Bryan Elliott

It's practically impossible to give a quality answer to that question without knowing where you live.  Climate, rainfall, and soil type have a lot to do with that if you want to keep them on pasture.  If you are going to dry lot them and haul feed in it will work  practically anywhere.  Short answer-maybe!

Tori,

When we lived down in NW Oklahoma we had soapberries on our place.  Deer really liked to bed down and hangout in the grove of soapberry trees.  

In my opinion you can't have too much knowledge or too many skills.  Your fourth paragraph answered your own question.  It's not a bad thing to get paid while you learn.  I've jumped back and forth between jobs using my degree and welding pipe and then oilfield.  I made more money and enjoyed life more while working outside in less than perfect conditions than I did inside.  It might be a curse!

It never occurred to me that prickly pear might have a rooting hormone in their leaves.  It's possible though because if you mow or plow over prickly pear it spreads.  Many of the leaves or pieces of leaves will root down and you have more clumps started.  We once had a neighbor chisel a pasture on contour to help water infiltration.  It worked but in a couple years it had a terrible prickly pear infestation.

Deane,
You don't have to wait until your offer expires.  If you prefer the first place I think you could withdraw your offer on place #2 and buy it.  I've always been told an offer stands until it's been refused or withdrawn.  If I could buy either,  I'd get the one I wanted.  You are the only one who knows.

It would be nice to know what part of the world you are in C Oakes.  It might help you in getting better ideas and answers in the future.  

I've looked at a lot of them on various sites.  The ones that make the most sense to me are the greenhouses designed by Cord Parmenter in Colorado.  I'm going to use his ideas when I get to build mine in about a year.  They have classes every year at the Denver Botanical Gardens.  If you want to see some examples of his designs they are at pennandcordsgarden.com

I didn't realize this was an option.  I don't think I've ever seen a foot of snow without a windstorm.

Farmers and ranchers call them "widow makers".  There is a reason for that.  You have to be careful using them and think about what could happen.  How ever we all have one because sometimes they are the right tool or the only tool that can do the job at hand.

I think so.  I wear them all year-every day.  They are warmer in the winter and I think they breathe better and are more comfortable in the summer also.