This farm has been in my family since the 1890s. My dad was an engineer by trade but loved farming cattle. As a kid, I hated helping him because he was too cheap to use any kind of modern equipment. To me the farm was just a great place to go deer hunting. When Dad died, we 3 kids decided we wanted to keep the place and knew we had to keep cows on it to keep taxes down so we could afford to keep it. Found a renter who did nothing but let the place go while his cows ruined all the fences, so we got rid of him and my brother and I were going to put cows on it. Well, brother died in a car wreck and sister is totally absentee. After another renter who cost me more in maintenance than he paid in rent, I decided to have my own cows and try to remember what Dad taught me (with the help of some really great neighbors and an older cattleman who mentors me). Have enjoyed every minute of it and learn something new every day. When I retired from teaching, I bought a corner of the place and built a new home to be out in the country and close to the deer blind. You can count on one hand how many times I have been deer hunting since we moved out here 6 years ago. My wife, whose Dad was a row crop farmer, said she wasn't sure she wanted to live on a farm again, but I promised I would never make her hoe cotton like her dad did. :lol: Now we both love it out here.
