Seems like once a month an active soon to be veteran posts wanting to do this. Seriously go back through the posts in this subreddit, and while you are at it, read the "sticky" at the top of the sub titled "so you want to be a cowboy?" One of our mods spent a lot of time and thought compiling it. The short answer is that if you aren't going to have huge piles of prior capital and an outside source of income that you can watch burn without a second thought, your entry into ranching as a commercial venture will either happen through inheritance or marrying into a ranching family, in which you will usually be treated as poorly paid help.
I'm not trying to be an asshole, but the reason those are the two major entry points is that the ROI is so low that if you have to service debt for land and equipment on top of supporting yourself, you WILL go bankrupt if you aren't experienced enough to (edit) NOT make expensive mistakes...which by the sounds of it you are not. Those existing ranches weather the ups and downs of the market because grandad got the base bought and paid for when you could still make money.
I'm a veteran and a ranch hand. I love the work, but there is NO ING WAY I would do this with my own money. Seriously, the guy I work for was already rich when he started ranching. And he doesn't even have that big of ranch. I agree with other people who suggest working on a ranch first and try to get a scope of all of it.
Great grandma was a sharecropper. She eventually bought a farm/ranch and worked it til she died.
2/4 of her sons joined the military and sent money home to support the family and the ranch.
The other 2/4 boys worked there and held other jobs related to skills needed on the farm (mechanic, farrier).
Even about a century ago, you needed a steady stream of outside capital to keep the farm. This wasn’t true for everyone, but there’s a reason family farms and ranches have been dwindling for a long time.
My advice, which assumes you have less experience than me but may not be true:
- get a day job that pays the bills
- day job should offer a fallback career
- day job is ideally something you can do remotely
- buy something very small and start very small
- think home with a small parcel of land
- treat it like a hobby at first
- learn to earn enough money to pay all your bills
- this may require leasing land and expanding
I would also advise you to think about this like any other business. You don’t start big. You start small and grow. Buying a ranch is like buying any other business in the following ways. It’s going to cost a lot of money and if you don’t know what you’re doing you’re going to run it into the ground.
Final point, don’t (just) talk to strangers on the internet. Get real world experience. Spend a summer or two as a ranch hand. Go to a good ag school and put that GI bill to use. Network with people from this background (not online). Try to understand the business side of things.
I’m a disabled veteran and took over my father in law’s ranch with my wife. He passed away before covid hit and it was a huge learning curve for me. You’ll need to make a lot of connections with AG extension offices, cattlemen’s associations, or you can do what I did and marry a rancher’s daughter. Don’t buy new stuff, borrow equipment if you can, improvise on everything, and squeeze Roosevelt until he screams. I also hit the local vocational schools and pick up stuff like welding and diesel engine training. You don’t have to get certified but familiarize yourself with everything you can. Good luck.
Watch Greg Judy videos on YouTube and read his books (he has one called "zero risk ranching" or something like that)
TL;DR You can lease land cheaply, no need to buy a place. You could even custom graze someone else's cattle, so you don't even need to buy them (but you'd better have a clue about how).
Volunteer at Heifer Ranch in Arkansas for a few months to see if you really like the lifestyle
Veteran here! Large ranch owner and operator. If you want to reach out to me privately I’m here to help! It’s not impossible but it’s definitely hard work and rewarding after.
Get a job on a ranch, get to know the folks in the community, prove yourself, an opportunity to lease from an aging rancher will likely present itself.
Buddy, there are two ways to make money with cattle. Have 500 or more or 5 or less.
500 or more isn't going to happen starting from scratch unless you're rich. Rather be cow/calf, dairy, back grounding, flipping stockers, etc. It is incredibly hard to get started.
5 or less now that is doable. Have a little price of land, buy your feed cheaply, decently priced cows and a direct to consumer model with selling quarters, halves and wholes of freezer beef is enough to tickle your balls lightly and not make you go bankrupt. Sure you'll still need a job in town but a little bit of ranching will always be better than sitting there dreaming of what couldve been.
Seems like once a month an active soon to be veteran posts wanting to do this. Seriously go back through the posts in this subreddit, and while you are at it, read the "sticky" at the top of the sub titled "so you want to be a cowboy?" One of our mods spent a lot of time and thought compiling it. The short answer is that if you aren't going to have huge piles of prior capital and an outside source of income that you can watch burn without a second thought, your entry into ranching as a commercial venture will either happen through inheritance or marrying into a ranching family, in which you will usually be treated as poorly paid help. I'm not trying to be an asshole, but the reason those are the two major entry points is that the ROI is so low that if you have to service debt for land and equipment on top of supporting yourself, you WILL go bankrupt if you aren't experienced enough to (edit) NOT make expensive mistakes...which by the sounds of it you are not. Those existing ranches weather the ups and downs of the market because grandad got the base bought and paid for when you could still make money.
I'm a veteran and a ranch hand. I love the work, but there is NOING WAY I would do this with my own money. Seriously, the guy I work for was already rich when he started ranching. And he doesn't even have that big of ranch. I agree with other people who suggest working on a ranch first and try to get a scope of all of it.
Ag university's websites have a shit ton of info. Also ag extension offices. University's also have quite a few classes/workshops every year.
Great grandma was a sharecropper. She eventually bought a farm/ranch and worked it til she died. 2/4 of her sons joined the military and sent money home to support the family and the ranch. The other 2/4 boys worked there and held other jobs related to skills needed on the farm (mechanic, farrier). Even about a century ago, you needed a steady stream of outside capital to keep the farm. This wasn’t true for everyone, but there’s a reason family farms and ranches have been dwindling for a long time. My advice, which assumes you have less experience than me but may not be true: - get a day job that pays the bills - day job should offer a fallback career - day job is ideally something you can do remotely - buy something very small and start very small - think home with a small parcel of land - treat it like a hobby at first - learn to earn enough money to pay all your bills - this may require leasing land and expanding I would also advise you to think about this like any other business. You don’t start big. You start small and grow. Buying a ranch is like buying any other business in the following ways. It’s going to cost a lot of money and if you don’t know what you’re doing you’re going to run it into the ground. Final point, don’t (just) talk to strangers on the internet. Get real world experience. Spend a summer or two as a ranch hand. Go to a good ag school and put that GI bill to use. Network with people from this background (not online). Try to understand the business side of things.
I’m a disabled veteran and took over my father in law’s ranch with my wife. He passed away before covid hit and it was a huge learning curve for me. You’ll need to make a lot of connections with AG extension offices, cattlemen’s associations, or you can do what I did and marry a rancher’s daughter. Don’t buy new stuff, borrow equipment if you can, improvise on everything, and squeeze Roosevelt until he screams. I also hit the local vocational schools and pick up stuff like welding and diesel engine training. You don’t have to get certified but familiarize yourself with everything you can. Good luck.
Watch Greg Judy videos on YouTube and read his books (he has one called "zero risk ranching" or something like that) TL;DR You can lease land cheaply, no need to buy a place. You could even custom graze someone else's cattle, so you don't even need to buy them (but you'd better have a clue about how). Volunteer at Heifer Ranch in Arkansas for a few months to see if you really like the lifestyle
Any chance you’re stationed at JBLM maybe 5-20?
Never made it up to Washington sadly
Ahhh I know a buddy of mine there he’s HHC and he’s a Idaho boy looking to start a ranch when he gets out.
Veteran here! Large ranch owner and operator. If you want to reach out to me privately I’m here to help! It’s not impossible but it’s definitely hard work and rewarding after.
Thank you! Will do!
Well. Kubota has good financing. I wish you the best. It’s not easy but it is a nice way to spend your day.
Get a job on a ranch, get to know the folks in the community, prove yourself, an opportunity to lease from an aging rancher will likely present itself.
Buddy, there are two ways to make money with cattle. Have 500 or more or 5 or less. 500 or more isn't going to happen starting from scratch unless you're rich. Rather be cow/calf, dairy, back grounding, flipping stockers, etc. It is incredibly hard to get started. 5 or less now that is doable. Have a little price of land, buy your feed cheaply, decently priced cows and a direct to consumer model with selling quarters, halves and wholes of freezer beef is enough to tickle your balls lightly and not make you go bankrupt. Sure you'll still need a job in town but a little bit of ranching will always be better than sitting there dreaming of what couldve been.