5 Ways To Turn Your Ranch Into A Source of Income

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One of the greatest business ventures to undertake is flipping the monthly expense of property ownership into sustainable, consistent profits. Careful pursuits that fit your land can create opportunities unavailable to individuals who aren’t equipped with your specific resources.

Tips To Monetize Your Ranch

Given the specific resource in question is a bountiful ranch, how can you monetize your ranch? Here are some ideas to focus on:

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  1. Energy Harnessing

Harvesting solar and wind energy is a lucrative option that comes with federal subsidies and tax credits that encourage property owners to invest in renewable energy. Despite the initial financial input harnessing renewable energy creates an endless revenue stream.

With sun and wind in abundance on ranches, these plots of land are great spots for anyone interested in harnessing renewable energy. Ultimately, creating clean energy is a great option for high-acreage ranches that can afford the upstart costs, allowing them to reap the financial benefits and help the planet.

  1. Storage

Have you ever seen a boat or RV in front of the average house? Possibly, but most likely not because RV and boat owners struggle to find storage spaces for their supersized vehicles. Building adequate storage facilities on your property and charging vehicle rent is the most passive suggestion possible.

This step requires no labor, only a guarantee that the storage area is maintained and the vehicles are kept safe. Unfortunately, vehicle storage comes with a few cons that quickly begin to outweigh the pros. Leaking cleaning supplies, gasoline, battery acid, and other problematic liquids or materials could hard the vehicles or even seep into the soil and heighten the risk of a fire or explosion.

Hard-and-fast rules are extremely important to prevent your vehicle storage from becoming a dangerous environment or a glorified junkyard.

  1. Wedding Venue

Engaged couples will spend every second possible trying to find the perfect spot to tie the knot. Farms, barns, gardens, and mansions are some of the most popular locations for couples who want to celebrate their big day.

For ranch owners, the sheer space they have makes putting on weddings an easy-enough ask, plus they create a unique situation where it pays to continually update a property to attract more business. Creating the dream wedding space for couples depends on what personality your ranch property possesses and the patrons it can attract. But it can certainly bring in a healthy profit, too.

  1. Animal Breeding

Ranches with an abundance of acreage at their disposal are a perfect locale to breed a variety of large and small animals. For example, one acre can accommodate a 1 cow, 2-3 whitetail deer, 6-10 sheep, 6-8 goats, and 25-35 pigs.

Breeders will also require a wide variety of equipment such as feeders, pasture systems, healthcare equipment, handling systems, and scales. Individuals interested in exploring this field should stay up-to-date on the best animals for their property and climate to breed. Cows are a staple animal throughout the midwestern U.S., however, they have come under scrutiny recently for reportedly being responsible for 40% of annual methane emissions.

Deer, on the other hand, are trending due to their lean meat and terrain adaptability. All that is required to breed deer is 8-10-feet high fencing, enough land to graze and move about, fresh water, natural protective shelters from the elements, and facilities to treat the animals. Staying up to date on your state and locality's best animals for breeding can put you on the right path to caring for animals that can thrive in your climate and environment.

  1. Gardening

Ranch gardening takes on many different forms. Mushrooms, flowers, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and wood all come from the outdoors and create a fun way to go outside and grow some food. Extra food is easily sellable to farmer's markets, restaurants, or small stores.

Crops require spacing to prevent roots from overcrowding and competing for resources, but mushrooms are incredibly accommodating to spaces of varying sizes and can even be farmed on logs of wood. A bag of mushrooms can fetch anywhere from $20 to $40 per pound, but it’s critical to ensure that each individual mushroom is edible and not poisonous to consume.

Ranch life is where America's love affair with the great outdoors began. With these Colorado ranches for sale, you can enjoy that lifestyle on a personal and profit-based level.


About the Authors

Dan and Michael Murphy are the ALCs and co-owners of M4 Ranch Group, a collective dedicated to helping Colorado and New Mexico residents purchase the land needed to make their ranch property dreams a reality. The Murphys and their team of ranch brokers share a passion for preserving and experiencing the ranching lifestyle and are looking to help their clients do so as well. Whether buying or selling a ranch property, M4 Ranch Group provides experience, expertise, and an unparalleled work ethic coupled with a genuine love of the ranch lifestyle.