Madison Co. Virginia | Thatonefarmer4321 - 12/27/2024 13:26
...wondering on how this whole goat deal works...
First figure out if there's a buyer for goat milk in your area, and if not, if there's enough of a retail or raw market to make it work. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for a goat milk buyer here, if there even is one.
My suggestion is to pursue a career off the farm for now, but still keep involved with the farm on nights and weekends. Start out working part-time for the family operation, but try to find some sort of personal on-farm enterprise that you can do instead.
For an on-farm enterprise of your own, I'd still suggest freezer beef and lamb. Both can be started on a very small scale with minimal investment. Marketing is key. Ask to rent any facilities or fields outright, and keep books completely separate, so that it's clear this is your enterprise and not just part of the overall farm. Contact any large-scale produce growers or produce markets in the area, and ask if there are obvious gaps in their offerings. Produce is another on-farm enterprise that can pay good, but you'll be working like a dog for certain parts of the year to make it happen.
Unless you are particularly scholastically-inclined, I'd skip college, and go for the skilled trades instead. Try to get in with an electrician who can give you 2000 hours/year for two or three years of residential wiring. Ask up front though, and make sure he's willing to count your hours toward the experience requirement for an electrician's license. After that, move on to industrial and agricultural electrical work, where you can specialize in controls and automation. At any point after getting your license, you can dial back the electrical career to part-time, and step back into the farm as needed.
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Cant make Beef cattle work for us!
