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South Dakota | I've been thinking of ways to position myself best to achieve my goals. I want to buy more pasture, but I figure as long as I keep lining up rental pasture, I may as well keep buying cows. So far that hasn't been an issue, I keep lining more pasture up every year and currently have capacity for about 150. I've currently got leads on enough pasture to expand to 250 or so, but it's under 3 separate owners and any one of those deals could fall through. With all that being said, if those deals fall through, I've considered selling a portion of my herd to capitalize on the equity I've built and have cash on hand. I think the calf market will most likely be lower in the coming years and at best flat. The goal would be to have cash in hand in a down market, I own all of my cows outright, so I could sell down to say 30 cows, hay pasture for winter feed or do custom grazing. On the farm side my wife always talk about how we'd make more money by just renting the land out and letting someone else take the risk. I think we're approaching the same neighborhood in the cow calf world where maybe I should let the other guy take the risk while I sit on the side lines with a bundle of cash and wait for a beautiful chunk of pasture to come up for sale at a lower price. Grandpa is almost 99 and has seen land prices get cut in half three times during his life. just thinking outside the box. It would take swallowing my pride to go back to 30 head after working so hard to build this, but then again isn't that an uneccassary status attachment, rather than a rational business decision. It's kind of like the guy that has to have the fancy truck and tractor, but is approaching bankruptcy, we've all seen it (not that I'm approaching bankruptcy). Wouldn't cash on hand, 30 head of cattle, and a custom grazing operation be a better spot to be in going into a worsening Ag economy?? | |
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Ag economy strategies
