"Hey move your car!", screams the guy in the rearview mirror. I would if I could, but there are a million cars in front of me! Same route, same thing everyday. I remember growing up, people weren't as rude or uptight. Oh, check it out, they're putting up a new billboard.. Hmmm, a picture of a house over looking a scenic view of land that goes for eternity. It looks like a cattle ranch or something. On the top of the picture reads, "Get away from the Hustle and Bustle, Land For Sale, Great Rates". Wow, that is very enticing.
That was me. Living in the city, working a job I hated.
Now, I grew up in a rural area, and my parents had a cattle ranch. After high school I went away to a university on the opposite side of the country. I wanted the city life. Boy was I wrong. So I decided to sell my house, that was crammed in a nice suburb, and invested in a cattle ranch.
Starting from scratch, I needed to remember what I needed to have a cattle ranch. So I called my dad and he gave me this for advise. He said to start with the 3 basic things, then go from there. Well here are the 3 steps that I applied when I started my cattle ranch.
1. Land - This is obvious, you must buy land to become a cattle rancher, but there are some things you can do to increase your profit. Like when you seek out to buy your land, check with the state or county to see about leasing some land for grazing rights. That helped me out, because I wasn't some rich guy. I bought 125 acres, then I leased 1,800 acres from my state.
(Remember that you will have to build your home and other buildings pertaining to cattle ranching, unless you buy an already existing ranch.)
2. Cattle - Unless this is more of a hobby, treat this as a business investment. Because when you buy your cattle you have to calculate how many are going to be able to graze on your land. For instance, 50 cattle to every 600 acres. So, for 2,000 acres you want around 150 head.
3. Horses or All Terrain Vehicles - You will need to check your cattle 3-4 times a week. In order to check on the herd, the use of a horse or an all terrain vehicle is used. In the mid-west, 4wheelers and Polaris' are very popular, due to the rolling hills. Out west, horses are used more, because of the rocky terrain and the canyons that cattle goes down into.
