Money Matters: Making More Cash From Your Farm

If your farm has been passed down through the generations, chances are you feel tempted (or even obliged) to keep doing things the same way as they always have been. Sure, new technology has made processes faster and easier, but if you’ve always kept cows for milking or grown specific crops you might be cautious of deviating from this. However, it shouldn’t be the case. If you own farmland, there’s lots of opportunities you can take and ways to utilise the land that can be very lucrative. Here are a few ideas.

Breed dogs

On a farm you have plenty of space, which can make it an ideal environment for breeding dogs. Of course, you’ll need to do plenty of research, and ensure you’re going about things in the right way. You’ll need to choose the best pedigree dogs to begin with, and ensure they’re correctly registered. You do have to spend money to make money, your dogs and puppies should receive the best vet care and you’ll need to spend on things like a whelping box, puppy food, bottles and other essentials. But done well, it could be a way to earn thousands of extra dollars a year. Pedigree dogs can go for a thousand dollars or more each, and if your bitch is giving birth to up to twelve pups then it can be very lucrative.

Turn a field into a campsite

If you’re in a location that’s close to beautiful views or places that tourists like to visit, you could consider turning one of your fields into a campsite. You could keep it simple, setting up a bathroom/showering area and let people pitch tents. Or you could invest in some chalets, caravans or camping pods and charge more.

Open it up to visitors

Why not turn your farm into a place that visitors can come? They can come and see the different kinds of animals, and you can offer things like small animal petting and help feeding the lambs. You could even offer things like tractor rides, alpaca trekking or pony rides. You could get volunteers in, those who are currently training towards animal qualifications to help with some of the care of the animals, as well as show people around. It gives them vital experience of dealing with different kinds of animals and means that you can earn a profit with little extra effort from you.

Diversify your crops

Farms don’t have to be all barley, wheat and oilseed rape. How about growing fruits and vegetables and turning them into gourmet foods such as jams, jellies and chutneys? These kinds of things sell very well at farmers markets. You could grow medicinal crops or even those that can be used in beauty products. Companies like Trimleaf sell equipment for cultivating different kinds of crops, so decide what you’d like to sell and go for it.

Had you ever considered any of these options as a way to make more money from your farm.