Any optimism

rrlund

Well-known Member
Let me start right out by saying that if anybody starts anything political in this post,I'm reporting them by name directly to the moderator using the Feedback Form.

That said,is there anybody who's looking forward to getting to work and planting a crop this spring? I've been talking to a lot of guys in person and nobody is doing any back flips. Even the younger guys who are usually gung ho and aggressive are telling me that they've never been so ambivalent about it. Some have told me they're taking a hard look at which pieces of rented ground to keep. If they're traveling a long ways or the ground isn't yielding,they're talking about dropping it.

I've got cattle to feed,so I'll have to get out there,but it's not much fun looking at two feedlots full of cattle that don't have much more value than a bunch of pets.

How about you hemp guys in Kentucky? Last year some of you said you hadn't been so excited about planting a crop in years. Were most of you contracted with that processor that already went bankrupt? Has the dust settled on that situation so you got something out of last year's crop? What's the outlook for it this year?
 
Every year in about Feb. I start picturing in my mind how each field operation is going to go. The anticipation gets so strong that it keeps me awake at night thinking about it. This year---not so much. I have a grain marketing plan that consistently has me beating the average every year. This year that has been blown out of the water. I am sitting on thousands of bushels of unpriced grain. and the odds are getting less every day. Just like the stock holders, all the gain from my superior marketing plan of years past will be lost this year unless something miraculous happens soon.
But as Pa used to say--just keep putting one foot in front of the other--. Enjoy the little things, flying belgian.
 


My friend who sells Canadian peas to the Chinese is optimistic that they will have to buy a lot.
 
I don't have much land to run right now, but I must be excited cause I seem to be trying to buy things left and right, but having a good paying job kind of lights the fire in the check book! Lol That said just the other day one of my neighbors called asking if I would like to rent his farm, he can't really do it cause he just had one foot amputated! Diabetic problem! I offered to just put the crops in for him, so we are going to discuss more later!
 
Couldn?t be more excited calves hitting the ground like crazy and it?s warming up can?t want ru see what my no till triticale looks like and what the conventional till looks like . Don?t know what?s to be depressed about we knew when we took this job you could make more working around Walmart and at least there we would get a little time off . I make ok money on what I do most years some not it?s been that way forever so don?t buy a lot of fancy equipment you can?t pay for and watch everything you do what?s different this year than the last hundred ?
 
Still keen to get out there on the land even as I approach 66 years of age. Sometimes I get a bit discouraged in the midst of a long slow harvest, but then I'm keen to help someone out when I'm finished. Makes a difference if there is no banker breathing down your neck....

Hang in there, guys....

Ben
 
If a guy had a 600,000$ John Deere 9rx and 600,000$ s690 combine to pay for on 6$ wheat and a 250,000$ air drill And 400.000 $ sprayer I think I?d be a little sick to my stomach to
 
We are looking at 4 inches of snow and a low in single digits the weekend.

Hard to be gung ho yet......

Been a tough few years with too much rain for 4 years now bad crops, the last 18 months have been a real tough go with prices and uncertainty.

Looks like we got big whollop of more uncertainty ahead of us now.

Need some dry warm soil and I?ll be all excited.

Little harder to get amped up for it ahead of time this year. Too many boots have dropped the past few years.....

Paul
 
I only have a small group of cattle left in the feedlot but it is hard to look at them with the price of fats at $95 when the ones in Jan. sold for $124. My farm has been struggling for some time but we made the decision to lease part of the farm for a solar project. We recieved a check a few weeks ago that makes the bank payment and gives us living money for the year. Not sure how the year would have looked if only the farm income. Tom
 
Just a humble haymaker here, but we are anxious to get started. Been fertilizing and have another round to go in maybe another week. Working to clear 10 acres of autumn olive from a dead flat field for the next hay field and have some areas around other fields I think we can expend into - to some extent. In addition to our timothy and timothy mix - we are going to plant some teff this year too.

Bill
 
Yes.

1988 and 2012 were much better years than the last 4. I?m set up for those dry spells. The wet years are miserable to endure.

Like most I prefer the average year for weather, but the wet ones are the back breakers ?here?.

My soil types mostly start their description with ?water at or near soil surface for portions of the year....?

We have a thick yellow and then blue clay layer of subsoil that?s is 120 feet deep, and I?m told generally allows an inch or two of water to perk through it per year. Our excess water has to flow sideways on top of that clay layer to drainage, or evaporate away.

Back in the horse power farming days my farm was half hay meadow on the wet areas, used to make hay to power the horses to farm the other half of lighter, rolling hill ground. In the 1950s ditches were put in and all the ground was taxed as class A good crop ground because it could be drained and raise great crops.

So you either put in tile and farmed it all, or went broke on the taxes and sold to someone who did tile it.

But in wet years even good tile struggles to keep up draining this stuff out.

Give me a good drought any year. Certainly a dry August and September can hurt yields some, but not like a flooding wet year ?here.?

I understand this is opposite to most farmers situation, but it is the cards I was dealt.

Paul
 
I live a few miles from ?Swan Lake? which is actually a shallow water marsh, one of the biggest in the nation of its type. It is the leftover basin of a 10,000 year old lake from when the glaciers melted.

So, I?m farming the bottom sludge and muck of one of the biggest fresh water lakes that ever existed. All that?s left after the minnesota River carved itself out is this marsh near me.

The mInnesota river valley is actually similar to the Grand Canyon, just it stays green here and trees grow up in the valleys and ?canyons? we have. I?m up on top of the valley by a few miles, the river is sunk down 200 feet in the valley it carved.

Paul
 
been lot better to look last two years since I rented the whole farm out,and rest is in crp program. we have made money every year since going this route. it should not be this way but it is what it is. all animals are gone. I miss cattle but not the dollars side of it. still trying to closeout the lawn mower dealership, that business is in real mixed up mess now,with a lot companies wanting to sell their ztr lines.
 
More than ever I got a ?new? free shelf
cvphoto8897.png
 
Most of you know,,I dont depend on farming for a living,,but do love tilling and planting.
What I have to say may be of interest.
A while ago ,when I was laying around sick,sleeping most of the day,,I had little optimism.

I seem to have gotten well now,,,and sure have a different outlook.

I want to till and plant my garden this spring and feel good about it.

I think what I am trying to say is,,somethings can or cant be controlled,,but if you have some health,,,and wake up in the morning,,there is plenty of optimism
 
I have always had the saying if you have your health, you HAVE EVERYTHING.my biggest pet peeve was during child bearing years,we had two girls,all I heard was oh what disappointment must been no boy. I have always had this motto also was your baby healthy then count your blessing be it BOY or GIRL. my girls did everything from baling hay to running combines when growing up.
 
Might as well be optimistic,picked up a nice lady hay buyer this year so that has been good.She even bought me some steak and burger when she had a beef butchered she has them slaughtered at the USDA
slaughter house and sells locally does pretty good apparently.Planning on making hay and putting in a big garden as usual going to a lot more raised beds.
 
RRLund, with the uncertainty in this mess we are looking forward to planting a bigger garden than normal. Also will advertise more for tractor work, plowing gardens, box blade work, green fields at hunting clubs. Also going to try baling hay. Got one 4-5 acre field lined up, cut it, bale it, leave it in field paying $2.00 A bale. Got a couple other spots we are looking at on thirds. Or cut and keep. Not sure how long we can count on fencing and decks to keep us going. 20 years in business, this is a deal no-one could plan for. Trusting God to bring us through.
 
Good to hear from you Kevin. The wife's still planting tomatoes. Orders for them are still coming in. I guess a lot of people must plan on growing their own,or they're just finding out about her,one or the other.
She's getting weary with responding to people who are asking about fat steers. I don't know if people really do believe that farmers are stupid or that we sell fat steers for $100 or what,but most of them think they can get something for nothing.
We survived the 08 crash and as long as we don't get this thing and literally die,we'll be OK in the end. Stock prices and cattle prices will come back eventually,but if anybody dies,they're not coming back.
 
The glass is half FULL! The glass is half FULL! ETC,ETC........keep the spirit.

I got mine "mudded in" Friday. Had rain today. Was optimistic. Took a chance and made it work. Now rain is forecast off and on for the next 10 days. Looking forward to a good crop before the Sugar Cane Aphids hit me around 4th of July as they like to do.
 
Got out and did some discing before the rains and it sure felt good. The good Lord doesn't put more on us than we can handle! Most things from China break so I'm sure this virus will too.
 
Its been raining here every 3-4 days so no corn is getting planted...Some places not that far south of me had 8-10 inches of rain in March..No one seems real optimistic but I'm sure that every acre of corn and beans in MO will get planted if the weather allows...
 
I don't know how much rain we had over the weekend. I've heard as much as two inches. All I know is that my sump pump is running again. It's been cold and cloudy all week. Calves are about to start hitting the ground any time now in this muddy mess. After I got all the field work finished up in January,I was finally able to sleep again the last few months,now here I am on edge again. I'll be 65 in June. If it wasn't for the kids,this would be my last year doing this stuff. I'm pretty sure there's life out there to be had after cattle,but I'm keeping everything for them.
 
(quoted from post at 08:02:50 04/01/20) I don't know how much rain we had over the weekend. I've heard as much as two inches. All I know is that my sump pump is running again. It's been cold and cloudy all week. Calves are about to start hitting the ground any time now in this muddy mess. After I got all the field work finished up in January,I was finally able to sleep again the last few months,now here I am on edge again. I'll be 65 in June. If it wasn't for the kids,this would be my last year doing this stuff. I'm pretty sure there's life out there to be had after cattle,but I'm keeping everything for them.

I would think that Olivers could e a replacement for them.
 
Now you sound like my best friend. LOL

He's retired and thinks I need to be too. He said I can just mess with old tractors all day. I suppose I could until I got bored with it. That's what Dad did when he retired. A few summers with a travel trailer just moving around to different State Parks sounds good to me. Take two kayaks and our bicycles,paddle and ride in one place until there's nothing left to see there then move on.
 
Looking forward too planting my crop.....Number 54.....oats and corn .....oats for grain and straw....corn for grain. Kind of looking like early start for North Eastern Clark Co. Wi.

John
 
I'm more nervous than anything. My ability to get much done due to this darn arthritis is got me wondering if I can hang in there. Long story on meds not going there. My wife and I work together and she's not any better physically than I am. You know when you buy something that has a "best if used by" date on it, we're way passed ours. We've got an expiration date planned, about 5 years from now. Gonna try and make it. We'd still like to do some traveling before we get too crippled. That said did some seeding last week before the snow and tommorow will start putting on the nitrogen fertilizer we'll see how that goes, want to plant corn in a 2-3 weeks.
 
(quoted from post at 06:54:06 03/29/20) Good to hear from you Kevin. The wife's still planting tomatoes. Orders for them are still coming in. I guess a lot of people must plan on growing their own,or they're just finding out about her,one or the other.
She's getting weary with responding to people who are asking about fat steers. I don't know if people really do believe that farmers are stupid or that we sell fat steers for $100 or what,but most of them think they can get something for nothing.
We survived the 08 crash and as long as we don't get this thing and literally die,we'll be OK in the end. Stock prices and cattle prices will come back eventually,but if anybody dies,they're not coming back.


Randy, I hope also that you don't die from the virus, but I died and came back and it wasn't all that bad. The worst part was the pain in the rib cage from the chest compressions and the irritation of my larynx from the airway. It took about seven weeks to get over that. I am way better than I was before I died.
 
Randy, question for you on calving and such. If you retain all your calves to finish out, why not calve in May? My guess is it's because it might interfere with planting and hay time. I used to calve in early April for those very reasons but the weather got to be so that it was easier to calve in warmer weather and plant and do fieldwork during calving time. You know what? It was less stressful on me and the cows. No worrying about mud and cold and the cows needed me less so I actually had plenty of time to get fieldwork done. I check them before work and right after I get home. Jump on the tractor and go like heck till late evening. Every year it gets better and I am now calving in late May and June. I'm an ag teacher so I'm home at the end of May and June so it works I for me I guess. Sure, there's problems but they ar far fewer and further between than when I was fighting mud and cold. My 2 cents worth anyhow.
 
What scares me is what a friend/acquaintance told me a few years back. He had bypass surgery and had some serious underlying conditions. They only gave him a 10% chance of surviving the surgery. He said "I don't care if you believe me or not,but I saw the gates of H3ll.". He said he never wanted to see that again. He has passed on for the second time since then. I hope he had better luck the second time around. I know he was real afraid of dying again.
 
I don't normally turn the bulls out until July 15,so I don't calve until the third week of April or so,but I had a determined bull who kept tearing up gates and getting out. After about the third time he did it,I figured he'd bred so many that he might as well stay there. Besides,I was running out of gates. LOL

I had one last Friday,one yesterday. The weather's OK and the calves are doing fine. The pressure is off a little bit for now.
 
Im not sure if its optimism or spring fever.. but every year I get cranky (just ask my dad or my wife) and the only thing that seems to help is seat time. Having a job in town makes it hard. Dad could tell it was getting to me so ha put batteries in my tractor and gave it a full check over and saturday i hooked on to the disk and got some much needed seat time therapy..

you know "once you play in the dirt you always play in the dirt"
 
(quoted from post at 06:39:14 04/07/20) What scares me is what a friend/acquaintance told me a few years back. He had bypass surgery and had some serious underlying conditions. They only gave him a 10% chance of surviving the surgery. He said "I don't care if you believe me or not,but I saw the gates of H3ll.". He said he never wanted to see that again. He has passed on for the second time since then. I hope he had better luck the second time around. I know he was real afraid of dying again.
 
Randy, I don't come to this forum very often, and just read your post. I live in Kentucky and I raised hemp last year. I was very excited all spring/summer, and pretty depressed all winter. I won't go into details, but the hemp was bust. Processor/buyer is still in business, but seems to be in limbo, and not paying for what they already have, let alone what we still have in our barns. So until about 2 or 3 weeks ago I was in a funk. But I have started getting busy with things and feel a little better now. Mark.
 
Thanks for replying Mark. I haven't talked to anybody down there lately. I wondered how the whole hemp thing was going. Sorry it's not working out like you guys had hoped.
 

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