Author	[Modern View]
John_PA 03-07-2013 12:00:17 72.95.156.169 Report to Moderator	You can always get more cows down the road. I have a feeling, after spending some time not having to care for animals, you will find some peace and happiness does exist when the stress of caring for somebody's hamburger is gone. The dairy cows have been gone from here for 30 years. They caused a ton of grief and hardship and there is no financial reward to having them, unless you have a couple thousand of them, and a dozen employees. We had 36, not 3600. My grandfather died face down shoveling in the manure spreader on the coldest day of the year, because the web froze to the bed and broke. That's not the way to die. Die warm in your bed in your sleep. We harbor a little bit of a grudge for the way ag products get bought and sold. Farmer gets peanuts, consumer pays more than they want to. It's the "business man" in the middle who bends everyone over. He gets rich doing nothing. Putting your life on the line and your sanity and not getting paid. Who wants that? I don't know how many acres you own, but, this is a good time to be grain and hay farmer, as long as you are selling it and not feeding it, you can actually make money. 20 years ago, I would get $15 for a round bale. Now, I get $50 for the same bale. 8 years ago, I was getting $1.80 for a bushel of corn. Now, I get $7. I sold wheat in July for $8.89 a bushel. I never thought wheat would ever get above $4 a bushel. I know where you are coming from, but, don't feel sorry for yourself for too long. You get to do the fun part all over again someday. It's always more fun to buy than to sell. Someday soon, you get to buy back. Just don't ever sell out your land. It's extremely hard to replace that. In my area, it's almost impossible unless you have a million per hundred acre in your back pocket. I don't know which part of the country you live in, but, if you can take advantage of the current hay prices and grain market, you'll do just fine. Good luck and God Bless. [Reply]   [No Email]
Ken Macfarlane 03-07-2013 13:11:49 142.177.130.36 Report to Moderator	Re: End of a dream for me.....sort of in reply to John_PA, 03-07-2013 12:00:17   Square bales of hay here are 2-3$ per bale. In 1985 it was 1.50 to 2$. Not much grain competing for the acres.   [Reply]  [No Email]
George Marsh 03-07-2013 12:21:19 50.104.195.160 Report to Moderator	Re: End of a dream for me.....sort of in reply to John_PA, 03-07-2013 12:00:17   John, In 1967 I went to college and the dairy cows soon after left the farm for good. For me it was the end of a night-mare. Glad someone is a dairy farmer, just glad it isn't me. As a kid, I did learn the right way to spread BS. Point the tractor in to the wind before turning the spreader on. George   [Reply]  [No Email]
John_PA 03-07-2013 17:55:25 72.95.156.169 Report to Moderator	Re: End of a dream for me.....sort of in reply to George Marsh, 03-07-2013 12:21:19   George, If you ever start to miss the dairy cows just go to a neighbor's farm and help him milk for 20 minutes and then walk away. Walking away after 20 minutes feels incredible! It's funny how when the cows leave, you finally have money to buy all the farm equipment and stuff that you needed when you had cows. I got tractors with cabs now! I found that people on online classifieds give away horse manure for free and some even deliver for free. Glad I kept the manure spreader. It's fun to run when the tractor has a cab!   [Reply]  [No Email]