Unique Investment Opportunity | Hog Farm

Unique Investment Opportunity

There really are investment opportunities everywhere, all you have to do is open your ears and your mind!  Recognizing opportunities reminds me of when I would go  to Yellowstone National Park and seemed to miss all the wildlife.  It wasn’t until my eye was trained to recognize the animals, then they seemed to be all over the place.  This correlates with investments as well.  Take for instance my farm, many people would have driven by it, thought the house was to small for them to live in and therefore not given it any validity.  Maybe they would have liked the house, but the land was to much to manage, so they passed.  The reality of it is, investment opportunities are everywhere, you just need to have the interest, and train your eye to recognize them.




That brings me to an opportunity that I heard through a friend, who shares my passion for investing.  Investing in a hog farm!  Yes, a hog farm and no, I don’t  know anything about hogs.  Apparently, there are hog farmers who need the space so they will pay to rent a barn from you on a multi-year lease.  So you say you don’t have a barn, or at least one that can hold 5000 hogs!  Well the deal is, if you will build this barn that meets their specifications they will rent it for you on this long term lease.  Often times the barn has to be state of the art, be a specific size, have self-feeding capabilities, be able to store waste, have automatic washing capabilities, etc, etc.

Apparently, these barns can run up to $1 million, but I am told that if you can get the financing, often times you are able to cash flow upwards of $5000 per month.  I also learned that pig waste is quite valuable and may bring in another $10,000 per year.  There are also Federal grants and low interest loans through the Federal Government that make this investment even more intriguing.  Working a hog farm is not without its challenges though.  I am told that all the piglets must be immunized, which can be costly if you hire it out, or time consuming if you do it yourself.  You must be cognizant and get rid of any pig that dies, because the other ones could be susceptible to diseases being cooped up with a dead pig.  Then there is the smell, this of course may irritate neighbors and create problems all their own.  I have heard that these state of the art barns however, are able to minimize the odor, because all of the waste is stored underground.

 

So if you are looking for an outside the box investment, perhaps through a partnership with multiple investors or through your Self-directed IRA, consider starting a hog farm.  If you locate a hog farmer looking to expand, I would think they would be interested in renting your space, as long as it meets their specifications.  Think about owning this $1 million barn in 15-20 years that was paid for by using someone else’s money.  Heck, you may even discover that you thoroughly enjoy hog farming.