Since after 1900, no recent farmers or ranchers in my family. I'm first generation. Retired at 54, spent two years on metal detecting expeditions-goofing off-Before I got involved with land and then cattle.
I had been leasing my land with barn for 25 years-always horses-horse lovers. My last leasee left when I was 56. Basically the land (held many barbeque-beer parties) got severely trashed and dumped on...sofa sleepers, mattresses, horse blankets, ovens, washer-dryers, hundreds of pallets, soiled diapers, 63 tires over ~ 4,000. beer bottles, aluminum can, plastic bottles I picked up. Barn had several beam poles missing due to idiot modifications and was sagging...almost lost a floor and part of the roof. I cleaned it all up, jacked and re-poled the barn...and burned for 5 days-day and night. Ran magnets to collect up nails. Scrapped al the steel and start added T-post and post to re-fencing with 5 strands. Ran magnets to collect up nails
During the clean-up I fell in love with the land. I had always loved seeing cattle out in the fieldsā¦and since I basically built a nice "clean-safe" home for themā¦I bought 7 heifers and 1 bull onto the land for breeding.
It was a blast learning and figuring out stuff as I went. I didn't know what I was doing but I was having a ball. I'm 4 years in now.
My findings being first generation over 55 when starting: (if anyone's interested in what a newbie finds amazing/fun/difficult).
I learn about all the types of grasses and all types of weeds, the good the bad the ugly.
My biggest delight are making those yearly small ranch improvements to equipment and infrastructure that save time, reduce manual effort and provide better safety. If I'm going to get old with cattleā¦I need "easy".
What I found funnyā¦.was every cattle producer is doing things differently, and they don't know what they're doing either. I know I do crazy things tooā¦but some of these folks are seasoned cattleman are making what I'd call mistakes (financially or effort wise)ā¦.and they admit they don't know what they're doing either.
I was incredibly worried about the sale barn being "open" to accept my cattle the first time I went. I called ahead to learn about the process and confirm dates and times. It's like you do all this work, gathering cattle, sorting, loading and haulingā¦and my biggest fear was the sale barn closed, or not taking in cattle. Being an engineer, I could rely on myselfā¦but I was at the mercy of a sale barn being open. In any event it turns outā¦there wasn't anything to worry about. They take cattle a day (even two, three) before the sale date, check the dates for each sale barnā¦no news, means the sale is on.
Not many regulations for cattle producersā¦I was amazed at unloading at a sale barn and they only need a name and address. They didn't care the slightest about my cattle, ages, breeds, vaccinations, registrationsā¦they all go into one big melting sale pot, weigh them and sell them. I enjoyed learning about FSA, RCPP, USDA, NRCS and signing up for anything beneficial to my business. Sure it's a lot of fun and hard work but it's a business at the end of the day. I only expect to break even, stay health and give back to society. Being new to farming-cattle, it amazes me at how unregulated things are in cattle and hay; no standards or linkages between farms/farmers communication wise: ( who's selling what cattle, hogs, chickens and what type of hay produced on their farm and where's the roster where I sign-up for hay in advance? So we both can have "peace and comfort" producing, buying and selling). No standards...It's both a blessing and a curse. You're free to do what you want to do, your own wayā¦.but it's very difficult to find grain producers (in the area, I'm in) or find a reliable hay producer, hay relationship (during droughts) when you're near big cities (Dallas, Texas) where farming is going extinct.
. Hope I never do!
Mr TC and I were always in the banking industry (he was primarily electronic banking, credit/debit). Moved from Kansas to Wisconsin to Arizona to Wisconsin to Arizona and finally Texas. He was CEO/Pres of a company in Austin and finally sold it to Bank of America in 2006. And promptly announced he was going to retire (at 54). Followed by wanting to buy some land where he could hunt & fish. Okay, then, whatever you want, and we bought a section back in KS, relatively close to my family. Followed by "Let's buy some cows!". Da hell??? I'd never even been near a cow. But whatever honey, you do you and I'll go get a part time job in town. Or not! See how that turned out? I literally went from Prada to poo. Dove right in, had numerous mentors, worked closely and learned from my vet, took classes offered by K-State extension, made mistakes and learned from them. Never been happier!
