Interested in Ranching/Farming

[nnmzharmon]

My wife and I have a dream of running and operating a farm within the next 10 years. We have 2 young children and one on the way. At this point I am beginning research into what the cost will be and how realistic this whole thing is. I have limited experience in this area. My parents raise and sell holstien steers but only 4/5 at a time. I am starting from ground zero, no money, no land, and no cows. I work at a job where I could put about $9,000 into this a year, so not a lot. My thought is to start by finding some land to lease, close to home, and raising 5/6 steers and selling them a year from now and trying to expand on that the second year. the only debt I have is some student loans and a small car payment. I am 24 years old, the market is starving for young ranchers and I want to jump on that band wagon. I am not interested in being told this is a pipe dream move on, I need to be told where to go from here. Should I save, should I spend?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I would save a little while longer. If you want to make it work it will, I have. Where are you located? It makes a difference on what will work.

 

[nnmzharmon]

I live in se nm

 

[Ouachita]

"I am starting from ground zero, no money, no land, and no cows."
Some of the most wealthy men in the world started out the same way. Use your noggin. Think about all the available human diet plans. They all have a claim of success, but the seemingly overlooked simplified conjuncture is that calories injested must be less than calories burned. Simple. Do the math. I agree with denvermartin.... save a bit longer. Talk to neighbors. Keep your eyes peeled for land to lease close to home, and be prepared to maintain it. Then buy a twosome or threesome feeders and have fun. If you find it to be worth your while, the sky is the limit. Good luck :tiphat:
If you don't want to listen to my advise, look up alisonb. She's a go-getter with many words of wisdom

 

[Brute 23]

Invest heavily in to IRAs, mutual funds, ect. Take advantage of your age and compound interest. I would use this time to maybe pick up a side job in farming or ranching and learn the ropes with some one elses money. 5 or 10 years down the road when you have accumulated some knowledge and savings you will be far more prepared to venture off on your own.

I am 26 and executing that exact plan right now. ;-)

 

[nnmzharmon]

Thank you everyone! This is really helpful, I think my plan will be to save save save. I have a friend with a very successful ranch here and I will try and help him as much as possible to learn. I work on a children's ranch taking care of kids and there is a ranch manager here I can help out for a little extra cash during the day while the kids are in school, so I will start there. Then maybe a year or so down the road I will find some land to use for cheap or free and put some cows there. What would I start with, just some feeders or some heifers with calves?

Also is it worth it to attend courses at te colleges? There is a great ag school here in town. Sorry for any misspelling I am doing this on a cell phone.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Brute has a good plan, personally I would save all I could for 3 to 5 years in a money market type of account, I would not invest Incase a good oprutuinity came at a time when your mutual funds happend to be down a little, just a thought. Try to learn all you can and take as many chances as possible to be around and work around cattle and agriculture.

 

[Craig Miller]

Any chance you could use your parents land? Thats how i started. I bought one at a time. Until i had used all the land theyd let me. Now im looking to lease some so i can expand more.

 

[bird dog]

Try to find a nearby rancher to work for to learn the ins and outs while you save your money. Maybe he will let you buy a cow or two and run with his. I wish I would have done this when I started. It sure would have saved a lot of disappointment while learning the hard way.

 

[SRBeef]

I like your idea of starting slowly, but start now, not tomorrow. If its your dream, get started now. It won't get any easier as your children get older and it is the best place to raise kids, imho.

However start slowly and make cheap mistakes while you are learning, not big, expensive, fatal mistakes.

Good luck.

Jim

 

[Kingfisher]

Buy land..as you can. You don't say if you own a home so I would think buying property would be paramount if not a better way to save or leverage as any.