Saturday, April 16, 2011

Growing Forward

The Ontario Farm course we took recently, "Growing Forward" has allowed us to look at our farm as more of a business, and less of a hobby.

When asked recently "what do your kids raise on the farm?" my mother-in-law replied "pets!". 

We hope to change that!

Prior to this point, we have been sort of floundering around and experimenting with different ideas, and while experimentation is good it is also costly. So we have now developed a business plan for the property, which will allow us to hopefully move forward and create a viable hobby farm that supports itself financially.

All of this is excellent news, with the only downside being that part of that plan involves selling off the cattle.  Our 50 acres is not suitable to a cow/calf operation, and so the difficult decision has been made to sell off most of the herd.

So what will we be looking at next? Sheep. We will be partnering with a sheep farmer, and learning more about their operation.  Having hands on experience will allow us to explore the idea without having to put capital up front.  If we decide that it's something we would like to explore further, we will begin with a small flock and ensure a solid foundation.  No more jumping in blindly, as fun as that was.

So the donkeys - all three of them - stay, and so do the chickens.  As for the cattle, we will have two for now. Our bull and one female.  However, down the road if we find the right home these two fine specimens will also leave the farm.

Endings are only the beginnings of new adventures - and this one seems like it's going to certainly be an interesting one!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds alot like our situation,although we only have 60 acres,we have plenty of neighboring pasture we can use.We also run sheep and have chickens,horses, and raise organic veggies.Check out my new blog and lets follow each other on twitter.This stuff is all new to me.Solomon. Nice blog by the way.

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