Medium (?) Scale Farming

Finding land, working a small plot or anything else countryside related
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dayunbao
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Medium (?) Scale Farming

Post by dayunbao »

I don't think I'll end up attempting this, but I was wondering since there is so much land available, and so many incentives for people to begin farming, has anyone thought about increasing the scope of their farming by bringing in labor for other parts of Asia? Like Thailand? I imagine the immigration paperwork would be a nightmare, but would it pay off in the end? Just a thought...

As a second thought, do the people here with farms all grow vegetables? Anyone with livestock? An old friend of mine was really into knitting, and said she had thought about raising animals to harvest their hair/wool for yarn. I think she mentioned alpacas. Knowing absolutely nothing about farming, it seems like keeping animals like alpaca would be easier than a vegetable farm, or keeping animals that are meant to supply meat for consumption. Thoughts?

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Re: Medium (?) Scale Farming

Post by Shizuman »

dayunbao wrote:
Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:51 am
I don't think I'll end up attempting this, but I was wondering since there is so much land available, and so many incentives for people to begin farming, has anyone thought about increasing the scope of their farming by bringing in labor for other parts of Asia? Like Thailand? I imagine the immigration paperwork would be a nightmare, but would it pay off in the end? Just a thought...
been alot of talk recently about the visas for low skill workers including in the agriculture sector, i think it will be very interesting to see how it all pans out given that the technical intern program had a few issues.

Around my area we have a fair bit of dairy, pigs and chickens mostly kept in barns all the time, my family worked broad acre cattle in Aus and that took a fair chunk of time so i rekon keeping in the sheds, feeding em, shoveling the crap would add a bit of work to the whole thing. Id be interested in feed costs here in japan, i havent looked into though.

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: Medium (?) Scale Farming

Post by Zasso Nouka »

dayunbao wrote:
Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:51 am
As a second thought, do the people here with farms all grow vegetables? Anyone with livestock? An old friend of mine was really into knitting, and said she had thought about raising animals to harvest their hair/wool for yarn. I think she mentioned alpacas. Knowing absolutely nothing about farming, it seems like keeping animals like alpaca would be easier than a vegetable farm, or keeping animals that are meant to supply meat for consumption. Thoughts?
We keep around 40 chickens, food is readily available from home centres and we have them inspected once a year and vaccinated at the same time. That's not required if you aren't selling the eggs but Chiba does require you to have them registered so that you can be informed of any bird flu outbreaks near you.

@Eric in Japan might be able to answer questions on other animals as he has or had goats I think.

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Eric in Japan
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Re: Medium (?) Scale Farming

Post by Eric in Japan »

Yes, I have a goat now, the other one was killed by his brother in a freak "horn caught under collar and twisted, choking brother to death" kind of accident.

Fencing and Goats. I cannot stress how important fencing is. Especially for goats and chickens. I don't know about alpacas, but a goat will spend every waking moment planning to escape and cause chaos on a scale unimaginable to a non-goat owner. Have a new car? Well, it will have goat hoof dimples on the roof. Not so bad if it is your car, but if it is the neighbor's new car.... Planting an orchard, or a neighbor planting one? Well, goats are excellent at pruning expensive fruit trees. Maybe too enthusiastic though. Prized flower garden? Like candy to these four legged con artists. They look cute, they can be affectionate, and they will escape and cause mayhem.
A goat fence should be at least 150 cm tall, structural steel pipe for support, and have no gaps larger than 20cm. My current fence at his home paddock is tankan pipe sunk 50 cm deep, plywood on the bottom, and concrete reinforcing mesh above that for a height of 180cm. He hasn't gotten out of that one.... yet.
If you are tethering your goat in a field, you need to sink a pipe at least 50 cm or he will pull it out and cause havoc.

Fencing and Chickens. Chicken fencing is less than keeping them in as it is keeping other things out. Who doesn't love chicken dinner? I have lost so many chickens to cats, hakubishin, tanuki, dogs, wild boars, and perhaps a hawk, we never found out about that one.
Chicken fencing should be solid at the base, because chickens are idiots. My first chickens slept against the fence and let a stray cat eat them one after another--- through the fence!
I imagine it was like:
"AAAHHHH AHHHH!!!! My Wing!!!"
"Hey, Bob, keep it down, I'm trying to sleep here!"
"aaahhh... ahhhh... my leg!"
So yeah, chickens are stupid, there are many creatures that love to eat them, and the food is absurdly expensive.

Livestock in Japan- Just say no IMHO.
"... so, the cucumbers said to the cabbage, `Lettuce Go.`"

dayunbao
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Re: Medium (?) Scale Farming

Post by dayunbao »

Haha, OK, note to self, never raise goats.

Alpacas are supposed to be incredibly easy to raise. I would imagine one of the major hurdles would be just getting them into the country, although there may be people already raising them in Japan. So it might be possible to buy some in the country.

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Re: Medium (?) Scale Farming

Post by gonbechan »

You can buy them but they are pretty expensive

http://arkpet.ocnk.net/product/2667

You can always rent one first to see how much you like them
http://www.nasubigfarm.com/biz/rental.html

dayunbao
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Re: Medium (?) Scale Farming

Post by dayunbao »

Alpacas are very cute. If I bought any it would be to harvest and sell their fleece. I doubt I could convince my girlfriend to start raising them, though.

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Eric in Japan
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Re: Medium (?) Scale Farming

Post by Eric in Japan »

dayunbao wrote:
Sun Mar 03, 2019 10:31 am
Alpacas are very cute. If I bought any it would be to harvest and sell their fleece. I doubt I could convince my girlfriend to start raising them, though.
I bet she would like these I found at Chaihane in Mito...Image
"... so, the cucumbers said to the cabbage, `Lettuce Go.`"

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