Hats Off

[Anonymous]

Hats off to posters with a wealth of knowledge for the rest of us. You guys are great. I read not too long ago the average age of todays American farmer is somewhere in the 60's. Not very good for American farming. The younger generation really needs a push to pick up where you are retiring. I guess most of today's generation is just scared of it because it looks too much like work. Anyways you gentlemen are appreciated. To all Merry Christmas.

 

[Anonymous]

------you gentlemen are appreciated, and ladies........ It is discouraging to see things like the local 4H and FFA fading away or at least diminishing. It seems kind of ironic in a way that more of the farming slack is being taken up with people getting into their second lifes work. We see more and more young folks in their 40s and 50s starting to farm. But it seems like in many ways they're the only ones that can afford to get started. I'm pretty lucky to associate with two young kids, 24-25 that are dairying fulltime as their only occupation. Both have degrees in animal science but have chosen to take up the business anyway. And they are both "Dairyman" not just guys with a dairy.

dun

> Hats off to posters with a wealth
> of knowledge for the rest of us.
> You guys are great. I read not too
> long ago the average age of todays
> American farmer is somewhere in
> the 60's. Not very good for
> American farming. The younger
> generation really needs a push to
> pick up where you are retiring. I
> guess most of today's generation
> is just scared of it because it
> looks too much like work. Anyways
> you gentlemen are appreciated. To
> all Merry Christmas.



[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

I agree. Thanks to all for the great information. Keep it coming. I still consider myself young (31), and really enjoy the ranch life. I have a job in town, but I live on a ranch and work there part time. I would love to do it full time, but they couldn't afford to pay me enough to support my family of 4, plus support their own family. I don't have the capital or resources to start my own place, so I just enjoy helping someone else out. It seems to me that if your family doesn't have some big time acerage, it is pretty hard to get started in the cattle business.

********************

> Hats off to posters with a wealth
> of knowledge for the rest of us.
> You guys are great. I read not too
> long ago the average age of todays
> American farmer is somewhere in
> the 60's. Not very good for
> American farming. The younger
> generation really needs a push to
> pick up where you are retiring. I
> guess most of today's generation
> is just scared of it because it
> looks too much like work. Anyways
> you gentlemen are appreciated. To
> all Merry Christmas.

 

[Anonymous]

> In agreement here also....I would love to raise cattle full time, but land is very expensive here in N Tx, and unless you were raise on a farm and were lucky enough to keep it in the family, it just seems cost prohibitive nowadays. I dont know of anyone around here who does this on a large scale, mostly just folks with a few head, even the oldtimers are selling their land off in small acreage chunks, as they make a lot more from that than they ever will in ranching. I cant imagine how much you would have to make to show a profit if you had to buy new equipment such as balers and mowers and large tractors, most of the old timers just keep their old equipment running as best they can.

 

[Anonymous]

At a TAMU short course a few years back they told us that it would take 500 head of beef cattle to net about $35,000 per year. That was when they considered the cost of land as a cost to operate. Today thay say the land should be a seperate investment and not include it in the operation cost. I is still opportunity money any way you look at it. you could do something else with that investment.

[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

No doubt those of us who do it without special opportunity are doing it because we love it. Some people look at me funny when I tell them raising cattle is my hobby (while they expected golf, fishing or hunting etc). I hope to build this hobby up to 300 head so it can be more than a sideline. At the current rate it will happen in a few years. If any read the Old Testament, a man's wealth was measured in land and cattle. I'd like to think that it can still be measured that way. It just depends on who you ask. After all isn't money really just a piece of paper with some ink on it? Just a thought. Merry Christmas.

> At a TAMU short course a few years
> back they told us that it would
> take 500 head of beef cattle to
> net about $35,000 per year. That
> was when they considered the cost
> of land as a cost to operate.
> Today thay say the land should be
> a seperate investment and not
> include it in the operation cost.
> I is still opportunity money any
> way you look at it. you could do
> something else with that
> investment.

 

[Ellie May]

Well I'm hoping to stay in the cattle business as long as I can afford it. I'm currently in 4-H & soon to be in FFA. I love animals, but you older folks are right not that many younger people are going into Agriculture. That's our nations down side because without Agriculture we would be nowhere. You need food to live. ;-)
Ellie May


:cboy:

 

[CopeMan]

Amen!!

 

[dun]

By The Way............

Don't let anyone try to tell you that you're not in the business just because you have only a couple of head, or a couple of dozen for that matter. If someone feels threatened that you;re going to take away their livelyhood they probly wouldn't make it in the business anyway.
Running multiple hundred head have certain managment requirements, fattening a steer in your backyard for the freezer has it's own requirements. I'm just glad to see anyone get involved with cattle, as long as the care for them properly, enjoy it, what's so wrong with that.
It's also great for kids. Seeing where the food comes from is only a small part of it. The commitment to a dumb animal to see to it's care and welfare is a valuable lesson in life. Responsibility as a youngster leads to the ability to take responsibility as an adult.
Keep at it and don't let the --------------- get you down.
If someone has to tell people how much better they are then others, teh yprobably aren't actually all that much.

dun

 

[eric]

It's not just farming that has that problem....I have a hard time finding guys who want to come to work in my shop as trainees. I try not to pay the trainees more than $8-$10 / hr start off with as I dont usually make any money off them, and all they do is mostly clean up the shop and clean up the parts we make, run bandsaws and such. But they take one look at my shop, see that the machnists get dirty and work long hrs sometimes, and they dont even consider taking the job, especially when whataburger/McDonalds will pay them $8/hr and they get to work with their friends and in a air conditioned store. I try to tell them that if they work into a good hand, they can make pretty good money as a machinist, as some of my guys make $18-$20 an hr, but they dont think about the future. Don't know what the future holds for the next 50 yrs or so, maybe thats why we have the immigrants coming over so quickly and building our homes and working in our factories!

 

[dun]

At least they're willing to work somewhere. A friend of mine has a logging company and has to hire two full crews in order to have one full crew show up on monday to start working.
Some years ago I was asked about going to work for a small company that wa owned by a little boy about 25-30. When I mentioned my age he said that was why he wanted me to come to work. He knew that the foggies would stick around till the good was done right where the kids would bale out at 5 o'clock no matter what the jobs status was. When I find young kids that are willing to do an honest days work, I'll sometimes hire them to do odd jobs, just to get some extra bucks in their pockets. I'm sure no do gooder, but we need all of those kind of youngsters we can get.

dun

It's not just farming that has that problem....I have a hard time finding guys who want to come to work in my shop as trainees. I try not to pay the trainees more than $8-$10 / hr start off with as I dont usually make any money off them, and all they do is mostly clean up the shop and clean up the parts we make, run bandsaws and such. But they take one look at my shop, see that the machnists get dirty and work long hrs sometimes, and they dont even consider taking the job, especially when whataburger/McDonalds will pay them $8/hr and they get to work with their friends and in a air conditioned store. I try to tell them that if they work into a good hand, they can make pretty good money as a machinist, as some of my guys make $18-$20 an hr, but they dont think about the future. Don't know what the future holds for the next 50 yrs or so, maybe thats why we have the immigrants coming over so quickly and building our homes and working in our factories!

 

[skip]

I want to say thanks to all of you that contribute to these boards. I'm retiring at the end of this school year after 26 years in education with last 15 being a high school principal. I can assure you that I am going to totally enjoyed raising our 30 cows on our 130 acres. The peace and solitude of working with the animals, clearing brush, mending fences and taking deep breaths of clean country air will be just fine with me.

My ability to learn and do the right thing in this new endeavor, is greatly enhanced by all of the issues discussed here. Plus, it's a heck of a lot of fun to see the strong opinions stated from time to time.

THANKS AGAIN

 

[Jake]

I'm still in highschool but I'm shaving off as much time as I can to get to the reins of the farm. Grandpa needs a permanent break. Making sure I'm keeping things in order will be enough for him. I'm already "head of operations" in animal selection and am building. I'm a little big for my britches but at least the boss seems to think I know my stuff. Just glad I have this to fall back on instead of having to be and Ag Manager for a company in a city or something along those lines. This is a great life and I don't want to have to lose it. It's too much fun.
Jake

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Jake you've got the right idea. Don't ever change your mind. I've been in the Ag manufacturing end of it for 17 years and people get greedier and greedier every day. It's taking me a long time to get enough volume going in the cattle end to get the heck out of this gig. Keep doing your own thing. You will never enjoy the Corporate life where enough is never enough.

 

[txag]

I'm still in highschool but I'm shaving off as much time as I can to get to the reins of the farm. Grandpa needs a permanent break. Making sure I'm keeping things in order will be enough for him. I'm already "head of operations" in animal selection and am building. I'm a little big for my britches but at least the boss seems to think I know my stuff. Just glad I have this to fall back on instead of having to be and Ag Manager for a company in a city or something along those lines. THis is a great life and I don't want to have to lose it. It's too much fun.
Jake

you may still want to consider a college degree if you're not already. a degree in agriculture (animal science, ag eco, ag engineer) what you already know and the direction you're headed while other degrees like business or marketing could also be used in the cattle business when you graduate. anyway, something to fall back on if you ever need to.

 

[Jake]

you may still want to consider a college degree if you're not already. a degree in agriculture (animal science, ag eco, ag engineer) what you already know and the direction you're headed while other degrees like business or marketing could also be used in the cattle business when you graduate. anyway, something to fall back on if you ever need to.[/quote]

I'm going to get a Ag Econ or Ag Business degree preferably from Kansas State also planning on taking some Animal Science classes even it is a summer school type situation. I just hope I can get enough college level classes taken in highschool that I can get out of college in 3 to 3 1/2 years. Education comes first but agriculture follows close behind...

 

[txag]

I'm going to get a Ag Econ or Ag Business degree preferably from Kansas State also planning on taking some Animal Science classes even it is a summer school type situation. I just hope I can get enough college level classes taken in highschool that I can get out of college in 3 to 3 1/2 years. Education comes first but agriculture follows close behind...

sounds like a good plan. animal science classes should be able to fill many of your elective requirements if you play it right.

 

[donnaIL]

This is a great thread...positive all the way around. It makes me believe in success as silly as that sounds! I wish we had been farmers along time ago/forever... sometimes the ones born into it don't appreciate it as much as we do. One thing is for sure you have to have your heart in it, love it.

Thanks to all the people who have mentored.