We're farmers, plain and simple. It is not the way we make our living full-time, because we both work off the farm jobs and have from day one because we did not have a family farm to take over or buy into; nor did we have a ton of money to buy one to start off with. 90% of the land we farm is rented, or "given" to us to farm - mostly hay making- so someone else gets the tax advantages of the farming part. I do not try to put anyone down because they are part-time, or a hobby farmer. I have found over the years that I have been the subject of some talk due to the "hobby farming" ideas that I have had, but I just say okay, listen to others and then apply what I think might work and if it doesn't ...drop it.
I (we) started out small, some bottle calves, some not very good cattle, and have worked hard from there. Not always making the right decisions, but trying...... always wanted my own small dairy, but in the atmosphere of things dairy today, it will never happen now. So I balance my dairy cows with being nurse cows, and we concentrate on the beef more. I still find nothing wrong with the hobby farmer title EXCEPT for the ones that seem to know everything after having a few cows for a few years and being successful, so they have all the answers to all the problems. Still, the hobby farmers are the ones that will keep alive some of the rarer breeds because they don't have to or even want to make money on them. So they have their place. They like to delve into things that are more obscure sometimes. Some are just big talking blowhards, but there just might be one little thing that they do that you can learn from.... or learn what not to do.
I would say from the year I have been on here, thanks to greybeard, that I have learned alot and have hopefully been able to contribute a little something. We are part-time at this point. Our cows are paying for themselves pretty much, the land rents, the inputs, the payment on the 75 acres, most of the machinery payments....but they don't pay us a wage by any stretch of the imagination. We are big compared to many, but I don't think that makes us better. It wasn't too long ago that I had 15 or 20 cows and was struggling to pay the bills they incurred. Now we have alot more and still struggle to pay the bills they occur.
We go to many seminars, pasture walks, meetings of any type that we can fit into our schedules.....trying to learn something from someone else's experiences. Sometimes don't learn much but might meet someone that will lead to a sale or source of a bull or something.
I don't try to ever put down someone who has fewer, or a smaller place than we do. Some of them are better managers than we are. Since we work full-time jobs, I can fully relate to anyone who gets off a 40-50-60 hour week to farm. How many times have we been trying to get the last of the hay baled after a 8-10 hour day, and it is getting dark, but they are calling for rain tomorrow? How many times have I gone to a pasture to get cows called into the catch pen on my way home from testing a dairy at 7-8 pm so that my son can come with the trailer to get them moved to the RENTED "home farm" so that I can do pregnancy checks the next day, while I am off and he is at work. How many times have we gotten cattle in a couple of evenings, to sort and look them over so that we can get up at 3 or 4 a m, to sort and then load them and I will haul them to town while he goes to work, and then I will come home to do other chores and go test cows and when he gets off at 4 to go cut hay or feed or do whatever, while I am at work. Or I will go to work at 3 am and get home at 9 or 10 a m to then get on the tractor and rake hay that he cut a couple of evenings ago.
I think Walnut Crest defined the differences very well; hobby, part-time and full-time. Size doesn't make the distinction, the financial differences are more the way to define what TYPE farmer you are. If you don't do any crop/hay making, and only have cattle, does that make you less a farmer? If someone does all the "physical work", and you are the "money" behind the operation, does that make you less a farmer? I don't think we are less a farmer than anyone else, just because we are part-time due to off farm jobs even though we are alot bigger than some on here. We also farm in a different environment than the members in say Texas or other areas where it is acres per cow rather than cows per acre.
We don't use horses, and we try to do as much rotational type grazing, so try to be more "grass farmers" , does that not make us "real farmers"???? We have a bunch of equipment, make alot of hay off not so great ground, does that make us less a real farmer?????
I know that I tend to "write books" when I respond, but I try really hard to not come across as a know-it-all. But I do try to really explain what I mean when I post something so that someone can understand me. I don't always manage to say exactly what I mean easily, so get a bit carried away, but i sure try to never put myself across as being the end all answer to anything. But I also try to not judge anyone else....I have been the "POOR MAN" route, and am now blessed (maybe cursed) to have more than we used to....
