Where to Start

Before starting a hobby farm you need to think over a few important things.

• How much time do you have for the farm each day? Feeding, milking, and cleaning up after animals takes time. You also have to tend to your garden multiple times a week.
• How much space/ land do you have? How much of it will be for animals, garden, and you? Cows can take up acres, but goats take up a lot less space. Chickens can roam free or build a large run, but they need space and how much do you want to allot to them?
• Can you afford this? It costs money, time, and effort.

After thinking about these questions, it's time to decide what you want on your farm. Do you want fresh produce? Then you need a garden. Fresh fruit means fruit trees. Fresh eggs? You will want a few laying hens or ducks. Fresh milk? You need to decide if a cow or a goat is best for you.

I went from having a large barn, a medium coop, and a small shelter on about 10 acres of land to one medium shelter on two acres of land. I'm glad I didn't get a cow before I moved, because now I don't have the space for it.

If you have 10 acres and the buildings for the animals, all you need is the research and money to start buying. But if you only have an acre, you need to limit your plans. It is possible to own chickens, goats, pigs, honey bees, and ducks with only one acre and still have space for an herb garden and medium sized vegetable garden.

Another thing to consider is... you can use the garden to feed the chickens and the chickens to feed the garden. Extra produce from your garden is gladly accepted by the flock, and chicken manure (after composting) is great for a garden.

Research the amount of space, but these are some quick averages:

Cows- usually one acre/cow or one acre/cow and calf.  (Only need 1, can have 2 to alternate milking seasons) Can be kept in a 10'x0' barn with 10'x12' run with hay each day.
Goats- one acre/20+ goats. (a family only needs 2-4)
Sheep- same as goats
Chickens- 5'x10' coop + 15'x15' run/ 25 chickens, no run means a much larger coop.
Pigs- one acre/5+ pigs (a family only needs 2)
Garden- 50'x50' garden is plenty of food for a 10 person family
Ducks- 2'x4' duck house/ 3-4 ducks

 Sharing Space:
    Some animals can share space (runs, pastures, and sometimes buildings). Cows, goats, and sheep are fine to pasture together. Sheep and goat must eat feed separately, sheep are allergic to copper and goat need copper in their diets. Chickens can go into barns with livestock (they clean up spilled feed), but need a separate sleeping space. Pigs cannot share space with any other livestock, they will kill them! When rotating pastures you can pair up livestock: cows/horses, cows/goats, goats/sheep, and horses/ sheep. Donkeys, mules, and other grazers can also go into the pastures together. Poultry can share space, but it is advised against. Poultry can spread diseases to each other.

These animals have different costs and requirements. Cow are expensive upfront and need a lot of space, but you can make your money back. Goats don't require very much space, but don't make back the money you spend (unless you can sell the cheese for $15/lb). Chickens don't cost much and take up very little space.