There are so many steps to starting your farm or ranch. When you first start researching everything it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Yes, it’s a lot. Just take a breath, you can do it. The first thing you need in order to start your farm or ranch is financing. Before you start checking out banks, please check your credit score and history. Your credit score and history will help you determine where would be best to get financing. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have a great credit score, or if you are young and don’t have much credit history. If you need to improve your credit, credit karma is an excellent resource. Another thing I would recommend doing is contacting a financial consultant/loan packager that specializes in farming and ranching. They will be a huge asset with helping you get financed. Their job is to help you choose the right bank and present your loan to the bank. Technically you don’t need a financial consultant/loan packager to get financed. However, having one greatly increases your chances and helps make sure you choose the right financing options. We never would have gotten financed if we hadn’t used a financial consultant/loan packager. Ours was a life saver! One option for financing is to use your local bank. In my opinion I think it’s always great to go local if possible. Your bank knows you. They know the type of person you are and are more likely to work with you and help you along the way. Another option available to you is Ag Banks. They specialize in farming and ranching loans. You can google Ag Banks in your region to learn more information about them. We haven’t personally used an Ag bank, so I’m not as familiar with them. USDA is another great option. I would recommend checking them out if you are young, just starting out farming, and/or have little or poor credit. They normally have the best interest rates. They are also a valuable resource you can continue to use throughout your years of farming. The downside to USDA is they make you work to get financed. What I mean is they require you to qualify for their financing. Each of their loans has a set of guidelines you have to meet in order to be eligible to receive financing from them. You can find the link for their website on my home page. Yes, it’s a little more work to go with USDA but, if you are eligible, the low interest rates make up for it. A crucial factor in your financing is your interest rate. Many different things determine your interest rate. Your credit score/history, loan amount, loan type, and length of loan term are just a few of the factors that determine it. Also, different banks can offer different interest rates. That’s why it’s always good to do some research before committing to one bank. When we applied for financing I learned that there were options available for interest rates. You can choose a fixed interest rate which will remain the same throughout your loan duration, or you can choose a floating rate which fluctuates. We chose a floating rate because, at the time of our loan closing the interest rates were high and we didn’t want to be locked into that high of a rate. If the interest rate had been low when we closed our loan, we probably would have went with a fixed rate. It really just depends on the circumstances and what you prefer. Your banker or financial consultant will be able to help you make that decision. It’s easy to get discouraged throughout the financing process. Any time I would get discouraged I would remember my grandma’s favorite saying, “If it’s meant to be it will”. Everything that is meant to happen in your life will happen. If it’s not meant to be then it won’t. You just have to keep your head high and keep working to accomplish your dream.