Planning a Farm

What food do you want to grow? What animals would you like to have? How much property do you have?
If you can answer these, then I have a few suggestions for your hobby farm.

Amount of food:

 Milk

Most families don't need more than 1-2 gallons of milk a day. That includes milk to make cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products. Most cow breeds can produce 4-5 gallons of milk a day. So your family would need only 1 cow in milk at a time. In the past, most families kept 1-2 cows to have a continuous supply of milk.

Goats produce less milk, with the best breeds only producing about 1/2 gallon a day. So your family might need 3-4 dairy goats in milk at a time. Which means you need 6-8 dairy goats on the farm.

Meat

This can vary depending on the family. What kind of meat does your family eat? Do you eat a lot of meat? none? almost none?

But a family of four can typically eat ten pounds of chicken a week. This is easier to measure if you envision each family member eating one whole chicken a week. This would mean that the family would need to grow 208 meat chickens a year. 

Two pigs can provide 250-280 lbs of pork. It is common for a family to butcher two pigs per year. However, you will also need a sow to breed for continued pork supply. You can also purchase piglets from local farms to raise and butcher yourself. You can also pay to have the pigs butchered, which can be expensive.

A family will raise and butcher one steer per year. If the family is large or likes a lot of beef, they may have two steer butchered. But there is an expense for having the cattle butchered, which can cost over $800 per steer. This is not a butcher job that you can/should do yourself. It can be dangerous and difficult to do correctly. 

Eggs

This is a great option if you can't or won't raise meat livestock. There are many fowl that can be raised as layers, each with benefits and drawbacks. However, this is a source that takes little room and less work. 

Depending on the breed, a chicken hen can give you one egg a day. Or at least 300 eggs a year. Getting more chickens won't cover the break in egg laying, as it is caused by the shorter days in the winter months. So you only need however many eggs your family needs a day. If you're a family of four and you each eat 1-2 eggs a day, then you need 4-8 chickens. But you also use eggs to cook and bake, so you may want a few extra hens around. Most families keep 8-10 chicken hens for their egg supply. If your family doesn't eat a lot of eggs a week, you will want to cut down on the amount of chickens you own. 4-5 hens is still 2-3 dozen eggs a week. You can always add to the flock, so start with less hens and add if you need more eggs.

Space:

 If you have limited space (less than an acre), you need to narrow down your options. A cow won't be easy to keep on a small plot of land. However, a few goats will fit comfortably. 

Another thing to consider is how you plan to breed your livestock.

space as you can spare. As an example, cattle will appreciate if you keep them as 2 cows (+calves) per acre. While they can live on less, they wouldn't be as happy. This is the same for goats, who love to wonder the woods and forage. So if you have the space, give the goat herd (of 8-10 goats) an acre. Chickens love to forage as well, but can be happy with 1/4 acre. 

Also be sure that you can fence the area that you choose for the livestock. Depending on your area, this can keep them out of danger of predators like coyotes.

One Acre:
You own one acre and want a hobby farm? No problem, that acre can fit more than you think. This size farm requires you to pay for most of the hay and feed though.

• Quarter acre for dairy: 60'x180' pasture for your cows and female goats (with a 20'x50' barn) and 60'x30' for the male goats. This is plenty for 2 cows (+calves) and 8 goats (+kids). They will still need hay each day, but they can do a small amount of foraging themselves. You only need 1-2 cows or 1 cow + 4 goats. But you won't need this amount of milk for a family in a year. If you need fresh milk throughout the year, then you need 2 cows or 1 cow and 2-3 goats. Make sure there is space for the kids and calves, which need to be born for the milk supply to continue.
  
• 20'x30' for the chickens. Use 10'x10' of this for the coop. This should house 35 hens comfortably and still give them a little scratching space. If you are in a cold climate, increase the coop size to at least 12'x14'. You don't want to increase the coop size too much or it won't maintain heat. But a harsh winter means the hens are in more. And they will need more room to move around. If possible, have an area for chickens within your cow/goat barn.
  
• 20'x30' for the pigs. 2-3 pigs and their piglets. You may need an extra run/ barn for any pigs you are keeping for butchering. 
• A 50'x50' garden. This garden should be big enough to supply a family of 8-10 people with fresh vegetables for most of the year.  
• Fruit trees. A 20'x40' area can house 6-8 fruit trees depending on the variety. 
• House (the size of your house). I use a 50'x50' house for all of these suggestions, but most houses will fit into the plan with no problem. 
• Herb garden: anywhere from 5'x5' to 10'x20'.
• Yard: like a pool and deck (50'x50'), or fire-pit (10'x20' or 20'x20'), a net and area for volleyball (20'x30').  

This is: 3500-4500 gallons of cow's milk,  200-900 gallons of goat's milk, 9,000+ eggs, 80-120 piglets (if you raised any for butchering you would have about 280lbs of pork from two pigs), and fresh fruits and vegetables.
If you have 1 cow and 4 goats, you will have 1500gal. of cow's milk/year and 100-450gal. of goat's milk/year.

Two Acres:
 You can do everything from the one acre farm and use the extra acre to grow hay, field corn, wheat, soybeans, and sweet corn. Or you can give the dairy part of your farm a larger pasture.

• Cows and female goats- 1/2 acre for pasture, but the same amount of livestock. This cuts down the hay costs. 
• 60'x30' for the male goats
• 30'x25' for the hens, this is just extra run space for the 35 hens. 
• 20'x30' for the pigs. 2-3 pigs and their piglets. 20'x20' area for the finishing pigs
• Hay field- quarter acre. That's around 32,000 lbs of hay each year. Which is close to the hay amount needed. 
• Field corn, wheat, and soybeans are main ingredients in homemade livestock feed. Only plant the soybeans and wheat if you want to make the homemade feed. Field corn can still be feed to the pigs (instead of you buying it) and also to the cows and chickens as a treat. 1/8 an acre of field corn is about 500lbs/year. 
• If you don't plant wheat and soybeans, you can plant sweet corn. 1/8 of an acre is 2,000 ears of corn. Sell the extra. 
• Herb garden: anywhere from 5'x5' to 10'x20'. 
• House and Pool + Yard for summer fun.
• You can grow 12-16 fruit trees. 
• Very small pond and a 5'x3' duck house. For 4-5 ducks.

 This is: 4000-4500gallons of cow's milk,  200-900 gallons of goat's milk, 9,000 chicken eggs, 350 duck eggs, 280lbs of pork, and fresh fruits and vegetables. 

The difference? You don't need to buy any hay. You can also practice pasture rotation which has been proven to maintain hay/grass growth for an increase of livestock on the land.

Laying Hens (Chickens)

Chickens are the best animal to start with. When you are ready to add livestock to the farm, start with some chickens.
These little feathery creatures can be purchased as peeps (babies), pullets (before laying), or hens (laying). Either age, have the housing ready before purchasing the chickens. If you're lucky, you'll have a coop and run ready, somebody will give you their extra hens. If you are buying peeps, you need a draft free area and a heat lamp. They also need a special feeder and water container. Peeps die easily, so buy extra.

Space: Each grown hen requires a 2'x2' housing space and a 2'x5' run. It's a good idea to give them extra space if you have cold/ long winters. They need a laying box/space and roosts to perch on in the coop. The coop can be bigger than you need, the hens will still be able to warm it in the winter. Make sure the coop has vents/windows, chicken coops cannot be completely shut.
10'x10' coop can house 35 hens with a 20'x20' run.

Eggs: Around 18 weeks of age, the hen will start laying eggs. She should be receiving a layer feed ration days before she beings to lay. These first eggs don't form well and it could be another week before she lays quality eggs. A hen will lay between 300-350 eggs each year. The 300 eggs means she is taking a longer rest time, which is better for her health. You may even have a hen that lays slightly smaller eggs, but 2 each day ( in my experience, this hen will later lay one egg each day with a high change of double yolks).

Feed: Your hen needs layer feed twice a day, every day. A day's worth is 3.5-4 oz for one hen. She may not eat the whole portion during spring, summer, and part of fall. During these times, if she is free range or has a large run, she will be eating bugs and grass. The feed comes in 50lb bags, so if you have a small flock, be sure to find a safe way to store that amount of feed. Your hen will also love any extra vegetables from your garden or fruit from the fruit trees. She also can eat parsley from the herb garden. But don't feed the hen garlic, onion, or chives because the eggs will taste funny. Certain herbs can be grown special for the hen (chickweed, for example).

How Many Hens?: This depends on your situation. If you are a family of 1 or 2, then you may only need 2-3 hens. Unless one or both of you eat a lot of eggs. Look at your weekly egg use to help decide. If you are going through a dozen eggs a week, then you need 12-15 hens. However, if you go through 6 eggs a week, then you only need 6-8 hens. If you get too many, you can always sell the extra eggs.

I hope this answered some of your questions about laying hens.

Brief Post on Dairy Cows

Cows are large and can be hard to control, for these reasons most people starting a hobby farm don't have a cow (at least not as the first animal). If you have the space and startup cash, getting a cow can be a great idea that may earn some extra cash.
The ideal amount of space is one acre per cow and calf. However, you can keep a cow in a 10'x10' barn with a 10'x12' run and feed a bale of hay (50lbs) per day. Living on an acre means that the cow doesn't need to be given hay except for the winter months. The calf would also have to live there, so keeping them in an area of 10' x 30' will work until the calf is separated.
Calves take 2 years to grow to full size (butchering weight) but can be sold at 1 year old. The price of a year old calf (around here) is $1,000. A two year old be be around $2,000.
Cows only eat feed when they are being milked, usually 1lb per milking which totals 2lbs per day. They eat sweet feed or a full nutrition feed for lactating cows.
Cows can be milked for a year, but you want the cow pregnant to be milked for the next year. One option is to milk the cow for 10 months and let her rest for the two months before she gives birth.  Another option is a longer rest period, only milk for 8 months instead of 10. A cow will give an average of 5 gallons of milk per day. She also needs to have alfalfa hay to help with milk production.
With 5 gallons of milk a day, you will have to sell the extra or give it away. 

Here are some of the numbers:

• Hay (no/little pasture)- 50lbs/day or 18,000lbs/year
• Feed (10mths of milking)- 2lbs/day or 600lbs/year
• Milk (10mths of milking)- 1000-1500 gal/year , an average family would go through 150-200 gallons/year.

A cow can cost $1,000/year.

To make money back:

• Sell the calf for $1,000, that covers the money you spent.
• Sell the extra milk (for $2-$4/gal) or make and sell cheese (Cheese costs $2/lb for you to make and you can sell it for $4/lb or more). This is extra money that you've made. 

Another option for the calf (male and castrated) is to raise it to slaughter weight and have it butchered. I must warn you that paying a butcher is costly! However, that would be a year's supply of beef.
Most families get a second cow or have goats for when their main cow is out of milking season. This guarantees a steady supply of milk through-out the year. 

Balancing Out Owning Cattle