[Dirt farmer]

Iam looking at starting a new yard from scratch, any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated!

 

[bjtjjl]

What ever you think you might build there in the next 5 years, you probably will and more than likely even more. Think big and alllow for expansion. If planting trees, plant them very far away. Trees close to a house is good IMO, kind of separate it from rest of the yard. You don't want to have to dig up trees 10 yrs from now once you have done the work to get them established. Plan good drainage.

Google maps with the satellite image is a good way to snoop in people's yard to get ideas on layout.

Plan electrical. Plan for what you need now and at least triple it.

This is something that a lot of people would give their left arm to be able to do.

 

[Bar D]

We did 5 years ago it is a pile of work but worth every minute of it. We got a cat and buggy in scraped all the top soil off, piled it up, sloped everything away from where the house and other buildings were going to be. The services were put in that fall and we started the house the next spring. Get yourself a bundle of wooden stakes and some spray paint mark out everything then you know if you have enough room

 

[Arro]

We did 5 years ago it is a pile of work but worth every minute of it. We got a cat and buggy in scraped all the top soil off, piled it up, sloped everything away from where the house and other buildings were going to be. The services were put in that fall and we started the house the next spring. Get yourself a bundle of wooden stakes and some spray paint mark out everything then you know if you have enough room

Good move , get your surface water flow right before you do anything.

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

Everyone has listed good ideas, the #1 top priority for me would be to pick the highest hill in the area and build ontop of it. All the yards established in the Canadian prairies seem to be built on swamps, some settlers were smarter but most were not. I can understand nobody wants to steal 10ac of productive farmland but its worth every penny to not worry about moisture.

 

[Bar D]

Exactly Jason that's what we did. We moved to my grandpas yard whole thing is a slough built the new yard across the road on a high hill

 

[lambear]

We started a new yard, just for our house (prob a small shop in future) but some things to consider is how close are your services?

We were .6 miles from service and it cost $26000 for power, and $24000 for gas. Also checked for available ground water.

If I was doing a new farm yard, I would level it all out and make a slight grade for water to run, then bring in lots of rock.

 

[Dirt farmer]

It's a pretty exciting venture actually but a lot more challenging than a person would think, in regards to finding a piece of land suitable for a sizeable site. Something that isn't 2 miles from power, has a initial starting grade ect ect. We have a couple old yard sites with services but neither are on very solid well drained ground.

 

[fjlip]

If trees are important to you, find an existing treed yard, if you plant it's 20 years till they shelter. Well drained, with services is best. adding power and gas is horrendously expensive. I would never live in open land with the wind constantly blowing. Think about that. Good luck, hope you have patience, and deep pockets.
The reason pioneers built beside water was for the livestock. They were planning ahead, just not far ahead to today. Most yards in this area are low lying.