|
|
 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
   
Location: Arkansas | Crowned Image - 2015-07-18 8:02 AM
We are deciding what we want to do so I'm just casually looking at houses and lots. How many acres do you think is a bare minimum? 2-4 horses with room to run a bit, I don't want them in tiny pastures. Looking more because I don't know how to figure in how much space a house and a barn would need added on..
I like 2 acres per horse. We have 5 on about 10 acres right now. Have about 4 more acres not accessible to the horses at this time. We have two of our catfish ponds fenced, and the levees are what they are on. And butterball fat!!
ETA if I was doing house and barn with pasture I'd add 5 acres for the buildings/runs, etc. Like someone else mentioned, I have about 600 acres at my disposal so I'm spoiled too. . .
Edited by Chandler's Mom 2015-07-19 1:07 AM
| |
| | |
Location: midwest mama | I have 13 acres, and it is WAY too much for me to take care of on my own. I spend all my time taking care of my place, and have no time left to spend with my horses!
I have really thinned out my herd, so I have 2 barrels horses, and an old retired horse and her mini. 5 acres would be plenty for me now - a few dry turnouts, a few irrigated turn outs, a 6 stall barn and an all weather arena is all I need. And a little house with a yard. I need to simplify........ | |
| | |
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 871
Location: Bama | I've always heard a minimum of 1 acre per animal. I've had two horses on eight acres the past few years and only have to give hay two months out of the year. They look like ticks most of the year. I've added three more horses over the last 4 months and I still Have to bushhog the pasture. | |
| | |
 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | Thanks so much for the responses! I'm not so concerned about the money aspect but more about the ,"having too much we don't know what to do with it all " aspect as we are going to buy below our max so we have plenty of wiggle. We are probably going to stick with a 5-6 acre lot and divide it into two so we can rotate. After a long talk we probably won't add on horses as I'm not nearly involved as I used to be. I will probably just see out the two that I have for their lives and be done. Because I am too emotionally attached and can't sell! | |
| | |
 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| Ive been house shopping for about a year. I think layout of the land tends to be important. I have seen multiple 5 acre places I would enjoy and think would be more that suitable for 3-4 horses. However, Ive seen some 5 acre layouts I wouldn't consider. I preferably would like 10-15 for an arena and stuff but I don't think I would want more than 15 as I wouldn't know what to do with it  | |
| | |
 Expert
Posts: 1718
Location: Southeast Louisiana | Running Roan - 2015-07-18 4:12 PM
Anyone on small acreage want to share some management tips? I'm mainly concerned with ways y'all manage the accumulation of poo if it gets to be too much volume to just let it decompose naturally. Compost it somehow or just pile it up and haul it off periodically?
I have a little homemade drag I can pull behind my four wheeler. It's made from a strip of fence with some pieces of 4x6 posts stapled on for weight. Luckily, my horses have places where they poop and places where they eat grass. If they pooped just anywhere, I'd have to drag more often.
We have one corner of the place that gets pretty wet. When I have to keep my horses stalled, that's where I dump the wheel barrow. I do spread it out when I dump it. I don't dump it in a pile, so I don't have to work that area after the stall cleanings are dumped back there. We get a lot of rain here, and that helps it decompose naturally. Otherwise, we would probably have to get extra garbage pick up so I could put it out by the curb to be hauled away.
When we have to fertilize or put out ant poison or weed and feed or whatever, we have to stall the horses. It would be nice to have an extra few acres so we could alternate pastures if we need to.
Oh, another thing to consider is equipment parking. Right now we have a bunch of stuff in the corner with some rope around it. Luckily the horses don't mess with it. We need to put up a covered parking spot for implements, trailers, tractors, etc. | |
| | |
 Veteran
Posts: 146
| I somewhat depends on where you live and how well pastures grow. We have 10 acres, 8 in pasture, 4 horses. We live in a hot, humid part of the country and grass grows overnight; so 4 horses can't even begin to eat down 8 acres. DH ends up needing to mow pastures very frequently (which he doesn't get done!). Right now pastures are tall and look crappy. Also the 2 acres with house/barns needs mowing just about ever 4-5 days! It's a lot of work. So, if you are in an area where grass grows well, I'd say 1 acre per horse would be sufficient, if in a dry area where pasture is not so good I would go up to 2 acres per horse. However, a lot depends on how much money you have to spend on property, fencing, barns, equipment etc. Fencing a lot of land can get costly. We spent $10,000 on 3 rail board fence for 2,100 feet of fencing (about 6 acres). The maintenance on fencing is often. Also, think of how much time you want to spend taking care of your place v/s work, competing, riding, and getting older. If you have a high maintenance property it can eat up a lot of your free time keeping it looking nice. | |
| | |
 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | We have 5 head on 2 acres. Coming from Southern CA, we know how to rotate to keep it going. Mine are on hay 24/7 (bermuda round bales) and poop is picked up daily and put in the dumpster that gets emptied once a week. We haul 4 miles to the arena to ride. | |
| | |
 Expert
Posts: 1304
| I'm definitely not in the market for a house or land yet, but I like to dream about it! I would probably want for me horse-wise around 10-15 acres. I feel that's enough for rotation and the amount of horses I would want (probably two) as well as any extra animals you may want such as a few cows or goats. I would want to have more land though, like my boyfriend does, for hunting and trail riding. I guess it all depends on the use of it! I would have a lot of acreage as long as it was hunting or trail riding land that didn't need a lot of up keep like pasture with fence, etc. | |
| | |
Good Ole Boys just Fine with Me
Posts: 2869
Location: SE Missouri | I always thought 20 was the bare minimum I would want. We bought 40. There are positives and negatives.
Per acre cost was lower than if we bought 10 or even 20. Plus we just couldn't find the smaller tracts..
We put in 14 acres of alfalfa and the rest is broken in to 4 pastures, 3 acres is a pond, and there is probably another 2 acres that hasn't been fenced. We have since bought a tractor, partners on a bushhog (currently broke), a mower/conditioner, tedder, rake, 2 hay wagons (that we haven't picked up yet), 2 utility trailers, and square baler (than has been gone through at the dealership). Our equipment is all older an finding labor is a PAIN! It is paid for, that is a trade off, lol. If a dealership had been open on Sunday, I promise I would have a new tractor with hay spears (thank GOD for neighbors). That is a different story but we got it done.
We don't have a barn built yet. We do not buy any hay and we get to sell some, we are able to graze the pastures (we put in orchard grass, timothy, and use cold grazer for winter) all but 3 months of the year. We feed little grain (probably don't need to feed any) and really very little hay but I'm a hay hoarder and have issues with selling it, lol. We are able to use shed space that is my dads b/c he is using some of our pasture.
I don't know what is the right approach. I am very happy that we have the 40 because they just don't make it anymore, lol. We have learned A LOT. Pigweed SUCKS, herbicides are my friend, moving dirt is EXPENSIVE, and water drainage is probably the most important thing that we should have addressed at the very beginning. It's frustrating and very rewarding to start a property from scratch! I don't have anyone to blame if we don't get it set up right the first time. So we are going to have an expensive lesson with the alfalfa as we are killing and turning over probably about 10 acres due to the pigweed taking over b/c of run off from neighboring field.
Someone mentioned barbed wire.. I will not ever use that for horses, I know lots do but I've seen too many wrecks with that and smooth wire. We use the white rope electric and it works great for us for perimeter and for cross fencing.
I THINK we will start construction on the barn this fall after we get our water drainage tweaked.. We have to reroute the overflow on the pond and decide best option on the overall drain flow from Northeast to Southwest... We are planning on using steel frame, block walls for the stalls. We have the basic design laid out, working on the details, and I think we have basically decided on the layout for the farm.. The hubby is a civil engineer tech and lets just say we have to get everything agreed upon before we start, lol.
I think you have to figure out what your objectives are! Self sustaining paddocks or just a couple notches about dry lot? Just invest in horse friendly herbicide to deal with weeds as SOON as you see them. It's ridiculous, lol | |
| | |
 Future Lottery Winner
Posts: 2348
Location: True North Strong and Free | It depends on the climaate in your area and how you set it up. We had 3.5 acres that was set up with turnout paddocks and sheds for 4 horses, round pen, 4 box stall barn, garage, large house, 1/2 - 3/4 acres sacrafic groundto turn them out on and the rest in hay fiels that would get us enough hay to feed 2 horses year round. We live in the pacific northwest so alot of rain. Love our place.
 (Farm - barn.jpg)
 (Farm - pens.jpg)
 (House - back view.jpg2.jpg)
 (House - rd pen.jpg2.jpg)
Attachments
----------------
 Farm - barn.jpg (39KB - 195 downloads)
Farm - pens.jpg (53KB - 198 downloads)
House - back view.jpg2.jpg (56KB - 197 downloads)
House - rd pen.jpg2.jpg (57KB - 193 downloads)
| |
| | |
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 679
Location: KS | Technicolor Paints - 2015-07-20 3:27 PM
It depends on the climaate in your area and how you set it up. We had 3.5 acres that was set up with turnout paddocks and sheds for 4 horses, round pen, 4 box stall barn, garage, large house, 1/2 - 3/4 acres sacrafic groundto turn them out on and the rest in hay fiels that would get us enough hay to feed 2 horses year round. We live in the pacific northwest so alot of rain. Love our place.
Your place is beautiful! | |
| | |
Future Lottery Winner
Posts: 2348
Location: True North Strong and Free | Thank you :)
| |
| | |
Expert
Posts: 2685
| I have 3 big horses and a yearling on 3 acres. We fit comfortably with an arena. Haven't killed my grass yet but I feed free choice hay and feed alfalfa twice a day.
I wanted more land but I'm 20 and bought the place on my own. I couldn't really expect to be able to get a loan for a big place nor did I want a big payment. | |
| | |
 Roan On The Range
Posts: 7889
Location: Stephenville, TX | Technicolor Paints - 2015-07-20 4:27 PM It depends on the climaate in your area and how you set it up. We had 3.5 acres that was set up with turnout paddocks and sheds for 4 horses, round pen, 4 box stall barn, garage, large house, 1/2 - 3/4 acres sacrafic groundto turn them out on and the rest in hay fiels that would get us enough hay to feed 2 horses year round. We live in the pacific northwest so alot of rain. Love our place.
Your place is so neat and tidy! The set up looks well thought out too.
When I look at places for sale, sometimes I wonder WTH people were thinking LOL!
| |
| | |
Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| Currently we are on 23 acres. The house is taller than it is wide, so is big, but doesn't take up much ground space. We have an 8 stall barn connected to one pasture thats about 5 acres, and another across the driveway that is about 6 acres. We have 2 large yard sections that are not fenced that we have to mow and it's a pain. We also have a pond that takes up an acre or two. Then the rest is not fenced and wooded that we don't do anything with. We have 3 horses on this, but I would like more, and think that if I had the donkey, a mini and some goats and 2 more horses that I want, this would be enough.
I have been looking/planning to find something to buy in the next 2-3 years. Since we have had this property, I have a few requirements.
Currently the house is in the back/middle of this property which is GREAT because we have a ton of privacy. We are .25 mile from a main highway and you would never know from our porch.
I would NOT run the driveway up the middle of the property. This is purely for convenience...since we have two pastures we rotate horses on/off daily, it's a pain to move horses across the driveway because everything has to be temporary so that horse trailers/cars can pass through. I would put my barn and pastures all on one side of the driveway.
I also would want to fence every inch of grass so that we don't have to mow as much. Also, the two yards we have that aren't fenced would have provided more shade for the horses. The only other option would be to have the barn/pasture on one side and house/sheds/arena on the other.
I think 15-20 is a good size for me. We have enough grass so that I don't have to feed hay throughout most of the year. Only during really bad winters, and I keep square bales so I can feed hay when they are stalled during bad weather and for hauling to shows.
| |
| |
| |
Folks on-line