Economics

Save money by:

• Living near a large regional centre (fuel costs). As much as we want space and lots of it, we don’t want to be completely isolated from the outside world. We still need certain services which the farm and ourselves will be unable to supply, services such as medical and veterinarian needs, fuel and servicing of vehicles, and a supermarket to purchase things we are unable to produce ourselves (sugar, coffee, tea, flour, rice etc).
• The added advantage to living in the country is minimal traffic. Even large regional centres wouldn’t have the traffic snarls that Sydney experiences. Minimal traffic means time saved going places, fuel savings, less wear on the car and less stress!
• We own four horses, and the agistment expenses have always been something that has drained our bank accounts. Four horses at $40 per week, and that doesn’t include handfeeding! Having our own space will immediately save us $160 per week.
• Have a decent sized solar panel set up, and look into buying a battery. The ultimate aim is to be no longer connected to the grid. Large savings there, in the long run, taking into account set up costs.
• Collect and store our own water in tanks (which most properties are set up for anyway), and to be near a permanent water source for stock water/irrigating crops. One would expect there would be dams on the property already in place for stock water.
• Grow and produce own food. Eggs, beef, vegetables, fruits (will depend on where we live as to what fruit we can grow). Maybe even look into bee keeping for honey and to pollinate the crops/vegetables.
• Compost all waste and put the composted material back into the earth to nourish the vegetables.

Make money by:

• Growing crops, mainly lucerne. Lucerne is relatively easy to grow and is used to feed stock, mainly horses. A bale of lucerne hay in the city costs $20.It would be expected that there would always be a demand for lucerne hay. We can also feed our own stock with the hay we produce. More money savings there.
• Cattle fattening operation. Matt is currently researching growing cattle, including the different breeds of cattle, growing rates, types of beef produced from the different breeds and the current market. So far it seems that growing cattle is a relatively low maintenance operation. There are upfront costs to consider which include establishing your herd, getting contractors to transport the cattle to and from market, and pest control expenses. However, the bottom line is that there will always be a demand for beef, especially good quality beef.
• Agisting or spelling of outside horses is an option, but consideration will need to be given to how many cattle we have, and saving the pasture for growing these cattle. An option would be to have smallish yards for the agisted horses (half acre or so per horse) and the owner would pay the expense of handfeeding plus the agistment costs. Agisting horses in this manner will depend on the demand for it, depending on where we move to.
• Breeding/training horses. I have many years of experience handling horses. I have bred two foals and I have started under saddle two of our own horses, with a third on the way. I believe that I could take in outside horses to train/start under saddle, at $250 per week per horse. I could also breed/sell my own horses. I will outline this in more detail a little later.
• Sell veg/fruit/honey/homemade conserves/jams/pickles/sauces to farmers markets.
• Take advantage of the farmstay/eco tourism market and have a small cabin or granny flat built on the property. This would be a handy little income booster on the side. The downside is the initial upfront cost of putting up such a dwelling and the other costs associated with fitting it out, and insurance costs. Unless we are very lucky and happen to find our perfect property which already has extra accommodation, then this would be something that may happen a year of two down the track. More on this later too.
• Collaborate with other businesses, farms and neighbours in the area. Network some sort of bartering system. The possibilities are endless.