Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Cattle Boards
Beginners Board
Question for the wise ones...
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Help Support CattleToday:
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Anonymous" data-source="post: 15760"><p>Good points from Dun and Amazed. I think I have gained a little wisdom over the years, don't know that I'm "wise" yet, but I have been able to operate my humble operation "in the black". But I've always been a lot more tight with a dollar than most of my acquaintances, coming from an ag-based family of humble means. A wise man learns from his mistakes, but an even wiser man learns from the mistakes of others. I got some good mentoring from "real live ranchers" --- the type that have no other source of income except for the occasional off the ranch part time job. I also tried to learn from the mistakes that I saw many of my clients make (the wealthy oil & gas, real estate, etc. guys that later become "ranchers").</p><p></p><p>So here are some random thoughts: I think you should seek out an older and experienced mentor in your general location and maybe offer to help in his operation from time to time, like when he "works" cattle, rounds them up and hauls them to market, etc. Ask a lot of pertinent questions from "real live ranchers", most of them will be happy to give you the benefit of their experience if you don't make a pest of yourself. Study, consult with and read a lot of what the county extension service has to offer. In general, avoid big city rich boys that have fancy and impressive operations that have never turned a profit and never will. Then prepare a realistic multi-year plan, budgets, etc. before actually taking the plunge.</p><p></p><p>Go to equipment and replacement cattle auctions and sit & observe a long time before you start raising your hand. Find out what the actual retail price is for various items of equipment before you go to an auction. Learn to do many equipment repairs yourself and take some welding courses. Build fences, pens and chutes correctly the first time so they will last many years. There is no such thing as a set of working pens, chute, etc. that is too solidly built, so don't scrimp there. To make a buck these days, even with free and paid for land, you really need to be able to do the vast majority of repairs, doctoring, feeding and other misc. things on or about the ranch yourself rather than hiring it done. Do some critical economic analysis before you make equipment purchases --- don't buy a lot of big, fancy stuff that cannot be econically justified. It's amazing how many people go out and get oversized tractors, fancy goosneck trailers that they use once or twice a year, etc., etc. This is the area where it many times makes good econimic sense to forgo doing it yourself and instead hire it done. Lastly, if you are not very experienced with heavy equipment AND you don't have a very large place with a huge amount of work to be done DON'T buy yourself a bulldozer --- that's a mistake that I see surprisingly often.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Anonymous, post: 15760"] Good points from Dun and Amazed. I think I have gained a little wisdom over the years, don't know that I'm "wise" yet, but I have been able to operate my humble operation "in the black". But I've always been a lot more tight with a dollar than most of my acquaintances, coming from an ag-based family of humble means. A wise man learns from his mistakes, but an even wiser man learns from the mistakes of others. I got some good mentoring from "real live ranchers" --- the type that have no other source of income except for the occasional off the ranch part time job. I also tried to learn from the mistakes that I saw many of my clients make (the wealthy oil & gas, real estate, etc. guys that later become "ranchers"). So here are some random thoughts: I think you should seek out an older and experienced mentor in your general location and maybe offer to help in his operation from time to time, like when he "works" cattle, rounds them up and hauls them to market, etc. Ask a lot of pertinent questions from "real live ranchers", most of them will be happy to give you the benefit of their experience if you don't make a pest of yourself. Study, consult with and read a lot of what the county extension service has to offer. In general, avoid big city rich boys that have fancy and impressive operations that have never turned a profit and never will. Then prepare a realistic multi-year plan, budgets, etc. before actually taking the plunge. Go to equipment and replacement cattle auctions and sit & observe a long time before you start raising your hand. Find out what the actual retail price is for various items of equipment before you go to an auction. Learn to do many equipment repairs yourself and take some welding courses. Build fences, pens and chutes correctly the first time so they will last many years. There is no such thing as a set of working pens, chute, etc. that is too solidly built, so don't scrimp there. To make a buck these days, even with free and paid for land, you really need to be able to do the vast majority of repairs, doctoring, feeding and other misc. things on or about the ranch yourself rather than hiring it done. Do some critical economic analysis before you make equipment purchases --- don't buy a lot of big, fancy stuff that cannot be econically justified. It's amazing how many people go out and get oversized tractors, fancy goosneck trailers that they use once or twice a year, etc., etc. This is the area where it many times makes good econimic sense to forgo doing it yourself and instead hire it done. Lastly, if you are not very experienced with heavy equipment AND you don't have a very large place with a huge amount of work to be done DON'T buy yourself a bulldozer --- that's a mistake that I see surprisingly often. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Cattle Boards
Beginners Board
Question for the wise ones...
Top