How many acres do you own/operate on?

[JT on a JD]

Mike, did you think about Pecans? They don't require all of the water and attention that grapes do (then again, they don't provide as much revenue per acre either) but you can keep your ag exemption... look into local policies about how many per acre, and whether or not they need to be irrigated. Just a thought.

 

[dalecitymike]

JT,

My wife loves pecans but you are the first to mention it. I have a tax def. on the pine trees but I get taxed on the 5 acres of open land to which growing trees (fruit or nuts) would be the easiest to add to the already existing tree tax deferment. It is a lot easier to maintain than growing a crop I would assume. I could always plant nice grass around the trees and keep the area a bit more open. I have a family of groundhogs living under my barn. My wife wont let me kill or trap them, she thinks they are cute. We have a lot of wildlife, deer, foxes, tons of rabbits. I guess keeping it wooded has its advantages. I wont need to buy or maintain an expensive tractor if I go the way of tree growing (unless i wish to harvest the trees myself but I dont own enough acreage to go that route). I noticed that charlotsville VA has some great deals on acreage. Maybe I will clear cut the forest, replant to avoid the taxes and sell the house in a few years in order to buy 500 acres further south. Then I can retire and live off the land.

 

[Creekpaddler]

67 acres in Totty Hollow here in Hickman County, TN. 5 acres of lawn, 20 of field, the rest is wooded. The land includes creek-bottom, a pond, hillside, and flat-to-sloping benches. Tree species include oak-hickory-ash, beech-maple-tulip poplar, shortleaf pine-red cedar, and bottom-land species like sycamore and sweet gum. I manage it for deer, turkey, blackberries, and hiking/mountain biking trails. There is plenty of firewood which I use for heating. I'm always cutting and splitting stuff that falls to the ground. I have a JD 5225, a JD LX188, and a Stihl MS310 chainsaw to work the land. We've been there for 11 1/2 years. Now I'm looking for a wood splitter with motor.

 

[bobm6996]

18 acres, we live on 4 ac. for the past 20+ yrs and just purchased another 14 ac. about 3/4 mile down the road. Plan to eventually sell the 4 ac. and build a new house on the recently purchased property. Have a Mahindra 2615 w/FEL, 48" tiller, 5' box blade, 6' blade, 7' landscape rake, post hole digger, 6.5' disk, 2-16 bottom plow and a 8' drag harrow. Planning to put 10 ac. of new property in hay this next year to feed 3 horses and sell remaining. Hoping to get a couple calves to provide meat for the family. Planning to start looking for an older vintage tractor over the next few months, Mahindra will not be able to do the hay work.

 

[FTG-05]

67 acres in Totty Hollow here in Hickman County, TN. 5 acres of lawn, 20 of field, the rest is wooded. The land includes creek-bottom, a pond, hillside, and flat-to-sloping benches. Tree species include oak-hickory-ash, beech-maple-tulip poplar, shortleaf pine-red cedar, and bottom-land species like sycamore and sweet gum. I manage it for deer, turkey, blackberries, and hiking/mountain biking trails. There is plenty of firewood which I use for heating. I'm always cutting and splitting stuff that falls to the ground. I have a JD 5225, a JD LX188, and a Stihl MS310 chainsaw to work the land. We've been there for 11 1/2 years. Now I'm looking for a wood splitter with motor.

EXACTLY what I'm looking for except in western Lincoln County, TN. The other exception is that I, for some reason I don't know why, prefer to get a Kubota instead of a John Deere.

 

[Curtis Gray]

70 acres/ probably around 8 acres cleared including house. Use Kubota MX5100 for pasture/trails, and Exmark 60 inch for yard.

 

[brant750]

we have 27.8 acres 1.5 of which is yard and house with small pond
5 acre field which i mow aprox 1.5 of which has a small horse stable
and a garden area
the balance is wood lot which hopefully by fall will have a couple foodplots
and treestands

just an update to this we had owned this property for only 6-12 months when i posted this
i maintain it when possible with a jd750 4x4 with a FEL and i mow 4-5 acres in finish with a f935 i bought recently
we have planted fruit trees and bushes and planted sunflowers and turnip to help feed the resident deer,bear,and small game
it keeps me busy LOL

 

[RoyJackson]

We have about 9 acres. About 2.5 is lawn and mowed with a Deere Z920 mower...about 3.5-4.0 are field and mowed with mt 4520 and an RFM (after a few mowings by an ancient rotary cutter.

 

[Rustyiron]

711ac. of woodland with 9000'+ on a small very private river. Kubota 9540 for keeping the several miles of acess roads (to skidder trails) open, mowed & in shape. Then there's the firewood also. Got a big 115hp Gehl skidsteer with a good selection of attachments, and a Hitachi excavator for some of the other never ending chores around here. When I hit the lottery or sell my 128 ac. farm in MD, I'd like to clear a couple or three, 30 ac. pasture's for livestock. Lot's of stumps, huge rocks dropped off by the last few glacier's, and they also left only a few inches of marginal top soil. This is where I'm supposed to be!:cool2:
Those are some of the smaller big rocks, we've got some as big as a 10 wheel drump truck. That's the river in early April 2011.

 

[Fawken]

5. Used to have more, but sold it a little at a time. Paid $750 per acre in 1976. Dallas real estate just tempts a person to sell. Last one-acre lot I sold was $29,500 about 9 years ago. I'll keep what I have unless the illegals keep taking over.