How much land to survive off?

filthyjabba

Am I crazy for thinking that 2 people could live off a 1 acre piece of land with greenhouse, Chicken coops,some goats, maybe a cow
I would be growing mostly
-Potatoes
-Courgettes
-cabbage
-Lettuce
-Herbs
-Tomatoes
-Garlic
-onions
-beans
-Stawberries

Tabnabs

Moved from Survivalism & Self Sufficiency as we already have a thread on this by the OP and this forum seems ideal for a qualified answer.

bbam

filthyjabba wrote: »

Am I crazy for thinking that 2 people could live off a 1 acre piece of land with greenhouse, Chicken coops,some goats, maybe a cow
I would be growing mostly
-Potatoes
-Courgettes
-cabbage
-Lettuce
-Herbs
-Tomatoes
-Garlic
-onions
-beans
-Stawberries

I'd say you'd be talking more about three/four acres.. Your cow and any calf will need grazing and youll need to save winter feed of some area too..
allot will depend on the land quality and aspect too..
There would be a big difference in the produce from an acre in Leitrim compared to the golden vale..

filthyjabba

What counties would be good for land, and which are the worst.

marizpan

filthyjabba wrote: »

What counties would be good for land, and which are the worst.

There is good and bad land in every county. You will know by looking at it. And look at what the neighbours are farming. Big difference between tillage/dairy farming and mountain sheep farms good land costs more, as it should.
You should consider other factors when looking and then when you know what region that would suit ,you can source good land in it.

Examples
How near to family&friends?
Transport links?
Available markets ie. Labour & trade
Amenities ie. Restaurants, cinemas etc

These things are very important as the land will be part of but not your whole life.

Equality

The number of acres is also important. It is possible that EU farm grants in the future will be based on the number of acres you hold.

In addition, if you hold sufficient acres, you may claim for Farm Assist from Social Welfare. A lot of small farmers get this payment (it includes the farmer, his wife/partner and kids) and it is a great option for anyone who is self employed and farming part time, as the means test calculation is very favourable to the self employed. You must be farming the land to qualify, but I think that growing veg and selling them in the local farmers market would be sufficient to qualify. A one acre garden beside a house is unlikely to qualify, if it did the whole countryside would be on farm assist.

If you buy land with timber on it, you could cut this and sell it for firewood. This is also farming.

I would not recommend buying one cow, to have milk... The costs of getting a herd number are substantial, if you are working on a very limited budget I don't recommend trying to do this. It is not economical to have one cow for milk in modern Ireland, there is too much paperwork with the Dept of Ag.

If you buy a property with an old house, check for water supply, septic tank and electricity supply.

If you buy a property with no house, you can always rent in town, or put a caravan on the land. Either way, owning the land will allow you to apply to the county council for a council house. That does not mean you will get a council house, just that you would be considered to have a connection to the locality because you would own land there, and your chances would be good, if you met income and other guidelines. Many farmers get a modern house built on their land by the council for them, as they do not want to live in a town, and need to be near their land to farm it. Planning may be difficult to get for this, but if there is an old house on the land (with a septic tank) you would have a good chance of getting a council house built for you.

Best of luck, it sounds like a good lifestyle.

marizpan

The CAP payments are already based on hectares.
Herd number is free, there is handling, housing & fencing requirements. Requirements are more relaxed when dealing with a family cow. A herd number classifies a person as a farmer from a sw and vat point of view.

Equality

Thanks for that, Marizpan.

I did not know the requirements for the herd number were more relaxed if the number of animals was small.

That is greatly appreciated, as I have been thinking about farming myself, and the Farm Assist would be useful. Great to know that sw counts the herd number as proof of farming. That is very useful information.

HillFarmer

marizpan wrote: »

The CAP payments are already based on hectares.
Herd number is free, there is handling, housing & fencing requirements. Requirements are more relaxed when dealing with a family cow. A herd number classifies a person as a farmer from a sw and vat point of view.

CAP payments are not currently based on land area. They are based on what farming you did back in the 00's/
There is currenlt a move to make CAP a flat rate payment for 2014 onwards.
Also herd number requirements for 1 cow is the same as 20 in my experience. Crush,shed etc.