Do you live on the farm?

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chaded

chaded

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We currently live on our farm and we were planning on rebuilding a home in the next year to two. I got to thinking after doing some reasearch and whatnot, my wife and I can barely decide what we are going to eat for dinner most of the time so building a house might be a nightmare…There are also some other things we don't particularly care for as well. But on the flip side there are things we love about being here. Pros and cons like anywhere I suppose.


So we are entertaining the idea of buying something already built that is no further than 15 minutes away. We would not be moving directly into town. Anyone live off the farm? I'd be interested in your guys' thoughts.
 
We've lived on our ranch and have lived in our house we built 32 yrs ago. We lived in a cabin before that for several years. The cabin was not at the corral we had built when we moved out here. So when we built our house, we built it by the corral. Sure is nice when you have something in there that needs checked on, we can just walk out and check on it. I cant imagine not being at the corral. Our ranch is 2500 acres and we run 300 mother cows. Honestly, i cant imagine having to get on a side by side or truck to go check on something in the corral.. Then again, to build a house in this economic climate would make me think twice.
 
chaded said:
We currently live on our farm and we were planning on rebuilding a home in the next year to two. I got to thinking after doing some reasearch and whatnot, my wife and I can barely decide what we are going to eat for dinner most of the time so building a house might be a nightmare…There are also some other things we don't particularly care for as well. But on the flip side there are things we love about being here. Pros and cons like anywhere I suppose.


So we are entertaining the idea of buying something already built that is no further than 15 minutes away. We would not be moving directly into town. Anyone live off the farm? I'd be interested in your guys' thoughts.
Click to expand...
Ten minutes away is twenty minutes round trip. Ten miles away is twenty miles round trip.

Build small and only the essentials, and add on if you find you need more. We've lived in 22 houses and the best ones were the smallest. Economical and we had to think about what we bought so they didn't get too crowded.
 
We live in our farm. I honestly can't think of any advantage to living off the farm.
It would take time and fuel to drive there. Then when something goes wrong cattle out etc. your a ways out from getting there making it harder.
I know quite a few that drive to multiple farms, but to me if you just have one the convenience factor is something to consider.
There are all kinds of house plans out there to get ideas from. It's one of those things no matter how much thought you put in it, a few years after building it, you'll wish something would have been designed differently. It's just the way it is.
My parents built a house in 79 here on the farm, then I had a separate 2 story garage remodeled into a home that we live in now. We are using the main house as a short term rental. There are several options you can do to bring in extra income from the property.
I will say that I think our situation with the garage house being close behind the other house is handy for being close by when it comes to cleaning it, but I would prefer it out a little further away while guests are renting it.
 
We live 15 miles from the farm but 2 miles from work and it works out pretty good. I'm on call so it makes more sense to be close to work than the farm. When I retire we'll move to the farm.
 
I have been for the last three years. Waisted time driving to do checks and feed. I probably would have lost some heifers if I didn't live on the farm now. If I need to check on something it takes 5 min instead of 45 min. Wouldn't have it any other way.
 
If you decide to live off farm the first thing you need to buy is one of those big tool boxes with all the sliding drawers for the back of your truck so that your tools are where you are. Nothing worse than having to load up tools for a job, you'll always forget something for a job and then when your finished they never all get put back where they belong. Your tools end up scattered from Ahole to breakfast.

Ken
 
My drive is a little over 1600 feet but it winds up a pretty decent hill. It is one of the things I dislike. I like being out of sight of course but it is a pain to take care of and the ice we get makes things fun. I would take a drive 3x the length if it was flat. Lol.
 
We live on our ranch. The shop, barn, and corral are all just across the driveway. The shop roof is right over the top of the barn in the picture. All of this sits somewhat in the middle of the irrigated ground. A lot of the range land is a ways away but I rarely need to go to the far corners of that. It is 30 miles to town and any type of serves. But I don't need to go there more than a couple times a week. If something isn't absolutely needed now you just add it to the list. The driveway is over a quarter mile long. It is basically flat except the last 200 feet or so. Plowing the snow off that little pitch can be a pain. If there is too much snow I end up having to chain up the tractor.P6252588.JPG
 
I have never lived on our places. We lived in town growing up and I still live in town now. My parents did build right on the edge of the city limits on some land which seems to be the ticket. It's the best of both worlds.

A lot of it has to do with have multiple places, spread out. It doesn't really help to live on one. It does come with its own challenges and the way things are going its not going to get any easier. With that said, there are also benefits to not living out there. We do have a couple old homes and barns and things on the places so that makes a big difference.

I have a little spot marked at one place where I would like to build one day. It's on a creek bank and has a nice view, and its a good location. I can assure you my choosing it had zero to do with being closer to work. 😄
 
Yes live on the ranch. It's 45 miles to Cheyenne or 40 to Torrington. We have have fiber optic to the house out here in the sticks so mostly work from the home office and only go to Cheyenne once or twice a week.
 
I'm four miles away from the farm. It's a pain.
The tool you need is always in the other truck.
In the winter there are 4 miles of roads to navigate to go feed cows.
I'm that much farther away when the sheriff calls at 2am to say there are cattle out.
I had a second drive way out in so I don't have to unhook the trailer before I come home late at night.
It's just another place to worry about the power going out.
Another well to maintain.
 
We live 1/2 mile from the farm. I remember walking that 1/2 mile many times in the winter when we were in the dairy business and had to get down there for milking time. our road is known for drifting shut regardless of wind direction. now in the beef business, it is back and forth during calving season, breeding season, and basically year round. 4 wheeler gets about 500 miles per year just back and forth to the farm. can't say their are not advantages to living off the farm, but they for sure do not outnumber the disadvantages.
 

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