I hear this is the place to be

[SageHill]

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.

Oh gawd. I feel for you. Why don't people understand agriculture??
The land the development sits on here belonged to a friend - he raised cattle and sheep. I remember working dogs over on his place. He died and the kids eventually sold out.
It will be an adventure - lots to see, do, learn, and explore. Adventures can go either way - which is actually good because it's not a predetermined it will be _____ -- leaving room for all sorts of possibilities.

 

[RR Homestead]

Oh gawd. I feel for you. Why don't people understand agriculture??
The land the development sits on here belonged to a friend - he raised cattle and sheep. I remember working dogs over on his place. He died and the kids eventually sold out.
It will be an adventure - lots to see, do, learn, and explore. Adventures can go either way - which is actually good because it's not a predetermined it will be _____ -- leaving room for all sorts of possibilities.

It's really bad here now. Tons of complaints about all kinds of things. From complaining that the rendering trucks drive around with animal legs visible to being turned in for animals "guts" hanging out when a bull is dropped (if you get my meaning) or a cow is calving. We only have 1 rendering company anymore and they are so backed up it's days or longer before they can pick up animals. They have to haul all they can at a time. I guess the folks out here now want carcasses laying all over the place bursting? The reason there is only one around is because builders built next door to the rendering plants, people bought the homes and got the facilities closed due to smell. Animal control is absolutely clueless on animals which makes it worse when people call them. It's constant anymore. Dairy cows are "emaciated" because they look like dairy cows. We can't keep our milk cows by the road anymore or calving cows. It's just not worth all the calls. Not to mention the ding dongs who hop fences to "help" a dying animal that is calving not dying.
I think I'm more worried for our animals that will be going more than anything. Although a tornado taking our home etc is a worry too but for me it's the animals wellbeing I'm more worried about. Raising livestock there is going to be a hard learning curve. Not to mention moving during winter.

 

[fuzzi]

I recall reading a local news story about someone calling the police about a starving horse (he just was old) and then calling again that it was dead (lying down in the pasture, was fine).

And this is a rural area in eastern NC. City folks have no clue, no sense.

People are idiots.

 

[SageHill]

It's really bad here now. Tons of complaints about all kinds of things. From complaining that the rendering trucks drive around with animal legs visible to being turned in for animals "guts" hanging out when a bull is dropped (if you get my meaning) or a cow is calving. We only have 1 rendering company anymore and they are so backed up it's days or longer before they can pick up animals. They have to haul all they can at a time. I guess the folks out here now want carcasses laying all over the place bursting? The reason there is only one around is because builders built next door to the rendering plants, people bought the homes and got the facilities closed due to smell. Animal control is absolutely clueless on animals which makes it worse when people call them. It's constant anymore. Dairy cows are "emaciated" because they look like dairy cows. We can't keep our milk cows by the road anymore or calving cows. It's just not worth all the calls. Not to mention the ding dongs who hop fences to "help" a dying animal that is calving not dying.
I think I'm more worried for our animals that will be going more than anything. Although a tornado taking our home etc is a worry too but for me it's the animals wellbeing I'm more worried about. Raising livestock there is going to be a hard learning curve. Not to mention moving during winter.

That makes me mad and sad. Out here - so far - we don't get those complaints are we are situated far from that crowd. I admit when groves go up for sale I do worry. So far groves by me have been sold to other farmers.
Ah - When I see a cow down calving I just shoot a text to my neighbor - you've got one calving. Drove passed their place one time (it's the only way in and out of our place) and saw the butcher's truck in their field - carcasses hanging in the truck -- LOVED seeing that. OMG wish I'd had a real camera with me.
I know I'd be in similar shoes if we were close or up against that subdivision. Just weaning lambs would probably get a call to animal control or maybe the county for the noise.
You're move isn't going to happen soon enough - and once it does I'm betting you'll feel so much better to be away from the crazies.

 

[Ridgetop]

We moved to Texas from southern California with our flock of sheep, 3 Anatolian livestock guardian dogs, gaited mule and TWH. It was not easy and continues not to be easy since we are still bringing stuff from our old ranch. I'm glad to read that you already have purchased a property in Missouri to which you can move. That makes the move doable. Not easier, just doable. We also bought our northeast Texas property before selling our California property. We will be putting the California property on the market the first of the year. We still have another couple loads to bring out and a final clean up and disposal of the last 40 years of STUFF.

DH and I were born in the SFV and lived there all our lives. My mother's family moved there over 100 years ago, she and my aunt were born there . We loved California, the weather, the scenery, but the politics made it impossible to stay. We had 6 acres in the San Fernando Valley foothills where we lived 40 years raising our kids. They started with horses and 4-H livestock. We progressed through breeding flocks of Dorset, Suffolk, Hampshire, market sheep, dairy goats, Boer goats, replacement heifers, veal calves, market hogs, poultry and rabbits. We were on milk test and they showed their dairy goats all over southern California. By the time the youngest graduated from high school and they decided to sell out they had over 100 dairy goats. After selling all the livestock except the horses, we realized that doing the required brush clearance on our extremely steep 6 acres was too expensive so we brought sheep back on the property to do the fire clearance for us. By the time we relocated to Texas we had about 50 head of registered White Dorper sheep.

Since we mainly had sheep and goats, we had about 80 10-12' portable fence and gate panels, jugs, etc. along with the scale and squeeze. They all had to come out. We also had a complete Red River rodeo arena. The arena was made of 10' 7 bar panels that pinned together. Those all came out and we used them for night pens before we got our barn fencing in. We brought our horse corrals and corral covers even though we have a good barn on this property. Some of the our horse corral shelters had been damaged in a bad windstorm so I removed the torn up corrugated sheets and we brought the pipe frames. We will put new metal on them to use them as pasture shelters. We brought all the feeders, troughs, metal storage barrels, small grain feeders, salt block holders, etc., etc., etc. We even brought all our wooden fence posts and metal T posts. Thank goodness we did since we have needed it all in setting up our new ranch.

We made several trips per year for 3 years moving all our equipment and we are not finished yet. We had rented out the ranch house for 2 years. The acreage already had a cattle tenant who was a lifelong friend of the owner's grandson. He was willing to stay until we moved in. We did work on the barn and property before the final move of our livestock. The 44 acres had good barbed wire cattle fencing but it was insufficient for the sheep and the Anatolian livestock guardian dogs. We hired a company to put in 6' deer fencing around 15 acres with lots of gates. That included the barn and ponds. We are continuing to fence the interior of the 15 acres into rotational grazing pastures. We kept 30 acres in hay and Cody leases it for hayfields. We buy our hay rolls from him.

Once we had the deer fence up, the barn cleaned out, the barn roof repaired, and a corral fence up for the night fold at the barn, we could arrange to bring out the sheep. At this point we had 50 ewes , 4 rams, and a multitude of lambs. The ewes were still lambing in transit. This was not our choice but we were getting into the late spring/early summer and the transporter did not want to transport them in the heat. In retrospect we would have been better to wait to ship them for another couple months, and sold the ram lambsbefore bringing out the rest. Our tenants had moved out and we didn't want the Texas house sitting vacant so we shipped the sheep and equines on one transport. We brought the dogs out ourselves with another trailer load of household goods and furniture.

It has taken us several years to do our move so I am happy to share what we learned. We didn't have to rush since we still had the ranch in California and DS2 and DDIL2 are living there with their babies. So grab a cuppa and prepare for a looong post. LOL

First, YOU are correct - bring all your equipment with you. Not only the scales, squeezes, etc., but any portable panels etc. Even if it is worn, as long as it is usable bring it. Since we had been raising 4-H livestock for years we had a lot of portable and movable panels as well as all the feeders, water troughs, tools, shears, clippers, halters, etc. BRING IT ALL! Since you have been in business for years, your husband has no idea of the exorbitant cost of new (or even used) equipment. If you already have the equipment, the cost of gas to transport it is less than buying all that stuff new. Since you have a flat bed trailer as well as the stock trailer, your fence panels, scales, squeeze, tractor, and heavy equipment, etc. can be moved easily to your new location on the flat bed. We moved our little Kubota tractor and our 40 hp Farmtrac tractor to Texas with the attachments on our son's flatbed in one load. You will still need to buy more fencing and equipment after you move to the new place to make it work for you, so everything you can bring with you is that much $$$$$ saved.

THE MOVE! or, OMG? WHY DID WE DECIDE TO DO THIS?!

1. The first thing to do is to separate out the stuff you LOVE and want to continue living with. Start packing alL those treasures up in moving boxes. Mark it carefully so you know what box everything is in. You might not be opening those boxes for months. Don't skimp on the bubble wrap and packing paper since your stuff will be moving across country in your stock trailer. Most stock trailers don't have springs so make sure you pack your treasures carefully. Everything else can be offered to your children and grandchildren. Then have a ginormous moving sale for several weekends and get rid of everything the kids have not already taken. Anything left after that can be donated to charity. Get a tax receipt for the donation.

2. On some of your trips bringing out your equipment, stay at the new place long enough to do whatever painting, shelf lining, closet double rodding, etc. to the new house. It will be easier to do any updating/painting to empty rooms. Bring some folding chairs and tables to use while you camp out in the new house. If you plan to get new mattresses get them at the new place so you have a comfortable bed when you come out. We were lucky enough that the tenant did not want to take their king size beds with them to the smaller house they had built We also were able to buy their washer and dryer. The seller had left all the other appliances so we had a fridge, stove, etc. Use paper plates and plastic silverware and either bring a few pots and pans with you or buy some cheap stuff at the new place. You will only need enough for simple meals while you are unloading your equipment and working on the new place for a week or so. Are there appliances at the new house? If you plan to buy new ones, consider buying them there on one of your trips so you will have them while bringing all your stuff out. Check on what has to be done to turn on the utilities. Depending on the time of year you may want to leave the heat or AC on while you go back to CA to avoid the pipes freezing or stuff overheating in the closed up house. Get the numbers of any repairmen you will need. You can call from CA to arrange for the repairs to be done when you come out to the new place with a load of belongings.

3. Make sure you know what facilities are already in place for your livestock. Check all fences and repair them before bringing the livestock out. If yu need to fende the property find a fencing contractor to get it done before you come out with the livestock. Is there a a water supply that is usable? Do you have a good well? We ended up drilling a new well since the old well had pitted and the water was bad. The house is on city water but the pressure is low and took several hours to water everything with mutipe 100 foot hoses. In the meantime we suffered through snow and ice and had to carry buckets of boiling water from the house to the troughs after breaking the ice. If you need more storage at the new place, consider getting a couple connex boxes delivered before you move out. They will give you lockable storage while commuting back and forth. If you have storage sheds, make sure to put hasps and padlocks on them while you are in California. It keeps honest people honest and gives you a secure space to store your tools and small equipment. If you have storage shelves in CA bring them.

4. Bring all your livestock with you - you won't be able to replace your good breeding cattle at today's prices, and the sheep and goats will need to get used to the Barber Pole worms and Coccidia rampant in Missouri and east Texas humidity. The sheep and goats will cull themselves based on their parasite resistance and you will find out which bloodlines will be keepers. You won't now who will survive unti they are in their new home. Depending on how long you will be gone when you return to California for more loads of stuff, you can probably leave the cattle in the new pastures as long as the fences are secure, they have hay, and a water source. If you know anyone in the area, you can arrange for someone to swing by and check on them while you are out of town picking up another load in California. The sheep and goats really cannot be left without protection (coyotes, hogs, and Mexican vultures while they are lambing). You won't want to leave your guardian dogs alone for a week or so either.

5. Check with your new state regulations about what tests you will need to bring in your livestock. Most health tests must be done within 30 days or less of shipping. There will be checks at the borders. Everything will require a general vet inspection and certificate. You will have to supply negative Coggins tests on the equines, and Brucellosis on the rams and bucks over 6 months old. All sheep and goats wil be required to have scrapie tags. (Once in your new state you will need to obtain a new scrapie number from that state.) I am not sure about what will be required on your cattle other than the vet inspections. You can look it up on line. Depending on how many animals and how many species you have to transport, you can either haul them yourselves or have them shipped by a commercial livestock transporter. There are a lot of them since they transport animals to and from shows for exhibitors and buyers. If you decide to transport your own animals check on the regulations since they cannot be kept in the traier for more than a certain number of hours without unloading. 36? or 48? depending on the species. The commercial transporters drive with a 2 man team and travel through the night to avoid having to unload and reload. We used someone recommended by other sheep breeders. They charge by the mile. It cost about $9000 to transport 2 equines, 4 rams, 50 ewes, and a lot of newborn lambs from the San Fernando Valley to Yantis, Texas. The one way mileage on that trip is about 1,550 miles and we filled his entire transport trailer. Make sure that the completed tests, inspection paperwork, and transport docs where needed, accompany the livestock in transit. You don't want your livestock turned back at the border or impounded because you have the paperwork safely with you instead of with the transporter. LOL Keep copies for yourselves.

A word of warning on transporting - Try to arrange the pickup so the transport will arrive at your new place during the daylight hours. Unfortunately our man was delayed for the pickup and didn't arrive in Yantis until 10 pm. We have no pasture lights. He didn't want to pull into the field because it had rained and he was afraid to get stuck. Consequently, he backed in and unloaded everything at once through the front gate. Luckily we had the fence guys put in a safety corridor with gates at each end. We had to run the horses through into the field, then the ewes and lambs into the fenced area for the fold. This was almost impossible since the animals couldn't see us with grain buckets, couldn't find their lambs, and we were working with lanterns and flashlights. Once the ewes and lambs were through the safety gates, the rams were unloaded into the safety corridor and left for the night. It was a mess! Learn from our nightmare! LOL

If I have forgotten anything in this exceedingly loooong post, LOL, just ask and we will all try to answer your questions. @farmerjan has my phone number. You are starting a wonderful new adventure. The relief you will feel being out of the madhouse that California has become is tangible. Welcome to sanity.

 

[SageHill]

Ya' know - this it REALLY IMPORTANT info --- maybe a copy and paste into a new forum just for moving?!

 

[murphysranch]

Fabulous summary that I'm sure will be helpful!

 

[Weldman]

You should try Montana, best place to move to this time of the year, especially out east.
Welcome to the dark web

Only 9k lb tractor, I could do that with my pickup truck, just not this time of the year though and yes I forgot to mention to everyone on here, I do have DOT numbers, a Class A CDL with other certs to haul.

 

[RR Homestead]

@Ridgetop
Holy cow. This is so incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this all out.
Yes we close on the property end of the month pending no issues. We aren't packing until it closes but we are working on thinning things down even more. We've been working on that for many years now since we started the search for a new home. It sounds like we are similar. We aren't listing this place until we are almost completely moved out. Partly because we don't know how long that will actually take and partly because we want to have it in sellable condition without all our stuff in the way. Doesn't make sense to list it until we are almost completely out. Plus going into winter the slowdown is definitely showing. So less pressure to get it listed immediately. I'm "glad" to hear it's taking some time for you to get moved. I don't mean that the way it sounds but it just feels like it's ok to not make it happen in a month kind of timeline. We are in a hurry but that's mostly just to get on with our life and be done here. Especially not knowing what the future of CA's market will be with all the stuff that's going on. Would like to get this place sold as soon as possible in case the market drops dramatically.
It sure sounds like we have similar lives. Well except the large number of goats and sheep. We only have a few and they are freezer bound before we leave.
Unfortunately we don't have anyone to stay in the house were moving to until we are moved in. The sellers are staying a bit longer to finish their packing but after that it will be empty. We're trying to figure out a plan for that. We know no one in MO so that complicates things a bit.
Since telling my better half all of this information he went on a whirlwind online search on prices for things we'll need to replace there. He hadn't done that yet. Well holy moly were we shocked. He's now wanting to take literally all the panels, equipment etc. He's decided that even having to weld new legs on the older panels (which we already do here) is worth taking them. I thank you all so much for the info. We are now making better progress as to what we are taking and what we aren't. It's been a long time discussion that now is solved.
Haha! I am doing the OMGosh WHY DID WE DECIDE TO DO THIS already and we haven't even truly started. For me more because I just don't know how we are going to make this happen without a tractor at both locations. Hoping one of the neighbors who hay around the property will be willing to barter or let me pay them to offload until our big tractor can get there. I know we don't have anyone around here anymore who has a big enough tractor for the handling equipment so that will stay until close to the end I'm sure.
You've already had me looking at what to pack now differently. I think I had panic blinders on until reading this. There's a fair bit of stuff I didn't even "see" that can be packed now. I actually didn't even think about the lack of springs in the trailers. That is a darn good point I may not have thought of until it is too late. I will be getting even more packing materials. We've been collecting boxes for a while now and bought a bit of bubble wrap and paper but definitely not enough. May start hitting up thrift stores for blankets to use also.
Sadly we don't have any children to leave things to. There will be a "yard" sale I'm sure and some donations. I'm really not sure how much as we have been thinning things over the years in prep for this. I suspect more than we expect once we start actually packing. Good tip on the tax receipt.
Thankfully the home we are moving to is pretty well "done" as far as painting etc. But I will be looking at all of that once I finally step foot in the house. My better half is the only one who's been there to date. I've seen it via videos and video call. The sellers had not intended on leaving and really have the place fixed up nice. I'm sure we'll change carpet at some point to tile or wood flooring but that will be a while. What's in there is plenty nice for us. I didn't think of shelf liner etc. That's something I'll want to get there before putting up kitchen stuff. This house is far bigger than anything we've ever had and a basement which I am absolutely giddy about. But it's going to be all new to us. I don't even know how to use central heat and air. We are getting new chairs and mattresses at the new place. Hopefully a lot of the furniture will be from the amish. I fell in love with their craftsmanship one of my trips out to look at properties. For the most part there is no furniture that's going. We were thinking about offering to buy what furniture the sellers aren't taking with them. Might still do that. Most appliances are staying as well. That's going to be helpful. Good thinking on the paper dishes etc. I'm trying to make meals here, get them freeze dried and packages so we have "MRE's" to feed us while we move. That alone will be a huge savings and keep us eating our own food vs fast food. Going to make the rest of the jerky meat sitting in the freezer into jerky to help with snacking on the drives back and forth. Trying to plan things like that. Clear out some food that can be prepped and keep us eating ok while we are in transition. Utilities will be be transferred once the sellers are able to get out. They will keep them on while they are there and continue to pay for what they use. Very good tip on the freezing pipes. That will be something we'll need to keep in mind. We don't get that cold here. Have I thanked you for writing all this?!?! Good point on repairmen. I should ask the sellers. They will gladly give us that information. They are such kind people.
Fences are all good but will be checked first official trip out. Cattle have only been off of it a couple months. Handling equipment leaves a lot to be worked on but is sufficient for temporary use if needed. Yep. Water is good. Newer well. Last well was struck by lightening a few years ago and replaced. We will be building a well house over it though. It's on the list. Been saying that a lot lately. My better half has wanted connnex containers here for years. I suspect most things will be in the basement for a while because we will be building a shop asap but connex certainly aren't off the table. I think we've agreed to take down our storage sheds here and take them with us also along with our carport. At the least it will be animal shelter for the winter until we get things more setup for them.
All remaining cattle are coming with us. Sheep and goats aren't coming on the hoof. We have no intention of getting more either. Very good to know about coccidia issues and barber pole worms. Don't have experience with barber pole worms. Coccidia we have had issues with.
The regulations etc I still need to look into a bit more. Brand inspection will be easy here and hopefully we will have our brand registered there before they leave here. Already checked and it's available so that's nice. A bit concerning over the health stuff. Good to know on the coggins for the horse. We shipped a group of Aberdeen cattle down to SoCal at the beginning of the year and the hauler who picked them up was pretty great from my experience with him. He just so happens to be from MO so I've held onto his number but I am really leaning towards hauling them all myself. The horse and dairy cows in one load and the beef cattle in a separate load. I'm not sure the expense is worth it when I can haul them myself. If anyone got hauled by that hauler it would be the beef cattle. The rest I will haul myself. The beef cattle would be the ones that will be a challenge to find somewhere to get them off and back on the trailer. The dairy all lead along with the horse. The two person team is what I'm hoping for. Me and someone else but it's limited on who can drive a truck and trailer. Still trying to figure that one out. Weighting out as many options as I can. Good to know on that cost. That's sure a hefty expense if it's not necessary. Good reminder on the daylight delivery of the livestock. That doesn't sound like a good deal you had.
Thank you again for all the great information. You've helped so much already! I sure hope you are right on the relief we will feel because we've lost hope and trust in people and it's hard for us to believe we truly will find peace again. It's been nearly 13 years since things have gone bad here for us and we are struggling to believe we can get over what we've been through. Sad thing to say but it's how we feel now.

 

[RR Homestead]

You should try Montana, best place to move to this time of the year, especially out east.
Welcome to the dark web

Only 9k lb tractor, I could do that with my pickup truck, just not this time of the year though and yes I forgot to mention to everyone on here, I do have DOT numbers, a Class A CDL with other certs to haul.

You're hired! Our dear friend really wants us to move to Montana but it's not in our future. Beautiful place but getting too old to get that hearty.