Farmer495
Veteran Member
Low overhead and existing assets you can make some money.
Absolutely does not pencil out starting from scratch.
Absolutely does not pencil out starting from scratch.
Agreed - tax reduction/deduction is the biggest benefit. If trying to make a "profit", then I suggest do something other than going the commodity route if you have less than an inherited highly productive 1,000 acres. But profit or economic benefit are measured differently for different folks. Some they may pencil only operational costs and not capital costs. I aim to cover operational costs and cover property taxes on the entire place including homestead. I do not consider my time as a cost in this. The more you feed the animals, the higher the operational costs. For most, winter hay feeding results in negative results for that period of time.Money is in the tax deductions.
Makes sense. Wyoming. I saw irrigation in Colorado. In Louisiana we just get 70" of rain annually. Hurricane if we are lucky!We just use ditches that run on the high side of the meadow and let gravity do the hard work.
Meadow with irrigation
View attachment 740488
Meadow with no irrigation
View attachment 740489
Agreed - tax reduction/deduction is the biggest benefit. If trying to make a "profit", then I suggest do something other than going the commodity route if you have less than an inherited highly productive 1,000 acres. But profit or economic benefit are measured differently for different folks. Some they may pencil only operational costs and not capital costs. I aim to cover operational costs and cover property taxes on the entire place including homestead. I do not consider my time as a cost in this. The more you feed the animals, the higher the operational costs. For most, winter hay feeding results in negative results for that period of time.
What I mean by commodity are those who create beef as a cow-calf producer or those who pasture weaned and resell later. I call it commodity when either of those sell their product to an auction house, thus commodity pricing.
There is money to be made with two options I have witnessed. Both are non-traditional or niche markets.
One is by selling packaged beef to the retail market. Where a 1200 pound heifer/steer/bull may bring $1400 at auction, taking that same animal to a butcher who will chop and package into freezer-sized parcels may bring $3500, but there may be added costs for the finish feeding and processing. This works if you have a channel to sell that product, which might be another cost either in time or money.
The other method is to have unique or specialty animals. These would need to be attractive to a special market that is willing to buy for novelty or perceived quality. Examples are miniatures and Wagyu. Again, there are special costs to be considered and you will have to develop your own sales channel.
I have found that rich people are willing to pay more for something local. I get really good money for cows pigs and turkeys and chickens having my wife spread the word at the hospital she works at. The doctors and top brass over pay compared to what I would be willing to pay for local meat.