everybody quit for the nite

cept me. 2 more loads of corn n its done. today haul 3 loads soybeans to local elevator then run that load of corn to town.
almost 69 years old still just gettin it like i was 25.
aint got time to give up, too many that dont work that are YOUNG that depend on me. when the china flu hoax hit i never slowed down

I retired four years ago from running asphalt plants after forty three years. I'm soon to be 67.i drive a semi grain truck for my neighbor I been leaving home at dark and getting home at dark I enjoy taking corn and beans to the elevator.

If you drove in to most fields or you would still be there waiting for the tow line and tractor. I did manage to turn around the other day twice in one field I didn't swing very wide with it or would have been stuck. Where we are cutting now I park on the gravel drive and we unload the cart beside the gravel so as not to mess it up for the truck. when we get farther over I will need to park on the other side of the mile for the back side and over to the west more for that if we can otherwise it is haul all the way across the field.

Same here. I turned 67 this year and spent. early every day in October and November chasing a combine around running the cart.

Much like the conversation a bunch of us had at the elevator the other day. 3 of us waiting in line were chatting when another neighbor walked over. Geez, he said, where are all the young farmers? Of the four uf us, our average age was over 70....

Ben

The way most farming is done these days its about like factory type job minus the pay and benefits.if I had to farm growing one crop with no livestock I'd sell out next week.

And the ones that got the shots are now dropping dead.

I'm 70 and work just as hard now as I ever did. Just don't get as much done. I rented the farms out 3 yrs. ago but kept doing my hay business..
About 8000 bales a year.

Its seems that young farmers are only being generated from family farms. As the family farms dis-appear, so does the young farmers.

A young guy working for corporate operation is not considered a young farmer (my opinion). He might be driving a tractor for a corporate operation, yes. But he's punching a time card and doing things and treated much like a factory worker.

If a family farm ever comes up for sale, its highly likely to be absorbed by a larger operation rather than a starting out guy. So family farms are not being re-generated. They are just dis-appearing.

There's probably a few young truckers out there hauling for a corporate farming operation, but they not dumping grain at the same place you are. The corporate operation they work for, has likely put up thier own storage bins, or bought out a grain elevator someplace that they use exclusively for themself (meaning they haul everything there instead of where you haul to). They'll contract thier grain and or haul direct to terminal when convenient, skipping any middle man on that.

I know your comment was likely only in reference to age of what your seeing. But this should take some of the puzzlement out of it.

I think today may be my last day of dryer repair for the year. I come back to work from August through the end of corn drying. I am 72 and work about 40 to 55 hours a week all fall fixing and wiggle my farming in there someplace. Might have a call or two next week MN is 99% done, Wi not so much.

I guess I'm one of the young guys? I'm coming up on 50 late next spring.

I worked a full time job and ran the farm until I was 82 and 1/2. When I was 72 someone asked me why I didn't retire right then. I said ''com'ere'' and walked them over to the bulletin board in my shed and pointed to a prominently displayed picture of a young nurse I flew with and said; ''THAT'S WHY I GO TO WORK!'' (;>))

Modern grain farming is about the easiest job out there. I am honest and tell people I farm to avoid a real job. And for many that is the case. If you add livestock to the mix then it becomes real work so I just stick with the grain. I do have a couple of off farm side gigs but farming is my primary income source. I don't pretend or tell others I work harder than they do. I don't envy their jobs and am thankful I have a farm.