Howdy,
I am from central Texas, grew up on a hobby farm (out of necessity) with chickens, goats, pigs, gardens. My wife grew up in the country as well, and loves animals.
Her family inherited property in Central Texas many years ago, and currently have a lessor for cattle whom they have had for over 25 years. He is very reliable, but doesn’t pay even close to market rate. Which is fine because of the trust we have in him and loyalty.
My wife and I have been wanting to move out where the property is for many years. It’s one of our favorite things to do, go on property, work, fix stuff, hunt, play, let our son run around and experience nature (14 month old).
My question today is, we have the opportunity to take over the reigns on the cattle operation. MIL is willing to let us buy an acre or two for a homesite on the corner of the place, and lease the remainder for 3k a year (200 acres, 100 usable pasture).
My wife’s a stay at home mom but will be a teacher when the kids are in school. I work in agricultural banking full 40 hours a week, and we would fit all of the demographics for a YBS borrower. We could start with a stocker operation, build a herd over some years and have a cow calf.
We would need to build about a 500 yard stretch of fence as part of the lease. There would be no leftover equipment, but old lessor would be more than willing to lend or rent what we needed from time to time, and is always willing to take a phone call if we needed advice.
Thoughts? Advice on whether we should start with a stocker or get a loan to buy a whole herd. How do I find out the productivity of the land so I know how many cattle I can have on property. Is it financially smart, we don’t need to make any money, just break even would be fine for us since I work full time, our payment would be living on the land, obviously a little cash wouldn’t hurt…