The first few weeks on a new block go one of two ways. Some people turn up with a ute full of gear they've never needed. Others have a pair of gloves and a borrowed spade, and they find out what's missing one job at a time. Neither is a great start. If you're working out the tools for a new acreage, the better approach is to slow down, walk the place, and let the property tell you what it needs.
Walk the block before you buy anything
Take a notebook and do a full lap, fence line included. Write down every job you can see: weeds taking over a corner, a gate that drags, a tap with no hose, a trough that leaks, long grass round the shed, a pile of old timber. Then sort the list into things you need to do this month and things that can wait for spring.
The gear you actually need falls out of that list. A block that's mostly weeds wants a sprayer and good gloves. A block with a dam and no reticulation wants hose and fittings. A block with a tidy house paddock and little else might need almost nothing for a while. Check what the previous owner left in the shed too, because a rusty fork with a good handle is worth keeping. If animals are coming, sort out water first, and our piece on setting up stock water covers that side of it.
Hand tools that earn their keep
Most of the work in the first months is shifting things by hand: soil, mulch, feed, rubbish, firewood. A long-handled round-mouth shovel, a square-mouth shovel, a garden fork, a steel rake and a leaf rake will cover nearly everything. Add a mattock or pick if your soil is hard or rocky, and a decent pair of secateurs. Buy the best you can afford in each, because bargain-bin handles snap and thin blades bend the first time they hit a rock.
If you're going to be moving bagged feed or loose grain, a light grain shovel with a wide mouth is a lot kinder on the back than a digging shovel. Keep it for feed and don't use it for digging. A plastic one does the job for smaller quantities.
A good knife gets used more than you'd think, for cutting twine, opening feed bags, trimming a hose or slicing through a bit of baling wire. Something like a stockman's knife sits in a pocket without fuss, and a simple yard knife lives on a hook in the shed and doesn't matter if it goes missing. Keep either one sharp. A blunt knife slips, and slips are how people get hurt.
Weeds and a hand sprayer
Most new blocks come with a weed problem, and a sprayer is the usual answer for the patches you can't mow or pull. A 5 litre pump-up sprayer covers spot spraying around the house and sheds. If you've got fence lines and paddocks to get through, a 12 litre knapsack saves a lot of walking back to refill. Spray on a calm day, keep the nozzle low so the product goes where you want it, and rinse the sprayer out well after each use.
Read the label on whatever you use, every time, and follow it. It tells you the mixing rate, the protective gear to wear, where you can use it and what to do with leftovers. Keep chemicals locked away from children, pets and stock, in their original containers. A dedicated measuring jug and a chemical measuring bucket make mixing easier and more accurate, and they should never go back to kitchen duty. For small patches of weeds on gravel or around the house, a hand-held weed burner avoids chemicals, but check local fire restrictions first and never use one on a hot, dry or windy day.
Getting water where you need it
Water is the thing most new owners underestimate. A single hose rarely reaches everywhere, and a kinked, leaking one is the quickest way to lose an afternoon. A heavy-duty hose, such as an agricultural garden hose in 20m or 30m, handles farm work better than a light garden one, and it's worth getting your fittings sorted at the same time. A two way tap adapter turns one tap into two, so you can leave the stock trough filling while you water the veggie patch, and a few spare hose connectors cost very little and fix a split end in a minute.
If you've got young trees or a lawn that needs a drink through summer, an adjustable oscillating sprinkler paired with a two hour water timer saves you from the classic mistake of leaving it running overnight. Check your water supply and any local restrictions before you set up a lot of sprinklers, especially if you're on tank water.
Gloves, safety gear and storage
Buy gloves before you buy almost anything else. A pair of leather work gloves protects against blisters, splinters and wire for the first big weekend of fencing and clearing. Add eye protection, sturdy boots and long sleeves, and keep a hat and sunscreen near the door. Hearing protection comes into it as soon as a brushcutter or chainsaw enters the picture. If you handle chemicals, wear whatever the label says, which is often more than you expect.
Tools last longer if they have a home. Knock the dirt off, wipe the metal over, and hang things up rather than leaving them in the grass. A hose stays in better shape coiled on a hose hanger than in a heap, and a dry shed floor beats a damp one. While you're in there, keep feed in sealed containers, because a messy shed brings rats and mice, as we cover in our article on rats and mice in the feed shed.
The rest of the basics are in the new acreage basics range. Start with the list you made on your walk, buy for the jobs in front of you, and add as the seasons turn up new ones.
