I need some serious $ making ideas

[HerefordSire]

Please don't misunderstand because I appreciate the idea but I think expecting to get 10,000 customers is probably not very realistic. The farm is 90 miles south of Nashville, about 40 miles north of Chattanooga and no where near Memphis or Knoxville.

What is realistic? 800 clients paying $100 is $80K. 10,000 clients paying $100 is $1M.

 

[EAT BEEF]

The fence company was really good to me,you might want to look into building fence.I don't know if you need to stay in tenn,but other parts of the country might be priced a little better?I know you have a family to look after,but it's the creative people that have a set that get ahead fast or loose their a$$ fast.

 

[SRBeef]

Maybe the first question you should ask yourself is what do you like to do and wehat skills do you have.

Raising organic vegetables, or running a bed and breakfast or raising beef cattle or milking cows are not easy. They each take a lot of work and require a set of skills and knowledge. Selling any of them also takes some skill.

Typically livestock which are labor intensive have been the way to start out in ag.

No matter what you do you will probably need some equipment.

It is not impossible buit rather than starting wiith ideas from a bunch of strangers who don't know you, I would suggest you look at what agricultural or craft etc you enjoy doing, what you know or are capable of learning about and start from there.

With onlyu 65 acres open and the rest woods you will probably need to use both. A combination of livestock, selling firewood, selling some vegetables and anything else you like to do and know how to do will probably be necvessary to produce enough income to live on. However it would probably be best to keep your day job until you get these enterprises going - or find an off farm job closer to the farm or find a farm closer to your day job, etc.... Good luck. Jim

 

[Lammie]

Is there enough land for hunting leases?

What about staging educational tours for kids with animals they can see and touch? Kid's birthday parties with a farm theme? I know a lady in Arlington who did that and did pretty well. Can you grow pumpkins? There is another place in Kennedale that did "dude ranch" and "gold miner" themed birthday parties for kids. Plenty costly and parents will pay it because it's different.

It would be a long term thing, but what about using part of the land as Christmas tree farm? Families cut their own. All of these have liability issues but you could see what all that would involve in terms of insurance and taxes.

 

[tom4018]

I don't know what part of TN but $6600 a month seems pretty steep to me. I don't see how a person could make that much on that size farm.

Is the timber marketable?

Oh yea, if someone figures out how to make that much let me know. ;-)

Making money is very easy.

I think very few people make $80,000 a year off a 100 acre farm. In this area tobacco was always one of the most profitable crops per acre and that industry is changing rapidly.

What kind of ideas are you suggesting?

I guess I am not that much of a risk taker and pass on too many opportunities.

 

[Bez+]

Better forget cows for a while - they make next to nothing and are expensive.

In fact all large animals will fail you in this endeavour.

Free range chickens - sell to restaurants and to folks - organic free range is even better

They grow and mature quickly - they are relatively easy to raise and the CASH FLOW is high

Make mobile pens about 20 - 30 feet long and 10 feet wide for them to shelter in and drag them around on the ground they are eating off

We used the four wheeler to pull them - just light wood skids - half was covered in tin and the other half in chicken wire - they could go in and out as they saw fit - but always got locked up for the night - I think we moved the pens about 20 feet ahead every day or maybe it was every two days - they would clean it up at night when we locked them down for their safety.

Invite folks to come out and see it

Get into the local papers - invite the ag reporter out to the farm - it is worth a fortune in advertising

Might not make a pile of money initially but you can move 500 birds every 50-60 days - you can reduce that to 40 days if you want to sell smaller birds - but they do grow a bit slower than commercial birds - it is the starter I think - but you can sort that out - you need an idea this one works

Advertise organic free range - biut only if you can - certification may be a problem in your area - but you can go with FREE RANGE and still they will come to buy. Bet you do this right you will be selling about 15,000 a year - you will get to the point you will have to "go big or stay home"

They may grow a bit slower at the start but they take off and grow real fast once they start grazing

Start slow - do a batch of 50 - 100 as an experiment

I think you might be real surprized at how far folks wil come to buy them

My brother paid for his farm off what his wife raised - some folks drove three hours to buy them - "on the hoof" or killed at the local plant

Nothing died before they were sold except his restaurant trade - easier to keep them when they are alive than it is to store them frozen

Cost for those drag shelters was about 150 bucks

The turn over beats goats, sheep, cows, horses and so on

You want cash and ag at the same time - this is the way to go - plus your fields are fertilized and cleaned up - they eat everything

Drawback? You might pay more for the chicks and you have to be there - predation can be a problem - so be like the shepherd and follow the flock

Organic ground?

Grow pumpkins and have folks come and pick their own.

Grow cucumbers for pickles and once again - pick your own

Long term? Strawberries - always pick your own - yeah there are potential issues with liabilities - but they can be over come if you are serious about it all - other folks do it - so can you.

Long term - Honey - keep some bees if you have the right location - it sells right out the front door and folks love it

You have set a time frame and therefore will have to make some sacrifices and put up with things others might not like - but that is the only way you wil meet your goal

Heck - you do it right you might never keep another cow - two kids down the road started with a vegetable stand 15 years ago - they are some of the biggest growers in my area now - brother and sister operation - and it now supports two families and they do very well - cash business.

Over to you - bust your @ss and you can do it - just stay away from the big animals - turn over is far too slow

Best to you

Bez+

 

[hurleyjd]

Get Real you can never pay for the farm. $80,000 a year is not possible. That is $800 an acre on ever acre. You cannot count on the weather. You may sink two years of money in it (160000) then you have a year of drought. At that time you will see all of the work and money paid in totaly gone.

 

[Susie David]

If you are talking CSA (community supported agriculture) shares you are looking at more work than your family can handle. The clients expect a full box of produce every week during the growing season, most up here also give a dozen eggs and a turkey at the end of season, for this they pay $500-600 for the season. That's alot of groceries to make 80K.
The B&B sounds like it could work but will take some planning and a detailed business plan...week-end on the farm with farm raised meals and some work/lessons in country life could fetch up to $500 a couple for the weekend. Send them home with some eggs, beef and produce and by word of mouth alone you could have a booming business in a few years. Still, careful planning and market targeting with some creative advertizing could make this dream happen.
This sounds so good that if I was younger I'd have a go at it.
Know a gal who does a farn tour on the weekends with lunch and classes on organic farming...biggest attraction for photos is the old out-house which was redone victorian style, most of the visitors have never seen one up close, much less than being the first one up on a winter morn to go out and break the frost.
Dmc

 

[dieselbeef]

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im dyin to kow too things

are you kidding

and hereforshire said makin money is easy.....ive never found that to be true :tiphat:

 

[Jogeephus]

and hereforshire said makin money is easy.....ive never found that to be true

I got a feeling Herfordshire devotes a lot of his time mining for information and data. With the right information, making money is easy. JMO

Legally, I don't know if you could jump start an agricultural business this quickly to make this much money in the first year. I can think of seveal things that you could do that would bump the income per acre around five figures but all would take a lot of capital and at least 3 years to get it going - and some luck.

 

[john250]

tncattle, do you have experience?
Why the 3 yr deal? I ask because 3 yr possession before the money is due is not a common deal. What will you pay/acre?
With only 100 acres, you will have to do "recreational ag" to stand any chance. That is, offer people some "experience" to go along with some strawberrys or green beans. Are you a good promoter? Outgoing? You could make it. If you are an introvert, like most farmers, forget it.
Or I guess if it's up some holler, you could make shine.

 

[dieselbeef]

i hear marijuana is lost legal and will make ya alotta money real quik..and people will literally beat yer door down to get it

 

[alacattleman]

catfish,, you know how we southeners love some catfish. i seen a feller buy up some above ground pools. and stock em with catfish and was clearing 100K a year,,, plus when and if, your done raising em you can haul the pools off and never know they were there

 

[dieselbeef]

did ya see my thread about butchers makin porn..thatd make ya some cash

 

[BeefmasterB]

Attempting to start a new business in a stale economy is just not a good idea unless you have a bank roll handy. Aside from producing medical marijuana, I can't see clearing $80k a year off the land. The stress of trying to make it work isn't going to be worth it, given the odds of success.

100 miles to work is not so bad depending on the roads (backroad versus freeway routes). Get a Toyota Prius and just deal with the commute. Maybe see if your employer will let you work from home every now and then. Sounds like a nice place!

 

[GMN]

We have the chance to live on a farm and eventually buy it in three years. At the end of the three years we will need $75K which we can get from selling the house we live in now, we'll rent it till then. The problem is we need to do a lease & purchase option now but right now I can't come up with any workable ideas to generate around a $80K from this farm on a yearly basis. It's 100 acres and about 65 of that is open pasture land. It was used as a dairy by Mennonites for around 25 years up till about 2000. It has great infrastructure (buildings, grain & feed bins, commodity shed, etc.) 15 Acres is in Alfalfa and the rest is grass--good soil. I know without seeing it it's hard to give good advice but I'm having serious brain cramps and we (wife, me three children) love this place and want to make it our home. I usually wouldn't post anything like this but I'm trying everything I can think of. If you have questions that may help clarify please ask.

I'd be very careful, why are they only offering the deal of 3 years, lease and then purchase? Could you not get a better deal thru a Bank, 30 year morgtage? Why are they selling it?

Thing with farming is that it takes alot of money to make a little money, and there is never enough money or enough time to get everything done.

GMN

 

[Brandonm22]

Oh yea, if someone figures out how to make that much let me know. ;-)

If he can figure out how to clear $80,000+++ a year on 100 acres, he needs to write the book. I know I will pay $28.99 for it.

 

[Brandonm22]

Please don't misunderstand because I appreciate the idea but I think expecting to get 10,000 customers is probably not very realistic. The farm is 90 miles south of Nashville, about 40 miles north of Chattanooga and no where near Memphis or Knoxville.

Why not go to them? I get email from an outfit that sells premium farm products. They prepare a load of stuff and email everybody on their list with what days they are going to be delivering and asking if we want to order something (I don't need anything but I ought to order SOMETHING just because it looks good).

http://www.boutwellfarms.com/

 

[Bez+]

Please don't misunderstand because I appreciate the idea but I think expecting to get 10,000 customers is probably not very realistic. The farm is 90 miles south of Nashville, about 40 miles north of Chattanooga and no where near Memphis or Knoxville.

Why not go to them? I get email from an outfit that sells premium farm products. They prepare a load of stuff and email everybody on their list with what days they are going to be delivering and asking if we want to order something (I don't need anything but I ought to order SOMETHING just because it looks good).

http://www.boutwellfarms.com/

Targeted email lists are very valuable - and as I am always data mining for specific people and companies - that email is not always easy to get. - to build a list that would be large enough to do the job takes a lot of time or it takes a lot of money. Try it - I know because I built my own of several thousand "direct to the office" emails

Sending or selling through the internet is also quite expensive - packaging and shipping are problems - drop shipping is also a problem when you get big - you need a staff and you need out side help.

The only person talking 10K customers is some wierd guy who has a problem with questions and answers - klnows nothing about agriculture and roosts here because no one else will have him - and he acts like he knows something about everything - and he manages to pull nearly every discussion away from the point - and he does it intentionally and people follow him.

Forget that person and his idea - which is only wind - and go back to the original question and the person asking it.

What this guy needs right now is ideas on quick and steady or quick growing cash flow. I suspect if he could even reach a smaller number than his target of 80K he would be interested.

In my mind he is not getting much of what he asked for here and he sure is being told - nicely in only some cases mind you that he is either an idiot or a genius in the making.

So - anyone got some direct - no kidding - really might work - it has to be reasonably easy - ideas to make money that are legal - moral - and ethical - and do not involve email lists, pamphlets to thousands in some place a hundred miles away - or comments like - "it is easy to make money" which is - as we all know - "nothing but pure bull schitt" unless the comment comes with rock solid advice which it did not.

Regards

Bez+

 

[Brandonm22]

Please don't misunderstand because I appreciate the idea but I think expecting to get 10,000 customers is probably not very realistic. The farm is 90 miles south of Nashville, about 40 miles north of Chattanooga and no where near Memphis or Knoxville.

Why not go to them? I get email from an outfit that sells premium farm products. They prepare a load of stuff and email everybody on their list with what days they are going to be delivering and asking if we want to order something (I don't need anything but I ought to order SOMETHING just because it looks good).

http://www.boutwellfarms.com/

The only person talking 10K customers is some wierd guy who has a problem with questions and answers - klnows nothing about agriculture and roosts here because no one else will have him - and he acts like he knows something about everything - and he manages to pull nearly every discussion away from the point - and he does it intentionally and people follow him.

Forget that person and his idea - which is only wind - and go back to the original question and the person asking it.

We don't need to beat up on the Arkansas guy. Part of the confusion was my fault. I wasn't suggesting he have 10,000 customers. The point I was quoting was the farm is 90 miles from Nashville, 40 miles from Chattanooga, and not near Memphis or Knoxville part. Boutwell Farms delivers too Birmingham, Dothan, Gulf Shores, Atlanta, Pensacola, Columbus, etc. That is a MASSIVE territory. I live inside that general area and have never ventured to Pensacola OR Gulf Shores (289 miles according too Yahoo Maps). Boutwell will deliver the stuff. I know that that is an enormous hassle; but it allows them to get premiums and have a much broader customer base than geography would normally allow.