Starting out we knew things would be tight for a few years. That first year when we mis-projected our hay consumption but were out of our operating money already (it ALL went to feed) and yet the cows were NEEDING more hay. I cried. Where were we going to come up with another $6,000?
That second year, the day we sold calves (our first time selling our own calves) and they brought $1.32/# or roughly $900/head. I was sick to my stomach. Just one of our bills was going to swallow that whole check, what about the other four bills?
The third year, we felt like we had things well in hand, for once. Then the feed truck broke down, and the one ton needed new tires, and the car needed a brake overhaul, and we had to build more shelters for our goat operation, like NOW, and we ended up with over 25% OPENs in our cows AND goats (we had a bad buck). How were we going to make ends meet this year!? I cried again.
Year four, we were trying to recover from the cows and goats not producing what we had hoped. We needed to switch from fall calving to spring calving. This could be costly! We had to have perfect timing on when to sell and when to buy back PLUS for the right prices.
Here is the ONE thing that keeps us going—Faith in GOD. Every time I cried, I had an open conversation with Him. Every time I wasn’t sure if the bills would get paid, I had a conversation with Him. Every moment in between, I had conversations with Him. And do you know what happened?
It all worked out! Bills were paid, hay was found, animals were sold, and restructuring happened. Just because God is with you doesn’t mean ranch life will be easy. It will have its trials, but those good times are SO WORTH ranching with God.
We are well into year five now and it is still ALL about HIS timing. We have faith that it will all work out as long as we keep looking to Him for answers and keep trying our hardest. His Perfect Timing!
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