Looking for investor for existing alternative livestock business

victoria

   My husband and I are in the alternative livestock business.  We both grew up in this business and this is the business our kids want to continue.  Our problem in a nutshell is this:  We are currently living and keeping our animals (500+ head) on my father`s ranch.  This situation is not working out due to many reasons and we need to buy our own ranch.  It`s come to a point that we either need to get our own place or sell out.  We don`t really want to sell out because this is not just a business for us - it`s a lifetsyle!  We have worked long and hard to build our business to the point it is.
 
We buy, sell, trade, and raise different species of alternative livestock but we wish to expand into the high dollar species such as antelope, giraffes, etc.  The current financial crisis has not really hurt our industry as a whole.  Although last year`s expenses was the highest our expenses have ever been (due to high price of corn, hay, and fuel) - it is also the best year we have ever had financially.  There is alot of money to be made in this industry.
 
Our problem has been getting the cash to do the deals that come our way.  We did get a friend to invest in a deal last year.  He invested $20,000.00 cost in a herd of animals.  We resold them within a  month`s time for $50,000.00 making a total profit of $30,000.00 which we split in half. (PS - this deal could have made produced a lot more profit, but the investor wanted his money back quickly).
 
We have to turn down a lot of deals because of the lack of working capital and barns/land to house inventory.  We do have a local banker that will loan some money on our current animal inventory collateral.  However, it is not enough to buy a ranch (we need several acres to support the animal inventory that we have now and hope to expand to).
 
We are looking for a partner or investor to purchase land & animals to expand our business.  If you have any ideas on how to present this to investors or where to find them, please let me know.  Looking for any advice we can get on how to accomplish this and make money for both the investor and our family.
victoria1/8/2009 6:33 PM

robertj

Victoria,
Although you have presented a good summary - I`d need  more detailed information in order to provide you with a specific direction.  Based on the information given, there should be viable solution(s) available.
 
Send me a PM if you want to discuss the specifics of your situation
 

victoria

Thanks for the input so far.  I do believe that now is the time to buy a place due to the financial crisis in real estate.  We did have someone tell us to go into the banks and find out what is on foreclosure to see if one of these properties would work.  Then tell the bank how we could pay for it and they may be more able to work with us now than before just so they can get rid of the property.  One other problem we have is that any property we buy has to have 8 ft fences put up due to the type of animals that we keep.  So there is some additional expenditures for any property that we find.
 
If we sold the bulk of our animal inventory we could pay cash for a nice little place.  However, the animal inventory we would need to sell to do this would be hard to replace.  We`ve worked so hard to get our inventory to where it is now that we hate to give it all up even for our own ranch.  If we could just borrow the money or take a partner, then we could keep the animal inventory (which the income would make the payments) and have the land to put them on. 
 
It`s hard to explain, but the animals we have are regulated and we are on the verge of doubling our income within the next few years due to the fact that we have participated in the voluntary regulated programs and alot of other people have not.  We can move & sell our animals easier than they can. 
 
We`re not looking for a handout or anything - just someone that might be interested in getting into an interesting business and making some money along the way.

robertj

Victoria,
There are many ways to bring capital into a business (we`ve identified over 50 combinations of method /sources). Finding the "optimum" combination to fit you and your business depends on a number of factors starting with  - How much capital will you need?
 
Again, feel free to send me a PM if you want to discuss your specific situation. 

victoria

I am in the process of putting figures together to put together a proposal of some sort.  Trying to get my taxes done right away too since we had our best year last year.  I am a bookkeeper so I pretty well know how to do this, but if anyone has any advice on what investors actually look for I would appreciate any advice you can give me.  What do they normally want for a return on their money? 
 
RobertJ, I will send you a PM with more details as soon as I can.  I`ve just been really busy this week.