Posted by notjustair on March 03, 2014 at 10:22:45 from (174.229.72.13):
I just finished reading Straw Boss' post over on Case. I can identify with that greatly and it made me realize how much I limit my own prosperity. There are many things I could do to make my operation more efficient or expand but I don't want to. Friends think I am crazy because my goal is not to get rich.
I will never own a gps steered tractor. I like taking the wheel and needing to make the decision about where to go. There's an art to making split second decisions when drilling wheat and not overseeing when you don't need to. Like many others, I watch other's wheat germinate and judge their ability and tell of how I would have done it. Do I really want a computer to make that decision? I can't imagine being able to do it better but I don't want to go there.
When it rains, snows, or blows I wish like everything that I had a loader tractor with a cab. I don't really need one, though. My grandfather worked the farm many years without one - I'm lucky to have it. I'd imagine I could load bales faster or drive quicker with a hydro or loader that would take two bales at once. Time is money. I trade my money for the time it takes me, but I like that. I like that old tractor and take pride in its reliability. Maybe I will feel differently the closer I get to "retirement".
Since my first day on this farm I have raised and butchered chickens and turkeys. The meat and eggs sure are cheap in the grocery store and I don't save any money doing it my way. The meal tastes so much better and I refuse to waste and food when I saw the food from hatch to dinner plate. Maybe that is why there is so much waste in the world.
Cheap gates are pretty easy to get, but I have spent the last several days making pipe gates for the hog pens. Those are days when I could have been doing something else that would bring in some revenue, but I was awfully proud of the gate I made yesterday with just some time and welding rod.
I've let technology pass me enough that I would run myself crazy catching up. It's not that I am giving up, but I am happy with the way I am doing things. I know I could get a few thousand more by having a grinder with scales and optimizing my feed for hogs, but there's an art in that job.
It's not that I am foolish or not business savvy. I've owned my own successful business in the past. For some reason this farm is different - I'm not trying to get ahead. I am just trying to do what's best for the animals and land. Not that all of those machines aren't nice or needed by some (especially BTOs), but I am happy without.
I hope I'm not the only one? Maybe I was born in the wrong era. This post is a good example. Coming in for lunch and sitting down to rest after is something grandpa did. I could have eaten a quick lunch in the cab of a tractor. I didn't though. And I didn't rush right back out - I stopped in here to waste some time.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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