I can't say I know a lot about this, but there are 2 larger operations in this area and looking at whats posted its over 1M each. Last year was not the best rain, did a number on the crop, so did the darned geese. Each operation still shows humility if thats a good term to use, they don't have or go for brand new equipment across the board, both seem to do maintenance at a high level, given each of the shops they have, they seem to be conservative, like most farms here, buy what they need when it makes sense, both have been in business since well before me. North of here there is an even larger operation, they have been growing, have more modern equipment, but still suited for what is needed, they have been in business a long time too. This one was approaching 2000 head, might be more now, or close to that number, they put up 2 huge new barns, and buy from many other local farmers as well as what they do themselves, unimaginable to me something that size. I suppose any of them if were run by someone foolish could go down quick, but looking back, all of these farms have maintained some kind of stability for a long time, and there is no doubt its more marginal profit than not, you do have to wonder how they do it. I for one don't think I'd want to be in their shoes, given the size, risk and scope of what they do. Scale it down to what our long time neighbor and farmer did, always under 1000 acres, but over 500 if I recall correctly, he made a paycheck with it, always had something to fill the calendar to keep cash flow most of the year, even at that level, with the dairy gone, just crops, it was a fair amount of work, and border line of you being better off keeping a day job, and doing this work off hours. He was on the list too, but a lot less, and only had what was needed, and only in recent times used upgraded to some new equipment, likely because of reliability, down time would really hurt the bottom line, when things need to be done, they need to be done, narrow window to work in from what I saw. Its crazy to think how this all calculates out in any given year and that the smaller guys can still stay in it, given how things have changed, I'm just an observer, so my thoughts may just be entirely irrelevant, but it does interest me, I like farming and related work, as well as the financial side of it, how that works, changes over time etc.
