12/31/2012
GE Credit------------4,426.73
Tire Store-------------700.79
R Cap One------------5,073.92
BOA------------------7,550.48
Citi-----------------8,834.09
Student Loan---------6,383.76
Home Loan-----------18,850.44
Rental/Farm---------80,970.00
Jeep----------------15,068.46
K Cap One------------8,020.65
2009 Hosp Bill-------paid off
MIL Nursing Home-------368.20
2012 Hosp Bill---------535.85
Building Supply--------274.68
Unsec Bank 1-----------309.69
Unsec Bank 2-----------950.10
Anesthesiologist-------575.50
Truck------------------918.22
Tractor-Monthly-----16,789.84
Loan from Work---------355.18
Farm Supply----------1,170.93
10 Acre Farm---------9,349.68
72 Acre Farm-------219,202.44
Annual Tractor-------5,880.00
Property Taxes-------2,898.98
Total: $415,458.61
Paid in Dec: 8,159.62
Total down: 10,922.19
Not too shabby....The crops were sold. Was a little short of paying all of the Farm Supply bill. The 31.75 from the paid off Hospital bill was rolled into the Building Supply payment. No new debt for Christmas. Still put part of TV and Phone bills on credit. Won't have to do this but another month or two when the truck will be paid off.
Goals for January...file taxes, sell calves for the 10 Acre farm loan due Jan 18.
December Progress
March 13th, 2013 at 12:02 pm
March 13th, 2013 at 01:30 pm 1363181414
First, do you own any land of significant acreage that is swampy or wooded that isn't part of production? If so, have you considered selling it to a hunter? My brother in-law bought an 80 acre piece several years ago. It had about 10 acres of woods. When another farm came up for sale, he sold the woods to a group of hunters for enough for a nice down payment on the new farm. Or you can lease that ground for hunting.
Does your husband have any pieces of machinery/equipment that he hardly ever uses? An old moldboard plow, or harrow, or anything that can be sold. There is a growing market of hunters establishing food plots who will buy old/small tillage equipment. As I'm sure you know farm equipment is priced at an all-time high right now.
Does your husband take advantage of any forward pricing? The general recommendation is to look for contracts offering a good price. Don't wait for the market high, but a price that is profitable. Price 1/4 of your expected crop before it is planted (so sometime in the next month or so, not knowing where you live, these timeframes would fit the upper mid-west, where I live). Price 1/4 of your expected crop after emergence, but before the crop is made (mid June-mid July) and 1/4 of your expected crop after it is made, but before full maturity (August). Leave that final 1/4 as a buffer against the unknown (Murphy). Sell it on the open market.
Finally, would encourage your husband to take a good hard look at input costs. Ag/Chem dealers are notorious for selling products that don't pay for themselves. Foliar feeds on soybeans, fungicides on corn, insecticides on wheat (again, not sure what your crop mix is, but I'm sure the general concept follows any crop mix). And, fertilizers. Micro packages with boron, manganese, molybdenum. Or potash, phosphorus if soil test levels are sky high. Take a good look at soil tests. If potassium an phosphorus are at adequate levels, consider applying no more than crop removal rates. Seed treatments are usually not needed on soybeans unless planting into cold soils. Look at anything that is not necessary. Cut input costs without risking production.
Hope this helps.
March 13th, 2013 at 02:51 pm 1363186293
March 13th, 2013 at 05:22 pm 1363195368
It comes down to cost/benefit, where the cost is emotional (and taxes) and the benefit is quitting the day job to farm sooner.
Can you lease the ground to hunters/trappers or someone else to cover the cost of taxes/insurance/interest.
Also - the same forward contract principles apply to cattle as they do to crops. Pick a number of cattle that you are 95% certain you can market in a year, and forward contract them. Lock in a profitable price. If no future price shows up that is profitable, sell them on the open market.