Hey, guys. So I have a few questions, but first, some background info. My boyfriend and I currently live in North Central Arkansas, USA. We’ve been talking for a while about buying a ranch and moving in together, but we’ve been talking more about it here lately than we have in the past. We don’t know where we want to move yet, but we have been looking around. He wants to handle the farming side of things (like growing hay, grain, etc, to help cut down on feed costs), while I want to handle the animal side of things. We want to try to handle the business side of things together. So far, we’re thinking about getting Quater Horses, American Paint Horses, Fresians, and Appaloosas, and then considering Mustangs, Missouri Foxtrotters, and Morgan’s, but we aren’t 100% for sure on the last three breeds. We are also wanting to have both dairy and beef cattle, but primarily beef cattle. We don’t know about the dairy cattle breeds we want yet, but we definitely want both black and red angus cattle as far as beef cattle go. We also want to have various breeds of chickens (layers, meat birds, and dual purpose birds primarily, but also a few show birds), and some goats (we don’t know what breeds we want as far as goats go, though). We’ve also decided that every summer, we want to do a two week long summer camp for kids in 7-12 grades that are in Agriculture classes, FFA, and/or 4H.

Hehe,I'm glad first of all to hear you're both interested in the more agricultural side of things!Welcome to the club ;P

Any time Empire,I just really hope my little ramble helps somehow :P

Oh just seen the edit.We also board around 30 horses on our farm,And it's a nice tidy reliable income!We basically offer the stable,Field and basic feed and bedding (At a cost) and that's as far as our "responsibility" goes for their horses.Its the owners jobs for vets,Sorting out stabling feeding etc.That works for us as were quite busy all year round.We charge £55 for a stable per month including grazing,Hay and bedding comes as extra if they buy from us.

Flipperruby30 said:
Hehe,I'm glad first of all to hear you're both interested in the more agricultural side of things!Welcome to the club ;P

In terms of breeds,I do love my friesians,But I'm not much help in horse recommendations due to lack of a widespread experience with many.But cows I can give a few suggestions!I'm not a massive fan of Angus' myself,The few we've had were little nutters,But it depends on thw individual animals of course.Angus tend to be really good mothers though!Calmest breeds I've found are Hereford and Limousin,Herefords are also incredibly versatile,And have a good daily weight gain on most external conditions!

In terms of the grain side,I'd do your research on the areas soil type,Diseases and all that fun stuff!May seem straining but it pays off to get the best yields,And I'd have a good relationship with seed suppliers Too,They usually do all the soil testing to recomend the best fertilisers and plant types.

I just recommend plenty of research and patience,Although alot of it will grow with experience.I really admire you wanting to run a summer camp ,It's something I really think the world needs more of to increase knowledge of where our food appears from!

Good Luck!

Thank you, Flipper! I appreciate your suggestions!

Flipperruby30 said:
Oh just seen the edit.We also board around 30 horses on our farm,And it's a nice tidy reliable income!We basically offer the stable,Field and basic feed and bedding (At a cost) and that's as far as our "responsibility" goes for their horses.Its the owners jobs for vets,Sorting out stabling feeding etc.That works for us as were quite busy all year round.We charge £55 for a stable per month including grazing,Hay and bedding comes as extra if they buy from us.

But honestly,If you can run a livery where you look after their horses for extra charge that's entirely up to you and your system!

Sorry for all the posts lol!

Thanks again! And it’s alright, make as many mists as need be, lol!

For the meat cattle-

Kirralee said:
For the meat cattle-

Angus are a great breed (and very popular in Australia). If you can get the right animals they will have awesome temperaments. Other than Angus I really like limousin. They tend to easily gain weight and have the most adorable temperaments. I'm not a fan of Herefords, the few we worked with tried to jump out of the crush.

For Dairy cattle

I know a fair few farmers that breed Frisian/ Holstein mixes. For dairy the breed isn't as important, you would be looking at production, production quality and other factors.

Another thing to think about is how they will be bred, are you going to have in house stud or use AI?

I was planning on using an in house stud for both horses and cattle, but to start out, we may use AI until we have a stallion/bull that fits our breeding program.

Kirralee said:
For the meat cattle-

Angus are a great breed (and very popular in Australia). If you can get the right animals they will have awesome temperaments. Other than Angus I really like limousin. They tend to easily gain weight and have the most adorable temperaments. I'm not a fan of Herefords, the few we worked with tried to jump out of the crush.

For Dairy cattle

I know a fair few farmers that breed Frisian/ Holstein mixes. For dairy the breed isn't as important, you would be looking at production, production quality and other factors.

Another thing to think about is how they will be bred, are you going to have in house stud or use AI?

I was planning on using an in house stud for both horses and cattle, but to start out, we may use AI until we have a stallion/bull that fits our breeding program.