I quit!!!!!!!

[Farmwithjunk]

We managed to pop one of the tires on a brand new tedder rake on the trip home from the dealership. The problem with haying is the new stuff breaks down too. That and the weather!

If you use equipment, you BREAK equipment. It's that simple. Granted you aren't dealing with significant wear on newer stuff, but it ain't new for long! I've made a living out of picking up on newer equipment that's had chronic mechanical issues and the owner just wanted to get rid of it. Fix the problem and go on with life. The key is to keep your equipment in top condition, spend plenty of time with preventative maintenance, and learn HOW and WHY things work. That way you can more easily spot potential problems BEFORE they become down time problems.

Just remember one thing about haying, or any other farm related chore. NO ONE (that knows what they're talking about) ever said it was easy.

 

[chetlenox]

Farmwithjunk,

I apologize, but I've just got to say this: You are the man. I've been reading what you write in this forum for a little over a year now, and everytime it's something insightful and dead-on accurate (as far as I can tell, anyway).

Just had to say that. Ya'll can return to the regularly scheduled topic now...

Chet.

 

[zionview]

I agree with you FWJ. We spent all winter in the shop getting ready for the growing season. The thing that frosted me was paying extra for parts when they're purchased out of season( and waiting forever to get them while part of the shop is tied up). But I sympathize: with a herd of dairy cattle, and hauling grain and more for neighbors and doing custom work, we never really got everything done over winter that we wanted to. And it was always the piece you really wanted to get to, but couldn't , that would give us problems in season.

 

[wolc123]

It was the baler that took the fun out of hay. When I was a kid, we brought it in loose, using a loader to fill the wagon, and cutting only enough to feed our own cattle. Then we got a baler and started selling the stuff, and it stopped being "fun" at that point. God help the folks making hay this year as we have not had two consecutive days without rain since sometime in May.

 

[FED2782]

Well haying is hard to stop!! The pain was worth the end results!! At least that is what I thought..I finally quit one day when the tractor quit on a Sunday while round baleing... I had about 40 acres down and rain was coming the next day..The neighbor was bugging me for years to let him lease the farm..sooo I went over that day and he leased the place for the same amount that I was getting for the hay. Now I watch him beat his head on the side of the tractor, baler,rake,tedder,wagon or what ever is broke in the field!! While I'm drinking a cold beer and thinking ,I bet his day could be better.....

 

[CumminsLuke]

I just had a guy bale another 25 acres for me that I didn't have finished yet and it made 110 round bales. I told him he could take half if he did all the work. I went out and loaded up 15 5'x5' bales on the trailer and will get the other 40 off today. I told my wife that sure is an easy way to bale hay, letting somebody else do all the work that is. I was sitting in my air conditioned office attending to business, while he was out sweating his you know what off. I sure am pleased with this new arrangement, at least so far. Letting somebody else do all the work is for sure the easiest way to make hay.

 

[Builder]

I just had a guy bale another 25 acres for me that I didn't have finished yet and it made 110 round bales. I told him he could take half if he did all the work. I went out and loaded up 15 5'x5' bales on the trailer and will get the other 40 off today. I told my wife that sure is an easy way to bale hay, letting somebody else do all the work that is. I was sitting in my air conditioned office attending to business, while he was out sweating his you know what off. I sure am pleased with this new arrangement, at least so far. Letting somebody else do all the work is for sure the easiest way to make hay.

I don't bale hay for a living, but this thread sure resonates home to me. For the first 19 years in my business, I had all kinds of employees, equipment & overhead. I thought I was doing great making a decent living and working my tail off all day. Then by happenstance about 3 yeras ago, I reduced down to 2 employees and sold of a lot of equipment and started subcontracting to other people I trusted that I met on jobsites.

Now I watch them kill themselves all day and make money off them just like you, Luke. They're happy to do the work and they're happy with the pay and I'm happy to do more supervision and have more energy left for my family & some relaxation in life.

I still have some tough days and work everyday, but not to the extent that it's no fun anymore.

 

[CumminsLuke]

With every passing day I become more convinced, you can make more money with your brains than with your back.

 

[tjkadar]

With every passing day I become more convinced, you can make more money with your brains than with your back.

I'm doomed to be broke the rest of my life!

 

[Builder]

With every passing day I become more convinced, you can make more money with your brains than with your back.

Of course you can. If you free up your body from the presense of being there and working all the time on the job at hand, you can then run multiple jobs at once. Even though you're paying more people to do the work, you come out ahead as long as you can run multiple jobs.

I'm surprised that you own several car dealerships & don't know this already! How many employees do you have? Like 100 or so?