My family and I are going to be moving onto 12.5 acres in Central Texas around the turn of the new year. Our land is bordered on one side by a decent sized river. We want to have a small farm with sheep/goats, chickens, a vegetable garden, and some fruit trees. We have a long term goal of turning it into a mostly self-sufficient piece of property. We have no actual intentions of being off the grid but would like the property to eventually get to a point where we could be in theory. We have absolutely zero experience with this type of life. I've never lived or worked on a farm and have little knowledge about it, so it will be a learn on the job endeavor. All that to say, if any of you wise Outdoor Ags have any tidbits or more of advice, I'd love to hear them. Thanks in advance!

It sounds like this place is going to be an insurance policy against US economic collapse, especially a collapse of cities. Or, at a minimum, a peaceful refuge for you.

Watch the movie Funny Farm and plan on losing most of your money. Keep your number of live animals down to a minimum. They require care and are a pain in the rump. Birds, animals and insects will eat whatever you grow. It's a lot more work than you think. Also, rural theft is prevalent and so is poaching.

You might consider buying a larger property with a beautiful pond to fish and a home on it. You will at a minimum want a mobile home on it. Try that out for awhile. If you want to do more later you can.

I would say on the gardening, start small. You can get overwhelmed with the maintenance and lack of experience. Bugs, weeds, and watering can get ahead of you. Come to think of it, starting small on most of those projects would be a good practice.

I should have given more details. We will live on this property. We will have our house and a small guest house for my in laws. I have no delusions of making any money from the farm. It will be mostly a hobby, and much of the work is going to be done by my stay at home wife, kids, and mother-in-law. The farm thing is my wife's idea! The river does have some good fishing from what I have heard.

With the uncertainty of our times there is a somewhat quiet movement to do exactly what you are doing. The rewards from building out your own place (and becoming much more self-reliant) are huge. Your wife of course must be 'all in' too for it to work.

Unless you hire a lot of it out which kind of defeats the purpose, plan to work your ass off for years. Your kids will learn life lessons that no one else can teach them.

I think a/the top consideration is where does the water go, during heavy local rain OR river rise? Get your drainage right and absolutely never build anything in an area that has ever flooded or could.

Have a master plan and long-term blueprint for the entire property (with drainage in mind). YouTube will be your best friend as anything you will ever want to do is fully explained 100 different times, which saves so much trial and error AND money.

I say go for it and build a great life for your family.

Congrats on getting the land. Caution that rivers can flood, and sometimes really bad. Also if it is a navigable river, you run the threat of constant trespassers.
I grew up on the Guadalupe River by Spring Branch. River land can have a love/ hate side to it.
With that being said the most valuable thing you can have or need on your land is a reliable, long lasting, constant water source.
This can be a good strong well, a constant flowing spring or river/stream that has no history of drying up in droughts.
Also smart to have two of these resources if possible on the place for future.
It's simple... water is life..... without it you just have dry dirt.

Jack Squat 83 said:

---

With the uncertainty of our times there is a somewhat quiet movement to do exactly what you are doing. The rewards from building out your own place (and becoming much more self-reliant) are huge. Your wife of course must be 'all in' too for it to work.

Unless you hire a lot of it out which kind of defeats the purpose, plan to work your ass off for years. Your kids will learn life lessons that no one else can teach them.

I think a/the top consideration is where does the water go, during heavy local rain OR river rise? Get your drainage right and absolutely never build anything in an area that has ever flooded or could.

Have a master plan and long-term blueprint for the entire property (with drainage in mind). YouTube will be your best friend as anything you will ever want to do is fully explained 100 different times, which saves so much trial and error AND money.

I say go for it and build a great life for your family.

---

Second this. Where did the water rise to in the tax day, Memorial Day and hurricane Harvey floods?

On a place that size you need to be ready for

- dealing with animal s*** - they go a lot and in smaller spaces you need a plan. There's lots of options but dealing with animal crap is a bigger part of this stuff than I imagined.

- never ending, money sucking projects.

- realizing you could be living in a much nicer place with a lot less work in a traditional neighborhood

All that said, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Having the space to do what you want and not be dependent on others is awesome.

Also, the best part is you can pee outside anywhere, anytime.

If you haven't lived rural before, remember, no power=no water, no heat, and no AC.

While I realize you probably aren't that far out, on 12.5 acres, have a plan for where the ER is, and when it's faster to drive someone in, than wait on the ambulance.

If you indeed have the animals you mentioned, do not fail to build really solid and appropriate fences for those species. I can't tell you how many times I have delivered animals to new property owners and knew at first glance they wouldn't be able to contain their new stock.

Gunny456 said:

---

Congrats on getting the land. Caution that rivers can flood, and sometimes really bad. Also if it is a navigable river, you run the threat of constant trespassers.
I grew up on the Guadalupe River by Spring Branch. River land can have a love/ hate side to it.
With that being said the most valuable thing you can have or need on your land is a reliable, long lasting, constant water source.
This can be a good strong well, a constant flowing spring or river/stream that has no history of drying up in droughts.
Also smart to have two of these resources if possible on the place for future.
It's simple... water is life..... without it you just have dry dirt.

---

This times a million ....... I currently live in this same area and water is becoming a scarce commodity......especially with the last 2 dryer than normal years we've had .....last year the Guadalupe was dry as a bone in our area

There is a 100 year flood zone from the river that runs across the property. Our pad site is 40-50 yds from the closest border of that zone and is built up several feet above it in elevation. I've been assured it should never flood, so hopefully that is accurate.

We are in a pretty unique situation. Our land is on what used to be a golf course 15-20 years ago, so it is in the middle of town. It is a tract of a larger piece of land totaling around 50 acres. That larger tract is bordered by the river on one side, a disc golf course on another, a development hidden by a huge tree line on another, and undeveloped land on the final side. Standing in the middle of the property you would think you are in the middle of the country, but in reality, you are 3 miles from downtown.

If you want fruit trees, plant them 5 years ago...

GQaggie said:

---

We are in a pretty unique situation. Our land is on what used to be a golf course 15-20 years ago, so it is in the middle of town. It is a tract of a larger piece of land totaling around 50 acres. That larger tract is bordered by the river on one side, a disc golf course on another, a development hidden by a huge tree line on another, and undeveloped land on the final side. Standing in the middle of the property you would think you are in the middle of the country, but in reality, you are 3 miles from downtown.

---

Any idea about the future of the undeveloped land on the final side? I remember a post from 1-2 years ago where someone complained about neighboring undeveloped land that was being developed into a Buc-cee's or truck stop. They were not happy, but then again, it wasn't a complete surprise.

Good luck!

GQaggie said:

---

There is a 100 year flood zone from the river that runs across the property. Our pad site is 40-50 yds from the closest border of that zone and is built up several feet above it in elevation. I've been assured it should never flood, so hopefully that is accurate.

---

I would highly recommend determining what the 500 year flood level is and then have your foundation above that. This may sound like a crazy idea, but our place (which was not even in the 100 year flood zone) was 5 feet deep at the highest point of our acreage back in the 1998 flood in DeWitt County. Having only had it a couple of years when it hit we were clueless. Our 90 year old neighbor-lady told us that river had "never come within 200 yards of her house in the 60 years she had lived there". It was 4 feet deep in her home and luckily the Sheriff's Dept were able to talk her into leaving before it got there.

I will never go through that again and don't wish it on anyone else, as our "new" property is 85' higher, If you haven't closed the deal yet you might think twice about it, (not to mind your business and sound like a negative Nancy). Otherwise, spend the money for elevation and buy flood insurance.

GQaggie said:

---

We are in a pretty unique situation. Our land is on what used to be a golf course 15-20 years ago, so it is in the middle of town. It is a tract of a larger piece of land totaling around 50 acres. That larger tract is bordered by the river on one side, a disc golf course on another, a development hidden by a huge tree line on another, and undeveloped land on the final side. Standing in the middle of the property you would think you are in the middle of the country, but in reality, you are 3 miles from downtown.

---

Wait...what? Are you inside a city limits? That'll have an effect on lots of things.

GQaggie said:

---

There is a 100 year flood zone from the river that runs across the property. Our pad site is 40-50 yds from the closest border of that zone and is built up several feet above it in elevation. I've been assured it should never flood, so hopefully that is accurate.

---

You need to knock on neighbors doors in the area and ask questions about previous floods and their knowledge of your property. Every neighbor you can get to talk to you.

Flood zones are not as important as the history of the property.

What river is it on? You can get some good advice here probably on the specific river.

It is inside city limits. My understanding though is that the animals we are planning on are allowed. It is also my understanding that since it is greater than 10 acres, we are allowed to dig a well. Initially, we will have city water, and we will plan on keeping that. We want to eventually dig a well for irrigating the garden and for the animals and as a backup were services from the city ever to become unavailable.

On that side our tract is bordered by an 18 acre tract that is going to be the homestead of the guy who owned the 50 acres. He kept that portion to build on himself. Beyond his land, there is an area that I don't believe can realistically be built on but I don't know that for certain.

Given what I've already posted, this will make it pretty easy to pinpoint where the land is, but that's ok. It is on the Leon River, which is kept at a pretty constant level by the Army Corp of Engineers utilizing the dam from Lake Belton. It flooded back in the 1980s. It spilled the bank upstream from our land and flowed across the middle of it. We are building 40-50 yards away from that area, and the builder built the pad site up several more feet.

Soil quality is the basis for any crop, garden, or tree decision.
AgriLife Extension agent advice would be a good start.
Also NRCS office.

Next is water quality. Large scale rainwater harvest may be required.
Surface drainage in heavy rains can't be ignored.

Create a plan with your goals and priorities and as said, start small.

Once you have a plan build your infrastructure ( soil tillage, weed control, drainage, fencing, irrigation, access lanes, sheds, etc ) before planting any permanent plants or trees.

AgriLife extension will have great advice for planting dates and varieties that do well in your County.

Strongly recommend your wife become a Master Gardener in your County. Lots of local experience to be found in that organization.

Goats eat everything....your garden, your fruit trees..... and then they like to climb on top of your vehicles.

1. Small fenced garden fenced, with option to increase size later. Learn the tricks, too many to list here. Learn to pickle, can, and trade with neighbors.
2. Rain collection system or water from river that can be purified
3. No fruit trees now, irragation from river
4. No animals until u live there.
5. Befriend ur neighbors, now.
6. Need Power options, wind, solar, etc…
7. Ammo
8. Cell cameras

Have fun doing it. Good luck

GQaggie said:

---

Given what I've already posted, this will make it pretty easy to pinpoint where the land is, but that's ok. It is on the Leon River, which is kept at a pretty constant level by the Army Corp of Engineers utilizing the dam from Lake Belton. It flooded back in the 1980s. It spilled the bank upstream from our land and flowed across the middle of it. We are building 40-50 yards away from that area, and the builder built the pad site up several more feet.

---

I was gonna say Leon river. Sounds like the old Leon valley golf course.

I think it was Dec 91jan 92. It flowed over the spillway of belton lake

For the size property you are talking, here are some thoughts:

Chickens - You can easily get egg chickens. We could have a whole thread on chickens. I think Centerpole won the Chicken Mansion contest though. Meat chickens or dual purpose breeds are up to you.

Rabbits - Some folks like to breed and eat rabbits. I have not done it, but it is an option.

Goats - You mentioned goats. There are various breeds for milk. You could go Nubian or Nigerian Dwarf. You can also get La Mancha. Just buy them young and spend time with them. They will be much better behaved if you raise them like pets.

Sheep - This is a great option for meat. They are fairly easy to raise. There are also a few varieties to pick from.

Pigs - You can raise a couple of pigs every year. I would not try to breed them. You can just buy 2 piglets and feed them out. You can keep both or sell one, but all livestock does better with more than one animal.

Whatever you decide on sheep and goats, buy them sooner than later. You will probably buy young animals so you can raise them, and they take a bit to be of breeding age.

One thing we do with our children is to let them know what is breeding stock and what is being raised for meat. If I can help, my email is in my profile.


Edited for link for Chicken Mansion: https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3287331/1

If you dont know how to can, start learning. Make enough space for all the canning too. You will be shocked once things start rocking how much food you will produce on as little as an acre. You dont have to do it all...you can barter for things you dont do. Dont skimp on the chicken coop, happy chicks equals lots of eggs.
Learn everything you can about water, water filtration, and pumps and small motors.

Enjoy it. Its work.

You got it

Thanks for the contact info! I maybe reaching out to you as we get nearer to taking action on some of this. Our intitial plan was to start with egg laying chickens and goats. Several people have told us that sheep are much easier for the novice to raise, so we are now leaning towards starting that way. On the land, we plan on having around 5 acres of it devoted to those animals, so I imagine we can add in goats once we are more comfortable.

Where are you located now? Anywhere near BCS and/or do you make it over this way often?

If uea, I can get you linked up with a friend of mine who can tell you all about his setup and the changes he's been theough to get where he is.

He hped me out this year w/ some guidance and loan of some implements. It's been a huge change in garden production.

I need to find out if we are allowed to pump any water from the river. I have heard the Army Corp of Engineers is pretty finicky about that sort of thing.

I'm not sure what our options are for using the river for irrigation, but I'm going to check on that. If that isn't viable, hopefully having a well in addition to the city water will get us pretty far. We are only going to have three neighbors in our little enclave. One of them is building our house, and another works for the same company I do. We plan to do solar and have batteries to store any excess production as well as a whole home generator at some point. My gun collection is pretty anemic by Outdoor Board standards, so I'll have to get on that and the ammo situation.

GQaggie said:

---

I'm not sure what our options are for using the river for irrigation, but I'm going to check on that. If that isn't viable, hopefully having a well in addition to the city water will get us pretty far. We are only going to have three neighbors in our little enclave. One of them is building our house, and another works for the same company I do. We plan to do solar and have batteries to store any excess production as well as a whole home generator at some point. My gun collection is pretty anemic by Outdoor Board standards, so I'll have to get on that and the ammo situation.

---

If you're in the city limits, you likely won't be doing any shooting on your property.

We have both sheep and goats. We have had goats for along time, but the sheep are new to us. We use the goats for milk and the plan to use the sheep for meat as the herd grows. I would say start do some thinking about if you want to produce meat or milk first.