There are lots of good ways to begin farming. You can find rental land, start small with low input cost operations like gardening and poultry, hook-up with a retiring farmer, form a business plan and put it to work, find an apprenticeship and really learn the task, and even get a job on farm so you can pay the bills and learn at the same time.
Then there is the way we decided to begin farming … Save up money through frugal living and sacrifice, purchase cattle (even more than you planned), find bare ground and buy it, buy pigs when you weren't totally ready, purchase a 50 plus year old tractor, build a house when you have no building experience, not get as much done as you had hoped to be done, and learn by tons and tons and tons of mistakes.
I would recommend one of the options from the first paragraph rather than the way we did it. This winter has been tough in so many regards as we have tried to scratch a farm out of nothing and continue our full-time ministry work. We have lost more of our Dexters than I could have imagined, things that I thought would get done didn't, our pork didn't sell as well as we had hoped (but we are blessed by people who are buying some), and now the tractor sits dead (most likely really dead) in the middle of the field.
It's hard … really, really hard! Just when I think the cattle are taken care of one gets sick and we have to hurry to try and nurse it back (it doesn't always work). And, just when I finally break down and buy a brand new bale spear to make the job just a little easier I totally clobber the tractor and the engine seizes up.
Like I said, it's hard … really, really hard! Yet my son still thanks God for the "wonderful" day (the same days that cows die or the tractor gives up it's life) at prayer times and even though I want to quit and give up there is still a desire for me to farm. My advice though would be to go about it a little differently than I have…
Then there is the way we decided to begin farming … Save up money through frugal living and sacrifice, purchase cattle (even more than you planned), find bare ground and buy it, buy pigs when you weren't totally ready, purchase a 50 plus year old tractor, build a house when you have no building experience, not get as much done as you had hoped to be done, and learn by tons and tons and tons of mistakes.
I would recommend one of the options from the first paragraph rather than the way we did it. This winter has been tough in so many regards as we have tried to scratch a farm out of nothing and continue our full-time ministry work. We have lost more of our Dexters than I could have imagined, things that I thought would get done didn't, our pork didn't sell as well as we had hoped (but we are blessed by people who are buying some), and now the tractor sits dead (most likely really dead) in the middle of the field.
It's hard … really, really hard! Just when I think the cattle are taken care of one gets sick and we have to hurry to try and nurse it back (it doesn't always work). And, just when I finally break down and buy a brand new bale spear to make the job just a little easier I totally clobber the tractor and the engine seizes up.
Like I said, it's hard … really, really hard! Yet my son still thanks God for the "wonderful" day (the same days that cows die or the tractor gives up it's life) at prayer times and even though I want to quit and give up there is still a desire for me to farm. My advice though would be to go about it a little differently than I have…
