ez14.":2lj1du03 said:
Brute 23":2lj1du03 said:
Growing up we didn't have a choice if we wanted to help with the cattle or not. Luckily I always enjoyed it. At 16 I started managing a cattle operating which gave me great experience actually calling the shots... not just laboring. Over time I leased more properties and subbed them out to the operation I managed until I was financially ready to start buying cattle myself. I started buying a few, retaining a few, and was given a few to start my own herd.
My end game is to get a herd going so one day I can purchase property and have the cattle already to help generate any revenue they can.
someone hired you at 16 to manage a farm? Tell me more
My brother and a friend of his use to work for the people mowing and doing odds and ends. At that time they leased out the land. I started helping them here and there on projects. When I was around 15 they were heading off to college so they turned it over to me. The guy who leased it didn't do any more than he had to. I was patching fence and all kinds of stuff non-stop. The "stuff" hit the fan when a neighbor got very upset and chewed the owner out pretty good for not keeping up with fences. The owner asked me if I could build fence and he would just pay for it because he didn't want neighbors upset with him.
After I got the fence done we were talking one day and I made the comment if you are going to pay for all the fence work and stuff you might as well own the cattle. He asked if I could take care of them and I replied yes. I told him I could get some costs together on what he would be looking at to get in the game.
A week or so later I sent him a spread sheet based off the costs from my family's operation with projected revenues and expenses. My dad and brother helped me get it organized.
I emailed it to the owner. He called me and asked a few question and at the end he said he was putting a check in the mail for me to go purchase cattle.
Looking back now it's amazing what our relationship has evolved in to from just a 15 year old mowing a person's yard.
I have another similar story from helping watch a families cattle when I was younger. Basically it goes the same way. Starts off with them just asking me to dip in and check water here and there. It grows in to some thing much more later on that continues to this day and had a large impact on my life.
People always want to "Advance to Go and collect their $200" but it really takes time to cultivate these opportunities and they tend to over look the simple things that lead to them.
When I was in high school I had 3 guys that worked for me mowing lawns. An older lady called one day and and wanted some flower beds cleaned up and stuff in the winter. I didn't have time so I told one of the guys, a friend, to give her a shout and he could have the job. There wasn't enough money in it for both of us. He ended up working for her for several years and she paid for all his college tuition.
Started simple... ended awesome.