Your so right . I’ve been raising cattle beef cattle (feeders) for 42 years . I’m 72 years old an biggest thing I learnt was my input cost ! Buying good used equipment you can control what you buy what you pay . I love what I do which is a big asset too me . Raising 20 head of cattle every year which again at 72 years old I’m thankful I can still do it . I borrowed very little money when I started an was fortunate too borrow equipment from farmers in return of helping them out . But that was back in 1980. There’s very if no farms very close now days too barter with others . Watching input is a hug part with a little luck an hard work yes you can make a Buck . Get rich lol . Good message here Pete you got wisdom I’d like too know you personally . From Mac A Do Farms in Broome county

You nailed it, Pete. As a small farm in north central Maine, we struggle big time with burnout and lack of capital to expand. We have to work in carpentry all winter, just to fund the start of farm season in spring. We have no savings, no retirement plan.. we're basically going to have to just farm until we die. Hoping our KZfaq channel takes off someday, but not putting all our eggs in this crazy basket! BUT, we're so proud to be doing our small part to decentralize the food supply, at least in our community.. I think the future will be propped up by small community farms, and we feel blessed to be a part of that.. Thanks for bringing awareness to the struggle, it's VERY real. Support your local farmers, folks!! 💚

Gave up animal farming after only 8 years. Mostly because I could never leave, can't find people who are willing to take on the chores even for a short time especially after they have done it once or twice before. Changed from animal based to Tree Based. Started with Christmas Trees and moved up to the Wholesale fruit and shade trees. Got my freedom back and made way more money than I would have. About 1/4 of the work and time investment which then freed up time to invest in other ventures !

My Dad had a small country store , he sold drinks groceries on a small scale, he made cold hot sandwiches. He failed after 5 yrs, when I got older I asked him what happened with the store? He simply told me people will drive 15 miles to town to save 50cents on a loaf of bread.....

We started off small. We plan to keep it small. We started off growing for ourselves. I had 2 greenhouses to start. I took advice from my twin and her husband, advice from older relatives who have been doing it all their lives. You do have to consider how much raising various animals are going to cost. Shelter. Your monthly bills. Your earnings. I bought 4 hens with portable housings, then I bought 4 more. It worked fine, then various older farmers bought me hens, even food to feed them. He really wanted to help. Last year we. Bought pigs, a few cows, we not trying to rush it. 4 heifers, 2 bulls. We will see how that goes. But we have ducks, a few goats, a lot fruit trees. We are growing a lot of vegetables for our own use. We clear more land each year. Selling a lot of trees help pay the land taxes. We attend auctions, buy farm equipment, ECT. Plus we go to meetings,meet other farmers who are selling, and producing less. Cutting back.some are getting older want sell off equipment. That's good. Even when you have children, there's no guarantee they want to do what you do. We are still learning, unlike my twin,her husband we don't call our selves a big farm, just a tiny one where we grow and produce mainly for ourselves. Because things are so tricky now. I think keeping it small is best, don't overthink it, it's best to under estimate than over estimate. We own the land. Our house is paid for. Yes it's hard work, but if you were born into it, you pretty much know what you are getting into. I have a lot raised garden beds. I use them a lot myself, used the old hay to protect my raised beds. We watch others like you, talk to uncles,. grand parents who have been farming and gardening all of their lives. So we have been keeping it small for about 5 years and that's ok. We can eat the animals, and the other things we grow. We not looking to get rich, but we also want to be able to manage what we have, not go into debt. We do appreciate your channel Pete.👍👌. I've learned a lot by watching others, listening, not criticizing others if they do it differently. team work, I help my husband. He gets up before 5. I have to multitask. This is the life we chose. No need to complain.😅 God Bless you and Hillary and your family Love, respect and positivity always. Happy Easter. Vee, Andrew and Family.✌️🕯️✨💕🙂👋👣 .

I grew up on a dairy and hog farm in Wisconsin. My dad milked cows day and night for 358 days a year. He took off one week a year to vacation and get off of the farm. I am sure that he had burnout but there was no other choice but to slog through the seasons and continue on. He was a tough man for sure and my mom was right there by his side working just as hard. It's a tough life for sure.

This is one of the things I love about your channel Mr. Pete. You show people the good and the bad in small farming. When a sow lays on some of her piglets, you show it. When a cow dies, you show it. When a tractor or other piece of equipment breaks down you show it. There are small farming or homesteading channels out there today that make good money selling a fairytale to those wanting to get in to farming. They present a Norman Rockwell picture where all livestock grows and thrives and all crops are a bumper crop. They also talk about how much money they made farming without taking into account what it cost them to farm. I used to be a small tobacco farmer. I can tell you about good crops I made. I can also tell you about wet years when the tobacco drowned, losing a barn of tobacco to a barn fire, droughts, the rising costs of labor and the scarcity of local labor ect. I once sold a barn of tobacco for 1200.00 and when I got home, I had 900.00 worth of propane bills in the mailbox. I love small farming but you have to go into it in a realistic way. I hope you and your family have a happy Easter!

I think you tube is one of the best things that has happened in the last 10 years. Who would have thought that you could have revenue coming in to help your business run just from filming your everyday life and putting it out there for people to watch. Lots of negatives to the Internet but this is truly one of the positives. Thanks for the video. All the best 🇬🇧.

You forgot the biggest and most important reason you succeed in your small farm. Having a spouse with the same Passion

I grew up in the suburbs and fell in love with farming when I moved to upstate NY. I have spent the last 10 years building a small farm of my own. Your right on with high capital requirements. I am lucky in the fact that I have a good outside job. When I first started, I pictured the whole family out working together and at first it did work like that. I have five children, all love animals but I am lucky if I have one kid helping now. It's taken me years to accumulate the equipment and land I need and chase my dreams, we now keep about thirty sheep and have been working into a small hay operation to feed our own animals and sell some. I have never had a more frustrating but satisfying job in my life or one that requires so much from its owners. There have been days I literally have a meltdown in the field over broken equipment or an error I made that was preventable, however I wouldn't choose any other way to spend my days. I'm lucky that in the past five years a neighbor that was a dairy farmer his whole life has taken me under his wing and been helpful and understanding that I am still learning, he's been able to teach me not only on the farm but with life lessons I will carry forever.

Absolutely true. The farm was called by our family name for 2 decades after Dad passed, and Mom sold out. Small towns are a click. I wasn't related to anyone other than siblings, but we were surrounded by people who were related to each other. Dad held on to the 1950s into the 70s. Neighbors worked together, and showed up unasked when there were problems. Enough said. Thank you Pete.

I can’t get enough of this channel with all the great info on all aspects of the farm life!! Keep it up pete👍🏼

Unfortunately, most people's "business plan" for making a million dollars, is starting with 2 million dollars...and before you know it, they are "successful" and have a million dollars...left...maybe. Keep up the good work, I always enjoy your thoughtfulness.

We cut our expenses, paid off most everything, changed our lifestyle, and now we homestead , learning the craft for a few years. My husband still works but we look forward to growth!

Your old tractors are key too. people spend too much buying shiny new equipment to set up which puts them at a disadvantage before they start

Yes to all your points. I have a 56 acre farm that we’ve been building up for the last 5 years. Working outside the farm to make money for capital investments makes it incredibly difficult to get anything done on the farm agriculturally. But with perseverance and hard work we’re beginning to see the fruits of our labors.

Health, luck and strong will. Very hard to keep a small farm going with out another income coming in. My hats off to you Pete. 45 acres is very small to generate income and big enough to work your self to exhaustion.

Having had a big dairy farm for 38 years and now an angus cow/calf farm, I found out a no fail method to make money in both cases… DONT SPEND ANY! All your points are valid. Farming is for the strong hearted. It has changed a lot since 1979. I can’t say we have ever made good money. The big dairy required accountants, feed managers, monthly veterinarian and emergency veterinarians, attorneys … the list is long! Never a day off in all those years. We raised 11 children. How did we do it? Gosh, I don’t know.. How we do this? Still don’t know. We are in our 60’s, take one day at a time and trust in a power greater than ourselves. Great presentation

14:55 As Pete wraps up this appreciated video, a pig poops in the background to the right - adding to the story that one has to put up with a lot of poop when running a small farm!

The model that you represent is difficult to emulate. A high percentage of small businesses fail in the first five years. As you point out, reality and expectations are not always aligned. Not only must there be a willingness to work hard but, as you point out, there must be a business plan and knowledge of how you will generate cash. A couple of generations ago the dumb son went into farming, the other children were off to college or at least the city. That certainly isn’t true anymore. Think of all the skills that Pete has. Not many can replicate those skills.

My wife and I just had a conversation about this over dinner tonight. We just shipped our first beef cattle to the butcher today for direct to consumer sales. She would like to scale up and get started with chickens, but we settled on waiting a year or so. Get our feet under us with one endeavor before adding another

I'm a broad acre farmer in Australia that used to farm the way you do , and unless there is outside income from another source, then it won't work. It is just a place to put a house on , and live a bit cheaper. Even now with 20,000 acres (inherited) , we still live off the capital gain (roughly 10% land value increase) per year. The bank will allow a 40% - 50% draw down from the capital gain, allowing the farmer to keep going until a good crop comes in. Sometimes that may be once in 10 years. We grow wheat ,barley and canola , and can cost up to 2 million to plant. Best of luck with your operation. I have a KZfaq channel as well, under the Sivid Productions name.

Excellent advice, not only for farms, but for any business. It takes a lot of sacrifice.

We enjoyed your small farm chat, (which, by definition, was a bit depressing) but we have a suggestion for a future: post- use the same checklist on the positive side - the reasons why small farms succeed - with details please. For example, you mentioned needing capital: What for? I can guess, (seed, animal food, maintenance on farm equipment,) but I know there is much more I'm not thinking about. Providing details helps to visualize, not only for potential small farmers, but for the rest of us, so we understand your costs and the cost of your food at market. Related is a question about personal expenses, like health insurance? Are there small farmer policies available or do you carry it through your first vocation? You have amazing skills that will bring you a retiree income. This should be part of your advice to young people who have trouble seeing what it will be like when muscles are tired 20 years from now. And last, marketing: Are there ways to market your products more than you are currently doing, especially considering the competition you say you face in your farm community?

2 years ago I moved my family to a small town of 1200 in the midst of farming country. It certainly is it's own dynamic which I don't think some people are ready for.

Great video! If I may, I'll mention that scaling up slowly is so important. There are so many beginning farmers that look at where others are and can't wait to get there. So, they exhaust themselves financially, physically, and even mentally trying to get to this idealized place where they think success resides. Slow and steady is generally best. Thanks Pete, and Happy Easter!

Pete I always look forward to the accurate information you give out. My experience from a City Boy that moved to the country was that I always liked the outdoors and the farm part I was intruduced to it by my Father In Law. It was always very enjoyable from the beginning because I didn't have to depend on it for any income, so it was just actually a hobby. The part I enjoyed the most was of course was seeing the newborn calves born each season. The bad part for me was when I lost my Father In Law and he was the brains of the operation and did the majority of the work. Slowly after the burnout began and I eventually sold my few Cows. I still enjoy living out and may in the future get more Cows, but I don't miss the hard work especially in the winter. I have always said, Farmers are some on the smartest and hardest people in the world, MUCH RESPECT IS DUE.

Hey Pete, I attended a state training on developing nutrient management plans at Cornell this past week, and one of the lead presenters mentioned a group of folks on youtube popularizing making small-scale farming with animals on pasture work. You weren't mentioned by name, but I'm sure he was thinking of you. I mostly work with CAFO farms but believe you are doing an immense good by doing what you do. Keep it up!

My husband and I moved back after college started our own cattle herd 4 years ago - up to 65 now. We grew up where we live now and we are still outsiders! lol Or it definitely feels that way. We do rotational grazing, work fulltime "city" jobs, and I run a lot of the business side of the cattle (as a female). People are ALWAYS nice but it feels like we are the odd ducks on the block somedays because we don't fit the norm for this area. Thank you, Pete. I always enjoy your channel.

We here in the Fl "panhandle" have an analog to your farmer's story: When asked why he didn't play the Lottery, the ol' farmer sed: "Well, it wouldn't do ME any good (to win the lottery) cuz' I'd just farm 'till it was gone, anyhow...." BTW Pete....don't "let up" on the "Dad Jokes" (I'm a father...)

We have 5 acres and everything you said is on target. We have 3 children that did 4-H and FFA. It's a good lesson to learn were the food comes from and the hard work it takes. It's disappointing that our society sees only the pretty package in the supermarket.

Hey Pete! Happy Easter brother. Love from Germany🤝 You’re an inspiration on growing and sustaining yourself in the World. Our Food Market is getting more and more saturated with 💉s in our meats and it’s time to raise our own.. Thank you for your guidance!

I am so glad you decided to start a KZfaq channel. I appreciate the way you share the things you do, also your interactions with your family and your animals. 👍🙂

Thank you Pete. After reading "The Richest Man in Babylon" over 45 years ago. I held on to the concept of 10% for your take-home pay for your retirement savings/investments. Always pay yourself first. 20 % of your take-home pay for saving for things you need to buy. Repairs, cars, appliances, DEBT, etc. Then, 70% of your take-home pay for living expenses. Works for me. "How many missed paychecks are you away from being homeless? "" is a big driver in my life. Thank you for all you do Pete and Hilary Larson! You have the very best channel. Welcome any time. Cheers, Chuck in Jensen Beach Florida.

I have always heard that marketing is the number one thing that people have to do on a small farm and that most farmers are not good at it.

Hey pete Hope you are well Happy Easter to you and your family and everyone in the chat🐰❤️Lots off Love from Dublin Ireland🇮🇪❤️

pete, when i was ten i worked on a small ranch near victorville CA. I got paid 50 centsl per day on weekends when in school and then weekly during the summer. The rancher gave us eggs, veggies from his garden and milk from his cows to take home. It was an alfalfa farm of 900 acres. I changed irrigation lines by hand several times a day, learned to drive a tractor a pickup and a windrower and baler, i stuck my foot with a hay fork once and learned a lot of other things....one of the best jobs I ever had. And I will never forget the Hartmans' and their sons who worked so hard.

Thank you Pete for the video, everything you said was so true. All I would say to anyone starting and reading this comment is don’t be afraid to fail because fear will find every reason to steer you away from trying

Very good video Pete on a very important topic. I think you also missed one important point which is that most young people starting a farm are in the same phase of their life as starting a small family. Raising kids, learning to run a business farming and keeping a healthy relationship with your spouse is almost an impossible endeavor if not approached with open eyes and an open heart. AND the energy left over after a long day of hard labour serving your business is not always enough to cater to that. The longing to belong to something larger than yourself and connect to nature drives us into this, but a strained family situation where one parent is taking the whole load of raising kids while the other is trying to run a farm business is sure to kick us out of it just as quickly. This is especially true for those first generation farmers who have decided to relocate in order to find their dream and often leave their own family and supportive network behind. So yeah, money is surely a big factor but I think on a more personal level when a farm starts eating away at family relationships might be the final straw. Great video again Pete. Thanks for being the face and voice of many of us small farmers out there trying to put this great puzzle together. ❤️

As I Grampa used to say, takes more than just flour to make biscuits!

Really appreciate you. A setup for success. I am into homesteading and maybe someday going into a small farm…we only have 4 acres so it probably won’t turn into a larger enterprise🤙

I am an instructor with a farm training program in Texas, and we primarily work with people running a small farm or plan to start one. The business plan plan is generally is the area most people seem to have troubles with. There's no business plan, no timelines, no marketing plan, no financial plan. They come in with those altruistic reasons (I was no different) and burn out quickly as the hemorrhage money and time with no viable plan in place to generate adequate revenue. Likewise, most people just getting started want to bite off way more than they can chew and grow & raise everything, resulting in getting spread too thin, too fast, and never getting good at any one enterprise area. We work with people through a series of weekly farm planning projects - done in the context of a business plan and they force the students to consider and plan for a wide array of variables. The idea is to have a good plan to guide them through farm start-up and/or expansion of their existing farm/homesteading operation.

A sense of reality farming. Ageing is always an issue: Farmer, tractor's.farming equipment, the barns, roofs, water supply, storage and the farm animals.

Pete, I trust You and Hillary have a very Happy Easter. I enjoyed the video today, as I myself have seen way to many small farms here in Southern Ohio go away. I remember as a kid going to the local feed mill which was almost a full farm store. The same feed mill today, is nothing like it once was. Things are palletized for large farm purchases. Gone are the Saturday morning meetings where the World's problems were solved by old farmers.

Good morning. 🙏☝️👍 He is risen! Amen😊

Pete you are wise, eloquent and so generous. Please please continue.

The small farm we own in new york state is a part of my income but the farm and its zoning has allowed me to run my other businesses out of the farm .I run several small businesses from/on the farm that add up to an income .What you stated about small farms also plays into any business.What we are facing with our businesses is the massive inflation ,it is making things difficult.And i do not see things getting better any time soon.

Thank you so much for mentioning small restaurants Pete. My wife and I bought a bar with a bad reputation 4 years ago. We rely on our food,,some local, some not. We work 12 hours on a short day, 15 on a long day. We have a very loyal food following and a 5 star rating in the middle of nowhere in a town of 328 souls. Our customer base continues to grow, I keep the menu lively, and new folks come in every day. Thank you Sir.

Thanks Pete, it's a topic that needs to be brought up often, keeps reminding people to not lose sight as to why they do small farming

Thank you for your knowledge! Happy Easter!

This is the kind of video I appreciate most on this channel. Thank you.

Good video. Thank you. Happy Easter.

Excellent advice. I've been small farming for about 30 years now and have seen many of the things you mentioned. One thing I've noticed as another reason for failure is lack of skills. You can't afford to hire everything out. Buildings and equipment need maintenance and repair, as do the animals. I've kept the size at what I can do without hired help. I do most of my own repairs on everything. As you said, it's a lot of work, but rewarding work. Thanks for shedding light on a part of farming that get short shrift.

Thanks for the wisdom Pete.

Great Video Thanks Pete!! Happy Easter 👍👍

Pete, your wisdom is appreciated.

Happy Easter Pete to you and your family 🐰

Happy Easter! Loved listening to you Pete

Happy Easter! A new beginning!

Thank you for sharing your farming experience with us.

Thanks Pete, this is really enriching

Hey Pete, your wisdom is showing. Thanks

Excellent advice, thanks for your honesty

Thank you for this video Pete. Happy Easter.

Have a blessed Easter! and thank you for all your videos.

Really enjoyed this video. So much wisdom.

Thank you I enjoy watching very informative .

I've got a small farm in Germany. Started it back in 2015 with an pension for horses. Back than we only have 14 horses, now we got around 30. It's an solid, monthly income. With that as a foundation we were able to grow with babysteps. Now we work on 80 acres making our own hay, got machines, a small herd of Dexter Cattle, some sheep. Its not an easy way to be your own boss and its a hard way of life, for sure. But i love it. The biggest problems coming from the goverment, a big load of taxes, rules, laws.

I like your explanations on this topic Pete.

Thank you. I am 24 and along with my wife, I am becoming a farmer. I work as a teacher, and every second we have free is spent working with our animals in order to grow into what we can dream. Hopefully my Channel will grow into a small but steady flow of income to continue building this dream, because right now it is difficult. God bless!

Sound, level advice! A very Happy Easter to you and yours!

Thanks for the video Pete. Enjoyed it very much.

Im sure you've already heard this, but you are really good at this! I never realized how hard it is to "talk" on video for KZfaq until I tried it myself. My husband and I laughed at the result, and could NOT upload that. I went back to uploading video of our small farm with music in the background and words on the video. I wish I had your talent! Im going to watch every single one of your videos.

Common sense video, as always. Finances aside, every farmer I know is “rich” and is doing amazing things. I agree with everything you said and have lived on both sides of farming, just like you and cannot wait to get back to it again as my full time (retirement) job.

Great buss advice. Thank you for sharing with others.

Business Plans are critical!!! It’s a rough tough but very rewarding lifestyle that not much else can compare. Thank you for sharing your experiences and expertise! 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸

Happy Easter 🐣 Pete and Hillary.

Good Morning Pete, Aging is a big issue with me. I know you’ve considered this when building out the new pig area. Those shovels of manure seem to get heavier as I age.

Thanks for another video, Pete! Happy Easter to you and your family!

Good words of wisdom Pete. Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts.

Learned one important thing on my newer farm. I have grass. Only raise animals that live on grass. Cows, sheep, rabbits can all survive on grass alone. Very few out of pocket expenses after infrastructure is in place.

This rings very true to my experience with a market garden. One of the reasons I was initially drawn to this channel was the small farm/farmer’s market business experience and advice. It has been very inspiring watching you steer (no pun intended) your farm based on solid business practices and the changing economy.

Great video Pete! Thanks for taking the time to make it. I’ve sure been enjoying your channel over the last few years.

Love the frank advice on small farm Sundays. Thanks for the wisdom...

Happy Easter Pete, great video. This type of information is very helpful. Thank you.

The more powerful the catalyst, the more likely change will be adopted. My catalyst was pretty brutal by most standards. Long commutes, bad bosses, traffic, long hours, on-call , late nights and early mornings. The insignificant feeling of being a small cog in a big machine. When I have extremely frustrating and bad days on the farm? I pause and reminisce the suffering that I felt before the farm.

Happy Easter to you and your family. Another video full of wisdom.

Thank you for this video! I’m trying to insure ours is around awhile.

Thank you Pete, for your wise words and opinions. May I wish you and your family the happiest Easter.

Thank you Pete love your videos happy Easter to yourself and Hillery and the family

You hit the nail on the head with all your points. Happy Easter

Happy Easter Pete to you and your family! Keep the great videos coming! Have a good day!😘

You nailed it again Pete. Thanks 👍

Happy Easter, Pete. As a young person getting started, Thank you for the wisdom

Happy Easter Pete. Thank for posting this video. Hope you and the family have wonderful holiday.

Wise info and advice. Have a Happy Easter

Such and interesting video Pete. Thank you.

Hope you and your family had a Happy Easter. Thank you Pete for the insight of the ups and downs of a small business.

Great advice Pete as always!!! Hope you and the family have a wonderful Easter!!! 🐰🥚🐇🐣

I have a small farm that is eating all my money. My wife and I planted 5000 olive trees. It takes around 5 year for these to start bearing substantial amounts of fruits. Lucky we have a business generating enough profit to run the farm.