I have no idea. But all of my parents’ neighbors are on rural water rather than their wells.
Acreage tips from the Fanatics
- Thread starter cdnlngld
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I have no idea. But all of my parents’ neighbors are on rural water rather than their wells.
Before digging a well, I would wait to see how much water usage there actually is before going to that expense. We live on 16 acres, have 4 horses on the property throughout the year, and then will rent some of the pasture to an additional 6 cow/calf pairs and the bull, which are there May through September. We do not have a well, only rural water. The summer months we see an increase in water usage above the minimum gallons, but when the cattle aren't there, water usage is not very high, usually not above the minimum usage base rate. You can add a well if you see where water usage is very high, but I would suggest not doing so until it's proven that it is actually needed.
We had a new well put in for one of our shops about 5 years ago. We received 4 estimates from the same company depending on which aquifer they had to drill to in order to get consistent water. For the drilling and complete well set up, our estimates ranged from $9k for a 160 foot well to $24k for a 550 foot well. We ended up needing nearly 700 feet of well before we got adequate water and the cost was over $30k.
Congratulations on getting the tractor and mower for the property. I highly recommend ensuring that the 1025r has the 50 hour maintenance on the hydraulic system. Pretty basic, filters, screen, and new fluid. You can do it yourself if you are mechanically inclined. YouTube videos by Tractor Tim With Tim are a great source of information about the 1025r.
I am all for planting trees and am guessing they won't be planted in the pastured areas but had a friend who sold his acreage and moved to a retirement village. The new owners (wanna be horse people) immediately after taking possession cut down all the walnut and butternut trees "as horses don't do well stepping on the nuts". My friend was devastated as he had the same intent when he had planted/managed them some twenty five years earlier and they were all burned on a pile and no use was made from them
I've used wires. I was even able to locate the underground water lines around a farm.
Are you supplementing with hay? On the pasture I rent out (80 acres) I don’t allow more than 20 cow/calf pairs. We’ve been in a drought area and that 20 stress the pasture
we are living on my wifes grandparents old place. i love the big trees for shade but those walnuts can go straight to hell.
The pastures are cross-fenced, and there are 4 different sections, and the owners of the cows rotates pastures every week. Each section is grazed for a week, and then gets three weeks off before being grazed again. That helps the grass recover and gives much more coverage out of the acres we have available. We do monitor the grass, and hay will be put out if needed, but that has only happened once in 10 years.
