I have a farmette in South Africa - all of 4 hectares, and I am a budding permie who needs some advice. I have been growing organic veggies for a while now and I have read Linda Woodrow's book on the Permaculture Home Garden and am getting ready to build my first chook dome. Other than that I am a complete novice.
The farmling is in the mountains of Magoebaskloof in the Limpopo Province. It is a summer rainfall region and gets very very wet. The wind can be quite brisk and good for a wind turbine. The winter can be very cold at night - goes down to -8 degrees centigrade.
My main question is about livestock and grazing per hectare. I believe 4 hectares is about 10 acres. How many AU per hectare? That is my main question. I found an Animal Units Calculator so I can work it out when I know how many per hectare or acre. I would like to have a couple of dexter cows, 2 sheep ( a ram and a ewe), 12 chickens and a rooster and perhaps some geese for security, and a horse. We plan to build a small dam for fish as well. How many fish to how many litres ? of water?
At the moment there is very little on the land but natural grasses and black wattle which we are slowly using up and we will keep a small controlled wood lot for the "donkey" to heat our water. We are going to use quite a lot of wood to build cordwood walls for the garage and workshop shed.
There were 4 horses on the farm for about 6 years and now that they are gone (about 2 years now) and the grasses are tall and all the pathways are covered. The land has not been ploughed for at least 6 to 10 years. There are small red ticks and fat grey ones as well. Where do I go to read what to do with this land before I start grazing livestock, what to grow for fodder, how to use paddocks for grazing and what to send in first etc.
Any recommendations on books and websites will be most welcome.
Thank you kindly.
