Re: Just wondering

Posted by Andy Martin on June 15, 2005 at 07:21:10 from (64.219.39.195):

In Reply to: Re: Just wondering posted by Sloroll on June 15, 2005 at 05:25:49:

Boy it is tough.

You have to be stubborn to farm. You have to plant when it is dry and mow hay when rain is threatening.

It is hard to know when to quit. There is a time to quit. It is also hard to make good business decisions when you have a banker helping you to the poor house.

Read the post above about my uncle. I've had lots of successful relatives farming, but none that started with nothing like this guy.

He had to go to town and get a job to supplement his income a few times. The jobs were never very good.

My dad left the farm he was buying form his dad in 1951 to work in Kansas City. His brother fed the cattle. I remember going to Iowa in August to buy hay. They sold their registered Hereford herd for $0.10 on the dollar. The third winter in KC was followed finally be drought busting rain and the fields stayed too wet to get any wheat out. My dad went to KC for good. His brother (not the uncle mentioned above) went to CA and worked a year on corporate farms. He came back and ran both farms successfully until his death in '72 (rolled a tractor over stretching fence with a loader). By the way, they all farmed with 9N Fords. My dad bought the M in '52 because he could not custom hay because of wet fields. The dealer convinced him the larger wheels would help. The M is all I remember and is why I got started on IH. It was only a few years ago I found out it was a last-ditch attempt to stay afloat.

Hard times, and stubborn, but they took extreme action to save their farms.

Depression, stress, fear of failure, who knows why otherwise successful bright people let it get to them? I just cannot blame the corporations, banks, nor the government. Allan survived a forced sale, as have many others. All I know is what my extended family has gone through in the last 70 years.

In my response you answered, I prefaced it that pay as you go is a good plan for a quarter section family farm. But 160 acres is not a business that will support a family any more. Or a new tractor of any size.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Just wondering Sloroll 07:34:25 06/15/05 (1)
  • Size Matters Pharmall 08:03:55 06/15/05 (0)

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