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.