Are you starting a farm from scratch? Are you inheriting it from your grandfather? Whatever your reason may be for wanting to grow livestock, you need to gain the necessaryskills, experiences and capital. These factors, however, should not be the reason you wouldn’t want to start a livestock farm. The farm industry is profitable once you get the market for it.
What do you need to do? For starters, you need a place where you can grow your herd. Ashearing shed, for example, is essential if you have sheep. Meanwhile, you need grasslands for cows and a closed-housing system for pigs, especially if you’re growing them intensively or smallish camps if you’re into free-range farming.
These require huge capital, of course. Not having enough budget to start this new venture is a challenge. Where will you get investors? How are you going to attract them?
Market Research
Before you think about investors, look into your market first. A market for a livestock venture starts small. It will take time before your cattle and the market develops. Beforechoosing the animals you will start tobreedand raise, you have tomake sure there is a market for them locally.
Yes, you shouldtarget local restaurants, markets, and groceries first. They are the first ones you will sell your cattle to.
What happens when you don’t know your market? You might end up raising animals that have no actual demand, which is essential to help you generate sales and set prices and outputs. You can control the prices and the quality of your outputs, but the demand will come from your market. That’s what you have to know beforehand.
Financial Assistance
How’s yourcredit scorelooking? If you are going to apply for a business loan, you need to look at the numbers first. How much do you need as a starting capital? How much can you put out? Can you put up collateral? If now, how good is your credit score for a bank to trust you?
Go to a financial advisor and have them assess your financial history. You should get professional advice on how you can afford to start a business.
Are the rates too high? How about finding a friend who can lend you the money at a lower interest? Perhaps you can convince your friends to be your partner if they are interested in venturing out on a farm business. You can split the profits once the farm is operational. You can explain to them the potential of your business plan and how they will benefit from it.
There are many ways to get the money you need without having to go bankrupt. The key, however, is to study the business from all perspectives. Since you are essentiallyborrowing money from the bank or other individuals, you have towork harder to make sure your farm is going to profit. It will take skills and experience to do that, but being open to learning will surely get you there.