For people who think of businesses, farming doesn’t always immediately come to mind. This is mainly because of the mental picture of people plowing the fields is not usually associated with earning money. But the right management of your farm can make it a moneymaker. Here are some tips on how to make that happen.
Learn to Develop Your Land
It all comes down to how productive your farm can be. The normal approach is to expand and use the larger land to produce more. But it is possible to develop your current land to be more productive. The key thing is soil fertility. For example, your land might be too acidic to support more crops. If that is so, then applying lime to your land to decrease acidity can be a big move. Other improvements can include adding more nitrogen to the soil with direct application.
This sounds expensive but you can also be creative in your approach. Some crops seed nitrogen into the soil and if you have livestock, all that manure can provide you with free fertilizer.
Maximize Your Equipment Usage
Your most important piece of equipment on your farm is your tractor. It can do many things from dragging heavy loads to actual farming work. This is mainly done through attachments. For example, the high-quality Taege drill parts for sale in New Zealand can provide your tractor or other heavy machinery with seed drilling ability.
You should look at what attachments are available in stores so that you can get them for your farm. This allows you to get more value from your tractor. You should also look into proper maintenance for your tractor so that you don’t waste money on repairs and replacements.
Use Cover Crops For Empty Fields
There will be times that your fields will be empty, mostly because of harvests. Leaving them that way will cause problems so it would be a good idea to plant cover crops. These are great ways to revitalize the soil and prevent weeds from taking over. They are also effective in preventing soil erosion. Two popular choices are winter rye and sorghum. Sorghum is a really good choice since you can harvest it for livestock feed. It also provides additional biomass to the field.
Keep the Number Straight
It is not all about the fields. When you are farming, there is a lot of money moving around. You pay for services and products while people buy your offerings from crops to livestock. You must know where all of that money is going. This is where a good accounting system comes in. Have a solid system that keeps track of the cash flow so that you know where your money is and what your current financial state is. This allows you to make the right financial decisions when it comes to the farm.
The mistake that many people make is not treating their farm as a business. They focus on something else when they should be looking at the bottom line. Don’t make that mistake and always look to your potential profits if you want to run your farm properly and profitably.
