Why do people buy farm/country land?

Discussion in 'Other Investments' started by lshallperish, Apr 16, 2014.

  1. lshallperish

    lshallperish New Member

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    For the aussie's out there I am talking about places like bathurst/hill end area known for gold rush and still used as a place to prospect gold. Yesterday went there for an adventure, driving 150km/hr, panning gold, history etc etc and I started to wonder why people have these huge amounts of lands where some are little mountains and what not just empty, not a single thing on it.. what are they hoarding the land for? I have went through 100 miles open land with maybe 20 houses total and the rest empty land..
     
  2. BiGs

    BiGs Active Member

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    Not all land is private. A lot of farmland is public land and leased to farmers that can utilise it. Most of that land is grazed by cattle. You just can't see them from the road.

    Take a drive to Broken Hill, it'll make Hill End look like a bustling city.
     
  3. Naphthalene Man

    Naphthalene Man Active Member Silver Stacker

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    Different areas have different stocking rates based on the land capability which is a defined term.
    Soils, climatic variability and issues of economics are some of the factors that determine the land capability and agricultural suitability.
    For example, if I wanted to manage my land in a sustainable manner, the average stocking rates for the Hunter Valley based on annual rainfall, soil quality, vegetation communities etc mean that the land can only handle 1 large animal (horse, cow) or 2 small animals (sheep) per 5 acres assuming native pastures. This is due to the Valley being relatively dry and native pastures offering limitations to the animals diet. This does not take into account local variabilities such as river flats etc.

    So on the sparse vacant land that you spoke about economics and land capabilities have forced farmers to get big or get out. Get big means greater debt to buy more land which means stocking rates are to be as high as possible to obtain money without degrading the area.

    Some areas have shallow salty groundwater, shallow soils or saline geology which forces the farmer to retain trees and graze without clearing thus further reducing stocking rates and the grazing rotation.

    Hill end/Sunny Corner/Bathurst has a lot of forestry areas from memory which might also explain you observations.

    I have oversimplified the explanation but just consider the difficulties farmers have in addition to droughts etc the next time you discuss how expensive food is. Try not to buy from the middleman like supermarkets but give your $ to the butcher or farmers market seller.
     
  4. Caput Lupinum

    Caput Lupinum Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    The Cobb Highway from Wilcannia to Hay is the most spaced out boring road I have ever driven on and I've driven on some boring roads out in western NSW. There's not a single tree, no curves along the road, no houses, nothing but straight highway, paddocks and the occasional cattle grid for a couple of hundred kilometres.
     
  5. AngloSaxon

    AngloSaxon Active Member

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    "Why do people buy farm/country land?"

    To get away from it all. If it was all houses, it wouldn't be much different from living in Canberra or Wagga Wagga or similar.
     
  6. Naphthalene Man

    Naphthalene Man Active Member Silver Stacker

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    I know that we wouldn't have the horses, dam, large vege garden and multiple pumpkin vines (leading to a happy wife and child), nor need the ride on mower (happy me) where we lived in urban areas.
     
  7. ego2spare

    ego2spare Well-Known Member

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    lol ive wondered this also. then i think whats with all the horses? i drive past and know of alot of farms with 5 or more horses where they dont ride them and have never seen the owner around them at all ever, this isnt 1650. i swear they all just have them there so people driving past can say "ow hay, look, horses :) "
     
  8. southerncross

    southerncross Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    All in your mind
    Maybe they just don't like living like Sardines, packed into 3-400 Sq mt's of house and enjoy a little privacy and space around themselves rather than living like a battery hen and hearing every burp, fart or orgasm from their neighbours on a regular basis.
     
  9. wrcmad

    wrcmad Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    :lol:
    I lived in Sydney for the first 35 years of my life and never experienced the amusement of this... :lol:
    Any recommendations where I could move back and have these benefits?
    :lol:
     
  10. AngloSaxon

    AngloSaxon Active Member

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    Strathfield, Chatswood, Kogarah, Parramatta, anywhere the new apartment boxes are springing up.
     
  11. southerncross

    southerncross Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Any new housing estate has this on offer, go have a look/listen sometime. Wander down either side of the "house" in a new estate and try and stretch your arms out. Maybe it is a case of familiarity breeding willful ignorance or allowance but after 35 years in the burbs I'm sure you've heard your fair share of personal interchanges that wouldn't be on offer out in the wide open rural areas along with the gossip that comes along with it.
    Domestic arguments, parent's screaming at kids, lover's quarrels etc are all part and parcel of living in each others armpits in the city or the close quarters of suburbia. I doubt very much after 35 years of such living you have never heard a couple going hard at it, someone taking a dirty dump or fart or even a random burp unless your are blind deaf and dumb.
     
  12. Rick4691

    Rick4691 Member Silver Stacker

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    hey kaput try driving from geraldton to karratha then you know what boring is especially north of carnarvon
     
  13. Yendor

    Yendor Member

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    Why do people buy shoeboxes in the City? I lived in small towns/rural areas for my early life, until my family moved to the fringes of Perth when I started high school. The ONLY reason I live the the suburbs now is work. When I get to the point in my career that I can work full time from home (or full time FIFO), I plan to get myself a small acreage an hour or so from the city.

    I've been living in the city about 4 years now, on a 1/4 acrea in a nice suburb - I'd still take the country any day.
     
  14. scone

    scone Active Member Silver Stacker

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    How could someone live in the suburbs and waste a massive part of their life travelling to a job they hate, just to have the privilege of having a mortgage on a place they dream of leaving? The whole time putting up with people they don't want to know and breathing air that will kill!

    City or suburban life just isn't for some of us
     
  15. renovator

    renovator Well-Known Member

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    A lot of people use the burbs as a stepping stone to their dream retirement in the country battling for years to pay it off but well worth it when they sell up & buy in the country with a fat wad of leftover cash
     
  16. wrcmad

    wrcmad Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Guess I never lived in new estates.
     
  17. Naphthalene Man

    Naphthalene Man Active Member Silver Stacker

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    Try the apartment block opposite the enterance to Miranda Fair shopping centre carpark.
    I used to hear her upstairs all the time and had the enjoyment of the hair from her Alsatian falling and collecting on my verandah.
    The best thing though was that we could still read a book after we turned the lights off due to the light spill from the carpark which was open till 1am when the movie theatre closed.
    Aah the good old days. How I miss Sydney.
     
  18. wrcmad

    wrcmad Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Geeezus. That's close to home. I am a born and bred Shirey. :D
     
  19. hihosilver

    hihosilver New Member

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    here we go :rolleyes: it's good to see the upstairs downstairs British royal deep seeded BS of hallucination elitism is still at work with residents of "The Shire" ;) Every time I hear that expression, and BTW, I live in the area - I cringe. Especially when it's coming from a sun worn wrinkly dinky di, Aussie Flag waving, thong shoe, knumbnut who if ever were to go to the UK and park his/her ass within 500m of the pearly charlatan gates of Buckingham Palace, would be moved on very quickly and told to go back to convict land in a very polite West London accent :cool: go figure that out :lol:
     
  20. wrcmad

    wrcmad Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    :lol:
    Nope, haven't figured it out... :|
    Also can't figure out why I would ever want to park my ass within 500m of Buckingham Palace either? The whole country is a shithole, which is obvious given the number of poms gaining permanent residency in good ole convict land.
    :lol:
     

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