• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Advice on acreage and herd size needed for new farm

N

nico326

New member
Joined
Mar 14, 2013
Messages
3
Hello,

I've been doing my homework and am looking for advice from people who have already been there and done that so to speak. I would be new to "farming" but have raised and been around all kinds of animals the better part of my life. I will also be taking some agriculture courses to get a good handle on what I don't know yet.

In a nutshell, I'm looking to start up a viable grass fed cattle business in the Washington state area. I plan to start smallish but would like to have some cash flow coming in as soon as possible.

My basic question boils down to how many cows will I need to actually make enough to pay my mortgage and have some money leftover? I have a few options as far as property. The minimum size I want is 40 acres, with over one hundred being much better of course. I believe I could raise about 30 head on 40-50 acres? I plan to use rotational grazing and perhaps plant some cheap crops for extra nutrition. I'm also planning on needing hay during the winter months also, although if there is a way to avoid this I would love to hear it.

So off of this group size, how many would you harvest each year and roughly how much profit are we looking at? I'm thinking each will cost about $1,000 going in, with a finished total of about $3,000 per finished cow? Am I way off base here? Overestimating?

For those of you in the business already, how easy or difficult is it to sell the finished product? Do you have problems getting rid of it all? I really want to avoid this problem above most other things.

Thank you so much for any helpful advice.
 
Make sure you have a bit of cushion with whatever size you start out. Taking courses is a great idea, but the only way to really learn what courses can't teach is to pay the tuition of real life which can be expensive and sometimes the timing of the bill sucks.
If you are starting out and need faster cash flow, perhaps you can sort out a deal where you do not need to own all the cattle right through. Maybe you can custom graze and market beef under your brand for another producer, or some such arrangement.
Larger is likely better from a scale perspective if you don't have to borrow every penny to do it, but slow and steady growth never hurts and gives you a chance to learn a bit more slowly.
If you need speedy cash flow, I would suggest looking at yearlings to finish the first summer, and if you want, working your way into cows as you go.
 
Great advice from the other two posts. As in any business, being under capitalized can be a real negative. You can`t expect to make any "real" money immediately!
I run a small grassfed outfit, it`s a small niche market but it can be real profitable. It`s taken us awhile to get things into "high gear" & the biggest challenge is finding your market. We "direct market" selling sides & mixed quarters. Fortunately, we live 40 minutes from a city with a pop. of over 1 million. We started out selling beef to my wife`s colleagues & since then it`s been word of mouth.
You may want to check out a few books: Thoughts & Advice from an Old Cattleman by Gordon Hazard DVM. Lots of good common sense advice & at the very least, a good read. How to Direct Market your Beef by Jan Holder & published by Sustainable Agriculture. Also of possible interest is PolyFace Farms run by Joel Salatin. We saw him last Spring, real entertaining speaker with lots of good ideas tho` many of them impractical for our area.
Good luck![/b]
 
Thank you so much everybody.

Alot of these concerns are exactly what I've been considering. Especially the part about finding a market. I plan to live around the Olympia/Seattle area so should have a pretty good base population to sell to. I am not above packing and shipping wherever across the states/world if need be.

Actually I've lived in Japan the past 10 years or so and also have contacts in China who could potentially be interested. However, selling internationally sounds like a huge amount of ash pain and would only be a good idea if I had an absolute rock solid market there.

Does anyone do pre orders? I'm thinking for the first couple years at least only buying stock that's already been "paid for", raising them up and sending the finished product out after it's finished.

As for capital, I will need to take out a loan and plan to buy a property to live on. I do have a pretty decent amount saved also. Enough to live off for a couple years anyway if things got really bad. Combined with my normal IT profession and perhaps doing some real estate rental properties I may just be able to pull this off.

Like I said, I'm still in the very early planning stages but am super excited about learning about this business and more importantly doing what I really want to do.

BTW, any advice on what breeds or chracteristics of animals to look for? I'm familiar with Angus of course, but not so much the other breeds that would thrive in this type of setup. Honestly I don't care if it's cross bred or no bred as long as it's healthy and does well.
 
Please remember that is purely speculative estimation. I based the number off of the average finished weights of quarter and whole cows and how much the different specialty "grass fed" places I came across were charging per pound for those sizes.

That's the main reason I was wondering if it's possible to move that much beef at those prices. This is also where I see marketing and really working your ash off is necessary.
 
We've been raising grassfed (and finished) beef for the last four years. The short answer to the $3000 question is that to achieve that gross would be perfect world. You would need a perfectly finished animal and that animal would need to be butchered perfectly and sold direct to consumer. We gross more in the $2100 range due to seeing about 325 pounds of meat off each carcass (talking meat in the retail package, not hanging), and averaging a little under $7/lb for the cuts price (liver and shanks aren't sold here for $15/lb).

My advice during the planning stages is to take whatever cost numbers you come up with and double them, then take whatever revenue numbers you project and halve them. If you can still stomach the business (cause the numbers after doubling and halving will be much closer to reality), then get after it.

We've grown our direct market business to about 5 hogs and 2 steers (and a few lambs and rabbits) a month, and have not come close to seeing a profit. We can make it show on a spreadsheet, but it'll be another few years before we get there.

Not trying to be discouraging (cause I've never thought of quitting, the non-financial rewards are too great), but wanted to share some real numbers.
 
nico326 said:
Thank you so much everybody.

Alot of these concerns are exactly what I've been considering. Especially the part about finding a market. I plan to live around the Olympia/Seattle area so should have a pretty good base population to sell to. I am not above packing and shipping wherever across the states/world if need be.

Actually I've lived in Japan the past 10 years or so and also have contacts in China who could potentially be interested. However, selling internationally sounds like a huge amount of ash pain and would only be a good idea if I had an absolute rock solid market there.

Does anyone do pre orders? I'm thinking for the first couple years at least only buying stock that's already been "paid for", raising them up and sending the finished product out after it's finished.

As for capital, I will need to take out a loan and plan to buy a property to live on. I do have a pretty decent amount saved also. Enough to live off for a couple years anyway if things got really bad. Combined with my normal IT profession and perhaps doing some real estate rental properties I may just be able to pull this off.

Like I said, I'm still in the very early planning stages but am super excited about learning about this business and more importantly doing what I really want to do.

BTW, any advice on what breeds or chracteristics of animals to look for? I'm familiar with Angus of course, but not so much the other breeds that would thrive in this type of setup. Honestly I don't care if it's cross bred or no bred as long as it's healthy and does well.
Click to expand...

Buy a small parcel of land, rent it out to a neighbour for taxes and up keep. Get a job. Work 8-4 at something not too hard and relax. Raise a few animals on the side if you want until you get your act together. Takes time and you need to eat. With no money "in flow", the "outflow" is faster than you realize.

Or go for broke - and flip the coin - because in the end - no matter how darned smart you are - it is just that - a coin flip.

Mom Nature and God have a way of changing the plan on a regular basis.

Which is why I still drive my 99 pickup and my 2002 car.

Want to be sure I can continue the "inflow"!

Best to you

BC
 

Latest posts

Back
Top