Hay Farmers getting out of farming

[OzarkChris]

I am interested in country life and rural folks like yourself. What drew you to Calamine? It is not even incorporated. I suppose you are not too concerned about living by yourself. So, what do you do all day living the good life? Shooting targets on your private shooting range and drinking Busch?

Again you seem to have a real stereotype in your mind about rural folk.

We don't have to be incorporated, we have a good volunteer fire department, the sheriff has a deputy that lives up the road a piece.

I don't have a shooting range, I get enough "practice" keeping predators away. Once a year we have a skeet shoot - although I've found that no matter how much you cook them things, they never get tender enough to eat! Don't drink Busch (or any alcohol for that matter).

Don't live by myself, have a wonderful wife, 2 dogs & a cat. Have wonderful friends that we see now & then. Have a 100 acre pond that has large mouth, red ear and catfish in it.

Today has been pretty slow, moved/fed the cows fixed a fence and had a good noontime dinner. Will head back out in a bit to knock another hole in the cow pond so they can drink.

 

[OzarkChris]

There seem to be a lot of chicken houses in Calamine. Are they farming chickens for eggs?

Nope, primarily pullets & broilers. The roo's are for the eggers & egg houses are for hatching, not for eating.

 

[OzarkChris]

You're the one that took issue with my comment...if you remember.

I apologize I came across that way, I wasn't trying to take issue with that comment, just stating that many of the kids round here working the family farms are graduates.

 

[MossRoad]

I think our scale of what a farm or ranch is, is different.

I'm use to 20,000+ acres and 10 or more hands.

I guess on a 500 acre farm, your needs are different.

The average farm size in Indiana is under 300 acres.
The average farm size in the United States is around 444 acres.

Plenty of information on the size of farms in the U.S. in both acreage and income here, and where they generate the majority of their income.

USDA ERS - Farming and Farm Income

U.S. agriculture and rural life underwent a tremendous transformation in the 20th century. Early 20th century agriculture was labor intensive, and it took place on many small, diversified farms in rural areas where more than half the U.S. population lived. Agricultural production in the 21st...

www.ers.usda.gov

Read the entire article, but in particular, scroll to the end:

Most farmers receive off-farm income, but small-scale operators depend on it​

Median total household income among all farm households ($80,060) exceeded the median total household income for all U.S. households ($67,521) in 2020. Median household income and income from farming increase with farm size and most households earn some income from off-farm employment. About 89 percent of U.S. farms are small, with gross cash farm income less than $350,000; the households operating these farms typically rely on off-farm sources for most of their household income. In contrast, the median household operating large-scale farms earned $402,780 in 2020, and most of that came from farming.

 

[Hay Dude]

Just hauled in fifty rolls of hay that I bought from a local producer. Plan on buying more next week while I can get it and I'm on his list for hay this summer. I've produced a lot of hay here the last forty years but it's going to be cheaper to buy what I need when I consider my time and effort. When Dad was here we worked together on cutting, raking and baling but since he passed away in '99 I've been doing it all myself. I'll probably sell my equipment this spring.

You're in my prayers and I hope things take a turn for the better and you can keep going.

 

[Hay Dude]

Farming and ranching will always attract those that did not go to college or a trade school.

I have 2 college degrees, FWIW.
And I am very attracted to farming.

 

[Hay Dude]

tough has nothing to do with it.

It's a lifestyle that lets boys drive big diesel trucks and drive tractors. There is no time clock or ridged structure. There are a lot of guys that want that.

Men, too. Dont call all us “boys”.
Some of the best farmers I know drive a car and youd never know they were a farmer.
You‘re stereotyping is ruining the thread.

 

[Snobdds]

Men, too. Dont call all us “boys”.
Some of the best farmers I know drive a car and youd never know they were a farmer.
You‘re stereotyping is ruining the thread.

We were talking about college age boys...sorry that triggered you.

 

[Hay Dude]

It's funny hearing farmers complain about this. Farmers that don't even have to use irrigation on their hay fields. Come out west, see what it's like. I know a bunch or ranchers that would gladly change places and make it a profitable endeavor.

Out west, hay fields need irrigation. Those that own the water rights, own the profitable hay fields. If you have to buy the water, well...you're just running and going nowhere.

Water rights are king and more valuable than the land in some cases. I own the water rights from the source to my ranch, and everyone wants a piece of it. It's been this way before Wyoming was a state, going back 5 generations. I've had governors and senators at my place begging for water. I give my neighbor, who worked with my grandfather and runs his cattle on my land all the free water he can handle. It drives everyone else crazy I give it to him for free, while no price can buy the excess.

Never complain, as there are other making due with less.

Come out east and see what its like. We have impossible problems, too.
We have a water-related problem, too. Its called too much rain.
I’ve lost entire cuttings from too much rain. Fields turn to mud, grass past its prime. 1/2 your gross income lost. Happened in 2018. Sometimes it happens in both cuttings.
And then theres flooding. Lost entire swaths of hay even 15’ above the river to floods. Once the flood water washes in, it deposits dirt all over the crop, ruining it.

So your soliloquy about anyone not living in the dry west complaining about water shows you dont know the whole story. There can be too little water and too much water.

Unlike irrigation, too much water cant be controlled, either. At least with irrigation available, you have a chance.

Farming is tough all over. Maybe if you actually farmed, you’d know.

 

[Hay Dude]

We were talking about college age boys...sorry that triggered you.

“Boys” and “men” are relative to what they’ve been through in life. I’d bet a young man doing real farm work becomes a “man”, long before some white collar kid.
I dont “trigger”, BTW.

Lions care little about the opinions of sheep.