is the public really this clueless?

[GMN]

I found out today, I was talking to a lady who said her Dad was involved in farming his whole life. I was thinking milking cows, no, he worked as a manager at a grocery chain, was in charge of setting up milk displays-not really farming. She then said oh we never lived on a farm, just in the city, then asked me if I milked I said yes, she asked how many times a day? What do you do with the milk?and a whole lot of questions i thought the answers were pretty obvious-guess not. Just wondering if anyone else thinks the public on a whole is clueless about dairy farms.other farming?

GMN

 

[dun]

I don;t know if it's "most people" but a lot of them have no idea where their food comes from.

 

[GMN]

Like one lady asked me what kind of cow gives strawberry milk? Here's your sign-lol

 

[TexasBred]

I found out today, I was talking to a lady who said her Dad was involved in farming his whole life. I was thinking milking cows, no, he worked as a manager at a grocery chain, was in charge of setting up milk displays-not really farming. She then said oh we never lived on a farm, just in the city, then asked me if I milked I said yes, she asked how many times a day? What do you do with the milk?and a whole lot of questions i thought the answers were pretty obvious-guess not. Just wondering if anyone else thinks the public on a whole is clueless about dairy farms.other farming?

GMN

Do you ever get the feeling sometimes when you're working hard that "not a soul knows I'm out here doing all this work and worse yet they probably don't care"? I still do sometimes.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Do you ever get the feeling sometimes when you're working hard that "not a soul knows I'm out here doing all this work and worse yet they probably don't care"? I still do sometimes.

Yep and yep!

 

[bigbull338]

she is like most if not all of the city people.they think all their food comes from the stores.they have no idea that some1 is working their selves to death to grow it an raise it.

 

[GMN]

Thats for sure, and many believe every farmer is so rich-now that couldn't be farther from the truth.

GMN

 

[bigbull338]

you got that right.they think because we have all that fancy equipment that we are making more than enough money.when the reality is that we arnt making hardly a dime.

 

[dun]

That's one reason I think that shows like the american cowboy and deadliest catch may have some merit in educating the public

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

I'd like to see some of them try and run a budget based on getting paid only when the calves come home and make it work...

...I take that back, that wouldn't be a pretty sight at all.

 

[GMN]

I'd like to see some of them try and run a budget based on getting paid only when the calves come home and make it work...

...I take that back, that wouldn't be a pretty sight at all.

What budget? ;-)

 

[pdfangus]

That is the problem

While you are all here for common interests and those you know are similarly involved.......

Most folks with a hand in agriculture fail to realize that agriculture is far less than 2% of the united states population.

98% have no contact with agriculture and most these days are three generations removed from any contact with the farm.

twenty or thirty years ago folks still had grandpa (or some other relative) back on the farm.

today grandpa most likely lives in the city as well.

the reality is that for these people milk does come from the store and it always has.

But cars and electronics have always come from japan and germany as well.

The majority of American society is spoiled and cluless and dependant on the government for all things.

how else can one explain the current state of affairs.

 

[novaman]

I agree with you pdf. So few people even have relatives on a farm anymore. The number of city folk is only going up and the level of awareness is going down. It's sad because even those who believe they know what goes on haven't got a clue.

Do you ever get the feeling sometimes when you're working hard that "not a soul knows I'm out here doing all this work and worse yet they probably don't care"? I still do sometimes.

I think about that alot TB, especially when I'm milking the cows. I get pissed on while hooking the milker on, get **** on while moving about in the parlor. I'm thinking to myself, "who would get pissed on and $hit on and do it all for next to nothing?" It isn't about the money though. A little appreciation from the public would be nice. Heck I guess I would just be happy to get them off our backs about all this animal rights stuff.

 

[GMN]

I agree with you pdf. So few people even have relatives on a farm anymore. The number of city folk is only going up and the level of awareness is going down. It's sad because even those who believe they know what goes on haven't got a clue.

Do you ever get the feeling sometimes when you're working hard that "not a soul knows I'm out here doing all this work and worse yet they probably don't care"? I still do sometimes.

I think about that alot TB, especially when I'm milking the cows. I get be nice on while hooking the milker on, get be nice on while moving about in the parlor. I'm thinking to myself, "who would get be nice on and $hit on and do it all for next to nothing?" It isn't about the money though. A little appreciation from the public would be nice. Heck I guess I would just be happy to get them off our backs about all this animal rights stuff.

Know what irks me about the animal rights stuff? Its bad enough what Peta does, sneaky videos, whole generalizations for all of us based on one or 2 people, but throw in DFA and how they want to make that program where they do farm inspections to see how they can "help" us get our farms where it is acceptable to the animal rights peoples point of views. Instead they should be helping us fight these fanatics who are trying to take away everyones right to free enterprise, and having their own business. I think its called covering their own butts, which will cost us more money in the end. Instead of wasting money on all these plans and groups who think of this stuff, why not just pay us more for our milk, that would surely solve alot of everyones problems.

GMN

 

[GMN]

That is the problem

While you are all here for common interests and those you know are similarly involved.......

Most folks with a hand in agriculture fail to realize that agriculture is far less than 2% of the united states population.

98% have no contact with agriculture and most these days are three generations removed from any contact with the farm.

twenty or thirty years ago folks still had grandpa (or some other relative) back on the farm.

today grandpa most likely lives in the city as well.

the reality is that for these people milk does come from the store and it always has.

But cars and electronics have always come from japan and germany as well.

The majority of American society is spoiled and cluless and dependant on the government for all things.

how else can one explain the current state of affairs.

This is very true but sad too. I know our vet says when he started their were dairy farms everywhere, now the farm land is shopping malls and gas stations. The rural life is being taken over by commercialism, and spreading city suburbs.People still say they use to know so and so who farmed but now its kind of looked on as if you have a dairy farm, sooner or later you will be defunct. they say the average age of the dairy farmer is 52, aside from you Novaman, and one or 2 other younger people I know, there aren't many that even want to get into dairying anymore, throw in the high cost of start up, no vacations, etc..i fear one day it will be a dying way to make a living.

I think I am old fashioned as i miss some of the ways the world use to be.

GMN

 

[TexasBred]

GM we see a lot of the same with row crop farmers. Children and grandchildren of families have no plans to continue in farming. Those that would like to farm don't have the start up money so all they can do is work for someone else and maybe farm on a small scale on some leased land. And even with the best plans once you put your crop in the ground it's all in the hands of the Almighty.

Where I spend much of my youth t here were over 50 dairies in the county. There are now 3 and they're all 3rd,or 4th generation dairymen with no one coming along to carry it on. Sad but true.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

I'd like to see some of them try and run a budget based on getting paid only when the calves come home and make it work...

...I take that back, that wouldn't be a pretty sight at all.

What budget? ;-)

Exactly -- I still have checks in my check book so I can't be broke! (although I'm sure it's debit cards)

 

[francismilker]

IMHO, I think more folks would get back in touch with farming on some scale(Whether it be large or small), if they could afford it. Back when "grandpa" was living off the land he was milking 20 jerseys with bucket milkers and raising his own hay and grass on 80 acres along with a house garden and orchard for ma to can some peaches out of every year. He done this single handedly with a MF 35 tractor (if he was lucky).

These days, unless you can afford to put corn or other row crop on sections of ground you can't make the tractor payment.

While I'm a strong advocate of the continuance of family farms, I feel we've done a lot of this to ourselves. My grandpa told me that it happened somewhere after WWII. Every time someone sold out and moved to town it was neighboring farmers who showed up to buy the property at auction to add another 80 acres to their spread. After adding another 80, the farmer needed a bigger tractor or combine. This started a burning ember inside the farmers to try to farm more, more, and more. Finally, the mentality that in order to make it in farming you have to have a million dollars worth of machinery to make it as a farmer took over and those that didn't feel they could do it moved to town.

Because of all this, a person who owns a small tractor with some 3-point implements is considered a "hobbyist" at best by the rest of us and not taken seriously. The system is set up for the small farmer to fail now.

As a wise man once quoted, "the farmer is the only worker in America to buy at retail, sale at wholesale, and pay the freight both ways."

 

[IluvABbeef]

I found out today, I was talking to a lady who said her Dad was involved in farming his whole life. I was thinking milking cows, no, he worked as a manager at a grocery chain, was in charge of setting up milk displays-not really farming. She then said oh we never lived on a farm, just in the city, then asked me if I milked I said yes, she asked how many times a day? What do you do with the milk?and a whole lot of questions i thought the answers were pretty obvious-guess not. Just wondering if anyone else thinks the public on a whole is clueless about dairy farms.other farming?

GMN

Sure, especially when city slickers think that horned cows are bulls, or that polled bulls are cows. :roll:

I've even had someone tell me "there's no such thing as dairy bulls!" Yeah, and where do Holstein cows come from, outer space?? :help:

Not to mention people telling others that milk is made of cow pee and pus.

People just don't know, and most of the time they don't care or have the time to know. And when someone does try to educate them about agriculture and the like, it seems like it goes in one ear and out the other. Either that or else they'll just never understand it at all.

The worst part of being stereotyped as a "farmer" (I've come to loathe the word, btw) is that most people who think they know about agriculture believe that we're in it only for the money, and base their reasons on why the people who raise animals treat animals inhumanely like they do, which, as we all know, is not true at all.

Why can't people start targeting these big corporations who are causing all this mess? Why does the general population have to target the struggling lone farmer for all the bad things that happen that the media likes to hone in on like buzzards on fresh road-kill? Why haven't people started realizing that these food-producing factories and big major corporations are what's poisoning them and making them fatter?

These animal-rights vegans critisize the dairy and meat industry for all the health issues and obesity rates that have gone up over the past few decades when they could be focusing on the big corporations for polluting the water supply, making sugar, fat and salt far more popular than it should be in junk food and fast food, and making the more healthy produce and meat products more expensive than they should be. After watching that documentary Food Inc., it makes you wonder why these monopolizing co.'s are making junk food that takes a lot of manufacturing and ingredients to make them, far more cheaper than, say, organic lettuce or potatoes that were grown with just soil, sunshine, moisture and a little bit of natural fertilizer.

Just my thoughts.

 

[TexasBred]

IMHO, I think more folks would get back in touch with farming on some scale(Whether it be large or small), if they could afford it. Back when "grandpa" was living off the land he was milking 20 jerseys with bucket milkers and raising his own hay and grass on 80 acres along with a house garden and orchard for ma to can some peaches out of every year. He done this single handedly with a MF 35 tractor (if he was lucky).

These days, unless you can afford to put corn or other row crop on sections of ground you can't make the tractor payment.

While I'm a strong advocate of the continuance of family farms, I feel we've done a lot of this to ourselves. My grandpa told me that it happened somewhere after WWII. Every time someone sold out and moved to town it was neighboring farmers who showed up to buy the property at auction to add another 80 acres to their spread. After adding another 80, the farmer needed a bigger tractor or combine. This started a burning ember inside the farmers to try to farm more, more, and more. Finally, the mentality that in order to make it in farming you have to have a million dollars worth of machinery to make it as a farmer took over and those that didn't feel they could do it moved to town.

Because of all this, a person who owns a small tractor with some 3-point implements is considered a "hobbyist" at best by the rest of us and not taken seriously. The system is set up for the small farmer to fail now.

As a wise man once quoted, "the farmer is the only worker in America to buy at retail, sale at wholesale, and pay the freight both ways."

Grandpa was feeding the family............each of today's farmes is feeding hundreds of families. 80 acres and a garden will help but won't accomplish much today.