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Today’s Livestream is intended to kick off season 3 of the Shepherdess.
THIRD LENSE:
Over the past two years I have used my videos to share my story through different lenses. In my first season I shared my day to day routine through the lens of a first time sheep farmer. In Season 2 I shared with you the data behind my decision to pivot from beef cattle to sheep as a primary enterprise for my micro ranching enterprise.
In season 3 I am going to share with you the real economics behind my decision to use sheep as a means of building wealth.
I am getting ready to share with you real information on how my sheep are a wealth building tool, but none of it is true unless you can keep a sheep alive. That free e book is going to walk you through basically the 13 things you need to hedge your investment in sheep.
As I kick off season 3 with this livestream, I am going to share a story.
THE UNTOLD STORY:
I have told you before that I am a digital marketer by trade. In May of 2020 my team and I had just finished one of our largest marketing projects ever. With the money I made there, I paid off my car, I put 10 months of rent and living expenses into savings. After I had done that, I had $11,000 leftover.
At the time, I was watching the US spend it’s way out of an economic crisis. I watched the government issue consent to put TRILLIONS of dollars into the economy through various means of stimulus.
I am not an economist, but I knew that under such conditions, money in the bank would quickly lose it’s value.
So I prayed. I asked the Lord if He would show me a way that I could invest this $11,000 and have it hold it’s value, or even increase.
Specifically my prayer was “for eyes to see an undervalued asset”.
From what little I knew of investing, I knew that the most successful investors were ones that saw value in something before anyone else did and took a risk by investing in that thing before anyone else.
Being from the digital industry, being that my jobs was in an office, I naturally expected the Lord would direct me toward a company to invest in, or precious metals, or possibly even real estate.
But He didn’t.
Instead He directed my attention to agriculture… and more specifically low-input agriculture with an emphasis on soil health.
This unyielding interest was a shock to me, this was a shock to my family, but it was something I could not shake. That interest segued into open doors. The Lord provided me with the education I needed to walk through those doors.
So long story short, I took that $11,000 and instead of buying silver or crypto, I bought 26 sheep and the fencing I needed to contain them on 30 acres.
If you are interested in what happened after that, the 100+ videos on this channel are chapters chronicling various aspects from that moment in 2020 to today,
but….
Since that moment in 2020 when I prayed for an investment opportunity for that $11,000, the United State’s cumulative rate of inflation hit 15.1%, US National debt increased by 30%.
Should I have left that that $11k in the bank it would only be worth $9,500 today.
But by investing it in sheep and zeroing in on my marketing of them, that $11K has seen an increase of roughly 40%.
Through the sale of surplus ram lambs I have sold enough livestock to cover 1/2 of that initial $11,000 investment all while my flock size has increased by 40% through the ewe lambs I have retained.
While some are pushing silver, or gold, or real estate; it is my goal in my third season of content to encourage you through what I have seen firsthand THE VALUE of using livestock as a means of building wealth.
You have to be wise about how you build your farm and you have to know how to care for sheep, or you’ll end up like everyone who invested in FTX last year.
But the dollar alone is no longer a valid measurement of wealth. We all need to be considering alternative means of storing our wealth. Even if it is small. $11,000 is not a lot of money, but I want to encourage you that even if you only a small
If you have debt, you don’t have wealth; so do everything you can to pay it off. But if you have any cash, you need to make sure you have enough in the bank to cover 6mos-1 year of expenses, and pray for ways to invest whatever is leftover.
HISTORICALLY DURABLE FORMS OF WEALTH:
Land (REAL ESTATE), Livestock, and precious metals. Sheep are DYNAMIC, precious metals are static.
One thing I want to bring to light is that modern America has severely undervalued agriculture. In fact we have shot ourselves in the foot with this.
America is about to lose 1/3 of it’s farmers. The average age of the American Farmer is 54 years old. 1/3 of farmers in America are over 64 years old. Within the next 15 years we will lose 1/3 of our farmers through either retirement or death… UNLESS.
UNLESS people like you and like me take up this mantle and on whatever scale we can and begin growing food. First taking responsibility for our families needs, then branching out into our community, and beyond.
IF you have no land, find your local farmer. Eatwild.com is a good place to start. You are going to pay more with your local farmer than you will at the grocery store where all of the food on the shelves is the product of industrial agriculture, but view the extra money as an investment in your future, your children’s future, and food security. You do not have to buy all of your food local, but try and replace one item on your grocery list with a local source.
I want people to understand that agriculture is a historically proven means of building wealth.
I want people to begin investing in it with the same energy and innovation that we give to tech startups Silicon Valley.
Because our need for real food is growing faster than our need for software development.
Our reliance on GMO’s and industrial agriculture is killing our bodies and depleting our natural resources.
We are self-destructing and I believe that those with eyes to see agriculture as an undervalued asset, and the bravery to invest in it when no-one else will will be greatly rewarded.
THERE IS SOMETHING THAT I UNDERSTAND HERE:
I UNDERSTAND A VALUE IN WHAT I AM DOING THAT GOES BEYOND DOLLARS AND CENTS. And this is what you need to get into agriculture… because there will be months and years where you make very little of either one. We need to diversify as farmers, we need to be extremely creative with the revenue streams we build on farm, and the markets we pursue and establish ourselves in.
While I intend (should the Lord allow) to make a significant amount of money off of what I am doing, I would do this whether I made money or not. I know too much to do otherwise.
We need more farmers.
-the Shepherdess
