I've been wanting to do a relaxed, start small gameplay, but with a kinda realistic, or at least relatable scenario.
I'm interested to hear your thoughts, and hope you enjoy to follow along.
Let's assume an elderly couple ran the operation, but with time they had to scale back, sold the valuable arable fields, then had to give up the cows. I began to be too much for them. They had made it a rule to remain debt-free, and while the equipment may be small, and often old, they kept it in good condition.
Long story short: We're on Calmsden, own the cow barn, and three smaller meadows, as well as equipment for making (baling) hay, and producing grain. We even have a decent 100 HP tractor with a frontloader. What we're missing though are a cultivator, a bale stacker, a forage wagon, a tank trailer, and maybe a belt system. More below.
I chose "Start From Scratch", paid back the loan immediately, figured out a way to get my hands on the equipment for about 75k, and bought land from the rest. There's 18k left in the bank.
How will I do this? Making the leap from the small meadows to the larger fields on Calmsden will be interesting. Also I guess I'll usually wait for used machinery offers for a long time at the beginning. I'll let the used machinery offers guide the direction, I guess. But part of me is interested more in grain than hay. But we'd need hay for the cows, and maybe silage later.
Here's my "plan" for the first year or so:
- I'll mow the meadows in August and November, but then prepare parts of it for seeding grain in the spring. We have everything for grain.
- Maybe I'll store bales of hay, and get a few cows soon. But I'll need a tank trailer to sell the milk. A what about the slurry?
- Or maybe I'll try to get my hand on a forage wagon and a belt system, and make silage from the meadows to sell it for a good amount of money. I think that's worth doing some math.
- Later it'd be nice to use straw from the fields for the cows, and slurry and manure for the fields. Makes sense, right?
The mower seems to be the most modern piece of machinery, and next to it sits the likely cutest piece: An old tedder and windrower in one machine. The rest I'll introduce later.