Southern Iowa Land For Sale

I’m pleased to present Horsefeather Farm for sale, 143 Acres +/- in southern Decatur County, Iowa, as beautiful as it is unique. This is being offered as a split parcel off of the larger overall 242 acres farm, and final acreage is subject to completed survey. Property has a nice mix of timber and pasture, is set up with multiple paddocks for rotational cattle grazing, has pasture rent and crp income, pasture acres that could potentially be converted into tillable acres for additional income, an awesome energy-efficient 20-year old Lodge style post and beam stucco home with rustic wood accents at the end of an almost 1/2 mile long driveway, and the property hasn’t been hunted for Whitetail Bucks in 28 years! Situated in a rural and very private setting but only 3.5 miles from I-35, there is an awful lot to love about this property. (*Trail camera photos & videos from Summer, 2026. Please note that trail camera photos and video clips are from the whole 242 acre farm, as is the overview youtube video*)

Situated in the part of Decatur County in Iowa Nonresident Deer Zone 5, this property has the unique distinction that no Whitetail Buck has been taken off the property since the current owner bought the place 28 years ago! (The buck racks pictured in the listing were all deadheads the landowner found and picked up over the years.) He is a meat hunter only and has killed a handful of does on the property in 28 years, but no bucks, and no one else has had permission to hunt bucks either during that time. The property has a nice mix of different habitats, from uplands to bottomlands, all kinds of wild oak trees for hard mast (and younger planted oaks too), multiple year-round water sources, and a lot of open acres that currently are used for pasture but are honestly a blank slate for deer habitat and hunting improvements if desired, whether that be native warm season grass plantings, tree plantings, or food plots. There are countless great locations for hidden food plots and/or standing corn/beans for late Winter deer food.

There is good stand access to all different areas of the property, great locations for both morning and evening hunting, and the farm is huntable with any wind direction. The lodge home sits right on the edge of one of the biggest blocks of timber on the property and you can literally walk out the back door and be in a stand in a couple minutes! All trail camera photos and video clips accompanying this listing are from Summer, 2026 (more will be being added soon).

There are multiple separate fenced paddocks for rotational grazing that make up the acres of rented pasture on the farm. They currently are being rented on a simple month-to-month arrangement at $65/acre, and the tenant can have the cattle off with 30+ days notice if the new owner doesn’t want to maintain the pasture rent arrangement. There are multiple ponds spread around the property, 3 main buried water lines (off the main rural water line), plasson valves, Cobett frost free drinkers, and “Iowa Hydrants”. Each of the paddocks has a water source of some sort. The owner obtained and maintained an “organic farm” certification for some time, then eventually let the certification lapse, but has continued the same practices on the farm ever since, which include no synthetic fertilizer or herbicide application, meaning the new owner could likely re-gain the organic farm certification if so desired.

There are some acres currently in pasture that could potentially be converted to tillable acres for additional income.

There are also 15.11 acres enrolled in a tree planting crp program, paying $1,272.26 annually, with the contract expiring in September, 2031.

The 2,360 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath home was built in 2006 and is likely entirely unique in Decatur County. It is a post and beam structure with vaulted (open) ceilings, a 27×30 open loft (810 sq. ft), straw bale insulation in the walls, adobe floor (similar to concrete), and 4″ of lime plaster stucco on the interior walls and 4″ of plaster stucco on the exterior walls. The straw bale and stucco construction style is not commonly known or seen in Iowa, but is quickly gaining in popularity in the western United States because of the superior insulative qualities and also because it is up to *4 times more fire-resistant* than a standard wood stud wall and fiberglass, cellulose or spray-foam insulation! Ask the listing agent to receive by e-mail a list of video links talking about the benefits of this type of construction and videos showing fire-resistance tests. Straw bales, when covered with stucco, are also much more termite resistant than typical wood frame construction.

This home would serve great as a full-time residence or as a weekend getaway or hunting lodge. The interior has a rustic lodge atmosphere to it with beautiful wood accents everywhere. All the exposed beams were cut from oak trees harvested on the property, and all the custom oak trim also! Tongue and groove knotty pine carsiding covers the underside of the vaulted ceilings, the custom kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets are made from quarter sawn White Oak, the stair treads and railings, and 3 entry doors into the house were also custom built from White Oak, and lastly all the windows are custom made from western red cedar.

The straw bale and stucco construction provides an insulative R-value in the walls of approximately 45, which is more than double what you’d get in a 2×6 wall with standard types of wall insulation like fiberglass batts and spray in cellulose, and it also handily beats the R-value of closed cell spray foam. There are 2 layers of 6″ (12″ total, approximately 40+ R-value) rolled fiberglass insulation in the roof, with a maintenance free metal roof on the exterior. There is a whole home hydronic radiant floor heating system that keeps the home cozy in Winter, with the in-floor water lines being heated alternately by a big wood cookstove in the kitchen and by the 75 gallon propane water heater. Additionally, the water (rural water) to the 3 main cattle watering lines is plumbed to pass through the water lines in the floor so when the float-regulated cattle waterers in the field automatically keep topped up as the cattle drink, that cool water runs through the water lines in the home floor, helping to keep the home cool in the moderate and warm months! The landowner has a small window a/c unit in a single window in the home that he occasionally runs more as a dehumidifier than an air conditioner. The home is extremely energy efficient, and even moreso because it is tucked into a grove of large old oak trees that act as great shade through the first half of the day. The home has a meager $106/month average electric bill throughout the course of the year.

The home has a 200 amp main electric panel, with a 50 amp dedicated circuit in the garage for welding purposes. And there is fiber optic high speed internet service to the home through Grand River Networks!

There is a large attached 2-car garage with large open loft above it (with whole house fan) that could serve as a workshop, storage space, or could be turned into extra bedrooms. The home has 1 full bathroom and the garage has a half-bath by the laundry hook-ups.

A wrap-around concrete porch with big porch roof overhang goes around 3 sides of the home. There are water, propane and electric hook-ups to the back porch. The roof has seamless gutters with leaf screen installed.

Staying with the sale are the main kitchen propane stove, large wood cookstove, refrigerator, microwave, and washing machine (there is no tumble dryer). There is no dishwasher but there is a spot and hook-up for one. The dining table and 12 chairs for table and kitchen bar will stay with the sale also.

There is an old pole barn that serves for some equipment storage.

The farm is very private in a remote country location but still not that far from town, only 1.5 miles to pavement, 3.5 miles to I-35 and 7 miles to Lamoni. It is 36 miles to Osceola and 75 miles to West Des Moines.

Please contact Land Specialist Joshua Flournoy at (641) 203-9427 for more information or to set up a showing. Showings by Appointment Only.