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I'm from the city and want to move out west to start a ranch

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Zeusophobia

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Is this unheard of? Would the learning curve be too much? I plan on getting a degree in farm and ranch management.

From my understanding people who own ranches start out working on one very young. I have very little practical experience.

Any advice?
 
Zeusophobia said:
Is this unheard of? Would the learning curve be too much? I plan on getting a degree in farm and ranch management.

From my understanding people who own ranches start out working on one very young. I have very little practical experience.

Any advice?
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That's basically what I did. While I was exposed to agriculture as a youngster, I basically lived in the city most of my adult life.

I retired 10 years ago, wandered around for a few years, and then settled on my place. I'm as happy today as I've ever been in my life. I love the life, love the animals, love the freedom, love the out-of-doors.

Doesn't matter what you set out to do. There's a learning curve. Follow your heart and do what it takes to make it happen. Good luck!
 
Large bags of money help,but I agree with Whitewing on this. I've been around it all my life,still work in town full time to support the payments and my wife helps when I'm away for hours on end. Start small and go from there. There's plenty of people on this site who are self made. I guess my best advice would be to get practical experience with a seasoned cattle rancher,there's just way to much that they won't teach you in school. Good luck.
 
I would say get you a part-time job while you are in college on a farm or ranch. You will learn ten times more there than in any college. College will teach you the make believe world of farming and ranching. They leave out all the things mother nature throws at you. I grew up on a ranch in east Texas and went to college and was one one of the kids that gave the professor a hard time about these things. :wink:

Where are you looking to study Farm and Ranch Management?
 
Seem like most ranch some in the family if not all work off the ranch to pay land bills, health insurance etc. The places I seen young people put together were usually base property with large BLM and Forrest Service grazing attached to that base property..... And the base property was still over the million dollar range.
Most place are old family operations, or oil and gas money help buy or expand, or big business money was involved , Just my view.
 
Do you have any cow-outfits in your area? If so, go make some new friends. If not, just keep driving further.
You didn't say how old you are, and that might not make any difference, but do what you can to gain some exposure, and knowledge; while in your "formative" years. A lot of farm and ranch management is not sold by the credit-hour. Best of luck, the industry could use some imported talent.
 
Your location says Tampa, FL still has a lot of real life cattle ranches and cowboys. You can start right at home. If you do like the life an end up successful just don't forget no matter how much you know or how good you are at it don't ever stop trying to learn. That's what makes the good ones good.
 
Nothing wrong with college. In fact nowadays it is a good idea. Pay attention to the stuff you think is a waste of time or not very exciting. Stuff like accounting and nutrition come in handy.
The other thing about college is that it can lead to employment that can help you cash flow while you are building your ranch.
You might consider working for other outfits as well. Mistakes are often less painful on someone else's dime. You will also figure out a lot of what is a good idea and what is not. You will probably meet some good friends at an AG college who will let you come and help out on weekends and summers.
I would encourage you to pursue this if it is what you really want to do. Life's to short not to do your passion. :D
 
If land ownership is your goal getting enough put together to run any amount of cattle is pretty tough. Cattle ownership on the other hand is pretty attainable as well as rented pasture. If you chose to run cattle in nontraditional areas you can get by with alot less investment. Buy the book "Knowledge Rich Ranching' by Allan Nation it is one of the best management type books I've read.
 
Read the books by Greg Judy, Jim Gerrish, Allan Savory and others. Get the blue book of ranching, can remember author at this time. Read all you can and find alternative ways of doing things.
 
Subscribe to Stockman Grass Farmer. Read everything you can here, at cattletoday.com, newagtalk, etc.

Pray about it and ask God if this is what He wants you to do.

Talk to your family.

Take areal good look inside yourself, deeeeeeep.

Then come back here and post lots of pictures and updates!! :D

bart. †
 
I'll tell ya how to make a $1M in ranching.....start with about 2 or 3Million....and you'll get to 1M pretty damn fast!!!! :wink:
 
You could try this organization: CAEP http://www.selfemployedcountry.org/ Hubs worked all over the world with them, ranches in NZ, Aus, Canada, US -- he learned a lot about different ways of doing things that way.

If you go to college you are better off getting a degree in business or accounting or animal science (livestock management) in my opinion.

Having a head for numbers always helps, especially when you are trying to decide what to do with that large bag of money. :)
 
If you are young I would get an education and experience first, then seek out a quality western ranch looking for a ranch manager. I would not begin any other way, -----unless interest free funding is available and you already know how to manage a business.

Many of the western USA ranches are now owned by fairly wealthy business people and they rely on others to do the managing for them. This is an increasing and nonreversable trend in my opinion,--- simply because in many areas land values have increased beyond the ranching value.

Best of luck in your future.
 
Time to buy cows was a year and a half ago. I'd get an education and a HIGH paying job then wait for the cattle cycle to bottom then get in most likely 10 years from now.Or do as I did work a job and buy a cow here and there keeping replacement heifers and build up. Once you get a 100 cows the herd will grow rapidly if you want and have kept the debt down.

A friend of mine is working in the oilfields he said he gets a 100 hours per week I said that sounds like ranching to which he replied (Yeah but here I get Paid.)
 
Denny is correct too. In fact that is what I did, got educated, worked 26 years, then began ranching at age 49. Being a veterinarian I had the animal and business background. I was under the assumption that you wanted to begin ranching at a young age. That works if you do not want to begin serious ranching right out of college.

In the west you still need fairly expensive land though ( per AUM ) and becoming a ranch manager oftentimes allows you to run your own small herd on anothers ranch, can begin small and slowly grow the herd.

As in any business there are many ways to achieve your goals, just depends on your available resources, dedication and the time frame in which you have to get there. Also depends on how you define western rancher, having a herd of twenty cows is much different than a herd of 400.
 
I think it is great that you want to be a rancher. Just go in knowing that if you plan on making a fortune at it, that probably will not happen! Even if you have a pile of money already it won't grow much overall. I always think of a little cartoon that went around in our Ab farm publications a few years ago, It showed a lottery fellow asking an old rancher what he would do with his 5 million dollar jackpot. The answer, "I guess I'll just keep ranching until it's all gone".
 
I've worked on ranches all my life and have never been able to get my own. So my advice is probably not what you're looking for. But things I've seen work are----ranch basic, I mean basic equipment, basic facilities, basic stock. Don't be lured into keeping up with the neighbors. Get the best females you can afford even if you can't have as many as you want to start out with. Quality and not quanity are what you want in females. Do as much as your work as you can a-horseback not with motors. Do most of your work yourself and when you need to hire some one-hire the best.

Good luck, if it was easy then every one would want to do it and any one could.
 

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