thanks everyone

I decided against purchasing the land I was looking at. It turns out it was a "flip". Meaning the owners bought it less then a year ago, just cut some of the pasture to tidy it up and then doubled the selling price. The only building that was in good enough shape was the barn. It had electricity and running water.

I plan on building a house. Something that will be a "forever" home with everything on 1 main level with a ramp access basement. (also a dumb waiter to move the canned goods to the basement). Since I have been pricing out the costs of building, I have started thinking about just getting a couple of prefab "portables" like the schools use & put them together. I have seen them as low as $12,000.00.

The food certification course is due to the "risk" of selling food products to people. When I was selling my stuff at "craft" shows, someone tell me that I could get in trouble selling homemade products to the public. For a while I was selling some of my berries to catering companies and a couple of market stands.

I will not do butchering for a year or two. Got to get my feet on the ground first. The plan is for me to build, has most things ready before I move in. There have been 3 couples that are willing to teach me about alpacas so I should be able to get a few of the cost details from them. I found a shearing course for the fall but no one to take it with 🙁

-property taxes - just over 3000 a year - that is about what I pay now
-animal feed/hay
I buy local from a farmer, this saves me about 50 percent in costs over the feed store prices- my 80 pound bags range from 9 to 12 dollars each. I get a good deal locally on hay, but the price is quite high over the last two years, used to be able get a 800 pound round bale for 30, now its 50 each, I have gotten straw as cheap as 30 per 800 pounds and depending on the year and supply as high as 80 per 800 pounds, if I bought them in small square 65 pound bales, my overall costs would go up, and deliver fee's are high, thankfully that is included in the prices lists. - thank you
-possible well running dry & having to pay for water- A well fill in my area will cost you 200 at this time, and if you tell them a well, they will only bring half a tank, even though they charge you full price for the whole truck, so make sure you pick up a large on sale pool, so you can get the other half of the tank of water you pay for!- I had no idea
-plowing of snow if I had to go some place- If you can't shovel it out, all three local folks that will do it around here by tractor, charge 50 for it. - wow that is cheap, they charge that much around here for a small driveway
-the cost of a stall at a market or table at a craft show-Depends on the town, the volume and how wanted the stall is, can be as cheap as 20 to 50 or more
-food certification course (I don't know if that is a yearly expense yet)- Don't know, the few friends that have this, had to build totally approved working kitchens
-vet bills- Costly, you can't even get the vet to come out and come to the farm for under a hundred, you will be charged though the nose, example, I have been charged 40 dollars for a stripe of antibodics that cost me 2 dollars each stripe when I ordered a box of them myself. Depending on what it is now, there are rules in place, that they had to do this or that before they can do the next, and each thing will up that bill! But on the flip side, my county runs a good program on basic shots available once a year, and your farm vet will do your regular vaccines for your cats/dogs at a much reduced price compared to the town "pet" vet. The more you can do yourself the better!
-butcher (not trying that my first year)- Depends on the animal, locally, you are looking at 5 to 8 per, chickens are the cheapest, ducks, geese or turkeys all go for more, I pay per head butcher cost for the lambs (35), pigs (45) Beef (65) and then you pay a cut and wrap at 50 cents per pound, and you pay more for sausage, bacon, ham etc, you pay more for a European cut, over a tradional Canadian cut, you can also be charged more per if you want longer hang times, don't forget your hauling fee's, My last load of lambs was 100, my last haul of three pigs was 120 and my cow was 60 for the haul. You can haul your own smaller critters if done in small enough numbers. One of the number one skills I would learn in your first year, is learn to butcher! for your own meat uses. Only pay hauling, kill and butcher costs if you are going to do farmgate sales, (don't forget to add in the costs of the required tags and the one time purchase of equipment needed to do so)
-cords of wood- Locally, 80 to 120 depending on kind, how done it is, if its for a inside wood stove vs big logs for the outdoor wood stoves
-electric bill- hundreds in winter, locally having spoken to all the local's, low end in summer 150 to 300, winter 400 t0 500 - I hope that cost is due to the critters
-internet 90 per month - twice what I pay now
-propane- per use - I have never bought propane 😮

FG

thank you

When it comes to butchering it's really not as difficult as you'd think. The hard part is the killing.
Here's something to consider, if your not keen on the task (and it's ok - it isn't for everyone). Take into consideration a processor charges, and in my case I was charged $15 for kill, $10 for disposal and $2.50 for marketing fee per hog. Now I'm sure that finding a friendly neighbour that has been doing his own wouldn't mind an extra $25-$30 to do that for you. It's much easier to process them after someone else did the dirty work.

While looking into land, I would really like to advise you to pay top most attention to the water there. Water is everything and it could be the ideal perfect place but it won't be worth a darn in my opinion if you can't drink the water.
My place is a good example. The water has been tested and there's nothing wrong with it, but it has a very strong sulfur smell to it. You can get used to it, but I never have and I find myself not being able to do so. So I jug up city water for drinking and cooking use. I knew this when the place was got, but I thought at the time I could fix it with some fancy water contraption.
Also, if your looking for raw land and to build your own place and that's fantastic, but your then forgetting to factor in the cost of putting in a well if that's what you want. Drilling can be expensive. An alternative could be a cistern and have water delivered, or try and collect your own. Many things to consider.

When it comes to butchering it's really not as difficult as you'd think. The hard part is the killing.
Here's something to consider, if your not keen on the task (and it's ok - it isn't for everyone). Take into consideration a processor charges, and in my case I was charged $15 for kill, $10 for disposal and $2.50 for marketing fee per hog. Now I'm sure that finding a friendly neighbour that has been doing his own wouldn't mind an extra $25-$30 to do that for you. It's much easier to process them after someone else did the dirty work.

While looking into land, I would really like to advise you to pay top most attention to the water there. Water is everything and it could be the ideal perfect place but it won't be worth a darn in my opinion if you can't drink the water.
My place is a good example. The water has been tested and there's nothing wrong with it, but it has a very strong sulfur smell to it. You can get used to it, but I never have and I find myself not being able to do so. So I jug up city water for drinking and cooking use. I knew this when the place was got, but I thought at the time I could fix it with some fancy water contraption.
Also, if your looking for raw land and to build your own place and that's fantastic, but your then forgetting to factor in the cost of putting in a well if that's what you want. Drilling can be expensive. An alternative could be a cistern and have water delivered, or try and collect your own. Many things to consider.

yes and that is why I had asked for input on what I may not know about or may be forgetting

thank you

why alpacas?

theres an alpaca farm not 500 meters from me with an entire mill. know the guy well, hes ex military too (well navy, but we all have our failings)

and ive told you if your just after land ill give you half an acre to farm for free, no rent....

why alpacas?

theres an alpaca farm not 500 meters from me with an entire mill. know the guy well, hes ex military too (well navy, but we all have our failings)

and ive told you if your just after land ill give you half an acre to farm for free, no rent....

one in the same alpaca farm

still have to sell my place & mom's first 😀

wheres the land you were looking at? if its up here I probably know the seller

wheres the land you were looking at? if its up here I probably know the seller

the land I was looking at was closer to Ottawa