How many acres do you think is the minimum needed?

Hello WoodMizer, I have just about every type of Southern tree there is on my land, tons of huge pines, lot's of Oak, red and White, I actually have a few White Birch tree's too best I can tell they may be a related type, I have enough pine to build a lot...not sure how many houses but these pines are huge and many of them. Also have several Black Walnut I have found 8 but really have not surveyed the whole parcel yet so who knows.

Also have tons of two different types of Cedar tree's, one grows very large...the other seems to be smaller with different limbs. But I know there are many uses for the cedar.

 

Yep. Woodmizer bandmill. Owned one since 1991, and it has paid for itself dozen times over. There are a lot of cheaper imitators out there, but go with WoodMizer and you will not be sorry. I have a manual LT40 ( the hydraulic versions are not needed IMHO unless you plan to do production sawing, or take it on the road to do custom sawing. I can cut 1,000 bdft/day by myself....actually stacking and getting rid of the slabs takes about as much time as sawing. You WILL need a good farm tractor....30-40hp.....with a front end loader to make life a whole lot easier.

IF you have timber ( got 75ac myself ), then a small bandmill is one of the best investments you'll ever make.

Mills like mine run in the 15k range new, and about half that for a good used one. In 20+ years of ownership, and probably well over 500,000bdft cut, I've spent maybe few hundred on repairs/maintenance.....mostly replacement batteries, occasional carb rebuild on the BS 18hp engine, belts, etc. Blades are your biggest cost if you don't sharpen your own.

Good info on used ones at: Sawmill Exchange
Read especially the "Before you buy" section

 

I have just under 10 acres , its like 9.6 . W e can grow about double what we need to support us, some goats and rabbits. Chickens need corn or acorns or both. I fed both ground into a mush like feed. The lake we live on is really the pantry though. It provides so much and it expands our land to include over 200 acres of fresh water fish and birds. I could do it on half the land I have. I agree that having 5 or more acres is important. But what is really important is what surrounds you. I have thousands of acres of Federal forests all around us. Wood for heat and cooking comes from those Oak forests. Deer, squirrel and other animals are there as well. W e chose this place for many reasons .

 

We have 7ac and are just getting started with goats. We hope to have rabbits, ducks, chickens and a garden soon. Our land is in an isolated area, so I will have hunting and fishing to supplement my homestead if need be.

 

Depends. I'd like to have 10-15 acres for a BOL location. I think that would be the sweet spot, to ensure crop growth area and privacy, plus defendability.

However, if I won the MegaMillions or Powerball, my minimum will quickly turn into 100+ acres!

 

I had a different way of thinking. I got what we could afford (house on small lot) 600 yards from the woods, If it gets to the point where we need to run its 15 minets till we are in a remote BOL I don't own it NOW (crown so I guess I do sortta own it) but I will take it for my own if things get bad and I will hold it (what we need ) by force. Now that was the plan at the time but I am right on the west coast so we are getting money together to buy a lot in a Vary remote area inland and the same rule will work there. You see if things get that bad spending a lot of money on land to me really don't make sense, If thing s have got that bad owning land will come down to who can hold and who can take! no laws. JMO you can buy 100 acres but can you patrol 100 acres? do you want to be 50 acres away from the family? I will spend my money on bullets and preps I can defend aprox 1500 yards square the distance I can shoot.

 

I hunt a hundred acre farm. It is not a very big place, and I could hit nearly any place on the property, from the cupola on the barn roof with a rifle. Only a couple of places would be shielded by trees. You are only talking 10 acres X 10 acres.
The original definition of an acre, was the amount of land, that one man and a mule, Could plow in a day. That ain't a very big piece of ground.

 

Ok I would never consider a 100 acre farm a good BOL if you can see to shoot that's way to open for my liking JMO

 

Jeffersonian I know a couple of people who have Woodmizer sawmills and when I was looking into buying a mill both of them told me that's what I should buy. After a lot of research I didn't buy a woodmizer I bought a Timber King. I like the design of the Timber King better and it had a better warrenty as well. The lumber I've seen from my mill compaired to lumber cut on woodmizer is truer, but you have look fairly close to see it. Bottom line either one will sever you well but for my money if I was going to buy another mill it would be a Timber King hands down

 

Keep in mind, that a farm needs to be clear space to be efficiently farmed. You just seemed to think that was HUGE, when in fact, from a central point, on 10 X 10 acre farm, it is just 5 acres width to the edge.
Another farm I hunt is 600 acres, and there would be no problem at all monitoring that much open ground. Woods and hills would make it harder. But still not too hard to do.

 

We have 40 acres and you couldn't cover 10% of it at a time. That's were dogs come in you can't make a move anywhere near our farm without them knowing.