Re: farm work

Posted by dmiller on August 14, 2012 at 12:55:09 from (97.121.195.10):

In Reply to: farm work posted by nick girgen on August 14, 2012 at 03:09:37:

It is possible to get started in farming today. But it takes a miracle and someone's help.
Here's what I did/happened to me if it helps. (granted I'm not really a farmer, just a side income hobby guy)
Step 1: loved it enough to have passion about it. Got a degree to be a H.S. ag teacher.
Step 2: Used what little bit of summer I have free from ag teacher duties to work on any ag type job I could find.
Step 3: Started my own side business cutting and selling firewood as a way to develop an old line of machinery (This is where the help of others starts in. A retired widow in our church allowed me to park equip. at her old dairy and clean all the deadwood out of their timbered pasture) Did that for 10 years now.
Step 4: started haying the little 5 acre backyard lots that the real farmer's wouldn't mess with (there's a reason they don't mess with them, very inefficient and low produciing) Been doing that for 5 years now. Have worked up to 80 acres.
Step 5: Sadly the widow that had been helping us get started passed on. Her son's asked if we'd rent the farm house. Now we have the opp. to raise some livestock (have access to a feedlot that I can't make pencil). Raise feeder and butcher hogs for local people. Not very large but every opportunity helps.
Step 6: Any profit I have has been dumped back into expansion and this year I finally have enough equipment that I was able to rent 20 acres of irrigated ground for grain production.
Newest piece of equip. is a 9 foot heston swather from the early 80's. Most of my stuff is from the mid 60's or older. Most of it was purchased as "for parts or restore" locally and then I spent any spare moments/evenings fixxing it up so it's somewhat reliable.
It is possible, it's almost not worth what it does to your family (stress, work load, etc.) Of course it's priceless what it does for your family (boys play in the creek all summer, get to help with the baby piglets, oldest is 10 and got to rake some hay with supervision this summer)
At the moment I hardly ever work less than 80 hours a week between my job and hobby farm. The "farm" made $4,000 last year as profit, might double that next year if the expansion of the hog herd and wheat ground goes well (that's at age 36).
In 13 years as a high school ag teacher I've had 3 students who were able to get into production agriculture. 2 did it growing up on 20 acre hobby farms. 1 got a Ranch Management degree and then fell into a good option that he was able to work into a shared ownership on. The other took out a loan, bought some late 70's haying equipment and started a custom haying company. Last I'd heard he was farming around 600 acres for other people. 3rd one is working in town at whatever he can find and slowly expanding his herd on the parents place (he'll be 5th generation on the same place)

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