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How many farmers here?

S

Spook

Well-known Member
Just curious, how many of you guys are farmers, full or part time. My guess is less than 10%.
 
Feel very fortunate to be able to farm full time. It has its good days and bad. Can be very rewarding and and cause you to loose sleep, in the same day! Wouldnt trade for anything.
bill
 
Grew up working on 2 different Cousin's Farms as did my Dad...realized that I sure am greatful that there are people who farm, but not me!
Since then I have been involved in the sales of Ag equipment for a few years, restored, showed and pulled alot of tractors and implements. Now that I don't HAVE to farm, I enjoy playing at it occasionally: plow days, helping occasionally with some tractor work on those 2 farms, and just helping my Father around his 80 or so acres and with his horses. Does that get me included?
 
Part timer here.

Night job is 12 hour shifts, 3 nights one week, 4 the next.

I see after a few momma cows, raise a few acres dark air cured baccer, put up a little hay and have a little bit of corn & beans.

Guess you could say the farm is kinda a hobby, something to do when I ain't do'n noth'n else. Some day I hope to come up with 'nuff barn room I can do with out the night job.

Dave
 
I didn't grow up on a farm, my mother's family quit when I was 5. My dad did some truck farming, but not full time. I play with my tractor's and do some gardening, nothing serious. People who farm are just a very, very small minority these days. Kinda sad, but that's the way of the world, I guess.
 
Only 2 acres but in younger times took off week or so each year to plant corn, mostly. After melanoma, doc said stay in the shade. I do. Can't cut the mustard anymore, barely lick the jar. One year turned over the whole thing with shovel. 2 tractors busted. Never forget that. Never forget mexican corn 8 feet tall. Dave.
 
Only 2 acres but in younger times took off week or so each year to plant corn, mostly. After melanoma, doc said stay in the shade. I do. Can't cut the mustard anymore, barely lick the jar. One year turned over the whole thing with shovel. 2 tractors busted. Never forget that. Never forget mexican corn 8 feet tall. Dave.
 
i'm a dairy farmer with 130 milkers and similar number of young stock. we grow about 400 acres of crops for the cows. its full time and then some.
 
Spook,

I have 50 head of black Angus cattle and four horses on 150 acres. I sell the calves at one of four auctions that are each about 50 miles away. I used to buy/sell horses before the market fell out. Pasture land / woods / hay fields.

I also work a part-time job in the evenings to make enough money to support my bad habit of farming.
 
Poultry grower, have about a dozen cattle at this time and farm less than 100 acres. Only been doing this since 2004.
 
im a part time hobby farmer, and a full time trucker, neither one makes much money these days
 
Full time off farm job,rotating shifts. 43 head of cattle with 118 acres of pasture and hay fields. Do some spreading (litter/wood ash) for neighbors when time allows.I'm a single Dad with two in college. My Dad is 87(WWII vet) and Mom is 83, check in on them daily. My son helps me when he's not in classes.
 
I cut hay on 80 acres, tap a thousand maple trees, mow or brush hog another hundred acres for pay, and plow snow all winter. The snowplowing started as a sideline for my dad in the fifties, now it's nearly half my income, and supports my farming habit.
 
Full time farmer. Work just over 1700 acres in Mid-Michigan with my brother. The smell of fresh turned soil each spring is addicting.
 
I farm 28ac have 12 head of cattle ,raise around 200 meat birds a year,have a laying flock of about 30 , have 2 sows and a boar and finish out 2litters a year for freezer pork,and have a small truck garden ,and sell herloom starts at the local farmers market in the spring ,cut & bale hay on shares on about an additional 10 ac ...maybee more this year....Oh and I work a RJ (real job) on the side.....Shawn
 
Live on the family farm with goats, have 20 acres of alfalfa/red clover and working on expanding at grandmas farm, work on a 250 acre sheep and hay farm at home, and up at college I work for the OSU ATI Farm as the crops student worker.
 
was a farmer until it got so bad the goverment went to giving welfare checks to farmers willing to supply them with all there imfo was to proud to work that hard and still depend on free money from goverment have a trucking co. now seems truckers are crying for goverment money now to if it gets bad so i have to depend on goverment $ i'll hang this up to
sineserly bill klump
p.s. goverment can't have my pride
 
Grew up on and own 200 acres my great-grandfather put together before 1900. Part of it a Nebraska homestead claimed in 1867, one of the oldest continuous farm family ownerships in the state. 75 acres in CRP tall-grass prairie, 75 acres never tilled, original prairie and the remainder returned to native and rented for C.C. pairs. Retired in Minneapolis from checkered employment past in spectrum of; R.R. Maintenance of way, military-space electronics, industrial sales engineering, commodity futures, production maintenance, skipped the political. Spent half of calendar 2006 at the farm but only a week in 2008. Will need to be there more this year than I want to be, am getting a little tired of it.
 
I work fulltime as a consultant (IT), but work a second fulltime job when I get home to the farm. Just waiting for the day I can work from home and enjoy more of the farming, less of the office.
 
full time, 290 acres, 100 of it woods, 80 head of cattle (gonna get it to 100 soon) growing all of my own feed, hay and corn
 

I work full time cattle, hay and work on tractors for other farmers..

I guess i am a full time farmer..

Sold the const equipment at the first of the year.. Housing in this area is dead and will be a long while before const gets back on it's feet.

I am so busy with working on tractors and taking care of my 30 head of cattle, I don't have much time for any thing else any way..
 
Full time here. Close to 1800 acres of corn and soybeans with 350 acres of that being hay. 200 head of beef cattle of every color there is. Thank god no more milk cows.
 
Part timer, started 47 years ago at age 13, no animals now. I hay 65 acres and sell to horse people. I enjoy going tractor pulling.
 
Yup Full Time farmer.Work by myself with a little help from friends in the fall.

900 acres of corn and beans. Hay and pasture for the cows. The cows may be gone in a couple of years. I have been cutting back on cows for a couple of years.

Have had part time jobs off the farm when the kids were around. Had to put food on the table and that was tough in the 80's without the off farm jobs. Sure helped when they finished college and got out on their own.

Gary
 
I run some beef cows and bale some hay . Pick up some custom work here and there , get a odd job building a leanto or wiring a barn once in a while . make a few bucks off of the deer and turkey hunters . No real off farm job . The older I get I`m finding out that ya dont have to bust your but every day to make all the money if ya dont have all the bills !! It`s not always how much ya make but how much ya dont gota spend .
 
Hay farmer. Small time, but trying to get bigger. Been baling my own hay for 15 years. Sold 3000 bales last year, could have sold a lot more. Would like to increase that this year, IF the market is still there!

My "dayime" gig: Teacher. So lots of time in the summer for hay! I wasn't always a teacher - I was an industrial designer for 12 years before teaching these last 6.

I have two Belgian draft horses, who I use to give wagon rides a few times a year (so you can see, I'm a failed horse farmer!) Got other "hobby" critters: a sheep, a goat, a couple of ponies. A Farmall 460, a Super C, and the new pride 'o the farm: A 2008 John Deere 5303. First (and probably only) new piece of equipment I'll ever own!

- jhilyer
 
Yup, full time farmer here. 500 acres corn/soybeans/wheat. My brother has his own acres too, we share labor and machinery. I have never had an off farm job. My wife has a good job in town.
Brian(MN)
 
well I guess I'm part time have 30 beef cows 20 sheep, bale about 50acres of hay my main job was construction but the way the economy is thats almost non-existent haven't pounded a nail for 3 months been looking for work but not finding any hope things get better fast!!
 
Herd of 50+ beef cattle, heifers, bulls, and 6 full size and 6 miniature hay burner horse critters that some how ended up pawned on us because I'm too darn soft to say no!
I consider it part time, since I work full time off the farm, but sometimes it feels like my rest time is at my day job and the work is when I get home!
 
Part time. Have too many horses, and a few head of cattle. I run about 120 acres of hay ground. I have another 22 acres I will finish fencing for pasture this spring, hope to get up to about 20 head of cattle eventually..
 
35 head milking, some beef cows, some sheep, firewood and I do some work on tractors.
It's fulltime and then some.

Rod
 
been on th efarm whole life growing up doing chores sinjce around 8 or 9. Farmed fulltime right out high school in partnership over 2000 acres and I had 300hd fats cattle for along time and hogs with them. Always have had 200 of sheep also. At times it was enjoyable, later married continued them in it became you ended up with so little net in pocket wondered why. still to this day I have only been away from the farm 5 times in last few years,that did not happen till I let it all go all livestock,machinery and the acres. Still own 300 and its in hay and crp and do assembly work now fultime in my own shop for implement dealers. Making more money know than ever did before in net income and I can sleep at nights wondering if have a crop or not to make payments. Wife runs mailroute fulltime hasfor 20 some years,its not what everyone thinks it is.
It still is same today in the farming,you will not get rich,doing it as a living its just not there. Most all of the uints I assemble the dollars are just traded and the items never actually ever get paid for.
One thing I have learned the hard way is there is life after fulltime farming and ususally its even more enjoyable. Both my kids are married having owning there own homes now. I also do carpenter work on weekends alot of the time. Still do have couple JD tractors 4450,4440, and small bale accumulator, jd mow co to sell out yet,just if anyone be interested
 
Full time crop farm in dairy country!? (central NY)
When it became obvious there would be no room for me at the family farm I went to work at the local AC,NH,NI,etc. farm equip. dealer '72-'84. In the spring of'85 when I turned 30 I chucked it all-full health benefits, company vehicle, secure job, etc. and started crop farming from zero.
I have developed the opinion that I would rather work 12 hours a day (which is about my functional limit) for myself than work any hours a day for someone else.
 
Worked full time at off farm job while farming part time. Now that I am retired from off farm job I can farm full time. Once your retired you find that you may run short of money but there is no shortage of work.
 
194 acres left after we split up the family farm.
Brother got the rest.

Closing in 2 weeks on another 120, of which 90 is row crop.

I have had a full time job since 1985,but always been a weekend farmer since then.

I was the first generation in our family to have an off farm job.

The place where my house is has been in our family 103 years.

I was in FFA, made State farmer, BS in Animal Husbandry from the University of Mo. Farmhouse Fraternity.

Recent census in Agriculture shows that 67% of what they consider farms, ($1,000 in ag sales), are classed as what I call hobby farms or retirement farms.

But after reading the thread a few days ago about farm subsidies, I guess we shouldn't call ourselves farmsers, but welfare recipients.

Gene
 
I left farming in 1984. Returned to college and worked in ag sales of feed and shop supplies. Started my own graphics business with tractor signs all over the nation. Yet as my father started to slow down I found my way back to the farm. 5 years ago after his death, I purchased the second half of the home place later selling the design business. Now i am saddled with 450 cattle to feed everyday, 160 acres of hay and 550 acres of row crop. I guess just living a childhood dream. Problems and repairs everyday, but a great song in my heart.
 
I"ve always made the statement that my off farm job is my part time job because I only spend 8 hours a day at it. I am concidered a hobby farmer in my area because I only manage around 2000 acres of hay a dirt stirring.
 
Retired,soldout,moved south(NM). Dont have to shovel no snow,cut firewood or get up on a cold winter's nite to check cows.

steveormary
 
High School Ag Teacher/FFA Advisor. Sell firewood on the side. Last summer started on the dream to farm by renting/custom cutting 30 acres dryland hay.
Wouldn't be doing either of those if not for the generousity and help of a widow in our church who lets me cut wood in her pasture and park equuipment at her barn.
 
superintendent of operations for an electric utility. raise hay and heck on a few acres along with some cattle.
 
Farmer /home improvement contractor/County Councilman ..$$ and time is kinda....split 3 ways . startin in 1981 .Bought over 260 acres in 8 different parcels before 1994,HAD IT ALL PAID FOR !!,THEN. fell and got hurt in 94, . went thru a heluva divorce in 96, ,still got 210 acres , and paying for it AGAIN ! . nuttin is the same! ,, But beats the hell out of any alternative I have seen..........
 
Kind of depends on how one defines full or part time farmer. Since I dont have a regular off farm job I guess that makes me a full time farmer. 475 acres, a little better than half cut for hay at least once. 60 momma cows, 15 boarding horses, and a few dairy heifers. When the markets there I buy and sell hay in the winter. In season I do some custom work as time allows be it hay, dozer, skid loader, etc. Thats really just to keep me in the equipment working if I get some spare time.

My hobby is photography, lots of people farm for a distraction and stress reliever from their regular job. Thats what I did for 20 years. I've been farming to one degree or another on my own since 1987. I spent most of that time working at a day job as either a county extension agent and later as an ag teacher. Now, for my distraction its me and the camera. I do some art, some magazine work, and stuff like senior pics, weddings, etc.
 
Just a tired eighty year old exfarmer living on the farm with my son. Serve as his technical advisor weather he apprciates it or not, I was able to get to the shop as he restored his JD Model 50 and spin a few wrenches.
gitrib
 
Full time myself. Can't speak for a percentage. I just do it for a living,not to try to make money. Heard an old guy many many years ago say that farmers get into trouble when they switch from trying to make a living to trying to make money.
 
I guess part time. I sell equipment from 8:00am to 6:00pm and have 7 cows and farm 109 acres I tend to on my off times and weekends. We also have our greenhouses going and dad does some garden farming.
 
Retired Heavy Equipment Mechanic now I have a small 37 acre farm and raise Registered Purebred Limousin cattle for fun an profit. So far not much profit though. I also cut and bale hay in the spring and just put in 6000 Xmas trees. I'm partnered with a good friend who is doing all the hard work now as I had a bad heart attack and to top that off I have MS not much fun stumbling around in a store on hard floors but do OK out on the grass on the farm.
I have fun at it an that's what really counts. Have always lived in the country except for a couple dumb years. I also fix equipment for friends and build a few trailers for fun. Just can't seem to charge people for what I like doing.
Walt
 
I am with a nonprofit doing vegetables and hay with a small goat/pig/chicken contingent. We also run a sawmill and have over 100 acres of woodlot. We cut and burn 24-25 standard cords of firewood a year. Our tractor gets as much work in the woods as the fields.
Zach
www.stfrancisfarm.org
 
I own 10.5 acers in mid Mich. Plant about 8acers of corn and 4 acers of pumpkins and a big garden every year.( I use a little of the neighbors ground) Raise about 10 Decons a year and take them up to about 1500# and sell them to my custermers for freezer beef. I have a year round self serve stand where I sell bagged shelled and ear corn and straw. In the fall I sell my pumkins and other fall decorations in my stand out front and give free hay rides. I haul in about 1500 bales of straw and about a 1000 more bu. of corn I buy from my farming friends along with a little hay. I've driven truck for 59.9 hours a week for a freight carrier for the last 34 years. Quess I would call myself a truck driver and a half--- farmer on the side. I've always wanted to be a REAL farmer but I guess I just like having the money in my pocket that the truck driving job provides.
 
The last "real" farmer in my family was Grandfather on my Mom's side. He also worked in post office, hardware store, started a small nursery business here. Mark SW Wis.
 
Not full time but 850 acres - 150 acres wheat pasture,and rest pasture,was up to 2000 acres few years back but cutting back ,dont lease but a couple of places anymore.
 
Hobby farm. Small grains and organic free range fowl. Daughter wants a horse.
Father is still full time farming but down to just cash cropping.
 
Part time, approx 50 sheep and lambs, few beef cattle (kids 4H), 160 acres grain, plus some hay, but looking to expand. I work a full time job, farm my bit, then go and work for a friend / neighbor who farms about 4500 acres…..his equipment is a little better than mine! Was full time farming and custom work a few years back when I lived in the UK.
Chris
 
Haven't done any since the early 60's but still have an interest in the farming world today.

My first 17 years was old school farming.
 
Hobby farmer here. Purchased 65 acres in 2004. 40 acres tillable. Grow Corn, and hay, big garden. Usually have anywhere between 2 to 8 feeder beefs, 9 to 20 sheep, and 5 chickens. Grow enough corn and hay to feed my animals and a little more. Also have full time job. So far I enjoy the lifestyle.

Nate
 
G"Day Bill - is it Bill?
Thought I would say hello, I joined this forum to find out something about my MF3060.
I am likewise a dairy farmer in Australia - in a high rainfall belt in the hills in the SE of Aus.
I run 300 Cows on pasture over 800A
Would you like to compare notes?
Cheers
Hugh
 
Part time. Grow sweet corn (white) , Indian corn and pumpkins. Sell every thing at the house. Also sell Camper Fire wood. Help the 87 year old neighbor bale his hay.
 
fulltime here, dairyman 180 milkcows + youngstock, 30 xbred brood cows. raise most of our own feed, 325ac corn, 250ac alalfa/grass hay.

usta have sows when we were younger. Dad got outa the pigs in the early 80's. I tried them again in early 90's. DON'T MISS THEM AT ALL !!!!
 
I help my parents on the farm. Don't do much in the winter, but I do most of the feildwork the rest the time.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
12 beef cows. First calf of the season yesterday. 155 acres of which about 100 is bush and swamp. 25 acre sugar bush too. "Day job" is giving fiddle and piano lessons (40 or so students). Do some relief milking too when I can. My wife's a nurse, so I can afford to "farm" and give lessons....
 
All depends on what your definition of a farmer is I suppose.

Part time farmer with just 45 acres of hay ground now. Was up to over 200 at one point. Also buy and sell used equipment. Kids grown and gone so need to work 24/7 diminished somewhat. I still work a full time job (construction estimator) I work 40 hours a week in an office and all the rest of the time on my place. Probably work more hours at the farm than the office. So which one is full time?
 
Been farming for a living since I was a kid,done dairy and beef before,had some hogs and sheep too. Now i got around 400 bison on a 1800 acre ranch for last 15 yrs.
That has cutted the workload from a have to 15 hr day's to 10 hr a week [ in the winter that is]

And i aint kidding here.

I spend most time tinkering in the shop now,just to keep busy.
 
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