WHAT
animals
I have an extremely fond affinity for goats and for dairy products, so dairy goats seem like a very good idea. I'd like to have enough to supply the dairy for my family and friends and to trade with neighbors, but I haven't yet figured out how many that would be. Possibly something like six goats. I'll want to do a lot of things with the milk - yogurt, kefir, cheeses of any kind possible, soap, other bath products - but I don't want to have so many goats that they become my full-time job. I imagine I'll start with just two and then breed the best milker. Excellent fencing to protect the garden will be a top priority. From the limited amount of research I've done so far, I really like the Nubian and Nigerian breeds.
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| Nigerian goats |
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| Nubian goat |
Laying chickens will be a necessity, and based on my limited experience with them so far, I know I want to limit the number of roosters to no more than two and get a variety of breeds so the egg shells are different colors.
Not yet sure about cows. I like them a lot, but they're expensive to keep and they produce a lot of milk.
WHERE
Essentials- at least five acres
- zoned such that livestock are OK
- within an hour of Saint Paul
- under $150K
- some woods
- 10 acres or more
- water - lake, pond, or stream
- less than 45 minutes from Saint Paul
- a view - or lots of them
- established fruit and shade trees
land use and livestock regulations
Heading into this new experience, I am beginning with some assumptions for my future that may very well change:
- I would like to have my own farm, including:
- Space to grow enough vegetables to sustain my family and share with the community.
- At least one cow for milking - and making all kinds of things with the milk.
- Goats for milking and general hilarity.
- Chickens for eggs (and possibly meat) and general hilarity.
- Sheep for grazing, milking, shearing, and general hilarity.
- Likely a commercial kitchen so I can make money processing and selling things from the farm.
- This farm would need to be within 30 minutes of the Twin Cities because:
- Aaron will need to be close to the Twin Cities for work, and for the sake of his sanity and my own issues with consuming huge amounts of gasoline, I do not want him to have a long commute.
- We do not want to live completely separate lives, especially when we have kids, so having a place in the cities and a place way out in the country is not ideal.
I need to find out how possible this is and how much money it would mean. The closer we are to the cities, the more expensive the land will be, sure. But I'm more interested in land use restrictions. My parents live about 20 minutes from the cities, but they're in a suburb and certainly couldn't have cows in their backyard. And I don't want to live somewhere that lets me have one goat and six chickens, either. Some cursory Googling is not yielding anything yet, but I plan to dig into this a lot and post what I find here, in the hopes that maybe it would be useful to someone else some day.
