I hear this is the place to be

[RR Homestead]

Welcome to the forum from East Texas. Moving.......that is a chore, but well worth it. Where are y'all moving from?

Thank you! We are moving from California.

Welcome from Central Indiana! Looking forward to reading all about your move. @Ridgetop moved from California to Texas and it was quite the process. My DH and I are planning to move when he retires but just somewhere in state. And we only have chickens and geese to haul. Still, it seems daunting.

Do you know @farmerjan from one of the cattle forums?

It will be quite a process and yes very daunting. We've cut back on our livestock dramatically so we will have to expand again once we are there and settled in but there are some that we refuse to sell/process. I hope when your DH retires you find a place you can happily live out retirement.

Welcome from So Cal (San Diego county). Just sheeps here and chickens for our eggs and dogs to help me with the sheep. @farmerjan is right - this is the place to be - I'd say it's the only place but then I may be a bit biased .
So escaping from out west eh? Sounds like you're in Cali?? I have neighbors down the road that escaped to MO. We keep losing good people here. @Ridgetop just escaped from here - she can give a list of what to do and what not. Check her journal for the last few years on the process she went through - though they're selling the Cali house at the end of the year so she had lots of time to make lots of CA-TX trips (https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/ridgetop-our-place-and-how-we-muddle-along.38119/).

Thanks! Dogs are usually a huge help with sheep.
Haha! I am already loving this group of folks. I'm good with being biased
Yes. We are in Cali. Never thought we'd leave but it's just gotten too bad here. We just can't afford to move within Cali. This experience has been a lifetime of "fun" we wish to never repeat. Haha Thanks for the tip on @Ridgetop's writings! We need all the help and advice we can get. Neither of us have ever moved for real before. So this whole thing is very new to us. We won't be selling here until we are moved or the majority of our ranch is moved at least. It's coming winter now so it's the slow selling season anyways. We do already have a team together here to sell when we are ready so that's a plus. We hope to be closing the new property in the next couple weeks. Then the "fun" begins for real.

Welcome from Southern WA state. My friend moved from Vista CA to near Seymore MO. They are currently pouring the stem walls for their new home today.

Thank you for the welcome! I have dear friends in WA state. It sure was beautiful when I went to visit them.
That's awesome for your friends! I hope they are happy in MO.

Hi..... Yeah I'm guilty of inviting/telling @RR Homestead about our BYH family... . We "met" on the CT forum as they asked some questions about their dairy cattle/bottles/mastitis etc... and I tried to help a little after a few years and a few hundred calves experience.
Seem to be pretty nice down to earth folks... hoping they can get to close on their new place and then start the moving process...
Word of advice... bring as much as you can of stuff that you have.... replacing will cost a small fortune... yes, fuel costs... but since it looks to be a multi-trip move... just bring everything with you that you can...

You've been very helpful over the years. Don't know about down to earth though.
Good advice. We've been trying to figure that out. Things like heavy livestock equipment are what we are debating. Like our squeeze chutes etc. Also our walk in for hanging meat in to age.


Thank you everyone for the warm welcome!

 

[Baymule]

You will want to move everything. You will need the equipment at your new place. If you don't have a trailer big enough to haul stuff, go buy a 40' low boy and stack it up. Compare buying it once you move to the cost of moving it.

And y'all have never really moved...... Excuse me while I laugh, Just look at it as a high adventure. Don't cull down or sell any more animals. Mother Nature may do the culling for you. Ridgetop was going to cut her flock and I told her not to. Moving from a dry climate to a humid, lots of rain climate that is teeming with parasites would be a shock to her sheep and it has. She has lost quite a few to parasites. Those that survive are the strongest.

So watch your animals closely, monitor them for worms. I had over FOUR FEET of rain in the early spring 2024. I had a promising crop of 31 lambs. It warmed up and the parasite slaughter began. Even working closely with the vet, I lost 11 lambs. I chose 7 from the remainder and hauled the rest off to auction. They were stunted and a sorry looking lot. I didn't know if the 7 ewe lambs I kept would grow off, die, reach breeding size, die or just flat out die. They survived, grew off well, a little small on some, but big enough. I've never wormed them again. Those 7 are bred now. Rain and hot weather caused a parasite bloom all over east Texas, I have friends that lost grown goats and sheep, plus young ones. So I'm impatiently waiting to see what my 7 ewes have, hopefully the lambs will inherit some of their mother's parasite resistance. I've had sheep for 10 years, do my own fecal exams and cull for parasite resistance. I've never experienced a parasite bloom like that.

 

[Mini Horses]

I'm with @Baymule carry all things with you that you can! The replacement costs are out of sight for so many things. You can buy a lowboy, use and sell after...the net will be far less than $$ to hire. Livestock -- there's the tricky part because of "care" and facilities at each end. We all understand about "some" that are forever ones. Yahoo. Another adventure for us to follow!

 

[SageHill]

At the cost of equipment and possible lack of availability - take all you can. The other possibility would be to "duplicate" what you have getting it in MO (sales, new, auction, whatever) before you sell in CA. Then you'll only have to move what you didn't replace.
I knew it -- leaving CA. Breaks my heart - we keep losing good people. I love it here - the land the climate, and I hate the politics and blindness of its followers. They are literally forcing everyone out.
What part of CA are you leaving??

 

[RR Homestead]

You will want to move everything. You will need the equipment at your new place. If you don't have a trailer big enough to haul stuff, go buy a 40' low boy and stack it up. Compare buying it once you move to the cost of moving it.

And y'all have never really moved...... Excuse me while I laugh, Just look at it as a high adventure. Don't cull down or sell any more animals. Mother Nature may do the culling for you. Ridgetop was going to cut her flock and I told her not to. Moving from a dry climate to a humid, lots of rain climate that is teeming with parasites would be a shock to her sheep and it has. She has lost quite a few to parasites. Those that survive are the strongest.

So watch your animals closely, monitor them for worms. I had over FOUR FEET of rain in the early spring 2024. I had a promising crop of 31 lambs. It warmed up and the parasite slaughter began. Even working closely with the vet, I lost 11 lambs. I chose 7 from the remainder and hauled the rest off to auction. They were stunted and a sorry looking lot. I didn't know if the 7 ewe lambs I kept would grow off, die, reach breeding size, die or just flat out die. They survived, grew off well, a little small on some, but big enough. I've never wormed them again. Those 7 are bred now. Rain and hot weather caused a parasite bloom all over east Texas, I have friends that lost grown goats and sheep, plus young ones. So I'm impatiently waiting to see what my 7 ewes have, hopefully the lambs will inherit some of their mother's parasite resistance. I've had sheep for 10 years, do my own fecal exams and cull for parasite resistance. I've never experienced a parasite bloom like that.

We have a large stock trailer as well as a large flatbed to move with. Only thing we can't legally haul is our biggest tractor. Nope. We have never really moved. I don't consider across the property for my spouse and 10 minutes down the road as a kid with a couple black trash bags of stuff moving. Haha Adventure. Something like that. Good to know about the parasites. Have not been told that so far in my research. Something I will pay close attention to. Thank you very much for that information.

I'm with @Baymule carry all things with you that you can! The replacement costs are out of sight for so many things. You can buy a lowboy, use and sell after...the net will be far less than $$ to hire. Livestock -- there's the tricky part because of "care" and facilities at each end. We all understand about "some" that are forever ones. Yahoo. Another adventure for us to follow!

We have the largest trailers we can legally haul in CA so we are good there for now. Only thing here I can't legally haul in CA is our biggest tractor. Will have to have it hauled by a hauler. Working on figuring that out but it's a bit of a challenge so far. Not to mention when does it actually go since we need to load out here and there. Hoping maybe we can reach out to a neighbor and someone would be willing to trade for offloading a load or two for us there.

At the cost of equipment and possible lack of availability - take all you can. The other possibility would be to "duplicate" what you have getting it in MO (sales, new, auction, whatever) before you sell in CA. Then you'll only have to move what you didn't replace.
I knew it -- leaving CA. Breaks my heart - we keep losing good people. I love it here - the land the climate, and I hate the politics and blindness of its followers. They are literally forcing everyone out.
What part of CA are you leaving??

I really like that idea! Especially with my better half who is convinced it will cost more to haul a lot of our stuff than replace. I think it's worth hauling things like the newer chute etc but he's thinking it will be cheaper to replace. It's going to be far more expensive now vs when we bought it. We are in agreement of selling the rusted out handling equipment, panels etc here and replacing there because to us that doesn't make sense when they have a short life left in them anyways.
Sadly after several generations on our property we are being forced to sell and leave. We are in NorCal. We can't afford to stay in CA anymore not to mention we are getting tired of the politics and being taxed and billed to death. Add crime and noise and it's unlivable for us. We love it here too. Never thought we'd leave. We are being pushed out by housing, taxes, laws and crime. We are not welcome here anymore. I'm just glad the majority of my family has already passed and can't see what's happened to our state.

 

[Baymule]

I am so sad for you that your home has turned into what it has become under........ let's just call it "bad management". Basically that's why @Ridgetop and her husband left California. Shhhh........ don't tell her I said this, but they are in their (cough cough) seventies-eighties. But we don't use numbers here, we refer to our stack of birthdays as being in our PRIME OF LIFE, usually shortened to PRIME. She is third generation Californian.

How big is your tractor that you can't legally haul it?

 

[SageHill]

Oh man, yeah - I get it for those reasons. So sad for you. There's a housing development ~640 homes on tiny lots -- lots that are less square footage than my house (I have a nice size house but far far from huge). One of DH's coworkers moved in there. He had him over for lunch and he said something like this -- you all probably hate the houses there, but that's what happens -- So very sad people have that mindset. Thank goodness it's not that close by. Of course all those in that development moved away from where they were to be in the country and now they want mega grocery stores, WalMart, etc. All because they don't want to drive to the next town over 10-15 miles at most. LOL (I guess LOL) they did get their McDonalds at the entrance to all their homes.
So -- your move - it'll be an exciting adventure! It's an adventure, not a chore.

 

[Mini Horses]

So, speaking to farms to multi- housing conversions, it sounds like your farm "may" be in a rapidly developing area. Are you anticipating that your land sale will be one which turns into multi housing?

That's prob a good thing for sale price You'll be gone, won't be a heartbreak to see. Developers jump on sizeable lands in growth areas.

 

[Blue Sky]

Welcome, another East Texan here, although I was originally from the Midwest.

 

[RR Homestead]

I am so sad for you that your home has turned into what it has become under........ let's just call it "bad management". Basically that's why @Ridgetop and her husband left California. Shhhh........ don't tell her I said this, but they are in their (cough cough) seventies-eighties. But we don't use numbers here, we refer to our stack of birthdays as being in our PRIME OF LIFE, usually shortened to PRIME. She is third generation Californian.

How big is your tractor that you can't legally haul it?

It's been a hard pill to swallow for sure. Definitely bad management and greed.
I love the way you're thinking on age.
Tractor is approx 9,000 pounds

Oh man, yeah - I get it for those reasons. So sad for you. There's a housing development ~640 homes on tiny lots -- lots that are less square footage than my house (I have a nice size house but far far from huge). One of DH's coworkers moved in there. He had him over for lunch and he said something like this -- you all probably hate the houses there, but that's what happens -- So very sad people have that mindset. Thank goodness it's not that close by. Of course all those in that development moved away from where they were to be in the country and now they want mega grocery stores, WalMart, etc. All because they don't want to drive to the next town over 10-15 miles at most. LOL (I guess LOL) they did get their McDonalds at the entrance to all their homes.
So -- your move - it'll be an exciting adventure! It's an adventure, not a chore.

We have 1400 homes going in across the street from us. There's 4 other housing tracks going in around us. It's absolutely heartbreaking watching all the farmland eaten up by ungrateful folks. Same attitude you are speaking of. Doesn't matter we have generations right here farming this land.
I hope it will be an exciting adventure. Time will tell. Haha We just want peace and nice folks again.

So, speaking to farms to multi- housing conversions, it sounds like your farm "may" be in a rapidly developing area. Are you anticipating that your land sale will be one which turns into multi housing?

That's prob a good thing for sale price You'll be gone, won't be a heartbreak to see. Developers jump on sizeable lands in growth areas.

Unfortunately we are right on the boarder. They've decided to move a different direction and fill everything in. So across the street will be city and houses but we are not in the 30 year plan on our property. That's for the city. Doesn't mean someone won't buy it and divide it. Sadly our property is next door/attached to my in laws. We will hear and see what happens to our home/land. I would prefer never knowing. We've spent decades building a life here.

Welcome, another East Texan here, although I was originally from the Midwest.

Thank you! Much appreciated!