Correspondence Regarding Land

Yesterday I sent an email to the University of Minnesota small farms extension seeking advice on how to get my hands on some land. To my delight I got a response today with some great ideas. Unfortunately is was coupled with news that might become a huge obstacle.

My Email:

Hello,

I am planning to start a grass based farming operation next Spring. My desire is to start small and grow as my customer base grows. My question is: Where do I begin looking for land to lease? I would like it to be within 15 minutes of where I live (Forest Lake, MN).  I would like the size to be 20+ acres.

Thank you for your help,
Lucas Johnson
Facebook.com/wittenburgfarms
http://wittenburgfarms.blogspot.com/

Their response:

Hi Lucas,
I would write up a simple ad very similar to what you have written here and place it in your local paper or shopper.
You could also put up a flyer 8x10 sheet of paper.

"Wanted to Lease, 20 acres or more of Good Pasture land for grass fed beef operation.
with or without water source within 10 miles of Forest Lake, MN
I will maintain or build fences
call Lucas Johnson and number"

put your name and phone number horizontal across the bottom of the page so they can rip off the name and number.

Put the flyer at the FSA, NRCS office, church, grocery store, feed store and gas station.
Put one at the county Extension office and ask if 4-H has a facebook page and if the 4-H agent would be willing to post on
facebook.  You may also want to put up a flyer at the Senior Center.

Be prepared to pay $15.00 per Animal Unit (1000 pounds) one cow calf, per month.
I am attaching a link to a sample pasture lease.
http://www.mwps.org/stores/mwps/files/NCFMEC03A_D9E5FDD476870.pdf

If you have further questions  or need additional resources please contact us again on the Farm Information Line.

Best regards,


My thoughts on their response:
Overall this is a good follow up to my email. I now have a plan of attack to pursue a land lease. I guess it makes sense to do things a little more traditional with the kind of work I'm wanting to do. I would definitely change the advert to say something along the lines of

Wanting to lease 10 acres or more of pasture land to raise heritage pigs and chickens.
Need access to water and prefer to have electricity within 15 Miles of Forest Lake.
I will build or maintain fences. 

Something along those lines would work.

The part that bothered me was the last paragraph. "Be prepared to pay $15 per AU per month".
If I figure that right, it would be about $300 per month. With what we are doing, that really makes it difficult to pull in a profit. Paying $3600 for leased land + purchase of animals + feed + fencing & equipment, I'm finding it a little difficult to breaking even, let alone bring in even a small profit. 

I guess the only thing I can do is find a better deal and keep the option open to purchase land as opposed to leasing.

Leaders are Readers

A few years ago I heard the saying "Leaders are Readers" and it has definitely stuck with me. Ever since then I have been trying to read as much as I possibly can on topics I really care about. Faith, family and farming are the most read topics by far, I can't seem to get enough of them.

I just returned Come Back Farms to the Library. This book has given me so much practical wisdom for pasture based farming. From cows to pigs, I found so much encouragement and inspiration in this book.  

Today I placed an order for the book, Humility by C. J. Mahaney. This book was highly recommended by some very influential people in my life. I'm hoping that through it I am able to see myself more rightly and see Jesus Christ more clearly. 

My next farming book is going to be Pigs on Pasture by Scott Kelland. Since I want to start our farm with pigs, I believe this book is where I need to begin. Reading through the index, I found a lot of topics that I need to research. Marketing, pig management and planning are some of the things I really want to learn about before I begin our farm adventure. 

There are dozens of books I want to thumb through, however, time is short and I'm not exactly a fast reader. I'm sure I'll keep posting snippets from the books I look though and some of the wisdom I acquire.

Pastures

Recently I have been reading the book "Comeback Farms" by Greg Judy. There is a lot of fascinating information in this book about rejuvenating pastures that have been neglected and abused for decades. The whole concept is to use high density grazing, increase the stocking rate (of cattle) per paddock and decreasing the size of the paddock itself. According to Greg, he is stocking about 300,000-500,000lbs/acre and only hitting the same paddock twice a year. By doing this you are looking for an end goal of growing more forages with healthier soil. You get this result by upping your stocking rate so that your cattle drop their excrement more evenly on the ground, because of the high stocking rate the manure is pressed into the ground more throughly, giving the ground the natural nutrients it need to be self sustaining. Healthy pastures soak up more water in the rainy season and it will be less effected by drought conditions in the dry season. There is just so much to take in from this book I think I will need to buy it for my farming library.

Needless to say, after reading this I am even more excited to get a piece of land to start growing our farm.

Thinking Forward

I work about 30 minutes away from our home in Forest Lake, MN. This drive gives me a lot of time to think about life, such as our future in farming. There are a so many different things to think about when starting something you have never done before and multiple problems that are going to come up, which hopefully I will have thought out before any of them become a devastating problem. Some factors I have already been considering are landlords (while leasing land), getting water to the animals, fencing, feeding, buying the right breeding stock, where I even find land to lease, building my market, packaging and storing our product, growing the farm and balancing my day job, just to start.

Oh yeah, and doing it all without going into debt. 

Why the Name "Wittenburg"

I love history, particularly church history.
Outside the Bible, there have been some major events that have shaped the faith of believers. Personally, the words and actions of Martin Luther have shaped my understanding of faith in radical ways.

On October 31, 1517 Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the entrance of a church, what is known as "Wittenburgs Door".

In those days nailing something to a door was a statement for debate. We can liken it to posting something on a community board in a public place. However, his theses called out the most powerful organization in the world, the Catholic Church. Which led to what is known as the Protestant Reformation, revolutionizing Christianity.

Today, I want to make a statement (although, infinitely less noble) to traditional agriculture, who are utilizing methods that are hurting mankind (and the animals) more than helping. Our Goal is to raise animals the way God has created them and to harness all their natural nutritional benefits, while keeping them happy and healthy.