Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

Farming/ranching on the whole has changed. Most small farmers/rancher are working a regular job as well as farming. This has been going on for years. DH's Uncle Wilbur in Kansas worked a full-time job in town and hooked up overhead lights on his section o he could plow after he got home from work. None of the kids stayed with the farm. That was in the 50-60's.
Moving on to present look at Farmerjan's son who works for VDOT fulltime and farms fulltime with her. My cattle tenant operates several places for his hay and cattle and works fulltime as a Little Debbie distributor. His wife works too.
Today farming requires a lot of expensive equipment and devotion that most people don't have. The youngsters who say they would love to have a farm don't understand the hard work it takes and when they find out they decide that they are not interested. The young people that would stick to it can't afford to buy either land or equipment. And then they have to compete with imported goods.

We are able to move and fund our ranch because we have retirement income behind us. If we can't make a go of it, selling our livestock and equipment will be an option along with either selling the ranch or renting out the house and fields. We will still have an income. How many young people can afford that? And those who have savings and would try are in their mid 30's to 40's. Most of them are established in a job with medical and retirement that they can't afford to give up.

The days of starting out with a mule and some acreage to build a life are over. You will still need a diesel mule but also about a million $$$ or more for everything else. LOL

 

[farmerjan]

Farming/ranching on the whole has changed. Most small farmers/rancher are working a regular job as well as farming. This has been going on for years. DH's Uncle Wilbur in Kansas worked a full-time job in town and hooked up overhead lights on his section o he could plow after he got home from work. None of the kids stayed with the farm. That was in the 50-60's.
Moving on to present look at Farmerjan's son who works for VDOT fulltime and farms fulltime with her. My cattle tenant operates several places for his hay and cattle and works fulltime as a Little Debbie distributor. His wife works too.
Today farming requires a lot of expensive equipment and devotion that most people don't have. The youngsters who say they would love to have a farm don't understand the hard work it takes and when they find out they decide that they are not interested. The young people that would stick to it can't afford to buy either land or equipment. And then they have to compete with imported goods.

We are able to move and fund our ranch because we have retirement income behind us. If we can't make a go of it, selling our livestock and equipment will be an option along with either selling the ranch or renting out the house and fields. We will still have an income. How many young people can afford that? And those who have savings and would try are in their mid 30's to 40's. Most of them are established in a job with medical and retirement that they can't afford to give up.

The days of starting out with a mule and some acreage to build a life are over. You will still need a diesel mule but also about a million $$$ or more for everything else. LOL

So very true and just as sad... there is next to no one that can start from scratch with just hard work ethic... a job, benefits, and preferable a spouse or partner with a job also, is about the only way to make it farming... unless you work into a family farm... and look at how many have branched out into "side enterprises" to be able to bring another family member into the company/corp etc....

DS told me he was talking to a friend that is looking at a new round baler... asked what I thought they might cost... I was thinking along the line of the new discbine... they are over 30,000.... NOPE a new 5x5 round baler is 60,000..... we will never own one... a new tractor will cost 150,000 to run a baler like that...
And I will continue to run our 35-40 yr old ford 4600 pulling the big rake to rake the hay... It cost around 9800 in the early 80's..... We could sell ours tomorrow for 15,000 easy... with all the hours and wear and tear on it... and it would cost 40,000 to buy a new comparable hp one....
Like a new 4x4 ford 3/4 ton truck... 60,000-80,000..... around what my house on 2 acres cost and my house needs work but it will increase in value... not decrease as soon as I moved in like a truck driven off the lot...

DS said he will be in debt the rest of his life with buying the 100+ acre farm he bought from doug's widow... unless he sells out and moves out to the middle of oshkosh nowhere land... and that may happen if land here gets so terribly high that selling out would be a smart option...

Heading up to check out the electric fence.

 

[Ridgetop]

The only problem with moving your farm to a cheaper area, is that the taxes are higher, and you have to start from scratch with fencing, well, barns. Then bringing your equipment is expensive and if it is an entirely new area you no longer are able to read the weather patterns you grew up with. One reason it is taking us so long to get to Texas.

Financially we would be better off selling our house and the farm and just renting. But it wouldn't be near as much fun.

 

[Mini Horses]

I have low RE taxes in my area/county. Recent reassessment upped tax base 1/3. More for house that ag land. With decreased tax rate it only increased tax a few $. They also increased the senior tax relief....overall, $700 less to pay!! they could move my way economically!!

 

[farmerjan]

If DS ever sells out, I will probably be long gone....unless something happens and he gets offered a humongous price for this place by some company that wants to put in a warehouse... since it is about 1/2 mile to entrance ramps to interstate and sits right along the interstate. One reason I was in favor of his buying it... potential value as commercial property....

 

[farmerjan]

Rain/showers left the area today and we got some sun this afternoon... rather nice out actually. Got cloudy to the west after 7 pm but it stayed west of here. Chance tomorrow but lesser, and Sunday is supposed to be decent then 60% chance of storms on Mon-Tues...

I put some clothes in washer to soak... white socks and such that were kinda dirty from the garden and getting wet in the sneakers the past few days especially... will hang them tomorrow and if they get rain water rinsed so be it... They ought to be dry by Sunday eve.

I went up and the electric fence was working so whoever turned the D@#Ned thing off up at the gate is the dope that allowed the one cow to reach across and then get over it... stupid... AIN'T gonna shock 'em if it ain't on....
Went out and got the numbers of the cows that are there... answered the questions I had on where a couple of them were on my list... but he put 2 in there that were checked OPEN... so I told him he needs to get a bull in with that group... NOW..... I thought they had gone out to another place...

Next need to go to the nurse cow pasture and write down whatever heifers he stuck in there to get bred, back when he was moving stuff around ....

Vet check for the last group is next Tuesday.... and there is a hodgepodge of different ones in there... stuck a few in there that were getting out at the pasture next to me this winter... stuff like that... plus a core group that ought to be bred several months... guess we will find out.

Dropped off the gasket set at the barn since DS forgot to get it when he got the sorghum seed out of the explorer...

Came home and did a few odds and ends in the house. Later this afternoon, I got out the walk behind weed eater... had to put new "string" on it as they had gotten eaten up/broken the last time I was "abusing it"....
Did out around the clothesline and the concrete marker the railroad had put in the old RR bed that went through here so DS doesn't hit it again and tear up the discbine... Need to go do around the well casing also... then I worked on some tall stuff along the pathway to the chickens to make it a little wider,,, and all around the shelter and just opened it up more. I will then be able to go over it with the push mower and chop it up into smaller pieces if I don't rake some of this thick stuff up first. Want to do more maybe tomorrow...
Have to test tomorrow afternoon but no set up so can leave here at 3 to be in plenty of time for 4 pm milking time.

I need to get the bottles in the rack/tray for testing tomorrow. Also had another herd text me to test next week... told them any day but Tues... to let me know.

I'm going to bed... I didn't sleep good last night... woke up a couple times...???? have no idea why.

 

[Baymule]

I also have a check coming in every month. SS ain’t a lot, but BJ made a lot of money in his lifetime and he is taking good care of me now. I have small investment accounts that I don’t touch. I’m able to live my dream and have a small farm. Finally. I relish all the work I have in front of me here, I love this way of life. I had just started making a profit on my sheep when BJ died and my world fell apart. I’m putting it back together and if not next year, then the year after, I may show a small profit. It will get turned back into the farm. I’m having a ball. Sell? Nope. I’m having too much fun!

 

[CLSranch]

Getting "sprayed" with cow manure is something that does not appeal to the youth.... there is not the love of animals seen in the populance in general... "brushing off" the getting dirty part of work is not something that many are willing to deal with and our society in general does not accept "getting dirty and doing manual labor" as a virtue... look at the building trades.... young men used to do the "macho thing" and now the older business owners cannot find the help they need....there is also little pride in a job well done anymore...

I was working at a power plant years ago (which makes this worse) with a couple of young (18-21) helpers. It was their first big job and most likely their last. They'd either hire on permanent when it started running or take the more money than they could've made anywhere else and leave.
We spent 40 of the 50 hours of the first week in "training" and safety classes. We/I needed to move a support that weighed several hundred pounds, so I asked for their help. They said we can't we need a forklift or a carry deck (small crane) it weighs over 50lbs. We can get in trouble by safety. I said I know it's heavy that's why I asked for ya'll to help me, now help. With worried looks they refused and I just moved it by myself. The pu$$y movement and sue happy f ks is so bad that it's even in training to not work. Don't forget the insurance that is required for any body that was to hire someone who is not willing to take a hit.
I got burned once (maybe twice) from my mistake when I worked at a restaurant in high school. Later the owner said why didn't you say something, that's why I pay all this money to insurance. Today they are running to the Dr. and maybe a lawyer.

Moving on to present look at Farmerjan's son who works for VDOT fulltime and farms fulltime with her. My cattle tenant operates several places for his hay and cattle and works fulltime as a Little Debbie distributor. His wife works too.
Today farming requires a lot of expensive equipment and devotion that most people don't have. The youngsters who say they would love to have a farm don't understand the hard work it takes and when they find out they decide that they are not interested. The young people that would stick to it can't afford to buy either land or equipment. And then they have to compete with imported goods.

We are able to move and fund our ranch because we have retirement income behind us. If we can't make a go of it, selling our livestock and equipment will be an option along with either selling the ranch or renting out the house and fields. We will still have an income. How many young people can afford that? And those who have savings and would try are in their mid 30's to 40's. Most of them are established in a job with medical and retirement that they can't afford to give up.

The days of starting out with a mule and some acreage to build a life are over. You will still need a diesel mule but also about a million $$$ or more for everything else. LOL

Sad but true. It makes it worse where here and a few other states (here it's still cheaper per acre than most states but still) the Gov gives people a million dollars, yes 6 0's behind the 1 to buy land and start a business where you may be looking at land. The current admin doesn't help with that or the other reasons for the price hike. I watched it double here, meaning in 2019 getting a loan and paying ALL of the interest would be cheaper than paying cash for land today.
I've known it's not likely that you can buy land and make it pay for itself. Now it's beyond impossible. I've always thought my "job" could buy the land so I could retire on the land's income. Now I'm still wanting the land to be my hermit self but think retirement will be a normal job AND any cattle or whatever I do with such land.
It's cheaper to work in town and have a small house.

 

[farmerjan]

My SS covers all my normal bills. I have a retirement account with very little left in it since I used a sizeable amount for the downpayment on the house... but I think I have to start taking some out when I hit 70 ? Might take it all out and put it in the stock market on the stocks I have that pay dividends... several pay monthly, not alot, but at this point have about $100 month coming in that I don't do anything to collect... goes back in my brokerage account...Averages 12% year interest in the dividends..... and I started off buying 10 shares at a time so not like I am a big time investor or anything. Have added since I got money from parents estate, but have also paid off most all the cc balances in full so no interest payments. But, it took to this age to be able to do that.... and could pay for the expensive work on the vehicles these past couple of months.

I get some income from cattle, but then when I bury one that is totally lost money. So they are a gamble too...

I will pay my mtg until I die... but the interest rate is fixed 2.87%... rather keep my cash flow money than pay that off sooner... the way things are going, you will never borrow at that rate again.

Cloudy, 68 this morning. Might see some sun, but looks like storms to come in after 12-1 p.m. Might get my butt in gear and go out and do a little more with the walk behind weed eater while it is not raining. Things are caught up in the garden until next week when I want to put in another couple rows of green beans to stagger the processing.... can't believe I got it all mulched... although there are a couple places up around the tomatoes I need to add some to make it thicker... It was skimpy and I saw a few weeds poking through .

 

[Mini Horses]

It's cheaper to work in town and have a small house

Which is happening a lot. I just don't WANT to do that. Safety wise, in today's environment, walking through a field with a bull is safer than walking to your mailbox in town. I don't like all the traffic either. Don't like a house 50' away.

I could sell this place, buy and bank a lot of $ with values now. Wouldn't be happy -- although there are days I'd LOVE to have no chores, grass cutting, fence or other obligations! One day I might subdivide, sell out all but a couple acres, bank a lot of proceeds and become a hermit....with couple cats, few chickens, a goat or three an option.

My SS covers all my normal bills, too, including my mortgage, with $ left. Subdivide and live smaller, mtg gone, I'd be in hog heaven. I could quit now but not ready. It's social and income I can feel ok to spend -- carefully but, not a consideration for eating or having electric! I do work a job where I can control my schedule!! If not that schedule element, I'd quit.