thanks dd, che, yusuf, utube, dovakh, dk, and bangalorean
i think i owe a small write-up which may help others if they plan to get out of the rat race. Agriculture is rewarding – both emotionally as well as economically if you put your heart and soul into it. It is not for everyone though. Here are some things that you may want to think of.
1) are you married. If so, would you spouse (and kids if any) agree to move out of the urban maze? If not married, be prepared to look for a girl who shares this dreamy lifestyle. Your choice of mate can make or break this dream. Else stay single and have fun
2) do you have anscestral property and are you happy with moving there? If so good, else
spend time finding the right place
to find the right place, these are the things i considered. I wanted it to be beside a large body of fresh water because it would be generally beautiful and i would never have to worry about water to meet my daily farming needs. A lake or river is good but the ideal option is a catchment reservoir. Any reservoir has a fill up period (monsoon) and a drain period (winter & summer) , so during peak summer, the water level is likely to recede and the farther you are from the main river that flows into the reservoir, the more the water will recede, so be careful to get land as close to the source as possible. The next consideration is weather. Pick a reservoir where the weather is nice throughout the year. Other considerations like proximity to a town/city/forest ïŠ etc are personal preference.
After nearly 5 years of searching i found a place perfect for me. A large reservoir that is more than 2000 sq. Km. You better believe it, 2000 sq.km, no typo here. On several borders of this reservoir there is forest land. Some of it is reserve forest, other demarcated as revenue land but still forest cover. The land i bought was at the junction of the river merging with the reservoir. So throughout the year, the water level never recedes too much. There is not much human habitation upstream on the river hence the water is clean, i had it tested at uas (university of agricultural sciences) the guy giving me the test results said i should start a bottling plant without even needing to filter it
. The weather is perfect too. Between 14 and 31 degrees throughout the year. The odd very sunny day may push it to 35 degrees.
I could go on and on. I hope to wrap up my present career within 8 months so i should be living there before the end of 2012. Ewald will find that as a relief.
Regarding the questions asked : Dd, yes buffalo milk is richer, however cows give higher yield. The perfect setup would be a mixture of the two, which i am considering. Milk machines can be purchased for about 25k each. You will need one for every 20 cows i estimate. Hence not a big investment. Other reasons i plan on a dairy are the biogas, which per my calculations should be enough to supply all my domestic and agricultural electricity needs (i also plan on a wind turbine). A nice plantation of teak and mahogany will bring in a bounty in about 15 years. I will be about 50 then, right time for a 2 year world trip, lol. Anyway all these are plans. I put this together about one week into my first job when i realized that i did not want to walk out retiring from a cubicle when i was 60. 10 years on, everything still seems on track, touchwood, fingers crossed. I've been lucky to find a nice spot which fit all my needs, but it also involved many weekends of driving out and searching for the right place.
Dd, you have a pm. I do not want to post on open forum the location for privacy reasons.
. Here are some more shots. These were taken two months back, my brother is helping me put up a small house there. Once i get back to india, i will stay there while building my permanent bigger abode.