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No matter what type of farm you have at the beginning of each year is a good time to review the previous year and set goals for the next year. Even if you are just a hobby farm or a small farm it is always a good idea to take a step back and consider how you are managing and what you can do to improve. As a hobby farm you might not focus so much in the area of finance as would a farm that is set up to run as a business, but there are many other things to consider besides the money aspect of farming.
It is best when you are doing your year end review and new year reset to separate the different animals or crops you raise and evaluate them all separately so that none get overlooked. We raise several different types of animals on our farm so we would have to go through each type of animal and evaluate how we are taking care of them, the goals for each, and improvements we see that need implemented. But the same principle would apply to a crop farmer or any other type of farmer. Throughout the year you should keep track of how much you spent on each type of animal or crop so that at the end of the year you can look back and see what is making money and which is eating your money. If you are just starting a farm do not expect to be making too much in the first few years unless you already have the overhead of land and equipment/animals. But don't get too discouraged all good things take time.
Here is a farm year end review and new year's goal guide for you in PDF format for you to print out and use in your year end review and in setting goals for the next year. I would suggest printing out as many as you have categories on your farm.
If you are a small farm trying to get established make sure you do not bite off more than you can chew. There are many people that jump into starting new things and take on too much and then fail. Know your limitations; how much time you have to spend on this project and your abilities to actually do the hard work. You will also have to consider the limitation of the amount of land that you have. Keep these simple things in mind when setting your goals for 2024.
We have actually set limitations so that we do not get overloaded with trying new things to get our farm up and running. Trying new things is fine but don't go crazy. Hope you all have a wonderful year!
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