thoughts on this

i posted a similar post on the unofficial allis forum

i have a plan and i would like some second thoughts and opinons on it.

My grandma has a roughly 3 acre pasture that is currently not being used, in prior years she had a horse that would graze on it. i have this available to me with rent at no cost.

in its current condition the pasture needs some work, the ice storm we had a few years ago left a bunch of decent sized branches in the pasture and on the fence. the fence is another problem. as far as i know none of the wire is broken but the wire is sagged and stretched from the tree branches falling on them. the tree branches would need to be cleaned up and the fence re-stretched or at worst the wire replaced, this is no big deal as i have done worse things with my time (like nothing). There used to be a house on the farm which is about 4 acres (the pasture is a little less than 3) until someone decided to burn it for some reason unknown to me. there is one electrical outlet that survived the blaze on the utility pole, but with some simple rewiring there could be electricity to the machine shed that is also on the property.

the fence lane that lead to the shed has been taken down when the pasture wasnt used after the fire as it makes the yard much easier to navigate when we split wood and my grandma would like to keep it that way, so i would have to build a simple 3 sided shed with a sliding door and a few individual pens. i would more than likely build this on a clearing in the middle of the east side grove where there is a small clearing in the trees so that it would be more than less naturally protected from a majority of the winds and all of the elements. there would be nothing fancy or expensive about it and it probably would not have electrical luxuries for the first little bit.

there is a well on the farm deep enough and plentiful enough that it supplied a household of 10 people and multiple animals with water at the same time, even during the dry years. the benefits of this is that i am confident it would supply all of my water needs, and there is no charge for water usage from the utilities company.

my plan is more of a two stage plan. the first stage would be to clear all of the tree branches and a few trees that fell during the ice storm, the next thing would be to fix the fence and inspect the entire pasture after that is done i will be re-seeding the pasture with grass seed as the animals there before tended to overgraze it, and because a majority (i would guess 80 percent) of the grass is regular lawn grass. i would then let it grow for a year before letting anything graze.

the second part of this involves the ffa, in our ffa in order to help on the farm and do chores you have to be a member of the ffa Co-Op. in order to do this you have to buy a share, at 150 dollars a each. i have 4 shares, 3 of which were paid by my grandparents in return for labor at a rate of 8.25 an hour, the other share was paid by myself as it was all i could afford at the time. The perks that made my grandparents agree that it was a good investment (they are heavy investors and try to direct my investments in a good direction as well) is that each share is guaranteed to get 10 percent interest per year or 15 dollars per year so in my case each year i earn 60 dollars JUST in interest. the second and more enticing part of the program is that that profit left over from expenses and a little extra for operating wiggle room is distributed equally to each share, so say we have 100 shares and make 10,000 dollars profit each INDIVIDUAL share would get 10 dollars added to it. the enticing catch is that no money can me taken out of a share if we were to have a bad year and lose money, in the case of losing money the ffa would take money from the school account to stay out of debt and not charge the highschool share holders. i have had shares in there for two years already and will have them in for another year, for 3 years total. in these years we have been having a record high profit number due in part to most of our supplies are donated to us for no cost or at a considerably reduced cost. high cattle prices have also helped up make a larger profit number.

the reason i am telling you this is because as i sit right now i have enough money to buy a few cow calf pairs or about 8 bottle calves after expenses are takin out for maintnence of the pasture, seed, feed, and building the shed. however i understand that there is risk in getting cattle and if one were to die for some reason i would go into debt. this is why i want to wait a year for me to graduate, then i would have the money from my ffa shares and have some extra money to stay floating if a bad situation were to occur, such as a cow or calf dying or getting injured. this also lets the grass that would be seeded this spring to grow and become established a year before having the stress of animals eating off of it.

i understand that there is considerable work ahead of me but i am prepared and believe i have though this out as to reduce as much risk and be as smart about it as i can. in this entire operation i am for taking no loans out from the bank to stay out of debt, and if worse comes to worse would probably take a loan out from the grandparents on the terms of paying it back in money and interest like a bank without the threat of them taking my assests, or working it off at the 8.25 an hour basis again. i will post a thread in the tractor talk section of yesterdays tractors as well.

thank you for all your inputs and opinions
Dan Kruse

If I read it right...you have 3 acres available.
Might be able to raise a couple of goats on it.

3 acres in not enough to raise any cattle on.

dont know your part of the country you are referring to. Three acres is not much but would background calves.Not many but some. Could start dairy calves or buy doggies.

I don't know about any of the rest of it,but as I read about the shelter I thought it might be best to make a portable one. That way if all this went south you could at least hook onto it and move to another place.

Not if it gets dry in the summer.

for clarification the 3 acres would be for summertime grazing, they would get a feed ration in the summer, and be locked in a separate yard during the winter getting the feed ration and hay. This is the way the ffa does it, except their pasture is only about 1 acre and they have 10 cows and calves on it during the summer, while being locked in the yard during the winter. while i am only going to have a few the first year and at max 6 or 7 cow calf pairs.

i was under the assumption that this sort of a system would work very well, i know 3 acres isnt a whole lot but it seems to work well for the ffa. i am now wondering if the only reason it works for them is because of the donations they get and the fact that they get feed at a large discount. the calves would obviously get sold after weaning with only the mommas being on the farm full time.

by the way i am in NW iowa for those wondering

not enough pasture for cows might be able to start out with 3 or 4 sheep, depending on how good the fences are.

Hi I would like to see more farms kept alive and running . I have a bad feeling you have a romantic dream of farming this land and being successful and making a few bucks doing it.

In reality with modern realistic costs and do goods that have no clue poking there nose into animal welfare and such things.
I think you could have one heck of a nightmare instead of that sweet dream idea.

I run commercial hogs here in 6 biotech barns. there is around 1200 a time here at $16 a pig for custom raising them and filling 3 times a year on average and thats tough going to make a living when the bills and equipment's paid for. my weekly wage from it is $300 and i run a machinery repair shop in my spare time for extra income, at $45 an hour.

some weeks the hogs aren't worth the bother when the shops busy.

I think round here guys say something like an acre or more a cow for land base is needed to run them properly for a year. A friend of mine has 60 cow calf pairs, and still works a full time job most of the year when not busy at home calving or making hay ,straw bales or bringing bales home.
He rents grain land to his next door neighbor to help pay the mortgage to.
Does that give you any clues to your 3 acre farm and what you will get out for what you put in for time and money?.
This adventure has to be practical and to be honest I don't think this is for the land you have and what you will get out in the end our lawn on the farms probably bigger than 3 acres.
Think about this real hard, i hear the govenment farm advice kinda guys are full of bright ideas that guys try. but they have no clue. they are mostly university book farmers, educating city guys to failure.

farmings a hard lesson learned from good and bad experience. farming in my family goes way back . I'm still learning at 41.
Regards Robert

The amount of cows, or calves would depend a lot on the part of the country you are in. In Central KS you couldn't keep 2 cows and calves on 3 acres, and it doesn't sound like you have the whole 3 acres. If you get plenty of rain you might be able to keep more, but not many, and then you would probably need to supplement them with feed.

However, it is still a good idea to do, along with a good job, to enjoy the country life. Nothing at all wrong with that. Start the first year with a couple of bred cows that will have calves and see how that year goes on the grass. The next year go accordingly. Rainfall is a huge factor on that much/little land.

I like the idea, just not to make any kind of a living on. Good luck with whatever you do. Bob

You never know when an animal will die. My nephew has 120 beef cows; he raises feeder calves to sell after weaning and some more growth.

He has the vets out to give the feeder calves all their shots. Last fall, one of the feeder calves walked about 100 feet away from the chute, stood for a few minutes and fell over dead. Must have had a severe allergic reaction to the shots.

Could buy some small calves and grow them over the summer and sell them before winter? Just asking.

There's a lot of cold water being thrown on you. I'll warm it a
little.

It seems as though you realize that you will be feeding them
and that seems natural to you. Hay right now is cheap so that's
no biggie. If it gets pricey you may rethink. I say do it. You
seem like a kid willing to work to have some dirty clothes as
your reward. As long as you know that you will be in it for a
while to see any real profit you will be fine. It's the guys that
buy in big on years like this and then want to sell them all for a
big check that have the bank calling. Cattle don't work that
way. You have to think about 18 months out. If you are ready
to do that go for it. Put a pencil to your every action and you
will be wise.

PS - girls love to see boys that work hard. The ones that
appreciate it are the ones to keep.

(quoted from post at 14:30:53 03/10/15) You never know when an animal will die. My nephew has 120 beef cows; he raises feeder calves to sell after weaning and some more growth.

He has the vets out to give the feeder calves all their shots. Last fall, one of the feeder calves walked about 100 feet away from the chute, stood for a few minutes and fell over dead. Must have had a severe allergic reaction to the shots.

Could buy some small calves and grow them over the summer and sell them before winter? Just asking.

Click to expand...

yes dick, that is one option that i heard talking to some local old time farmers during coffee time this afternoon. some of the guys actually recommended i search craigslist to pick up some calves that city people bought and are now selling dirt cheap because they didnt research before hand but they warned there is a little less profit to be made in doing this.

at any rate no animals will be bought for at least another year, being that even though i could buy some animals now it would dwindle my funds significantly, and i would rather wait (while gaining more knowledge) until i can withdraw my shares and have some wiggle room money.

When you rnovate and reseed your grass patch try to get some livestock on it as quick as you can, grass does much better with cattle actively grazing and fertilizing it than standing dormant.

You could get a couple feeder calves, maybe 3 would work but no more, and raise them on 3 good pasture acres in the Midwest, if you only put them out there when the time is right. If you have a mud lot at your shed with a tenth of an acre or so for them to move around, and don't pen them individually let them wander around the mud lot freely they will be happier and healthier. Only put them on the big pasture May to October, and take them off if it starts getting too worn out. Might be best to split with a single strand hot wire into 2 1.5 acre halves and switch them each month to keep it in usable shape. Plan on round bales November to April and just a little grain, like a 5 gal. bucket a day then, and a couple cups in the Summer to keep them friendly. If you could get a wagon load of corn fines (screenings) from a local farmer for 1/2 the price of corn you can feed that straight as your grain, and don't worry about the high priced supplement bags. Get them a mineral block and you're good to go. You won't make any money but you shouldn't lose any either if done cheap like I described. You'll have to keep them for a year and half or so to get them fat. The reward is having your own fresh freezer beef for your family, sell the rest as halves and quarters which you will have no trouble finding buyers. Or you could try bottle calves and sell them as 500 lb. feeder calves, once again don't get carried away on the number you get. I don't know much about the bottle calf part but these guys on here could probably tell you if you'd break even or even make a few hundred bucks doing that instead. You'd have a little cow herd on the side which qualifies as a hobby farmer, and gives you something to do in your free time. The right girls appreciate that type of stuff and it looks good on future job applications and just in general.

It may be too late, but I would put a little more
effort into my schooling.