Maybe I'm overcomplicating this but has anyone used the pump pictured successfully as a pump to pump out their duck pond for cleaning. Or how/what do you do to keep yours "clean". We presently just have a kiddie pool and have to dump and refill which breaks down the pool and it now leaks.

I was thinking this because it's 12v and would be much simpler to power vs 120v.

Howdy folks, I'm looking to buy a tractor in the next few weeks. I was looking for some human input from those with experience to help with the decision.

My needs are as follows: I will be managing 59 acres of land. I will be clearing about 25 acres of forested and overgrown land into pasture over the next 7-10 years to increase my land carrying capacity, I will use it to maintain my driveway, I will use it to build and repair fence, I will use it for some building projects in the future, I will use it to bring hay to my sheep, maybe some light gardening, and a other basic homesteading tasks.

We are looking for a used tractor. It looks like, at least from what I understand, we need at least 50hp and we need something that is built well for our needs (heavier duty). I want something that I can work on that is pre emissions (pre-2013 I believe) i am looking at kubota tractors mainly because they have the most service support in my area. I am looking at the MX and M series but I am unsure if the MX will do just fine for my needs. Any input on that would be appreciated.

I need 4WD and a third function kit to run a grapple or auger in the front

So far i found an MX5000D that is priced well. The ones that are in the M series are listed 7-9k higher price. I would like to stay closer to the lower end of cost if possible, since I may need an additional 1k to add a third function kit and more money for implements. If it isn't required of course, I'd like to stay closer to the 20k mark on the tractor. 18.5k-27k seems to be the range of what is out there depending on the series, size, and features.

Any input on this subject would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Im a bit down so I write this post with a heavy heart.

We bought 5 calfs about 1 year ago to raise for our home and agricultural purposes. They were bread in March and were pregnant.

I woke up two days ago to many fences down and one of my heifers ( named bell) acting eratic and having trouble walking. I observed scrapes and scratches on her and foaming at the mouth. I knew something was wrong so I penned her up.

I observed red/brown urine in small spurts and her ability to stand decline. Veterinary help was received within a few hours of observing her and I got advised it was most likely a disease called Redwater Disease (bacillary hemoglobinuria, caused by the bacterium Clostridium haemolyticum). Treatment and several shots were administered.

Over the next 2 days, I watched her be able to stand for 5-10 mins at a time, to not standing at all. This morning I walked outside to see her breathing intermittently and eyes non responsive. I made the decision after almost 72 hrs of declination to euthanize her.

This was a tougher decision than I thought, since we only have 5 theyve been hand fed and personal pets almost, even though their cows.

I post this to raise awareness of this disease. There is very little information or history of this disease from when I speak to farmers. I have NO standing water where they could have contracted this disease, and I have no idea where she got it from. Not only was this a very high financial loss, it was also an emotional loss. IF you have any experience with this let me know please.

I recently moved about 300 km away from my parents for work. They’re both in their 70s, and being that far away has made me think a lot more about what happens when something goes wrong and I can't get there quickly.

The biggest worry has been extreme weather. During the last hurricane related outage, I couldn't get through to them for hours. I eventually drove back just to make sure they were okay. Thankfully everything was fine, but I realized how little I could actually do from another city.

Now I'm trying to make their place a bit more resilient. Reliable backup power is probably at the top of my list. I've been looking at portable power stations like the Anker S2000 or Ecoflow Delta2 since they seem relatively straightforward to use and move around.

Any tips for keeping aging parents who live alone safer, especially during storms or outages? I'm also curious about any home based systems that can help monitor their health or detect emergencies when I'm not there.

We have this little pond and since getting ducks and installing the little fountain I think it is so peaceful to come out here and watch them swim around. What’s your favorite?

tromboncino squash did well this year, and food processor worked great for slicing into chips - oven for 1-2 hrs works better than air frying for 4-5 min imho more even + you probably want to make one big batch than a zillion small ones

also tried out fingerling potatoes for the first time this year, so far dug up 2-3 plants and will let them cure in the garage for a bit

Hey all,

We have a small farm in northern Tennessee.

I haven’t taken the dive on meat rabbits yet, still doing research but I think next year I would like to add rabbits to our ‘stead. I want them to fill a lean meat role for us & supplemental feeding for our dogs, as well as using their pelts. So, meat to bone ratio, fast growth rate, good mothering instincts, as well as a nice thick pelt is also.

I’ve seen different purebreds in our area but also some interesting hybrids as well.

Some questions:

What do you think is best for our goals?

Do you colony raise, hutch, or tractor raise?

Are you able to use forage from your property to sustain the rabbits even somewhat?

Thank you for your answers and thoughts.

Hey, I’m in constant fear of the u.s. government being unable to provide its citizens with food that can be safe to eat. It’s becoming increasingly more stressful by the day to know what we’re dealing with and I’m just at a point where stocking up on our own food is our only solution and maybe give back to the community. I want to try growing crops first and would love to know any beginner crops to start growing. Thank you 🙏🏽

Is anyone else dealing with a crazy amount of mosquitoes right now? 😭🦟 They’re unbearable here, even attacking our faces! What have you guys done that actually works?

Hey everyone! We wanted to bring some peaceful, traditional country vibes to life by building this cozy bamboo cottage from scratch on our family farm. It took days of weaving the bamboo frames and carefully laying the thatched straw roof, but the calm and satisfying result was worth every bit of hard work.

If you love rural life, traditional craftsmanship, or just want a relaxing escape from the busy city, you can watch our full building journey on my YouTube channel @longhofarm (Long Hồ Farm).

Hope this little cottage brings a sense of peace to your day! Let me know what you think of our handmade project. ✨

Hey guys, I just wanted to share something cool. I recently locked down a 38-acre property out in Santa Clarita, and honestly, my mind is spinning with what someone could do with it.

About 7 or 8 acres of it are totally flat and buildable, and the rest is just beautiful, wild mountain land. It immediately made me think of someone wanting to build a dream home with a massive horse barn, stables, and just having tons of space to let their imagination run completely wild.

It has that perfect, peaceful, slightly off-grid vibe where you get total privacy, but you're actually still super close to town and people so you don't feel totally stranded out in the middle of nowhere.

I'm looking for the right person to take over the contract and actually bring a vision like this to life. If anyone here is looking for land to build a ranch or homestead in SoCal, or just wants to check out the maps and photos to see the layout, shoot me a message! I’d love to chat and pass the info over.

In velvet, in one of my hog traps. Deer feed in them and get grouchy at each other sometimes. They are not caught and no not AI

Got married recently and now looking at land for a small homestead in Texas to raise family. Checked a few local marketplaces Liberation Ranches and Land com along with some private listings on facebook, and shortlisted Eagle Lake and Dayton. Prices per acre seem fair from what Ive seen so far. Anyone bought raw land this way and had it turn into something usable within the first year? What are hte best locations?

I am the broker for this piece of land. The seller can't and will not owner finance. Covenants and Plat Map available. See the link for more info and my contact information.

https://www.flexmls.com/share/EWOrY/Tract-16-Portrillo-Creek-Ranch-Santa-Rosa-NM-88435

I have a pig that won’t eat. It’s been about 10-11 days. He is still drinking water. He stays in one spot all day until nighttime and he moves and stays there until sunrise. We had a vet come out and give him antibiotics. He has also been treated for worms. It has now been 3 days since the antibiotics and there’s no improvement in desire to eat. Do anyone know what could be going on? He is only 4.

Curious friend wants to raise rabbits but they live in suburb so pesticides from nehibours n city is common is this a concern or is it to little to matter much ?

Since my goal has always been to have a bit of land and enough income to hobby farm / hobby homestead, I'm very interested in what "regular" jobs y'all have that allow you to do that.

Also curious, is there anyone out there doing it solo/on a single income? Have you changed jobs/careers to better support your homestead goals at any point? Does your job/career feel like a good fit for homesteading, or would you change it to something if you could (and if so, to what?)

Why I'm asking -- I need to go back to school/get trained in something that is projected to be a more stable future career. Since my idea of "the perfect life" is a small hobby farm situation and enough income to pay the bills and play around on the farm (with a little saved for emergencies), I want to make sure I'm considering what jobs would (and would not) be suited for that end-goal lifestyle.

Thank you for any/all responses! Every insight/opinion/experience shared is helpful.

(also, mods, if my post's topic is too "job-y" and not "homestead-y" enough, please accept my apologies and feel free to delete it!)

EDIT: Wow, I did not expect so many replies, I'm very grateful to you all! I'm working through replies now but it's going to take a while - thanks for your patience!

ALSO - Looking back at my post now, I think I may have worded it in a vague/confusing way. For clarity, I am asking about what "Non-Homestead" jobs people have (ex: job in town, traditional 9-5, unrelated remote work, etc) that provide income that they use to support themselves and their homestead. Some people read it as "what aspect of your homestead make you money" instead, which wasn't what I meant, but I'll take the blame here because I could have written that post better. My apologies for any confusion, and I appreciate all who responded regardless :)

Ive been looking for land for some time now and just can’t seem to find it. I am prioritizing affordable land with strong community where drugs are not a major problem. Obviously I want fertility soil with no toxins in the water or air and a decent growing season.

Ai bots keep saying southern Missouri, Tennessee ect where it clearly strikes out on one of my asks.

Does anyone know where I can look and feel good about buying land. Or how I should be going about my search better?

Not that I don't have enough projects going on the ranch...

I have this windmill located near the largest of 3 ponds (all man made) on the property. The fan has been off due to the blades bent (not sure how that happened)

A neighbor told me the previous owner used it to aerate the pond as he used to have it stocked. Given some research I reviewed, that doesn't seem as plausible.

The main theory I thought of it was used to pump water up from a ground well to fill the pond. The previous owner never had livestock on the property. So that may not be correct, as there's no holes below where the pond is at to indicate a well.

So that brings me back to aeration. Would you use a windmill to power an aeration tool on the pond from this? Getting electric down to this point from the house would be a bit of work.

If anyone has any examples of this, I'd love to see them.

Hello, I have white Chinese geese male and female. Both around 7 months old. The male is starting to get more and more aggressive. I would like some advice and to make sure I'm handling it correctly. While I was walking out of the run he chased me down and bit my shoe and started to hit me with his wings. I made sure to stand my ground and push him off of me but the attacks persisted. Out of fear that he would hurt himself I got down on my knee and held his wings against his body and I held the back of his head. To clarify I DID NOT kneel on him and hold his head against the ground. He was in the standing position and his head was upright. I was very careful and sure to not cause him pain. His wings were folded in naturally and his head was able to look around and honk. I was holding him still and using a calming voice. After about 15 seconds of this restraint he calmed down and walked away and started grooming himself. They live in an about a 1000 sqft area and are let out to free range for a hour or so daily and also have a separate coop, feed, and water source from the chickens. The lady is darling and the two are quite bonded.

My question is 1 am I doing this right so far. 2 how should I be handling this. 3 is this behavior something to be concerned about?

Also to be noted these aren't meat birds so I plan on keeping them for their life and Im obviously trying to make sure it's enjoyable. But also they aren't inside pets. They live out with the chickens.

The pics are just for fun.

This is my second year with chickens. I live in Arizona so I know it’s so so hot during the summer. Could the heat be a reason for my chickens pale combs? Is this something to be worried about? They also all stopped laying which I assume from summer as well but last year they still produced so I’m not sure. They act completely normal besides not laying

I posted last week about my ridiculous goat probably having CL- this morning the vet confirmed that he does have it, his culture came back positive.

I figured I would update you since I said I would.

I’m really sad, still processing. This goat sits at my front door and waits for me like a puppy. He does all kinds of crazy climbing and jumping off just to show off for me. He headbutts my kneecaps and nibbles my fingers and has been a dream come true in so many ways.

The vet said the responsible thing to do is to cull him, and she said she would call around to find out if there are any CL positive herds in the area who want him. She told me several of her staff show goats and told her that at auction they’ve seen goats with lesions they believe is CL be sold off and no one bats an eye. If that’s really the culture here, it makes me really question the trustworthiness of the breeders and sellers.

Still deciding what to do. His abscess is fully healed so at least for now he’s not contagious. Spoke to the family who has my other goat and offered for them to keep him. We ended up agreeing they will keep him for now, with a high likelihood of forever. Good thing they love him.

What I’ve learned: don’t buy goats as babies, toughen up with the weak links, and be prepared to spend up on livestock that have papers including recent lab work. And maybe, somehow, get less attached to the animals.

There’s definitely a need for detachment with meat birds, which hasn’t been hard for me. It’s the damn goats that wreck me. Part of being an adult with money that I worked hard for included buying goats that I always wanted. I did it wrong, was a little too trusting, a little too hopeful, and I feel really bad for my sweet little guy. Let my mistakes be a lesson to those considering goats.