Re: Do you make money farming crops? (need to be e

Posted by kyhayman on September 10, 2003 at 12:08:47 from (205.204.242.23):

In Reply to: Do you make money farming crops? (need to be educa posted by KURT (mi) on September 10, 2003 at 02:43:20:

For me the short answer is yes, no, and sometimes. First of all I work an off farm job (for health insurance). If I put up the hours on the farm that I put in my off farm job my net income would as high or higher but with a couple of chronic medical conditions my family is unisurable except in a group plan.

Crops:

wheat, break even if fed as silage
soybeans, slight loss if fed as silage
but I need these for crop rotation
grass hay, round baled, break even

beef cows, profitable, $100+/- profit per head

horses, profitable, $100 +/- profit per head

timothy hay, very profitable, $350 profit +/-per acre

alfalfa hay, profitable, $250 profit +/- per acre

It takes scale to make these margins profitable and access to markets. I spend as many hours marketing, researching, managing, and planning as I do actual working. Like most farmers I hate book work, would rather run a tractor. What I found I noticed in the mid 90's that my available income was dropping and made some serious business decisions. For me that meant I had to learn exactly what my costs were and deal with the fact I can rarely control price only costs. I spent money on attorney's and accountants. Best investment I ever made. Learned I can't back ground calves, raise corn, or sell rolled hay. Sold a lot of equipment by eliminating enterprises and bought good equipment for what was left.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Re: Do you make money farming crops? (need to Shane 17:48:16 09/10/03 (1)
  • Re: Re: Re: Do you make money farming crops? (need kyhayman 18:07:38 09/10/03 (0)

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