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Custom Intensive Grazing Business
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<blockquote data-quote="RDFF" data-source="post: 1786467" data-attributes="member: 39018"><p>I'm in Minnesota. In addition to owning/managing my own herd, I've been "custom grazing" on my own property for about 6 years now. My custom grazing model has evolved as I learned through the years. I'm reasonably comfortable with how I'm operating currently and have only made minor changes in the last couple of years... but it's always a work in progress. Just like with the grazing itself, you have to be able to be "observant and adaptive" to ALL new circumstances and information that becomes apparent.</p><p></p><p>Figure out what you think you can make work FOR YOU, <strong><u>start small</u></strong>, be OBJECTIVELY observant to ALL circumstances, and make changes as required. Over time, you'll learn what works and what doesn't. One thing you always have to keep in mind though... it requires a BALANCE, with equal concern for both you and your client to be able to make it work. <strong><u>BOTH of you</u></strong> have to understand, agree and accept that. If you're too greedy and take all the profit out of it for your client, you won't have clients very long, you'll develop a level of resistance and animosity in the relationship, and your ability to attract new clients will evaporate. If your client demands that you take out all the potential for opportunity for yourself... you simply won't be able to provide that service that you're envisioning. You NEED to develop long lasting, <strong><u>workable, mutually trusting</u></strong> relationships with your clients.</p><p></p><p>If you're considering doing this on YOUR property (not sure I understand what your business model is just yet), realize that you really only have the property that you have... and you will have to be working with a limited number of clients then. Many, if not most clients, will not want to be mixing their cattle with other people's cattle. Will you try to run multiple separate herds then? Do you intend then to install adequate fencing to keep these individual herds separated? It's a lot easier to manage one group of animals than several, particularly on the same property... every separate group will require about the same amount of time to move them, regardless of the number of animals. Two different groups vs. one doubles your time requirement. A larger group gives you "economies of scale" that a small group simply can't accomplish for you. Be selective, and choose your clients carefully. It has to be a "good fit" for both you and your client!</p><p></p><p>It SOUNDS more like you're considering offering <u>grazing infrastructure installation</u> <strong>and</strong> <u>management of the herd</u> services ON THE HERD OWNER'S PROPERTIES? Kind of like a "crop consultant" who will make all the management decisions and provide all of the required infrastructure, but while also including regular (daily?) herd management as well? If that's the case, I think you're going to have a really tough go of it. You're going to have an awful lot of travel time, potentially to widely scattered herds, on a very regular basis. One of the biggest, most important components of managed intensive grazing (and I prefer to add "ADAPTIVE" before that moniker) is REGULAR OBJECTIVE OBSERVATION. If you're not physically ON THE GROUND REGULARLY where the cattle are grazing, you'll never be able to properly achieve your goals. The more regularly you move those animals, the more beneficial will be the potential for your program, for both the animals and the soil, and the productivity of the pasture. HOW you move them, and <u><strong>HOW you decide</strong> to move them</u> EACH TIME (based on observation and information available to you at the time), is critical to a successful program. Daily observation of all of the factors that go into those decisions is important. If you have multiple pastures, clients, and herds scattered over an area the size of a county... you're going to be a very busy man trying to cover that much ground, and manage those animals appropriately.</p><p></p><p>And your cost of labor and transportation to and from those individual operations will eat you alive... respectfully, IMHO.</p><p></p><p>What direct personal experience <strong><u>with your own investment on the line,</u></strong> have you had with Adaptive Managed Intensive Grazing? It's a pretty big ask to expect someone to trust your management abilities (both financially as it relates to AMIG and animal husbandry/pasture management), without having grounded that with direct personal successful experience.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RDFF, post: 1786467, member: 39018"] I'm in Minnesota. In addition to owning/managing my own herd, I've been "custom grazing" on my own property for about 6 years now. My custom grazing model has evolved as I learned through the years. I'm reasonably comfortable with how I'm operating currently and have only made minor changes in the last couple of years... but it's always a work in progress. Just like with the grazing itself, you have to be able to be "observant and adaptive" to ALL new circumstances and information that becomes apparent. Figure out what you think you can make work FOR YOU, [B][U]start small[/U][/B], be OBJECTIVELY observant to ALL circumstances, and make changes as required. Over time, you'll learn what works and what doesn't. One thing you always have to keep in mind though... it requires a BALANCE, with equal concern for both you and your client to be able to make it work. [B][U]BOTH of you[/U][/B] have to understand, agree and accept that. If you're too greedy and take all the profit out of it for your client, you won't have clients very long, you'll develop a level of resistance and animosity in the relationship, and your ability to attract new clients will evaporate. If your client demands that you take out all the potential for opportunity for yourself... you simply won't be able to provide that service that you're envisioning. You NEED to develop long lasting, [B][U]workable, mutually trusting[/U][/B] relationships with your clients. If you're considering doing this on YOUR property (not sure I understand what your business model is just yet), realize that you really only have the property that you have... and you will have to be working with a limited number of clients then. Many, if not most clients, will not want to be mixing their cattle with other people's cattle. Will you try to run multiple separate herds then? Do you intend then to install adequate fencing to keep these individual herds separated? It's a lot easier to manage one group of animals than several, particularly on the same property... every separate group will require about the same amount of time to move them, regardless of the number of animals. Two different groups vs. one doubles your time requirement. A larger group gives you "economies of scale" that a small group simply can't accomplish for you. Be selective, and choose your clients carefully. It has to be a "good fit" for both you and your client! It SOUNDS more like you're considering offering [U]grazing infrastructure installation[/U] [B]and[/B] [U]management of the herd[/U] services ON THE HERD OWNER'S PROPERTIES? Kind of like a "crop consultant" who will make all the management decisions and provide all of the required infrastructure, but while also including regular (daily?) herd management as well? If that's the case, I think you're going to have a really tough go of it. You're going to have an awful lot of travel time, potentially to widely scattered herds, on a very regular basis. One of the biggest, most important components of managed intensive grazing (and I prefer to add "ADAPTIVE" before that moniker) is REGULAR OBJECTIVE OBSERVATION. If you're not physically ON THE GROUND REGULARLY where the cattle are grazing, you'll never be able to properly achieve your goals. The more regularly you move those animals, the more beneficial will be the potential for your program, for both the animals and the soil, and the productivity of the pasture. HOW you move them, and [U][B]HOW you decide[/B] to move them[/U] EACH TIME (based on observation and information available to you at the time), is critical to a successful program. Daily observation of all of the factors that go into those decisions is important. If you have multiple pastures, clients, and herds scattered over an area the size of a county... you're going to be a very busy man trying to cover that much ground, and manage those animals appropriately. And your cost of labor and transportation to and from those individual operations will eat you alive... respectfully, IMHO. What direct personal experience [B][U]with your own investment on the line,[/U][/B] have you had with Adaptive Managed Intensive Grazing? It's a pretty big ask to expect someone to trust your management abilities (both financially as it relates to AMIG and animal husbandry/pasture management), without having grounded that with direct personal successful experience. [/QUOTE]
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