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ESW ND | The OP has to keep in mind, that just because he might be able to double or triple his acres, DOES NOT mean that he is going to double or triple his profits. Most times it seems you will double your inputs, just to break even or make a small profit. Compare that to your wetter area, most time you having a good chance of getting a crop while having smaller acres but still at a break even or profit. Your poorest crop in your area is a bumper crop in the western Dakotas. I wish we could run the number of cows you guys can on the few acres you need for pasture. Here, say 60 head of cows, you have to have 4-6x the acres and hope there is a little left over for next spring and that's still not enough. In 96'-97', we had 105" of snow. Snow in the draws till past June. We also never got any moisture anymore. Avg rainfall is around 12". We baled 15 bales off of 300 acres. Granted that was the extreme, but there are definitely a lot of close runner ups. The "beauty" out here is brutal! Those who live out here understand. Visiting out here versus living out here versus trying to make a living off of farming/ranching out here are NOT comparable. You don't ever hear anybody brag how they visited Western North Dakota in the winter time. I wish the grass was greener on the other side of the fence... at least there would be something to graze. Though you didn't ask about western ND, the two areas don't differ by too much.
If you make the move, make sure God comes first and comes with you, because you will be talking to him waaaaay more than your banker and neighbors. | |
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So tell me about South Dakota.....
