5 Crucial Characteristics of a Livestock Business Owner That Will Make you a Successful Entrepreneur

Before venturing into the livestock business and establishing yourself as an entrepreneur in livestock production.

There are a lot of unique factors you should put into consideration that will enhance your livestock business.

These are the factors we are going to discuss in this article.

Just like in any business there are risks, downfalls, and the experience curve that will propel you for greater achievement and success.

Most of the entrepreneurs and livestock business owners, even with those with rural background or parents that have kept one livestock or the other, are not really exposed to the risk involved in livestock enterprises.

Despite the high level of scientific advancement it is very difficult to forecast the performance of a particular animal because the production performance of livestock is influenced by several socio-environmental factors.

It is important therefore to acquire adequate knowledge about production, and marketing which are highly variables due to high variation in the types of livestock, products.

In terms of management practices, feeding types, region and climatic requirements for the livestock to thrive.

The economic viability and status of the livestock in particular.

An entrepreneur venturing into the livestock business should have the following acumen and characteristics.

1. An Entrepreneur Or Livestock Business Owner Should Have A Clear Vision And Objective Of What He Wants

The livestock business owner should have a well-defined objective and clear vision of the type of production of livestock, and livestock products he is going into.

This will enable him to channel all his resources and energy in achieving his goals and objectives without distraction of any sort.

A livestock business owner should be able to determine the dimension and scale of production. i.e

• Whether it’s a small scale for supplementing the family income
• A larger unit for earning a livelihood
• Commercial enterprise of various sizes

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2. Sourcing of Funds and Management of Resources.

The livestock business owner and entrepreneur should have a concise plan on how he is going to source for both financial and human capital to kick start his livestock business. Which may includes

• Personal savings
• Contributions from family and friends
• Loans from financial institutions etc.

For a viable livestock business

• A good infrastructural development
• Facilities on the farm
• Purchase of livestock
• Quality feeds
• Veterinary drugs
• Machinery and electrical appliances
• Processing of products
• Marketing of products.

Should be carefully planned.

3. A Livestock Business Owner Must be Ready to Take Risk

The fear of starting and the fear of the unknown is real and normal to any entrepreneur.

A livestock business owner should be prepared to take the risk because most of the livestock, products are highly perishable items e.g

• Meat
• Milk
• Cheese
• Skin before processing etc

Even the animals themselves could fall sick at any time, outbreaks of animal diseases are capable of causing huge economic loss to the farmer without any prior notice.

Read Also: The Fear of Starting, Best Strategy to Overcome it

4. Effective Method of Storing And Disposal of Excess Products during periods of Product Agglutination

As a good livestock business owner you should develop skills for the alternate method of disposal e.g excess or surplus milk left unsold should be utilized.

In such a way that it will not cause any economic and financial loss to the business owner and the farm.

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5. Other vital points needed for a successful take-off and establishment of any enterprise of livestock production include the following:

• The livestock business owner should have basic knowledge of selected animal  husbandry
• Availability of market for the products, within the approachable limits
• Full knowledge of seasonal fluctuation for the demand of products i.e demand for products at certain periods of the year e.g festive periods.
• Scope of sale of value-added products
• Availability of unskilled and skilled labor
• Security of the farm, its location, and accessibility
• Power supply i.e electricity, solar, or windmill.
• Availability of land and natural water sources
• Scope of seasonal purchase and storage of feed-stuffs.
• The cycle of occurrence of natural calamities i.e earthquakes, bush fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.
• Insurance facility for farm commodities and livestock’s will provide protection against unforeseen  mishaps