Chapter three of Ron Macher’s book, “Making Your Small Farm Profitable” isn’t a very long chapter, but it is chock full of good farming principles. That is probably why the chapter is titled, “Some Principles of Good Farming”! The whole chapter is only seven pages long, but I think these principles give the reader (in this case … me) a lot to think about and work through. As I thought about his post I just thought I would touch on a couple of them, but after skimming over them one more time I decided that I would just throw them all out there and give a couple of thoughts on each one.
So, here goes nothing…
- To be sustainable, a farm must be environmentally sound and socially acceptable. –Taking care of the environment not only keeps other people happy, but it provides longevity for your farm in future generations. It just makes sense! Also, by building a farm that is socially acceptable some of the generalizations and stereotypes about farmers can be busted.
- Avoid debt. –Do you want my entire financial knowledge … it is summed up in those two words! I don’t know much about money, investing, or creating wealth. But, I do know that being debt free seems like a good thing whether I’m farming or not.
- Keep costs down. –Kind of piggy backs on avoiding debt don’t you think? But really, if I desire to have a full-time farm I am going to have to lower my costs and create great products … it all goes back to thinking outside of the conventional realm of agriculture.
- Try for low inputs. –It’s all about sustainability, the less inputs the more the soil benefits and the more the bottom line is helped.
- Do things on time. –This may be the key to any successful business! If you are going to have livestock, crops, and a farm based business you need to do your things like baling, weaning, and harvesting on time and in time (with the seasons).
- Plan your farm to minimize work. –This principle is about the physical layout of your farm. Is your farm set up to maximize your effort without wasting it. I suppose I’m not going to tear everything down, but it is important to look at your entire farm with workload and a plan in mind.
- Develop a system of production that balances farm resources and available labor. –Let me sum it up for you … make sure you have enough time to run your farm! Don’t bring in 60 cow/calf pairs if you don’t have the time to work them, rotate them, or feed them in a timely manner. It does keep coming back to planning doesn’t it?
- Keep good records. –I’m going to lean on my wife for this one. She is the record queen, just take a look at her 4-H records someday! But seriously, it is important to know where you money is going and coming. What you are feeding your animals and what they are returning. How your rotations are working, and so much more.
- Learn basic veterinary skills and tasks. –If you can do it then you don’t have to pay someone else to do it. It is that simple!
- Learn carpentry, electrical, and machinery repair skills. –See above!
- Learn stockman skills, and keep gentle livestock. –Gentle livestock are not only easier to handle, but they gain faster, are more calm on the day you take them to be butchered, and generally make your farming life more enjoyable.
- Take good care of your buildings, machinery, and livestock. –One word … Stewardship! Be a good steward of the thins that you are entrusted with. You land, your family, your money, and you stuff … plain and simple.
- Have a good water system, and save ever drop of water that falls on your farm. –This doesn’t mean that you have rain collection troughs everywhere, but it does mean that you take care of your soils and build up the organic matter so that it can absorb that much more water. Oh, and think about a watering infrastructure for your farm instead of just buckets and hoses (at least it is something to aspire towards).
- Maintain or improve the soil fertility. –This one keeps popping up lately. I’m going to have to spend more time researching and learning about the topic.
- Let the animals do as much feed harvesting on their own as possible. –Make the farm work for you instead of you for the farm. There will still be plenty for you to do even if you pasture your animals and stockpile forages for winter, so let them do some work also.
- Use crop rotations. –They do so much to help that I can’t even cover it all. But, let me say that there is a reason that rotations have been done for centuries!
- Have 2 years’ worth of hay and grain in storage. –If weathermen can’t predict the weather what chance do I have of controlling it? It is a good idea to have stockpiled hay and feed. You might not have 2 years’ worth, but building up a years worth is a good place to be.
Remember, these are my principles … they are Ron Macher’s principles. But, I think they are great basics and get to the core of what small scale farming is about and how it can be done. Do any of those really stick out for you?
“Learn stockman skills, and keep gentle livestock. –Gentle livestock are not only easier to handle, but they gain faster, are more calm on the day you take them to be butchered, and generally make your farming life more enjoyable.”
And wild cattle are a pain. It seems I always have a couple of them.
On the plus side, we were gleeful when we sent those ones to the packing house.
“Have 2 years’ worth of hay and grain in storage. –If weathermen can’t predict the weather what chance do I have of controlling it? It is a good idea to have stockpiled hay and feed. You might not have 2 years’ worth, but building up a years worth is a good place to be.”
How do you store it?
I’d be seriously concerned that if I stored hay from winter to winter, I’d loose a lot of it to mold and rot.
On this, one thing in some areas you can do is to be flexible as to what you feed. One year hay may be up, but there may be hailed out cornfields nearby. That sort of thing.
Good advice on all points but with two cautions:
1. Two years of hay and grain – it degrades with age. On the grain, we just don’t feed grain. On the hay, we buy yearly and get it as soon as feasible. If there were truly a disaster that made for no hay I would reduce our herd or use alternatives starting with bedding in wood chips & leaves, etc to stretch the available hay for feed.
2. Avoid debt – sometimes it is necessary and worth while to use debt. For example, it is foolish to spend good money renting when for the same monthly payment you could buy. Renting builds no equity. Buying, which may involve a mortgage, builds equity. Pay it down as fast as you can. Living frugally allows that to happen quickly. Another example is it can be worth it to finance a big tool, like a tractor, when that will pay for itself. Of course, don’t do debt for frivolities – think hard and long on any note.
Walter and others … I’ve been meaning to comment on this, but never got around to it. First of all, it wasn’t my list, just my comments. And I fully agree that two years worth of hay or grain may be a little excessive (think of the storage you would need), but I do think it is important to have more than just a winters worth on had. If that was the case and a drought came on it would be much more difficult to get by without having to sell off some livestock.
On the debt thing, while I do agree that some debt is good debt I think it has to be said to avoid debt just because Americans are so easily encumbered with it without even thinking! Plus, in the case of a beginning farmer (me) you don’t need to have everything all at once and have the biggest and best of those things you have. You don’t have to go in debt to buy a tractor … you can easily find a used one that will work perfectly … at least in my part of the country. And renting buildings that would cost the same if you were buying them is a great point!
There is just so much that you have to look at … it is great to have conversations about it and flesh out so many things! Thanks for contributing!!
“Maintain or improve the soil fertility. –This one keeps popping up lately. I’m going to have to spend more time researching and learning about the topic.”
I recommend “The Biological Farmer” by Gary Zimmer. Good intro, gets into the science of it without going TOO far deep. It explains soil fertility/health better and in more depth than most beginner farming books (which usually say: add compost! add manure! both are good!). Includes livestock considerations. I’m reading it now, notes will be up on my blog after I finish with my notes for Henderson’s book.