My entire life I have disliked winter. I find fall very depressing as many things start to die. I have often thought about moving south, especially during the winter. Well most of my family was on board this year and with nobody to tell me no the search began. Missouri is a hard to beat state when it comes to freedom, and one by one almost every southern state was eliminated due to stupid laws, leaving Alabama as the best state for us.

My requirements were a lower population, the freedom to run my business and farm without the heavy hand of government or excessive red tape. I required a state with enough rainfall to need no irrigation and somewhere the water doesn’t become solid, USDA zone 8A or warmer. I refuse to ask permission to use my land and build my own house. I want to run my business and farm without needless red tape and heavy handed bureaucrats. During my search I found out about a business inventory tax that almost every deep south state has with two exceptions, Alabama and Florida. Florida may have won except for their extreme land use restrictions. I could not find one county in Florida that didn’t require excessive permits to build on your own land. Many required a permit just to put a roof on your house. These are restrictions I refuse to live under, so Alabama here we come!

Alabama is very comparable to Missouri. While the population density of our chosen area is twice that of our current location and the taxes are higher as well, I am willing to pay a bit more for a land without winter. The areas we have chosen have comparable qualities to our current area but are much warmer, USDA Zone 8B. Freezing is rare and very short lived when it does happen.

How does our chosen area of Alabama stack up against our home in Missouri? Well we will gain a much warmer climate, a little more rainfall and access to some bigger cities that will be much closer that is good and bad. Alabama doesn’t have the onerous safety inspection to license a vehicle and the property tax rate is likely similar or a little more. There are some strange laws I have uncovered in Alabama but nothing too extreme.

We will be moving at the end of this year hopefully. My wife will move down first, followed by the kids so they can start school down there next year and not have to start a new school in the middle of the school year. I will be selling our properties and equipment up here and will join my family when that is complete. Missouri has treated us very well, and I will greatly miss the state, but warmer weather is an attraction I cannot resist.

Since we will be moving almost 900 miles away my goal is to bring as little as possible with us. I have already sold most of my chickens and quail, and will begin selling tractors after I get this years hay crop in. We have amassed a nice amount of real estate and will begin selling it until only the main farm remains. I never intended to move from here so I have accumulated a relatively large amount of machinery and equipment.

This brings me to my cattle; I will likely not have a place to move them to in Alabama for a couple years or maybe longer. I would hate to start over. I have already culled my herd down due to the drought last year, and will be culling it further to the very best individuals. At one point I had 50 cows, I plan on culling down to 10-20 cows. I am looking for someone to keep this core herd for me, and in return they will get the calves born that year- with the exception of one that I select to keep for every year you care for the herd in entirety.

I am looking for someone that has the land and ability to watch over a small herd of Dexter cattle. This herd will number 10-20 cows and a bull. I would be willing to cull down to 10 cows for the right individual if they don’t have the ability to take care of a larger herd. These will all be purebred Dexter, but not all registered. The registered Dexters are registered through the ADCA. My bull Clive is also ADCA registered and is homozygous polled, all calves will be polled as well as the entire adult herd. The Dexters I have left are very good stock, maybe not perfect, but I have culled them to meet my needs specifically.

When I get my new place setup, I will come and retrieve my core herd and you get to keep your calves or the proceeds

earned by selling your calves. If I pickup the herd in the middle of a year the calf crop will be prorated and figured for the entire year’s calf crop.  For example, if you keep the herd until the end of June, you will get 50% of the calf crop for that year, as you cared for them 50% of the time that year. That includes both the calves born while you cared for the herd and those born that year after I have retrieved the herd. If you keep the herd until mid march or 20% of the year you will get 20% of the calf crop as you cared for them that percentage of the entire year. We will take turns picking which calf we want to keep. 

So if you have 10+ acres and are located between Macon, Missouri and SE Alabama I have an offer for your consideration. In exchange for caring for my herd of Dexters, you will get to keep the calves every complete year, minus the one I keep. You can sell them or keep them your choice. I will get my choice of one calf every year that will either remain with the herd or be sold. You must be able to care for this herd for up to four years while I setup my new place. The ideal candidate will be as close to SE Alabama as possible. Will have the facilities and land necessary to care for the herd. They will have the know how or ability to learn how to care for the herd, I will help someone with this as well and if I can find someone close to SE Alabama I may lend a hand when needed. I will always be just a phone call away to answer questions.

We have found a herd keeper and are no longer looking.