I need some advice here on setting up a cattle operation, and yes we're talking some big-time ranching here…so no wise cracks 
I've got 70 acres, that's mostly coastal and has been used for hay in the past with some grazing rotated in. Definitely not enough to consider it a ranch, so there's no need for that discussion!
We have a solar water well and are putting in a storage tank, there's no other water on the place. I want to run 2 inch line (probably pvc) about 1,500 feet to set up 3 troughs so we can rotate cattle through three areas. And if something happens to the well, we have three troughs of water on hand until we figure out what to do.
There's no corral currently. But, I'd probably buy some of the big portable pipe panels and build one. There's one cross fence that separates off 20 acres or so that's mostly coastal, but has some mesquites and weeds and wasn't been cut for hay in the past. Otherwise it's surrounded by excellent fences. And I'm thinking an electric fence (400 ft) could cross fence off the remainder, creating three separate pastures.
The idea is to put some cows on it and just run a few (10 cows and a bull?) and sell calves. That feels like the default option and not too big of a challenge. I'd rotate them around for grazing and probably get one cutting of hay to feed as needed and sell the surplus, or trade for the cutting and baling.
However, I'm kind of tempted to buy some heifer calves, 500 lbs or so, and grow them up and sell them as bred heifers and then repeat.
With the difficulty of finding young herd bulls, I also thought about doing that but with Bull calves.
Now, if I go that route, where to source the bulls/heifers? I'd probably just go to the sale barn and look for some calves that look good. If I went that route, I'd take them to a different place and vaccinate them and feed them for a couple weeks to make sure there no sale barn crud.
I'd love to find some purebred angus or Charolais breeder and get some of their "rejects" that would otherwise go to the sale barn, and pay them a good sale barn price and not anything special (is that a wild fantasy?).
I have someone that can keep an eye on things when I'm not there and is very experienced with all things farm and ranch, but I'd like this to be relatively low-touch.
What about the potential for cutting and baling and selling hay? How would you consider that? I'd be hiring that out.
This is some family land so there's no land cost. I figure I'd get a nice depreciation benefit on my taxes from some of this stuff, and over the long run a little cash flow. From an investment perspective, I think this could be a cash flow that's not correlated with the stock market, and with basically free land should be decent ROI but as long as it's not negative over the long run, I'm ok with that.
My question to y'all, is what would you do with this? Anything I've mentioned here sound like a red flag to you?
I've got 70 acres, that's mostly coastal and has been used for hay in the past with some grazing rotated in. Definitely not enough to consider it a ranch, so there's no need for that discussion!
We have a solar water well and are putting in a storage tank, there's no other water on the place. I want to run 2 inch line (probably pvc) about 1,500 feet to set up 3 troughs so we can rotate cattle through three areas. And if something happens to the well, we have three troughs of water on hand until we figure out what to do.
There's no corral currently. But, I'd probably buy some of the big portable pipe panels and build one. There's one cross fence that separates off 20 acres or so that's mostly coastal, but has some mesquites and weeds and wasn't been cut for hay in the past. Otherwise it's surrounded by excellent fences. And I'm thinking an electric fence (400 ft) could cross fence off the remainder, creating three separate pastures.
The idea is to put some cows on it and just run a few (10 cows and a bull?) and sell calves. That feels like the default option and not too big of a challenge. I'd rotate them around for grazing and probably get one cutting of hay to feed as needed and sell the surplus, or trade for the cutting and baling.
However, I'm kind of tempted to buy some heifer calves, 500 lbs or so, and grow them up and sell them as bred heifers and then repeat.
With the difficulty of finding young herd bulls, I also thought about doing that but with Bull calves.
Now, if I go that route, where to source the bulls/heifers? I'd probably just go to the sale barn and look for some calves that look good. If I went that route, I'd take them to a different place and vaccinate them and feed them for a couple weeks to make sure there no sale barn crud.
I'd love to find some purebred angus or Charolais breeder and get some of their "rejects" that would otherwise go to the sale barn, and pay them a good sale barn price and not anything special (is that a wild fantasy?).
I have someone that can keep an eye on things when I'm not there and is very experienced with all things farm and ranch, but I'd like this to be relatively low-touch.
What about the potential for cutting and baling and selling hay? How would you consider that? I'd be hiring that out.
This is some family land so there's no land cost. I figure I'd get a nice depreciation benefit on my taxes from some of this stuff, and over the long run a little cash flow. From an investment perspective, I think this could be a cash flow that's not correlated with the stock market, and with basically free land should be decent ROI but as long as it's not negative over the long run, I'm ok with that.
My question to y'all, is what would you do with this? Anything I've mentioned here sound like a red flag to you?