres of open space which is now almost lawn-like. I did that with a lightweight 45 hp Kubota and a chainsaw.

This is good advice. From what you have stated so far it seems like this will be a permanent residence in the future. I have many friends with small farms ranging from 150 to 400 acres. None of them have huge tractors and tons of equipment except my neighbor, but they farm for a living. Majority of them rent out the open land to farmers and maintain 3 to 5 acres around the house. If money is not an issue I would not even worry about leasing it out to the cattle guy.

There is nothing better than getting on your property and working/shaping it a little at a time. It will give you a chance to get to know the place and decide what trees you want to keep or get rid of. Spend as much time as you can on the property. Observe where the sun is at different times of day and get to know the lay of the land. Get out there when it is pouring rain and see where things go. I would just take your time and work slowly, especially if you plan on making this your last home.

As far as equipment goes, it seems like money is not going to be a concern for you as far as buying a tractor. I would seriously consider looking at a nice, premium tractor in the 40hp + range and buy a big chainsaw and a little limbing saw to go along with it. You can always rent heavy equipment or hire out when you decide to do a big job. I know one thing, I just bought a little 16 acre homesite and am looking forward to many barn fires in my future, clearing/shaping a little at a time.

 

[txdon]

Is it worth $500 to have someone else's cattle on your property, with the smell?

$5,000 maybe, but $500?

Lease may qualify you as a business, so you can depreciate equipment purchases.

That $500 lease is worth $5,000 saving in tax dollars if it is currently under ag exemption.

 

[txdon]

Well, none of us know what kind of time, financial, and health resources you have. For me I would tackle this the same way you eat an elephant: 1 bite at a time. I would decide what tractor will suit your day to day needs, get a grapple and rotary cutter for it and then hire a guy with a dozen and knock 1/2 of it down. Then take your time getting ready to cut the logs into firewood. Or, get the trees all limbed and rent a big chipper. You can never have too much mulch

:thumbsup:

 

[N80]

I know one thing, I just bought a little 16 acre homesite and am looking forward to many barn fires in my future,

Barn fires are expensive.

 

[WVH1977]

Barn fires are expensive.

Brush Piles. lol

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Cows on the land and no bush hogging it, is better than no cows

 

[Creamer]

I am confused. How is the pasture overgrown with cattle in it. Cows do a great job of trimming trees and clearing the underbrush by rubbing on it, walking through it, etc. It takes a fairly mature tree to withstand cow treatment. A few years of a little overgrazing and most of the underbrush should be gone then you are just down to the mature trees.

Sorry! I am lazy and like it when the animals do the work. I do agree with Steve though - what are the fences like? If they are not good you may not be able to do this.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

With the wire and big thorns in there, a bulldozer is your best option for clearing. The place neighboring mine was overgrown just like the OP's. A medium sized dozer cleared it all out and made burn piles in about three days. I think it was about 8 acres that was cleared.

 

[Cataclysm]

Looks like your wanting a nice looking place to call home. We need pictures of the property to accurately give advice.

With the information given so far I'd say one of two things.

1. Hire a dozer to work a day and clear off a likely spot for that house. If they make enough progress let them finish the job.

2. Get a nice 50-80 hp tractor with a cab with heat and air. Get a heavy duty rotary cutter and cut every thing you can. You may be surprised what a rotary cutter can do. Get a pto driven tree saw and a grapple. You can clear a lot of trees with that and have the equipment to keep or sell after.

There is a lot of personal satisfaction in doing yourself if your able. I'd tell the cow guy to hit the trail, nicely of course. After you get some acreage cleared you can get you own cows. They are pretty fun to mess with if you not trying to make a living with them.

 

[Egon]

You bought a Farm?

Keep the day job and look for a friendly banker!

Sheep & Goats may do a better job of keeping green stuff under control.

 

[rd_macgregor]

Do many of the Osage Orange trees have straight boles? OO is about the most rot-resistant wood there is; if you can salvage fence posts, you might consider doing so.

As for clear land vs. forest...unless the land is extremely steep (or has some other limitation for agricultural uses), clear land generally has a dramatically higher market value than forested land.

Nearly half of our 250 acres is clear, and we charge a local dairy farmer nothing for mowing it every year...just to keep the land open. He leaves us a number of round bales for the horses, but no cash is exchanged. Our tax rate is lowered a bit by having a bona-fide farmer using the land, but the biggest value to us is keeping the invading trees at bay.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Sounds to me like the land makes $500 a year if you do nothing, and it will still only make $500 a year if you spend up to 40K on it! What's wrong with this pict.??

Why not let it go back wild?? I have places on my land I've let go back wild, they are pretty nice... It's great having all the animals around...

SR

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I am confused. How is the pasture overgrown with cattle in it. Cows do a great job of trimming trees and clearing the underbrush by rubbing on it, walking through it, etc. It takes a fairly mature tree to withstand cow treatment. A few years of a little overgrazing and most of the underbrush should be gone then you are just down to the mature trees.

Sorry! I am lazy and like it when the animals do the work. I do agree with Steve though - what are the fences like? If they are not good you may not be able to do this.

I can agree with cattle are hard on trees, I had a dozen 2-3in trees that were 10ft tall or so just completely killed and destroyed by my cattle, it didn't take them long either, they ate down all the poison ivy on my fence lines, black raspberry bushes, you name it the cattle ate it even know they had hay available, I guess they just like the green stuff better.

I pulled up a bunch of brush on a burn pile and they went threw it and and ate everything green on the pile lol, most of it was branches I trimmed off trees in the front yard.

I was really amazed by all the cattle ate, if the tree can't hold up to force of a good neck or back scratch it got broke off.

 

[Creamer]

Growing up in the Dakotas we wanted to keep our shelterbelts from being overgrown fire hazards so we kept a few sheep around even though we were cattle ranchers because the cows would have killed the trees quickly. Sheep and goats will eat the weeds and get up as high as they can but the cows will go right ahead and trample the brush and knock the trees down unless they are 8+" or so. And even then they will be very hard on them and kill some.