My wife and I are looking for an opportunity in North and South Dakota to work for an existing family farm/ranch that may consider us becoming involved in the future. Being raised on a crop farm in northwestern MN and farming there part-time the past few years, I have experience in grain farming but have also gained knowledge of cow/calf production as I have cared for my neighbors small beef herd for several years during the winter and through calving as his job takes him away during the week. I have also owned cows and several feeders as part of this. We have been very committed to my family's farm, working every evening and weekend from planting through harvest that my job and weather allowed. I am also the branch manager and loan officer at our local bank and my wife works for a financial planner in another town. These were not jobs that took us away from the farm, but allowed us a way to get back to the farm after college.
We have done what we could in the past 5 years to make it work for everyone but my older brother and I have agreed to discontinue working together which will make it easier for him to make management decisions in the future. He is taking over my father's remaining acres next year and there is not enough of an acreage opportunity left to justify our own time and family sacrifices. This is difficult as it is the family farm, but we believe that with our values, farm and livestock experience, financial skills and drive that we would be an asset to another existing operation that needs dependable help, does not have a succession plan, or would consider working into a partnership, rent/lease, or purchase opportunity in the future. We have recently applied to the Iowa State University Extension FarmOn Program that tries to provide a link for such opportunities but have received no responses.
We want to make our living in agriculture and believe in the shared experience that farming and ranching is for a family being raised. We are NDSU graduates, 30 and 29 years old, have a one year old girl and baby on the way. If an opportunity can't be found in the next few months we will look to purchase a small farm/ranch somewhere, continue to work other jobs, and grow our opportunity there. If any of you know of someone in this region who may be interested or know of a related opportunity, regardless of size, please send me a private message and I can provide contact information.
I wish the best to all of you on here with your own goals. I have read on here for several years and have found the forums to be good learning opportunities. Thank you.
We have done what we could in the past 5 years to make it work for everyone but my older brother and I have agreed to discontinue working together which will make it easier for him to make management decisions in the future. He is taking over my father's remaining acres next year and there is not enough of an acreage opportunity left to justify our own time and family sacrifices. This is difficult as it is the family farm, but we believe that with our values, farm and livestock experience, financial skills and drive that we would be an asset to another existing operation that needs dependable help, does not have a succession plan, or would consider working into a partnership, rent/lease, or purchase opportunity in the future. We have recently applied to the Iowa State University Extension FarmOn Program that tries to provide a link for such opportunities but have received no responses.
We want to make our living in agriculture and believe in the shared experience that farming and ranching is for a family being raised. We are NDSU graduates, 30 and 29 years old, have a one year old girl and baby on the way. If an opportunity can't be found in the next few months we will look to purchase a small farm/ranch somewhere, continue to work other jobs, and grow our opportunity there. If any of you know of someone in this region who may be interested or know of a related opportunity, regardless of size, please send me a private message and I can provide contact information.
I wish the best to all of you on here with your own goals. I have read on here for several years and have found the forums to be good learning opportunities. Thank you.
