What does it cost to maintain a hobby farm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do not make money, you cannot farm. A farm is a business

She said a hobby farm.

My sister lives on a hobby farm in Purcellville. She absolutely does not make money. It's something rich people do to pass the time.

I have no idea how much it costs. I do know she's in Loudoun and the taxes can be killer so she bales hay which she out sources. The person who bales it does it for the hay, so it's free to her and she gets the AG zoning.

What you have to have is a passion for it. She's very busy and it's a lot of work. She also goes to the farmers market all winter to sell her goods. This is more of a social affair than anything else ffor her. She has her horses, equestrian community and her little pet project of chickens, goats, random rescue animals, dogs, cats, and a gigantic garden.

Yes this is exactly what I was envisioning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents have a hobby farm. It is managed by a farm manager and 4-6 men. The outlay for payroll and regular equipment maintenance is roughly $500-600,000 a year. This is on top of any other unusual outlays (another field truck, another tractor, replace the barn generator, reroof the stock barn). It is a complete money suck. On the other hand it provides a huge amount of pleasure to them and it is hard to argue with that. They do not live there fulltime so these expenses are all on top of their regular expenses.

This is so helpful, thank you!! -OP

I know nothing about this topic, but am curious about whether OP is actually willing to pay a half million or more per year for an 11 acre farm. I would watch that reality TV show.

No, but I might spend $150k. What’s it to you? People on this board drop that much on private school all the time even after paying millions to live in a “good school district” and it’s fine with me. We don’t all pursue the same things. Maybe I’d like to bring eggs to the office sometimes. Have a shed with a pottery wheel. Do flowers for a friend’s wedding from my cutting garden. I wouldn’t be hurting anyone. And historically, I’m a good employer.

I am on this ride with you OP. Sell this one to TLC so you can actually make some cash. I will watch!

+1, OP. I didn’t take that response as snark. That would be a great show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents have a hobby farm. It is managed by a farm manager and 4-6 men. The outlay for payroll and regular equipment maintenance is roughly $500-600,000 a year. This is on top of any other unusual outlays (another field truck, another tractor, replace the barn generator, reroof the stock barn). It is a complete money suck. On the other hand it provides a huge amount of pleasure to them and it is hard to argue with that. They do not live there fulltime so these expenses are all on top of their regular expenses.

How much money does this farm generate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want your hobby farm to also "do good," you might consider Care Farming and make your hobby farm a non-profit. https://carefarmingnetwork.org

Some examples:

Red Wiggler Farm in MD
A Farm Less Ordinary in VA
Telmar in Baltimore

Thank you but that sounds exhausting, if I don’t want to pay taxes on it I’ll just make it a church.
-OP

Well, it wasn't supposed to be about the taxes .... but, never mind. Clearly not your thing.

And that’s absolutely fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents have a hobby farm. It is managed by a farm manager and 4-6 men. The outlay for payroll and regular equipment maintenance is roughly $500-600,000 a year. This is on top of any other unusual outlays (another field truck, another tractor, replace the barn generator, reroof the stock barn). It is a complete money suck. On the other hand it provides a huge amount of pleasure to them and it is hard to argue with that. They do not live there fulltime so these expenses are all on top of their regular expenses.

This is so helpful, thank you!! -OP

I know nothing about this topic, but am curious about whether OP is actually willing to pay a half million or more per year for an 11 acre farm. I would watch that reality TV show.

No, but I might spend $150k. What’s it to you? People on this board drop that much on private school all the time even after paying millions to live in a “good school district” and it’s fine with me. We don’t all pursue the same things. Maybe I’d like to bring eggs to the office sometimes. Have a shed with a pottery wheel. Do flowers for a friend’s wedding from my cutting garden. I wouldn’t be hurting anyone. And historically, I’m a good employer.

I am on this ride with you OP. Sell this one to TLC so you can actually make some cash. I will watch!

+1, OP. I didn’t take that response as snark. That would be a great show.

Check out Clarkson’s farm on Amazon! It’s pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents have a hobby farm. It is managed by a farm manager and 4-6 men. The outlay for payroll and regular equipment maintenance is roughly $500-600,000 a year. This is on top of any other unusual outlays (another field truck, another tractor, replace the barn generator, reroof the stock barn). It is a complete money suck. On the other hand it provides a huge amount of pleasure to them and it is hard to argue with that. They do not live there fulltime so these expenses are all on top of their regular expenses.

This is so helpful, thank you!! -OP

You're welcome. Although it is a "hobby farm," we do actually produce a crop product that we sell. While the farm has only operated at a loss, it is nice to have some income to offset all of the other feed & seed types of expenses related to the crop.

If you intend to buy a hobby farm that is already functioning then you will want to look at the books for the business. The business may or may not be sold as part of the property. In our case, my parents began the business after buying the property. As they get older they may decide to sell the business while still keeping the property. If they sold the business then the business owners would rent back the land and equipment as part of the sale. However, as I stated, my parents derive an unimaginable amount of joy from this hobby farm and it is difficult to imagine a scenario when they would sell. Surprisingly (to me), we do get perhaps 4-5 unsolicited inquiries a year about buying either the entire enterprise or just the business.

Labor is the most difficult part of the whole farm process. It is hard to find people who want to do farm-types of work. My parents pay a minimum of $15 an hour for a general employee. Even finding a housekeeper who would cook lunch for everyone was a challenge. If you are truly interested in owning a farm then you need to do a lot more homework. I think you will surprised by all that it entails, financially and physically.

[Anonymous]

This is OP, I think you guys are starting to get my vision. Like Real Housewives of Middleburg except with no conflict and a guest appearance by Monty Don. No fake eyelashes but hiring heavy equipment to transplant unnecessarily large trees. I’m too chickenshit to fox hunt but I would like to provide a beautiful breakfast in my appropriately-historic-but-without-too-much-slavery-stuff home. Glamour chickens chosen for their elaborate feathers and friendly personalities. A hot gardener who, tragically, is gay. Etc. I need to budget so I know how many lottery tickets to buy.

[Anonymous]

Really it’s gentlemen farm. Grows some cattle for slaughter by someone else. Grows some hay to be harvested by someone else. Has a nice garden. Watches the sunset snd the seasons change. Sometimes rides a horse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, I think you guys are starting to get my vision. Like Real Housewives of Middleburg except with no conflict and a guest appearance by Monty Don. No fake eyelashes but hiring heavy equipment to transplant unnecessarily large trees. I’m too chickenshit to fox hunt but I would like to provide a beautiful breakfast in my appropriately-historic-but-without-too-much-slavery-stuff home. Glamour chickens chosen for their elaborate feathers and friendly personalities. A hot gardener who, tragically, is gay. Etc. I need to budget so I know how many lottery tickets to buy.

I think you are much too liberal for country life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, I think you guys are starting to get my vision. Like Real Housewives of Middleburg except with no conflict and a guest appearance by Monty Don. No fake eyelashes but hiring heavy equipment to transplant unnecessarily large trees. I’m too chickenshit to fox hunt but I would like to provide a beautiful breakfast in my appropriately-historic-but-without-too-much-slavery-stuff home. Glamour chickens chosen for their elaborate feathers and friendly personalities. A hot gardener who, tragically, is gay. Etc. I need to budget so I know how many lottery tickets to buy.

I think you are much too liberal for country life.

I don’t think so! We’re talking about Middleburg, not Alabama.

[Anonymous]

I am picturing OP as Lisa (Eva Gabor) with or without Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert) in Green Acres.

[Anonymous]

Just take all your money and burn it in a huge bonfire.

It is the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, I think you guys are starting to get my vision. Like Real Housewives of Middleburg except with no conflict and a guest appearance by Monty Don. No fake eyelashes but hiring heavy equipment to transplant unnecessarily large trees. I’m too chickenshit to fox hunt but I would like to provide a beautiful breakfast in my appropriately-historic-but-without-too-much-slavery-stuff home. Glamour chickens chosen for their elaborate feathers and friendly personalities. A hot gardener who, tragically, is gay. Etc. I need to budget so I know how many lottery tickets to buy.

I think you are much too liberal for country life.

Lots of limousine liberals out there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just take all your money and burn it in a huge bonfire.

It is the same thing.

I get it, this is how I feel about expensive sports for children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, I think you guys are starting to get my vision. Like Real Housewives of Middleburg except with no conflict and a guest appearance by Monty Don. No fake eyelashes but hiring heavy equipment to transplant unnecessarily large trees. I’m too chickenshit to fox hunt but I would like to provide a beautiful breakfast in my appropriately-historic-but-without-too-much-slavery-stuff home. Glamour chickens chosen for their elaborate feathers and friendly personalities. A hot gardener who, tragically, is gay. Etc. I need to budget so I know how many lottery tickets to buy.

So you want to another Martha.