Rookie needs advice with big decision

[Caustic Burno]

I think he got scared off.

 

[Son of Butch]

I think he got scared off.

Yea, wife probably read his post, perhaps 1st she heard of it and expressed her thoughts and he had reason to fear.

 

[Chief254]

Wow. Sorry fellas. Just got home from work. I'll try and answer all questions. But I've kinda gotten your point. Haha

 

[dieselbeef]

if yer used to making 85k you wont be used to the break even if yer lucky lifestyle of a rancher

 

[Chief254]

if yer used to making 85k you wont be used to the break even if yer lucky lifestyle of a rancher

My goal isnt to give up my career. I understand that making my current income through cattle would likely be a multi million dollar investment. I only wish to make a little side income or atleast pay for the farm. Thank you.

First of all thank you for your service, and in his beginners board post it says he is located in Smithfield KY.
If you think the land is a good value for the area and if it wont strap you financially I would say jump on it. I would log it and put that on the loan right away. As far as the buying cows I think I would think about that for a little longer. Maybe you can find someone to rent the pasture if it's fenced or give someone a free pasture rent for a few years if they fence it.
Maybe with all the members from the Kentucky area you could find one that would be willing to let you help them with there operation for a while to see if you really want to have cows or maybe you just decide you'd rather not get into a cow/calf operation and something else strikes your fancy. Some people are more than willing to help out a person looking to get into the cattle world, and the free help is a huge thing too.

P.S. Buying cows is addictive, started with 4, 3 years ago and have 20 now.

I agree. My plan has always been to roll the income from the timber back into the property.We do have room in the budget to take on the payment for the property. Its looking more and more like this should be an investment property. I do like the idea of offering the pasture for free in return for fencing.

I would never tell anyone not to buy ground when they find some worth the money. I agree that with your daughter growing up, there will be times when time is very hard to come by, and maintenance on ground can be very time consuming. Is the ground close to you, or a significant distance?

Ground is 40 minutes from my house. Good friend owns the adjoining 180 acres. He has 40 head with an average of 2 acres per cow calf pair.

 

[Chief254]

I also know a few that followed the old "they ain't making land anymore" reasoning in the late '70s that lost it all in
the land market down turn of the mid 80s.

I also know a couple of people including an uncle who made multi millions because they bought up cheap land and held on to it for a while. If you subtract the timber value from this land the price per acre is pretty cheap. Then once again it would be nice to know the location.

Property is in Ghent,Ky.
About halfway between Cincinnati and Louisville.

 

[Ky cowboy]

I'm in his position about exactly except I can't find anything to buy and my wife don't work she takes care of our 3 kids. I lease 300 acres of pasture with cattle already on it And lease another 100 acres that has 40 acres of hay on it. I sell enough hay to pay the lease and expenses on the hay farm and supply me with enough hay to feed my cows thru the winter. I don't plan on quitting my day job but it's a lifestyle/hobby that I do clear a profit from. I'm not a boater, gotta be doing something constructive, I'd rather weed eat fence rows then hunt or fish anymore

 

[farmerjan]

I think that if the good friend has a farm, and cattle, right next to it, it might be a good investment and maybe you and he could fence it and he could use it to extend his grazing with some sort of agreement between you two. Or maybe you help him out a bit and see if you do enjoy it, then get yours fenced and run a few cows in joint with his utilizing both places, and come to an agreement on some sort of trade of time/labor for board of a few cows so that they could at least provide some good beef in your freezer and a little extra to kick in towards payments. If you can manage the payment then I think if you like the land, it would be a good investment. You can always sell it down the road.

 

[Son of Butch]

My goal isn't to give up my career..... I only wish to make a little side income or at least pay for the farm.

My plan has always been to roll the income from the timber back into the property. We do have room in the budget
to take on the payment for the property. Its looking more and more like this should be an investment property.
I do like the idea of offering the pasture for free in return for fencing.

Ground is 40 minutes from my house. Good friend owns the adjoining 180 acres. He has 40 head with an average of 2 acres per cow calf pair.

You strike me as an ambitious, reasonably successful young man that is not afraid of hard work.
I know nothing of Kentucky land value... it may turn out to be a very good investment property. If not you, your friend.
Make sure to keep your priorities in order.
Your spouse really needs to be on board with the idea, if resentment grows bcs additional hours cause you to spread
yourself too thin that either your career (primary income) suffers or interferes with your home life it's not worth it.

Best advice I ever received for priorities...
1. God
2. Family
3. Work
4. Friends
5. Leisure

It's up to you, but I've come to believe in never letting money/work displace either 1. or 2.

 

[boondocks]

I'm in his position about exactly except I can't find anything to buy and my wife don't work she takes care of our 3 kids. I lease 300 acres of pasture with cattle already on it And lease another 100 acres that has 40 acres of hay on it. I sell enough hay to pay the lease and expenses on the hay farm and supply me with enough hay to feed my cows thru the winter. I don't plan on quitting my day job but it's a lifestyle/hobby that I do clear a profit from. I'm not a boater, gotta be doing something constructive, I'd rather weed eat fence rows then hunt or fish anymore

Sounds like a lotta work to me ;-)

 

[Ky cowboy]

I'm in his position about exactly except I can't find anything to buy and my wife don't work she takes care of our 3 kids. I lease 300 acres of pasture with cattle already on it And lease another 100 acres that has 40 acres of hay on it. I sell enough hay to pay the lease and expenses on the hay farm and supply me with enough hay to feed my cows thru the winter. I don't plan on quitting my day job but it's a lifestyle/hobby that I do clear a profit from. I'm not a boater, gotta be doing something constructive, I'd rather weed eat fence rows then hunt or fish anymore

Sounds like a lotta work to me ;-)

I am by no means saying that it's not. She is a saint, that I do not deserve. I would go nuts if I had to do what she does

 

[riquezada]

If that property was available here for that price and as you say in South Central KY, I would probably snap it up. I say go buy the property and once its ready get some cows. As for being profitable in 5 years...I cant say. The startup cost of things like fencing, working pens, etc. just seem to cost more on a daily basis. The recent few years of ups and downs in the cattle market at times have got me wondering what I'm doing, but Ive been doing it for 29 of the 30 years we've been in KY. I have never lost money on cattle overall but have lost at times on individual cows. I think for many its just something deep down we enjoy doing...BTW I do have a full time job at a nearby factory but we still manage 58 head fairly easily.

I think you should make a plan mostly how this adventure first can pay for itself. Once that is done (paid off), then how a profit could be made...if all else fails surely with improvements and appreciation the property would be worth more than you paid of it...over the years my daughter probably has enjoyed going out to the farm more than anything. We live in town but its like 8 miles out and we go almost daily. 40 miles seems rather far but I bought our first farm off of a guy who worked at DuPont in Louisville and came down to Columbia practically every weekend...like 90 some miles? There was an old house there though and he had about 40 cows on it...and he had real good neighbors.

 

[tdc_cattle]

I know 2 fellows that married doctors and a 3rd guy that topped them both marrying an only child whose parents
were 1% ers also a girl that married a tribal member of a very well known Indian Casino.
A spouse can be the best investment/lottery around. IF you struck out doesn't mean he did.

I married a Doctor. Let me tell you, her student loan debt makes my farming debts look like nothing.

 

[Supa Dexta]

You're just not farming hard enough. :lol2:

 

[dave_shelby]

I understand the dilemma you are in because we went through that. I used to live in a suburb in MD until I moved back. Things did not work out with family land and we rented for a while trying to find someplace. Land closer to jobs is valued for residential use, and when you buy farther out the commute is difficult and your job choices diminish. I looked in Missouri where land rent could cover most of mortgage but then got to thinking...jobs. Time preference. Just about any place you buy needs work; doing it on a young body is a lot easier than on a retired body. Wife and I wanted our kids to grow up on a farm - be it 5 acres or 500 - and our kids love it too. Buying land without living on it doesn't work unless its real close. We ended up buying in VA not too far out. The advice one of the first posters gave is pretty true - you spread yourself out thin doing marriage, kids, day job and cattle. The pasture is a mess, fences are old, house is old, barns and sheds are old. Its a struggle to get enough time and I end up staying up late working. Leased half out for crops and that covers a few months of mortgage so not bad.

That said I know a few guys who are new to agriculture who are supporting a family solely on farm income. But they are direct sales, organic or close to it and have stores/shops/drive for deliveries. They also do an array of things, cattle, sheep, vegetables, honey etc.

One more point - I think buying in MD may have been better financially b/c some counties there buy ag easements on land. This also cuts taxes in half. If you are direct sales you have a great local market.

 

[farmerjan]

Dave, do you not get any "land - use" tax breaks in Shen county? We get them here in both Rockbridge and Augusta County. It does cut the taxes and we sign papers for quite a few of the places we rent so the land owners get the land-use tax breaks. Your leased out land ought to qualify at the very least. My son takes care of all that so I can't tell you the details, I do know that he has to do it for the landowners every year and before Dec, I think.

 

[dave_shelby]

Yes we do land use here. We moved from Madison which was easier to get into land use. Excepting for the small acreage folks. They are raising the minimum acreage for land use though first to 7 and now 20 I believe.

Not sure if my point on MD got across - MD buys an easement on land so its about half the price of non-easement land. One bonus is that there is no forgetting to do submit land use certification.