Are there any real farmers out there???

[rox]

My setup is similar. No cages for my hens. Also no winch system for cleanout. Concrete floor that is cleaned by tractor or skid steer. Hens walk on slats and manure falls through. Trick is keep litter dry to reduce smell. Only cleanout once a year. Nests have belts in the front that run to egg gathering tables. Our eggs are for hatching.

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If your eggs are harvested for hatching, you must have roosters around then, right? I am frely going to show my ignorence here, but as i understood it a chicken will give you an egg every xx days, just like women ovulate. If women don't have sex our eggs are jsut expelled as they are not fertilized wth a sperm. So using ths same logic unless that egg has been fertilized by a rooster no little chickie is going to be born from that egg, right? Otherwise what woud be the purpose of roosters?

 

[jwcinpk]

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If your eggs are harvested for hatching, you must have roosters around then, right? I am frely going to show my ignorence here, but as i understood it a chicken will give you an egg every xx days, just like women ovulate. If women don't have sex our eggs are jsut expelled as they are not fertilized wth a sperm. So using ths same logic unless that egg has been fertilized by a rooster no little chickie is going to be born from that egg, right? Otherwise what woud be the purpose of roosters?

Yes, that's right the roosters are just here for fertilizing the eggs. Eggs are laid regardless of rooster presence they just aren't fertile.

 

[Oatsfarm]

Real farmers have poop on the outside of their boots..ha..that痴 what I have been told in Alberta, Canada. Every Government Agencies has their rules as to who is and who is not a farmer. Yes I have land, 500 acres and have some cash flow, but what makes a farmer? It is the love of the land and willing to give up a lot to stay on this land. If you have this character you ALL are farmers. Governments (all types) and Corporations have screwed us farmers over the years but I think that the farmer is the only person on earth that can put a square peg in a round hole. So much for my 2 cents worth.

Being a older farmer and getting older; working with old machinery that needs to be repaired a lot is costing time and patience also some cash. Most of my utility work (landscape yard work, snow removal, digging disposal pits, spraying, running grain augers and etc) was done with a 1952 Farmall M with a Farmhand loader and JD 830D . The loader and tractors are worn out, cost too much to fix and some parts you can not get new parts only used in some cases. We have been making the odd parts. We decide it was time to get the utility section of this farm to the 20th century. Using the Bank痴 money we purchased a Montana 5740C with a loader. If I don稚 pay for this tractor my children will.

Before buying the Montana I did research and viewing of a lot of tractors. The Montana tractor is constructed like the old ones were, strong and easy to work on and this is the reason I purchased the unit. This was a good buy and this tractor is as good as the Massey, New Holland, Case and I think better that the John Deere. Dollar wise I did very well saving anywhere from $4000.00 to $2000.00. I would recommend a Montana, oh by the way the Dealer is important.

May your plow shear run deep
David

 

[slowzuki]

I file a statement of farm income every year and pay income tax on it. When I lose money my loss is limited because more of my income is derived off farm.

Am I a farmer? Sort of I suppose. I wouldn't say it loudly in a room of dairymen. I don't know any full time farmer only farmers here. Even the largest, most successful farmers around here have off farm jobs. Friend has 600 acres of corn and beans and a couple hundred of hay, a 20 horse barn (converted his dairy parlour) but he works full time.

He has over a million in debt at age 25 so I guess that makes him a real farmer.

 

[jwcinpk]

I file a statement of farm income every year and pay income tax on it. When I lose money my loss is limited because more of my income is derived off farm.

Am I a farmer? Sort of I suppose. I wouldn't say it loudly in a room of dairymen. I don't know any full time farmer only farmers here. Even the largest, most successful farmers around here have off farm jobs. Friend has 600 acres of corn and beans and a couple hundred of hay, a 20 horse barn (converted his dairy parlour) but he works full time.

He has over a million in debt at age 25 so I guess that makes him a real farmer.

I sure know the feeling on his debt! If we do this 2nd set of poultry houses we'll be approaching 1.7 million dollar range. Unlike him I don't have an off the farm job any more. This is it. Win, lose, or draw I'm a farmer.
I look at farmer kind of like that country song where the girl is "gone". Like the kinds of gone, there are lots of "farmers". Dairy, Hay, Grain, Cattle, and even Poultry Farmers.

 

[slowzuki]

Its interesting, I've been reading lately on what effect debt has on success of farmers and it is tough to advance against large debt.

I'm lucky in that we had a large sum of savings to start from but it still amazes me how much money we have tied up in only 5 years for a small operation. I think I'm grossing something like 5000 - 8000$ a year right now but have a god awful amount of capital into it.

I can't get the numbers to work for going into debt to maybe triple the gross, it all shows our net staying the same.

 

[jwcinpk]

Its interesting, I've been reading lately on what effect debt has on success of farmers and it is tough to advance against large debt.

I'm lucky in that we had a large sum of savings to start from but it still amazes me how much money we have tied up in only 5 years for a small operation. I think I'm grossing something like 5000 - 8000$ a year right now but have a god awful amount of capital into it.

I can't get the numbers to work for going into debt to maybe triple the gross, it all shows our net staying the same.

If you start with nothing you have to incur some debt. Poultry (breeder)houses cost roughly $750,000 to build. If I had that kind of money laying around I would just farm until it was all gone anyway. I'm not getting rich, but I'm able to pay the mortgage and stay home with the kids so it works for me. I figure working a 9-5 job all I would be able to do is work and pay for the farm anyway.