Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Bruce]

I was thinking maybe a wolf would be faster

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Heck no - no bear! A bottle of sleeping pills and a box of wine while sitting in the middle of the pasture looking at the stars!

 

[Baymule]

I'd have to buy my own.......if I don't even know who I am, how am I gonna get my grubby hands on wine and sleeping pills?

 

[farmerjan]

They can help you out with that..... an overdose when you aren't in your right mind is not too far a stretch...... Alzheimer patients are constantly wandering away from their homes......

 

[Baymule]

If genetics is any indication, my mind will be clear and I'll live a long time so I can be a PITA to my kids and grand kids.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'd have to buy my own.......if I don't even know who I am, how am I gonna get my grubby hands on wine and sleeping pills?

It's called pre-planning lol!

 

[Baymule]

Hey @Ridgetop !!!! I just found great Christmas presents for your family!

Amazon.com: Recall Gavin Newsom anti CA California Governor Gavin Newsom T-Shirt: Clothing

 

[Ridgetop]

It would be a horrendous situation as it takes a lot for a bear to actually kill a person.....
I realize that is "tongue in cheek" on @Baymule 's part.... and I fully understand the thought behind it, watching my mom going into a vegetative state with Alzheimers...... but ...... not a bear bait deal...... gives me the shivers......

I agree with @farmerjan! Animal caused deaths are painful and nasty. Not quick. Predators will eat as soon as the animal goes down, often still alive. I understand that freezing to death becomes painless at the end.

However, since we know that @Baymule will give any of her children that try to rub her with bacon in bear country a swift backhand, we don't have to worry about that. And BJ will take their bacon, scold them for wasting good farm raised pork, and get a frying pan. LOL

With labor saving devices - chutes, tractors, etc. we can do anything for a long time. I am probably just reacting to being incarcerated by Covid with depression.

Our Texas broker and friend sent us several promising properties. One in particular that DH really likes from the computer photos. 50 acres with a nice little house. Address is 2815 Arrowhead, Gilmer, TX. This is a working hay and cattle ranch, fenced and cross fenced with barb wire. It looks in good condition from the aerial photos. It costs more that we will get from Yelm, plus there are purchasing and escrow costs so we would need to take out a loan, but interest rates are lower at this time. Possibly doable. Would also have to find a tenant for the hay and cattle fields. Cattle prices are low right now - is that right @farmerjan? - so maybe finding a cattle tenant would be hard but a hay grower might want to lease the property, allowing us to lease out the house.

I think DH really loves the yard and view of property from house. I like the size and shape of the property. Some of the properties we looked at are crazy shapes or long pencil thin strips. This property looks accessible for haying machinery and has a large hay barn on the property. It is called a hay barn but is enclosed so might not be suitable for storage f hay in a humid climate but would certainly be good storage for equipment. The fact that it is set up for working cattle, with pens and sheds is good. With the addition of stock wire around the bottom of the cattle panels they would work for sheep too. I find no listing of a well or where the water supply comes from. I really want a well even if they are on co-op water. The house layout is not ideal - kitchen is bad location and small. Closed off from the main room, but I suppose we could gut and redo. Pier and beam foundation allows for moving utilities to a better spot. Floors look great but are laminate so eventually we would possibly replace with tile. I prefer tile floors for wear in livestock areas. So much stuff blows or tracks in. There are 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms which is odd for a 1973 built home, and looking at the single car garage door on the back of the house, it looks like they converted part of the garage to a large master suite. Or maybe enlarged the master with part of the garage. Anyway the house looks in good condition from the photos but they are deceiving. Dual paned windows (no idea how old). The cabinets look original but have been painted. The kitchen counters are laminate, and eventually we might change out the bathroom counters since those tiny 1-2" tiles make cleaning difficult, but it would certainly be a rentable house. We need to rent it out for a couple of years to conform to the 1031 law. Also while we are making trip to TX for several months at a time to fence it in for the dogs and sheep. We will live in our 5th wheel while we do that.

I have been thinking about the fencing. The property looks like it has been hayed for some time and the fields are in good condition. I don't know how old those photos are. I am considering fencing only part of the property for the sheep and dogs. We don't need to fence the whole 50 acres yet, or possibly at all. By keeping most of the property under lease to someone for hay and cattle, we could fence off part for sheep pastures, add a barn/workshop for the sheep to lamb and ourselves to work in. The tenant would have access for haying equipment, cattle trucks, loading, unloading & doctoring his cattle, etc. without disturbing the dogs or ourselves when doing his normal business.

While this property may not be available to us when we close our sale in Yelm, another hay/cattle property could be fenced in that way. This makes larger properties more attractive since we would be able to carve out a smaller, more manageable ranch space for ourselves while keeping the farm exclusion on the taxes with most under hay cultivation and cattle. Also I am considering adding Boer goats to our Dorper ranch when we move to Texas. Our friend in Leander says he is getting much higher prices for his goats than sheep. That is becoming similar here at our auction. Goats are bringing more among the ethnic communities and they are starting to pass sheep in price. However, they don't grow as large as quickly so probably lb. for lb. yo are getting the same Since we have a lot of experience with goats, they might be a financially desirable addition. I would have to disbud the breeding does though since I hate horns on animals. Bad for fences and feeders. Handy as handles, but otherwise, unpleasant.

I am feeling more upbeat now after discussing this. We will have to take out a partial loan since this property costs more than we will net out of Yelm. However I think the rent would cover the payment and the taxes since the property would still be farm property with the exclusion We would be renting out the house and the land separately. I went on line and looked up the property. It has been listed off and on since July 2018. It was listed again in June 2020, and a price drop July 2020.

DH wants to put an offer on this property once we have a signed contract in Yelm. On the other hand if we can't find an affordable ranch in TX, we could just buy 2 rental houses to fulfil the 1031 Exchange rules, then finance them to buy a ranch.

 

[farmerjan]

You sound much better.... glad about that. Yeah, the covid depression is real..... I have had a few days of feeling that things will never get done here.... then with the friend that is going to have that mini-excavator in a couple weeks to do the fruit trees and all.... and he agrees that it would be a waste to not move free trees..... THANK YOU !!!!!
So even if I don't get out of the rental for another month... with my crazy work schedule now.... I am just not going to be able to do everything so it may take a little bit longer..... but I can see some positives again.

If you can get the Yelm property sold, then you have some leeway.... and if you can get a loan this is the time to do it.... I sure am glad to have a mortgage at less than 3%..... Yes, you have options.... you just needed a little positive response from the real estate person in Tx to give you a better outlook again....

I don't think this is my forever home.... even with the fruit trees and such getting moved here..... but I can make it as good and useable as possible for me right now..... and I do not want to be rushed into getting things done.....but I was needing to feel like something was happening.... waiting on the floors was nearly a total deal breaker for me.... I was ready to just say to he// with it a few times.... but now I am feeling better.... and the fruit tree moving thing is making me feel better. So, I am back on the positive side again....
SO, I GET IT..... and you will find something that will work and you really need to get out of that crazy state......

 

[farmerjan]

Forgot to answer.... cattle prices in Tx and those states in the area that have seen drought conditions are low. It has affected our cull cows here, and lowered the prices on the feeder steers. Part of that is backups in the feedlots again.... plants are killing slower with all the restrictions, and the increase in the positives.... and people having a "cow" over all this insanity.....And I understand that there is a problem with trucking again.... not enough to haul all the cattle that are being moved through the sale barns. This is going to translate into lower prices through at least the early part of next year.
If that is a hay farm/ranch.... that is the best way to go for awhile. Hay is saleable... and if the hay barn can store it, then it can be held over for a few years if necessary.... closed in is normal here.... especially for sq bales... but rolls stored inside are definitely good too. I think that in Tx there is more of a need for hay storage.... because of the weather/drought conditions that hit there.... and although you might not make alot of money off the hay lease..... it will keep your tax status if nothing else. I am not a very good person to advise about Tx though... @Baymule is there.... although I don't know how close to where you are looking..... We don't get the droughts like down there, we don't have the heat in the summers, and although we do have some dry seasons, and sometimes hay is a concern.... not like down there where it seems they have more problems with it than we do.