Small farming - hobby farmer

AidanMike

Hi there,

While I grew up in the country side, I'm leaving in Cork since more than 15 years now. I'm missing to have some proper green & life around the house though so I was wondering if I could find a small farm and have it as a second job. I'm quite lost and ignorant as to what I should do to be able to buy some land and have a house built on it (or find something close enough to town but not overly expensive so I can still access it after work). Can anyone claim to be a farmer? How complex is it?
I would not mind paperwork, school, or whatever as long as I can "get back to green" and be a "hobby farmer" as some would say.

The part time boy

AidanMike wrote: »

Can anyone claim to be a farmer.

Yes they can really.

You need to ask your self a few quistions

How far from Cork city are you prepared to live / far to get to work ?

What kind of farming would you like to do ?

AidanMike

The part time boy wrote: »

Yes they can really.

You need to ask your self a few quistions

How far from Cork city are you prepared to live / far to get to work ?

What kind of farming would you like to do ?

Distance is hard to say, prob 30 min or so but I'm not sure if it would be realistic price wise.

Farming type would be vegetables, some chickens, and anything that I could enjoy doing with the family. Nothing fancy but more than the 20 sqm of garden we have currently. I guess 1 to 4 acre would do.

The part time boy

You a good scope for half a hour around Cork. Your best bet is to find a house on 2 or 3 acres . Trying to find 3 or 4 acres and them trying to build on it. Plus you may buy the land and find you can't get planning

AidanMike

With the A3 zoning finding a site and building is indeed a pain. The challenge is that as far as I can see on the usual websites there is only houses on small plot or big agricultural lands for sale I haven't seen any house with 2 acres around

Username John

30 mins is close enough to the city. Could you cope with a bit farther out?

What side of the city do you need to get to?

What type house do you need - ready to move into? A fixer upper?

Are you living in the city now, or are you living in an area that would qualify you as local need, if you could get a large site?

Lastly - how much do you want to spend...

AidanMike

30 min is a good compromise to avoid wasting more than 7 hour per weeks driving. 45 min would make it to 10.5 hours the more you add the less time I can spend with the little ones and Miss. I'm not fixed with a maximum but the longer it goes the less interesting it is (now if I find a castle in mint condition for 20k and would need to drive 1hour, I will consider it for sure!)

I'm working in the upper part of Cork so anything direction Blarney, Mallow, eventually Fermoy would be best.

The type of house I don't really care. I would enjoy a ready to live one but they are so overpriced. I like to make stuff myself and would not even be scared of a ruin that I could work with. The issue is as far as my research went, there is no "cheap & poor quality" house for sale in the above area. I'm sadly in the city for too long to be qualified as "local need" so I'll need to find something without this.

For how much, as I hate paying the banks I'll have to stick with whatever I can get out of the house we currently have so prob around 200k or so. That's pretty limited for a site and a house may it be self built or turn key!

Username John

AidanMike wrote: »

30 min is a good compromise to avoid wasting more than 7 hour per weeks driving. 45 min would make it to 10.5 hours the more you add the less time I can spend with the little ones and Miss. I'm not fixed with a maximum but the longer it goes the less interesting it is (now if I find a castle in mint condition for 20k and would need to drive 1hour, I will consider it for sure!)

I'm working in the upper part of Cork so anything direction Blarney, Mallow, eventually Fermoy would be best.

The type of house I don't really care. I would enjoy a ready to live one but they are so overpriced. I like to make stuff myself and would not even be scared of a ruin that I could work with. The issue is as far as my research went, there is no "cheap & poor quality" house for sale in the above area. I'm sadly in the city for too long to be qualified as "local need" so I'll need to find something without this.

For how much, as I hate paying the banks I'll have to stick with whatever I can get out of the house we currently have so prob around 200k or so. That's pretty limited for a site and a house may it be self built or turn key!

I re-read the thread, and I maybe read it wrong first time.

Are you looking to buy some land only within 30 mins of the city?

http://www.daft.ie/cork/commercial-property-for-sale/agricultural-farm-land-for-sale/ballyduff-killavullen-cork-254173/

If this is the case, would an allotment not suit you better? Be a lot cheaper as well... Even if you took a few of them...

Or are you looking to buy a house plus land within 30mins of Cork for 200k - you'll be lucky...

You might be able to buy an old farm house on a farm, keep house + a few acres, and sell the rest of the farm. But that brings its own risks... Something like this

http://www.daft.ie/cork/commercial-property-for-sale/agricultural-farm-land-for-sale/ballinagar-killavullen-cork-123958/

One last comment - dont enter this thinking you will make your fortune farming I would recommend approaching this as very much an expensive hobby...

Best of luck with it anyways...

abnormalnorman

Hi.

Just curious as to weather you made any move on this?

AidanMike

abnormalnorman wrote: »

Hi.

Just curious as to weather you made any move on this?

I haven't found something that would work for us yet but I'm still looking around (I might be too picky). If you know someone who would be happy to sell 2-3 acres feel free to PM me :-)

the challenge is prices are jumping quite high at the moment. I was checking prices around Europe and I can't see why we are so high here:
Hectare of agricultural land costs in europe It's insane!

abnormalnorman

AidanMike wrote: »

I haven't found something that would work for us yet but I'm still looking around (I might be too picky). If you know someone who would be happy to sell 2-3 acres feel free to PM me :-)

the challenge is prices are jumping quite high at the moment. I was checking prices around Europe and I can't see why we are so high here:
Hectare of agricultural land costs in europe It's insane!

No, I'm not from the Cork side at all. Looking for something similar myself. I have the house. I think farmers wouldn't please you they'd give you 2 or 3 acres . . .. wud rather see it idle. That's my experience.

AidanMike

I find it frustrating indeed, the other day I approached a land owner who had a field left waste for more than 10 years and the guy was not even closely interested.

Yet, I understand that land can have great value in ones mind and I would find it hard to sell if I had some.

wrangler

AidanMike wrote: »

I find it frustrating indeed, the other day I approached a land owner who had a field left waste for more than 10 years and the guy was not even closely interested.

Yet, I understand that land can have great value in ones mind and I would find it hard to sell if I had some.

I leased an acre in the corner of a field to a friend for her childs pony, only requirement apart from paying the rent was to maintain the fence, (her husband was a builder so should have been well capable), They never bothered their backsides, I often had to peg bits of the fence back into their paddock, they wouldn't even do that and the bits were riddled with nails , I got pissed off anyway and fecked them out, Farmers don't need that sort of hassle. You'd need to be badly stuck for money to walk yourself into that.
Just giving you the other fellows position, imagine the hassle if I'd sold her that acre

AidanMike

wrangler wrote: »

I leased an acre in the corner of a field to a friend for her childs pony, only requirement apart from paying the rent was to maintain the fence, (her husband was a builder so should have been well capable), They never bothered their backsides, I often had to peg bits of the fence back into their paddock, they wouldn't even do that and the bits were riddled with nails , I got pissed off anyway and fecked them out, Farmers don't need that sort of hassle. You'd need to be badly stuck for money to walk yourself into that.
Just giving you the other fellows position, imagine the hassle if I'd sold her that acre

That hurt indeed. even more so if they are / were friends. The only thing I can say to sell myself is the last time I rented a place the owner thanked me as I gave it back cleaner than I got it !

The guy I asked if he would sell the land was not owning anything around it though was living a mile down the road.

That said it's indeed a sad reality: you'll always have bad tenants around (as well as bad owners too). That's probably why I'm mainly looking for a place to buy as at the end of the day I know I can be honest with my neighbors while not having the pain of potential bad owner.

galwayguy27

Hi guys,
Just looking for a bit of help. I am not a farmer however, i do want to become a hobby farmer with the possibility of progressing into it fulltime. I'm am aiming to be self- sustainable ( as much as is possible). I would be looking to grow organic crops, and livestock such as pigs, chickens, sheep.
My question is;
Is it possible to purchase agricultural land as a hobby farmer?
Does the farm have to provide a certain level of income or have a certain amount of livestock to be allowed to do this. What things do i need to know or need to do to make this possible??
What would the local council make of it?
I would be looking to build my permanent residency on this property also.

Your help is much appreciated.

eon1208

galwayguy27 wrote: »

Hi guys,
Just looking for a bit of help. I am not a farmer however, i do want to become a hobby farmer with the possibility of progressing into it fulltime. I'm am aiming to be self- sustainable ( as much as is possible). I would be looking to grow organic crops, and livestock such as pigs, chickens, sheep.
My question is;
Is it possible to purchase agricultural land as a hobby farmer?
Does the farm have to provide a certain level of income or have a certain amount of livestock to be allowed to do this. What things do i need to know or need to do to make this possible??
What would the local council make of it?
I would be looking to build my permanent residency on this property also.

Your help is much appreciated.

How interested are you in this.?