Farm Income, I Need Me Some

[MathewsZman]

You's Ewes wool and escorts?

His new placard :

 

[Kentucky Windage]

Buy calves at about 400# in spring and put them on pasture, sell in fall. You should be able to handle 5 or 6.

This. Plus, make friends with a local rancher or two. Trade work for feed, Tractor help when needed, transportation of livestock, Etc.

 

[deleted member]

Can I ask why? I've got room for this shit. But, my summers are too precious to waste on some animals only to pocket a few Grand. Tax exemption?

 

[Jigaman]

Alpaca or sheep. They require little room. you'll need to learn to sheer but you get two harvests. Grandpa paid off the farm with sheep. After a couple years, ewes will start having twins.

Regardless of your livestock, I'd be concerned about yotes.

dont forget the velcro gloves for breeding the sheep.

 

[BrokenBackJack]

Spring calves would be your best bet. That way sell them in the late fall and you don't have to put up hay or winter them.
Pretty easy to do especially if you have water available.
Let us know what you decide to do.

 

[gonefshn]

Quino

 

[eklindworth]

hops

http://ndhops.com/

 

[guywhofishes]

goats. those little screaming bastards on YouTube, raise them.

the ones that faint are adorable.

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what exactly are You up to?

 

[wby257]

Why not raise something you can eat in the fall. I would go with feeder pigs in the late spring and by the end of Oct you butcher. Sell half the meat and everthing you will be eating is free. Best pork you ever ate. Can raise chickens to butcher in the fall also.

 

[ItemB]

Spring calves would be your best bet me thinks, but I think to get a schedule F you need over 10 head or its consider a hobby farm.(not exactly sure but its something like this) unless you plan on buying a good amount of supplemental feed/hay don't think 10 acres is enough for over 10 head.

You could raise quit a few butcher chicks and sell the chickens if you want to mess with butchering chickens and marketing them??

Plant a bunch of fruit trees? Could then sell fruit at farmers market wildlife like the fruit that drops?

 

[JayKay]

the ones that faint are adorable.

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what exactly are You up to?

Our former daycare lady had a couple of them at her ranch. They are hilarious. Open up an umbrella towards them, and they go stiff and tip right over.

 

[PrairieGhost]

No tractor crap. How about even a small garden tractor? A retired fellow I know made a good profit of pumpkins. He set up contracts the year before he planted his first crop. Don't know how he made his contacts etc. Much of the farm land in North Dakota isn't crop (garden) type soil, they just pout the fertilizer to it. Check your water table before doing that. You don't want a ten acre alkali flat.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Anything "organic" or "non-GMO". That or a brothel in the barn.

 

[Wild and Free]

Hogs have been brought up a couple of times, there is such a shortage of local hogs anymore the few guys I know who still raise them as hobby for a few extra bucks have guys on years long waiting lists to get them at butcher size might be worth checking into.

 

[JMF]

Grass calves are a good way to lose your ass if your goal is to claim a loss, lose one and you're in the hole. I would go with pigs. Roughly 17-20 bushels of feed to bring one from weaning to butcher weight. With most commodities at less than 3 bucks a bushel it doesn't cost much to raise them. Line up your customers before you start and sell them for 250 a piece.

 

[Wild and Free]

If you really want to go in different directions one can raise Mangalista Hogs. You can get your sheep and hog fix in with one critter..;:;rofl

 

[JMF]

dont forget the velcro gloves for breeding the sheep.

And don't forget to tuck your pants into your boots.

 

[Wild and Free]

Calves have been bringing a premium price at the sales ring the last few years and can be a crap shoot like stated above. One needs to hit the end of the month sale at Kist Livestock and watch if you can buy day olds or bottle calfs for around 200 and keep them healthy then you have a good shot at making money but spending much more than that with the potential to have them get sick and die cuts into things real quick when paying in the 400+ range that they have been brining. One could buy day old dairy calves for a hundred bucks or less by the truck load 5+ years ago but those days have disappeared. If one can find a local dairy close by and work a deal for their day old bull calves would be the best if you can pick them up right off their place. Wife and I have done this several times and works well, the less time and money they have to spend with them the better deal you can get.

 

[Wildyote]

Bottle calves, Bottle lambs, and grass calves are all good venues to lose money. My grandpas on both sides gave my brother and I that lesson when we were kids. Grass calves only work in the long term when you protect them with the commodity futures. The commodity futures only work part of the time.

 

[Bed Wetter]

Erect a chicken coup and prostitute yourself from it. Just one more thing imported from the 'sconis.