Financing a Farm Dream: The Challenges We Face

Money can be either your master or your slave. It’s amoral meaning it’s only what you make it. If you allow it, money will consume your every thought. Or you can whip it into shape and make it work its tail off for you.

I admit that the finances of our farm have always expended a large portion of our thoughts. There were seasons where it ruled us and seasons where, after building a brand and model, our money has worked hard for us.

When we started farming 12 years ago, we had a lot of people supporting us emotionally through the endeavor. But, we also had the old timers who implored us to run in the other direction because “you can’t make money in farming”.  Or somehow, farming was seen as degrading. One family member even said, “Why would you do that????” speaking of our going into farming.

Personally, we disagree.

The Ultimate Goal of TBF

Our goal has always been for TBF to support Brooks’ salary and time while I made an income pursuing my own dreams and passions. Humbly we admit that it is atrociously difficult to make a living farming but, you can make money in it. At this time, our farm is 100% self-sufficient of its primary needs and we are aggressively working towards Brooks making his income off of it.

All throughout history the primary occupation was farming. Families for generations made their living from the fruits of their labor and land. But, we haven’t been able to cover ourselves personally just yet.

I’ve realized a few unique challenges that we face today that haven’t made this endeavor easy. They are realities we have to overcome and work with whether we want to or not.

Every big, hairy project we’ve conjured up for our farm has come through for us one way or another. We’ve stretched our farm’s abilities and grew it so that it worked for us. This was done with a lot of forethought, planning, and sacrifice.

TBF’s Unique Challenges

1. TBF stands proudly that we are first generation farmers. This challenge is a major factor of who we are. The challenges we face are so different from a few of our cohorts. We didn’t inherit our grandparents’ farm.  We are not trust fund babies. We didn’t inherit a mother-load of money. Nor do we make a ton of money through off farm income (nope, we’re not brain surgeons). We authentically built our farm from the ground up using money that we worked for at regular day jobs. We paid for all of our cattle, all of our equipment, our land, everything ourselves. While many people “invest” in cars,  pay for fancy vacations, meals out, etc. we were over in the corner squandering our money towards paying off equipment and cattle. This is monetarily speaking, of course. Outside of this, we had PLENTY of family and friends helping to build our brand by spreading the word, looking after the cattle while away here and there, watering the cattle in our absence, buying beef from us, etc. We love you for it!
2. Brooks and I are anti-debt (except for real estate purchases). This makes it tricky when funding bigger farm expenses. We run from debt like it’s the plague! When we first started farming we took out a loan to purchase our first herd of cattle and a tractor. But, any time we’ve gone into debt, we’ve worked like mad to get out of it. Today, as we plan for our short and long-term future, we try our best to do so without [the deceiving ‘help’ of] debt. This includes improvements to Cumberland. It’s a seemingly impossible task but we are bound and determined to minimize our usage of debt.
3. Our cost of living these days is ridiculous. This one isn’t unique to us but its a challenge regardless. We tend to be minimalist with our finances as best as we are able. We don’t really spend money but somehow we end up spending a lot. It’s irritating. Multiple forms of insurance, costly groceries, land costs, and the fact that we are self-employed (which means boo-coos of taxes) all play into our cost of living. It’s pretty bleak but reality nonetheless. When I think on generations past, they didn’t have the insurances that we do today. Their food was self supplied mostly. And land was a lot cheaper (but still probably relative to what they made for an income).

Reflections

As you go about planning your farm dream or perhaps taking your farm dream to the next level, below is wisdom we carry around with us everywhere we go.

1. We are in control of our own lifestyles. This is a big one for us. We learned early on that if our farm was going to support us then we were going to have to be realistic about it. We can’t expect the farm to pay for all of life’s luxuries. New cars (or even new to me cars) are nice. But, they are major budget suck. Lifestyle choices like housing, location of land & housing, meals out, hired help, vacations, equipment, etc. all matter. I would say to you, if you are wanting to migrate your farm business so that it supports you, then check yourself. This is likely going to require a heart and mindset change… and a stock trailer load of sacrifice.
2. Debt is a major sucker of money. I will be writing more about this in a future post but for now your challenge is to evaluate your debt load. Make a list of your debts and the interest payments being made on them. Then, take the time to reflect on those numbers. Ask yourself a few questions: how much interest will I be paying over the length of the loan? If my interest paid is $xxx.xx what else could I use that money for? How could I invest it differently?
3. Realize that there is a season to everything. For the first several years of our farm’s life, we had to invest money into it. In other words, we were depositing money from our personal bank account to make ends meet. But, a few years in, things started to shift. We stopped having to fund the farm and the farm started standing on its own. YES! That was a fantastic feeling. Our farm has never had to be funded since and Lord-willing will never have to be again. I’ve mentioned previously, there will be seasons of famine and seasons of abundance. The first line of defense for such things is to keep your costs and debt down. As the Amish proverb goes, “Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without.” I love this. We’ve been living by it for years. It’s not fun… at all. But, it has kept us in the safe zone for a very long time.
4. Dream abundantly! We have gigantic dreams for Cumberland and I will be the first to admit that they are dreams we will not at all be able to do without the Lord’s provision. But, I know He’s given Brooks and I the vision, determination, a strong will, and an even stronger back to get it all done. Ohhh boy, I wish I could spill all of our intentions to you. But, I will bite my tongue for now. In the right season, I will let you in on all of them.

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