How it gets paid for, and how it survives a bad year. The plan repeats "the farm doesn't pay the mortgage — your income does" — this page makes that explicit, and stress-tests it.
The mortgage is serviced by off-farm / remote income, not the farm. These are illustrative assumptions — plug in your real numbers — but the structure is the point.
| Assumption | Illustrative | Note |
|---|---|---|
| All-in onto the land (home $424k + machine $38k) | ~$462,000 | See Cost |
| Down payment (~20%) | ~$90,000 | Land equity can count toward a construction-to-perm loan |
| Financed | ~$370,000 | 30-yr; rate varies |
| P&I @ ~7% | ~$2,460/mo | The big fixed cost |
| + Property tax | low | Ag/wildlife valuation slashes the land's taxable value |
| + Insurance (home + farm) | ~$250–400/mo | See §4 |
| ≈ PITI | ~$2,900–3,200/mo | Keep under ~28–30% of gross |
| → Household gross needed | ~$95–115k/yr | One solid remote income, or two modest ones |
The Cost page is capital (what you build). It does not include monthly debt service, cost of living for five, or construction-period interest + carrying two housing costs while you build. Budget those separately.
Hold 6–12 months of PITI + living in cash before you break ground. A homestead has lumpy costs (a well that comes in deep, a dead cow, a roof) — the reserve is what keeps a bad month from becoming a sold farm.
North Texas will drought. Set a destock trigger (sell the grower first), keep a 6-month hay buffer in the pole barn, line up a water-hauling fallback if the pond drops, and budget a drought-year feed line. The herd is kept small partly for this.
The well pump and the aerobic septic are grid-dependent (remember Uri, 2021). Spec a generator sized to run pump + septic + freezers with 3–7 days of fuel, plus a deep-freeze playbook (drip faucets, heat-tape the wellhead, water stored for stock).
A milk cow is a 365-day commitment. Cross-train both people on every chore, keep a farm-sitter lined up, and have a plan for illness/travel — including the option to dry the cow off or skip a meat-bird batch in a hard season.
Farm/ranch liability + an umbrella policy (essential once the public visits the stand/U-pick), optional livestock mortality on the cow, and an explicit health-insurance line for a family leaving employer coverage. Also: two freezers, not one — a whole beef alone is ~8–10 cu ft; lean on canning and curing too.
Have a plan for a dead cow or lost calf: composting or burial per Texas rules, with a large-animal renderer/contractor as backup. Keep a quarantine pen (see Animals) and basic poultry biosecurity given the free-range flock near a waterfowl-attracting pond (HPAI).
The moment money changes hands at the farm stand or for U-pick, a light legal layer applies. The income niche covers the revenue side; this is the paperwork.
An LLC for liability separation, a Texas ag/timber number (sales-tax exemption on inputs), a sales-tax permit if you sell taxable goods, and Schedule F bookkeeping from day one.
Texas cottage-food law allows eggs, honey, jams, and baked goods direct-to-consumer; raw dairy and meat sales are heavily restricted. Keep the farm a feed-yourself operation first; treat sales as surplus.