I have to admit that while I’m writing my book report for chapters 7-11 I’m actually reading chapter 26! Needless to say, I’m really flying through this book and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve combined these chapters together in a bigger chunk because only a couple of them really hit home with me. Not that it’s not good information, but rather it is stuff that doesn’t exactly fit my situation … or it’s just a funny story (as is the case with chapter 9 about the rodeo cattle). For example, chapter 7 deals with Greg Judy’s shift from stocker cattle to dry cows. It makes sense because their nutritional requirements are lower, but with a lack of cattle experience I don’t really want to learn on other peoples dry cows. If you have the experience then I suggest you think about it!
Chapter 8 is a great read because in this chapter Mr. Judy shares a lot of the equipment (and brands) that he uses. After reading though it I was feeling pretty good about most of my purchases because he strongly recommended Stafix fece chargers (have one), O’Briens geared reels (have three), O’Briens tread in posts (have lots), and Powerflex posts (not sure how many I have, but I have them). While I haven’t had as much experience with other products out there like he has I would have no problem recommending all of those names above. And, it was really nice to see him share about the equipment he uses because that is one thing I’m always wondering when I read a book or an article.
Chapters 10 and 11 gave me quite a bit to think about … for the future. These two chapters covered leases, both losing leases and keeping leases. His previous book, “No Risk Ranching,” goes deeper into the leasing issue, but these two chapters did enough to get me thinking about the idea. I feel like if I had a bit more livestock knowledge going into this farm deal I would have been much better off going the leased route (and probably would have regardless of my knowledge), but I also think leasing could be something I look at in the future.
One thing that keeps popping in my mind when I read about that low cost leased ground that he is always talking about is this … CRP ground. I don’t know what it is like anywhere else, but around here there is a lot of marginal pasture ground or bad pasture ground that has just been placed in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) and most of the time I can’t compete with those payments. I guess when it comes time to look for leased land I just need to start contacting land owners and see if they have it in the program or not!
Does Judy detail any cost effective ways to setup an electric fence system for leased pastures? Of course, with something like a 5-yr lease it might make sense to build a more permanent-type system with Powerflex posts and high-tensile wire around the perimeter.
From your experience with Powerflex posts, how difficult do you think it would be to pull the posts if you lost a lease and wanted to remove them (and the lease terms actually allowed the removal)?
The way I understand it, leases can also have income tax advantages over owned land that might make it easier to show a profit.
I’ve read that the major advantage of a lease is that you can write off the cost of the lease as a business expense while you can’t write off mortgage interest on land you’ve purchased.
Does Judy detail any cost effective ways to setup an electric fence system for leased pastures? Of course, with something like a 5-yr lease it might make sense to build a more permanent-type system with Powerflex posts and high-tensile wire around the perimeter.
From your experience with Powerflex posts, how difficult do you think it would be to pull the posts if you lost a lease and wanted to remove them (and the lease terms actually allowed the removal)?
The way I understand it, leases can also have income tax advantages over owned land that might make it easier to show a profit.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I’ve read that the major advantage of a lease is that you can write off the cost of the lease as a business expense while you can’t write off mortgage interest on land you’ve purchased.