Long story short for me. My twin brother and dad got into a argument on the farm here my brother left my dad sold everything. He regrets it now. I wasn't around for a a couple years but I moved back and decided to take everything over. I've been buying equipment left right and centre. I've always had a high passion for farming so many good memories to make. Lots of suppers in the field and laughs. I'm excited to get back to where I was will take a lil bit almost there hoping to get my cattle this summer. To we had black and red Angus cattle and grain farm. Anyways great video Goodluck to you and don't give up. 👍
I operate a small farm where I raise freezer beef, freezer and commercially marketed lambs, broilers, turkeys, and layers as well as hay and corn. The corn is strictly feed. Most of the hay i sell but what I use for feeding i have a reliable neighbor round bale. Most things i have learned, it's better to be set up to do yourself. My biggest losses have been due to my custom chemical applicator. Timely herbicide application is paramount. In the past three years they have sprayed the wrong fields, caused very delayed planting, or not even shown up to spray at all. So it better to be set up to at least do my own burn down and if all else fails keep some weed control with Roundup so I bought a cheap simple sprayer. . I know everyone has their favorite equipment. With a couple of exceptions i stuck with Deere. Yes I have old two cylinders but I primarily use my 4020. There are a lot of them out there. Lots of parts available in salvage,, aftermarket or through Deere. Same with my corn planter, a 7000 and my 336 kicker baler. They are simple cheap and reliable as well as rebuildable. Shoup is a good resource for planter parts. I put up ear corn. It's cheap to store. I use a New Idea picker. Again lots of parts machine and I found a company in Pennsylvania that says if they can't find a part through Agco they will make it. I have basically tried to buy equipment with the intent of never having to replace it. We have a good market for horse hay. My area has a big Muslim population, (I'm an hour away from Detroit) so we have the best market for lambs in the country. Combine that with marginal land i can sometimes get for free and I can pretty much feed them for nothing minus the cost of portable electric fence. Or using the mob pasture system to greatly improve crop land soil. I have also turned the sheep out on the corn fields after harvest to clean up butt shelled corn. They stay out all winter unless snow is to deep. The steers are Holsteins. Again, cheap and readily available. I work on the dairy they come from. Another reason for them, i don't own enough land to pasture raise the cattle. They put a lot of pressure on everything and I am not investing money on someone elses land for fence. Besides i can buy straw for $25 a bale and make compost afterwards. Holsteins are not efficient grazers anyway. Marketing is as big a time consumer as the actual work is. Thankfully my wife is the Secretary of Finance, Marketing and Sexual Affairs. A good sense of humor is helpful in this business too. Hahaha.
Same story with me. Long story short I am down to selling flowers and berries about 12 weeks a year at the Saturday market. My kids help out and they make money which is a big bonus. My wife and I have good paying full time jobs. It's just a hobby for me now and we have all the fresh produce to eat and can and freeze. We save some money on food bills. You are so correct on the labor component. for years I didn't consider my time in the equations because I was happy building a farm. But farming is very hard work. There is no money in farming at this scale unless you are certified organic and you are willing to do hard labor 60 - 80 + hours per week to make like $15 - $20 per hour in profit. One positive is farming is a good write off if you have other self employment or 1099 income which i have.
Yup.20 years.dairy.second job support farm.cows gone 2013.sold 100 acres off.paid off debt. Now retired.sell hay to one buyer. Good write off. Pays taxes. Away from urban sprawl.fer now. Burning up out west.rain 26days in july here.hay be premium here in NY this year.
