Growing up I spent most of my time at our family farm in Bremond, Texas. I have always loved the country and some day, after a few years of working in Houston, I plan to move there. My love for being in the country aside, it is where my family will be moving in the next few months. It’s one thing I look forward to, not only will I be living in the country, I will get to be near my family.
Eventually I would like to have around 1,000 acres, scattered with ponds and at least one 50 acre lake. I plan on having cattle, horses, pigs, and chickens. I’m going to have the ponds stocked with several different species of fish. It’s a big dream, so I plan to start small and work my way up. The majority of my younger years will be spent working, so I simply will not have the time that is required in managing a large spread. By the time I reach retirement I plan on having my ranch complete, around 100 head of cattle, 4 horses, 5 pigs, and a dozen or so chicken for fresh farm eggs.
There is a lot of work and time that will need to be put in to accomplish this. I will have to fence in the majority of the property for the cattle, with a smaller section for the horses. I will need a big barn with a tack room to keep supplies and several stalls for the horses. I plan on having the pig pen out behind it. The chicken coop will have to be closer to the house, so that I can keep an eye out for predators. The start-up cost and maintaining the ranch will not be cheap. For the land alone I will be looking between $750,000 and $1,000,000. Hopefully the land will be fenced, if not I will be looking at thousands of dollars just in the materials. I will need at least a 6,000 square foot barn to house the horses, tractors and other tools needed to run a ranch. Going with a concrete slab for stability and longevity, I will be looking between $6,000 and $10,000. The cattle shouldn’t be much of an ongoing cost, being that they can roam most of the land for food and water. The remainder of my animals will require some sort of feed, whether it be hay, oats, slops for the pigs, so this will be a never ending cost.
The payoff is what will make it all worthwhile; getting to sit on the back porch and watch the sun set over the lake, riding horses through the fields or just spending the evening out on the pier fishing. There will be a lot of hard work put in but one day I will make this dream a reality.
4 comments:
I grew up on a small farm in Ohio. We raised everything we ate, the meat and the vegetables. It was hard work, but made for good work ethics later on. I hope you reach your goal.
Thank you! I grew up on my parent's farm and I believe that it does make for good work ethics.
Wow, this all sounds so amazing! Do you think it will be very hard to manage all this along with being a CPA, working in the public accounting world?
It will be hard to manage work and a farm. I will be very very busy!
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