Williams Creek Farm of SW Iowa

[cbw]

Been gaining lots of insight from so many of you here over the past few years. Figured it was about time to start sharing how our place is progressing.

For starters, my father, Lee, and I were just interviewed on Jake Hofer’s Land Podcast. You’ll get more of a backstory on our place than I could ever type up….

The Land Podcast - The Pursuit of Land Ownership and Investing: #127 - Going Bankrupt Buying Land! Lessons Learned from the 80's Farming Crisis on Apple Podcasts

Show The Land Podcast - The Pursuit of Land Ownership and Investing, Ep #127 - Going Bankrupt Buying Land! Lessons Learned from the 80's Farming Crisis - Mar 25, 2024

podcasts.apple.com

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[cbw]

Standing here in our cabin… Here’s a few wall pics…

Largest deer Lee has mounted… 192in

Wyoming hunt a couple years ago.

First turkey we dropped on our property. With a bow.

Largest of a family of otters we trapped out of our pond several years ago.


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[Turkish]

Been gaining lots of insight from so many of you here over the past few years. Figured it was about time to start sharing how our place is progressing.

For starters, my father, Lee, and I were just interviewed on Jake Hofer’s Land Podcast. You’ll get more of a backstory on our place than I could ever type up….

The Land Podcast - The Pursuit of Land Ownership and Investing: #127 - Going Bankrupt Buying Land! Lessons Learned from the 80's Farming Crisis on Apple Podcasts

Show The Land Podcast - The Pursuit of Land Ownership and Investing, Ep #127 - Going Bankrupt Buying Land! Lessons Learned from the 80's Farming Crisis - Mar 25, 2024

podcasts.apple.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Enjoyed listening to the podcast this week, Chad! Great story.

 

[cbw]

Today my son and I did a small prescribed fire as a part of our EQIP contract.

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[cbw]

Then when he left for soccer practice, I worked on some edge feathering along the road for a visual screen. Also part of the EQIP program.

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[cbw]

And saw an incredible Iowa sunset driving home while on the phone with my daughter who just got back from her honeymoon.

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[cbw]

To help make the farm payment, we have been selling hedge posts. We cut from Jan 11 through the end of May. It has been great to get my boys to learn to run a chainsaw.

Saturday had a guy buy everything we had on stock plus everything else we cut through this year. (600 or so)

This year, we tested selling the best one as bow stave posts. Still have some inventory left on those.

What creative ways do you guys do for income generation from your farm?


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[cbw]

This week, we finished clearing some trees for a clover food/kill plot in the timber. First a map to give some context. The green are existing food plots. The yellow is farmed crop ground. The red is the new food/kill plot. There is excellent entry/exit with the ditch/creek just to the north of the new plot. I’m always open to any feedback on land layout/setup (this is only about half of the farm).

Here is a panoramic of the red spot while we were in process. There the plot was lined with too much brush pile debris for my liking at this point.

And here is a series of pics when we finished today — we moved the brush to another spot to burn later.

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[cbw]

Getting an early morn turkey hunting before work. 6 bucks and 1 Jake have dropped by so far. Here is the Jake coming in to my set. Goal this year is to drop a Tom with my bow and no blind. and help a couple new hunters get their first.

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[omicron1792]

Great thread! Keep it up.

 

[cbw]

Yesterday, we did our last burn of the season. Would have liked to do this one a couple weeks ago, almost too green

Old field and some switch/EW burn...




And the adjacent timber




Another load of hedge corner posts ready to ship...

 

[cbw]

Neighbor called and my dad‘s horses are out. He is traveling out of state. so Frodo and I are headed to the farm.

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[H20fwler]

The burning doesn't hurt smaller trees?

 

[SD51555]

What does someone pay for a hedge post?

 

[marlin]

The burning doesn't hurt smaller trees?

I would think it would hurt the spruce trees unless some pre burn prep was done around them.

 

[cbw]

H20fwler said:
The burning doesn't hurt smaller trees?

I would think it would hurt the spruce trees unless some pre burn prep was done around them.

It will hurt some, but not likely all of them. In my view, everything that we do on habitat is a trade-off/weighing pros and cons (disking vs no-till, synthetic fertilizer or not, etc). For us, right. now fire promotes forbs and controls invasive (e.g. MFR) are more important for our habitat goals than growing young trees at this stage. Transparently, I'm still learning on so much of this, and have been influenced quite a bit by the Land and Legacy guys (Adam Keith and Matt Dye).

The conifers that you see are all red cedar (Juniper). They are weed trees around here. They do have some value for thermal covering in winter. And they are fantastic long-term screens. But they will overtake a field in no time. I'll have to grab pic of an area on our farm that is so choked with cedars not even the deer travel through it.

 

[cbw]

What does someone pay for a hedge post?

We charge from $10 to $40 depending on the quality. See. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/375673445285786 . This year has been crazy. We have had requests for hundreds that we can't fill.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

We charge from $10 to $40 depending on the quality. See. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/375673445285786 . This year has been crazy. We have had requests for hundreds that we can't fill.

If you have more demand than supply, it is time to increase the prices! That's great that you have been able to make some money off habitat work.

 

[cbw]

If you have more demand than supply, it is time to increase the prices! That's great that you have been able to make some money off habitat work.

Yep. We’ve been increasing prices each year. Next year, we are looking at $50 for premium corners and $30 for premium lines.

Except that my top hedge chainsawer (my son) is a high school senior and will be in Chicago for college next year. :-)


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