Don’t Buy A Farm Unless You Understand A few Things

[Ledgemere Farm]

Your Christmas tree came from a farm.

Mine did…right out back

 

[shooterdon]

It will be sold before I get that old. I know at some point, I will no longer be able to maintain it. Hopefully, one of our kids will decide it’s worth keeping in the family

Be careful not to make it into an obligation. IMO, a small farm has very little chance of succeeding. I have seen too many go **** up. And things are getting harder not easier for the little guy.

Good luck!!

 

[hosspuller]

"Dog Farm" reminds me of a story...

Man from the City buys house & acreage in the country. He wants to start farming. He goes to the local Tractor Supply and purchases six dozen Rhode Island Red hatchlings. The next week he returns to the store, complaining they all died. TSC gives him six dozen chicks as a replacement. The following week, he returns to the store again...They all died. The manager questions him ... Where did you put the chicks? City man answers: "In the garden. ...Do you think I'm planting them too deep?"

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

Be careful not to make it into an obligation. IMO, a small farm has very little chance of succeeding. I have seen too many go **** up. And things are getting harder not easier for the little guy.

Good luck!!

You’re not wrong. I retired from the military and I’m essentially “paying for a lifestyle”. I’m lucky to break even on whatever I raise, it’s ok as long as I go into it knowing it’s not ever going to be a moneymaker. Mostly, it makes me feel close to my dad ajd others, and there’s nothing as good as the food you grew yourself.
there’s been too many people I know who, during the pandemic “ bought a farm and thought it would get them rich. Quite the contrary, the only people making money on small farmers are the people selling them
equipment and supplies. People would rather buy $12 pints of beer than a $12 steak.

 

[hosspuller]

...
there’s been too many people I know who, during the pandemic “ bought a farm and thought it would get them rich. ...

How does one make a small fortune farming ???
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Answer... Start with a large one.

 

[5030]

Not sure what I need to understand actually. I was city born and raised and married a wealthy country gal who decided we'd have a farm so she bought the land, built a huge barn and I got to fence it and became a cattle rancher. She bought the stock, I bought the tractors and implements and we have been at it for 35 years now and we have never run in the red either. Farm is in her name. Along the way I bought a couple rental properties and last year sold off the herd and converted everything into alfalfa mixed hay. I have one huge customer that buys it all and has for 5 years now. He buys all I can produce, cash on the barrelhead. Picks it up right out of the fields with his tractor trailers, all I do is load it.

Along the way, I picked up my applicators license and did a lot of reading and studying and now we are one of the premiere forage growers in this part of Michigan and to think I started out as a city boy. All it takes is some common sense, a good accountant and a good wife (and dog) too.

Final comment is, never try to cheat anyone and be true to your word because out here, your word is everything. I play it straight all the time even if I loose money. Part of being honest.

Folks around here think we have been here all our lives. I never say anything, I prefer to let them think what they will.

Farming isn't hard so long as one, you don't over extend yourself and two, use your head for something other than to space your ears apart.

The old saying about 'farming until you go broke has never applied to us'.

 

[hosspuller]

5030 ... I can appreciate your starting point. I was city born and raised too. My hay customers will buy every bale I make and clamor for more. Good quality and price sell quickly. But my scale and ability aren't profitable if capital costs are included. If I did include capital costs, I would price myself out of the market.

Starting a farm (A profitable farm) requires a bunch of capital... $$$ your wife had it to start. When one is starting out with debt, that's another load the farm has to support. Combine that with ordinary farm risk (weather, injury, pests, etc.) is like swimming with lead weights. The more loads, the greater the chance of drowning or in this case financial failure.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

5030 ... I can appreciate your starting point. I was city born and raised too. My hay customers will buy every bale I make and clamor for more. Good quality and price sell quickly. But my scale and ability aren't profitable if capital costs are included. If I did include capital costs, I would price myself out of the market.

Starting a farm (A profitable farm) requires a bunch of capital... $$$ your wife had it to start. When one is starting out with debt, that's another load the farm has to support. Combine that with ordinary farm risk (weather, injury, pests, etc.) is like swimming with lead weights. The more loads, the greater the chance of drowning or in this case financial failure.

I think it’s nigh about impossible for a young family to start out farming with out a huge influx of capital from somewhere. There are a few exceptions, but you couldn’t do like my father did after wwii and buy a farm and set up a dairy and make money

 

[tractortroof]

View attachment 725734View attachment 725735

1 acre of strawberries 15,000 plants
10,000 lbs of strawberries produce 2,500 gallons of wine, or approximately 12,500 750ml bottles of wine, sold at $15 each. $187,500 potential retail sale. From one acre.

 

[5030]

Must be why the guy down the road with 20 acres of strawberries is always driving a new truck, lives in a huge house and always dresses high buck and wears a Rolex.

...and he has good berries too. My wife always buys a few quarts every year.