Posted by oldtanker on March 20, 2016 at 18:49:10 from (64.118.3.19):
In Reply to: Farms come and gone posted by Al Baker(pumpman) on March 20, 2016 at 14:41:22:
My dad hyped farming to me as a kid. When he retired from the Army and we moved to MN to buy a farm I was pretty excited. We got out here for my junior year of high school. I was shocked that the farm kids I went to school with could talk about nothing other than graduating from school and finding a job off the farm. This was in 71. I had it pretty much figured out by the end of the school year. These kids worked 7 days a week 365 days a year. Most had to feed cows before they got on the bus. Then it was home, chores, dinner and homework. Their summers were spent on a hay wagon or cultivating corn while the kids from town were at the lake swimming or fishing. In short dad worked em pretty hard. They dreamed of working 40 hour weeks and having holidays off. Sure a few wanted to stay on the farm but the majority that I knew did not. I know of 5 guys my age who stayed on the farm that are still farming. between them they run 3 farms as 2 of the farms have brothers farming together. All of them are getting ready to turn over to a 3rd generation. I think 2 of the 3 will be alright. As for the other guys that I know who stayed on the farm none of them made it through the 80's. Kinda being an outsider looking in what killed most of them was debt. And it seems to me a lot of the current farms in the area today made up of what failed in the 80's many are deep in debt. Of the 3 above one carries a heavy debt load. Another thing that affects kids taking over is post secondary education. A lot have never been anywhere but the local area. College gives them a whole new experience and opens up horizons. The may start out with an AG major but many will switch and go onto other things.
Now when there are siblings involved money matters come up. They all think they deserve a piece of the pie. So if that isn't taken care of before dad dies the one who stayed looses out when the brothers/sisters demand that the land be sold cause they want their money. They smart guys take care of that before they get too old.
It's sad to see some of the family farms fail for whatever reason. But some are going to fail. We no longer live in a time when boys did what they were told and farmed because dad made them stay on the farm and they had no other options.
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Today's Featured Article - Old Time Threshing - by Anthony West. A lovely harvest evening late September 1947, I was a school boy, like all school boys I loved harvest time. The golden corn ripens well and early, the stoking, stacking,.... the drawing in with the tractors and trailers and a few buck rakes thrown in, and possibly a heavy horse. It would be a great day for the collies and the terrier dogs, rats and mice would be at the bottom of the stacks so the dogs, would have a busy time hunting and killing, all the corn was gathered and ricked in what we c
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