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| We picked up a farm 50 miles away this year, its the first time we've ever gone that far. We are used to farming everything within a 5 mile radius, so we were certainly leaving our comfort zone. Just like many other said, be prepared. Don't let that field be your first, or last farm of any operation. You don't want to take an unproven piece of equipment up there, and you don't want to run out of product before you finish(run out of seed with only a few acres left) We drive all gravel roads to get there, its actually almost a straight shot, I wouldn't drive my equipment down a highway unless I had too, too much traffic, and its harder on the tires.
You'll find that the "busy" maintenance type work will be the most aggravating. If you have water ditch to clean up, trees to cut, fences to mend, it'll be much more difficult to do those things with the farm 50 miles away. You can't jump in the loader tractor and go do something quick, its almost an all day commitment. I'd like to have a small flatbed equip trailer that I can haul loader tractor up with. Some folks think its not worth the trouble, I've noticed they are mostly older folk who are in retirement mode. Lets use an avg profit margin of $100/acre, on 150 acres that's $15,000. Would you drive a tractor a couple of hundred miles for $15,000? I certainly will, and in the grand scheme of things the 2 hour trip up and back isn't going to make or break you. Lets say you make 5 trips a year to that farm, with 5 hour round trips, that 25 hours a year...can you spare that? If you leave home at 7am you'll be at the farm by 9am. Big whoop! You'll still beat a lot of guys to the field. If you fed 150 steers you have to feed them every morning and night, how much time would that consume? and for what profit?
Bottom line: Pick up the farm if you have a chance, never turn anything down anymore if you want to grow. And plan accordingly. You'll also like being spread(diversified) out a little geographically, sometimes when you miss the rain at home that farm will catch it, so at least one of your farms got rain. Don't be afraid to leave your comfort zone, its going to make you nervous as heck the first time you do this(its normal), but it'll make everything else seem close and easy after this. Don't put self-imposed limitations on yourself. | |
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Anybody farm ground 50 miles away?
