If you got a do over would you?

If you got a do over would you?
After reading Bill on the farms latest post. Which I always enjoy. Looking at the 620 on the gravity wagons got me to thinking. When I was 19 I wanted to farm but 1981 it was not the best time to start farming from scratch without working a hundred hours a week to figure out who you could not pay at the end of the week.
If you could have a do over .If you could milk 35 or 40 cows.
(insert your type of farming here) and provide a good living and retirement for your family would you? I talking about family farm size like in the 50 or 60 with say equipment like a 3020 or 4020 John deer or an 806 or 560 farmall some thing with live pto and power steering. 40 cow tie stall barn with 2 20 x 60 upright silo for haylage and corn silage. 2 or 3 round wire corn cribs. I sure would of loved too. I am in to my 4th year of self-employment running a True Value hardware store and in these times it has not been easy to stay a float but is rewarding in some ways. But if I was rasing a family now. I would be sucking wind most likely

Northeast puller.

If I had to do it over, and knew what I now know, I would. I came out of the service in 1973, didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out, went back to work for the phone company, and started to build up what I now have- slowly, one misstep at a time. 30 years back with Ma Bell, and I have been 'retired' 12 years. If I had to do it over, Ma Bell could have kissed my azz goodbye some thirty years ago, and I would have gone whole hog into farming. Even with the hard times, and long hours, I would not give this life up for a 9 to 5 or whatever. And I would not have passed on as many chances as I did- they would have eventually worked out.

It never is easy to start your own business. That is why about 75% of them fail in the first year of business. As for starting out milking 30-40 cows and trying to make ends meet. I always admired the guys that milked. To me they where working a factory job but without any benefits. Tied down 24/7/365. It was a hard life.

Most of the dairies around me anymore are not what I would call family dairies anymore. They may only be milking 100-150 cows but most of them have several Mexicans doing the milking chores. The family does the other stuff. The majority of the milking is done by the Mexicans. Most of them are illegal too. Yes they give the farmers SS numbers but most are bogus. The INS busts a few each year but mostly just a slap on the wrist and business as usual.

Now days starting is even harder than it would have been then. I made more clear money in the early 1980s than I do now. Things did not cost as much and the percentage of each dollar I got to keep was larger. You could start out with a little bit of machinery and rent some ground and get started. These days the ground is just about impossible to find at an affordable price to rent or buy.

Only a few dairies anymore in my area,and they are all using illegal mexicans to milk.Guess that's what you have to do to make a living anymore.

Yes.

I did start myself milking cows in a rented barn in 1981. Now own two farms,with 275acre total land base, and 50 cows to milk this morning. Yes ,I would do it again, in a heart beat. Bruce

If I had it to do over, I would find a gal who was an only child, and her father owned about 1,000 acres. :lol:

My dad retired from the Army and started milking. IN 74 I joined up and in 1980 my mom got pretty sick. For a while they didn't think she was going to make it. Dad told be he would go see the banker and borrow money to expand the barn and put in more cows. The 2nd mom's health started to improve his story changed. He wanted me get out of the Army and find a job in town (about impossible at that time) and then "we would build the farm up slowly without the debt". With only minimum wage jobs available (being a tanker isn't a job skill in demand in the civvy sector) and a wife and 3 kids to feed.....well that wasn't in the cards. I really regret not being able to farm with my dad, also for the instability that my kids endured with the forced moves.

Rick

No need for a do over. I bought the farm in 80. Bought a new 4040 Deere in 81. Milked 44 cows in a stanchion barn. Can't say I regret it,but I'm sure glad those cows are gone. Coming up on the nine year anniversary of getting rid of'em and that's one thing I SURE don't regret.

I bailed out for the following reasons.

#1. I am not enough of a risk taker to take on big debts to be able to farm.

#2. I had a college education directed to working in the equipment manufacturing industry.

#3. My allergies were directing me to get away from the chemicals and dust prevalent on farms.

In hindsight, I did the right thing for me, especially from a health standpoint.

Gosh. My folks moved to Michigan and bought a farm about the time I started high school, by golly I decided I wanted to farm. Went to Michigan State University, I have probably the last or about the last Dairy Science Degree they awarded. When I graduated I was working full time as a mechanic on a golf course and doing all the farming at home (dad was an OTR truck driver). The 40 across the road came for sale, I could buy it for $15,000 dollars, could not get a loan on it. 90 days later I could sign my name and get a new Ford pick up for $10,000 so it wasn't a lack of credit history. I suppose had I been able to buy the 40 I'd probably be misbaker here and still farming. I quit the golf course and wandered from herd to herd for a while trying to learn the Dairy business, this was about the time we started paying folks that owned cows not to milk them. One job I interviewed for happened to be a family with the same last name, they thought that was handy one of the interview questions was "this is our daughter, do you like her?" The long hours, low wages and the lack of time for a social life eventually caused me to quit dairying and join the Air Force. Yes I wished it came out differently and that it would of been possible for me to stay farming and provide a more stable life for my daughters. For that to happen things outside my control would of had to happen differently or I would have had to been a different person. Had farming worked out I don't think I'd be married to the same women I am and I wouldn't want to trade her for a farm or the other things we have talked about. So yes I wish it had come out differently but I don't regret it.

I grew up on a 35 cow dairy, and didn't really want to go that way, when I got old enough to really understand the drawbacks of a 24/7/365 job.

But my best friend in college was a wheat farmer's kid, and their family farm wasn't big enough for 2 families. So we tried for a couple of years to find a farm to buy or lease- and never did come up with anything. Wheat farms in eastern Washington just quietly get passed on to kids, or family retains the land and leases it out, or the adjoining farmer buys it before anyone even knows its for sale.

In retrospect, probably for the best- because he married a witch, and she'd probably have broke us when they got divorced. She broke him, that's for sure.

If I could do it over without winning the lottery I would have forgone the Ag degree for something else. When I was in high school the Farm Credit people and other bankers said the only way to borrow money for farming would be if a person had an Ag degree. I should have done about anything else education wise and been more of a silent partner for a while putting up off-farm money. Easy to say but at the same time the economy here in WNY has been going down hill since 1980. Whose to say my off farm job would not have gone poof a long time ago. I can relate to when RRLund talks about how poor things are where he is. It's not a wonder any kid with any ability leaves after high school and does not look back. I'd be better off with a time machine even if there were limits as to what I could do for the farm.

I'd of gone to the beach alot more,chased a lot more women,done alot more drinking got on welfare because of my drinking 'disease' got on food stamps then went to the beach and chased women while you fellows sent me a couple checks every month.Just kidding--sort of(LOL)

I have been doing just what you are talking about for 20 years,40 cows,200 acers and a bunch of 3020 and 4020 tractors.A great life that I have enjoyed untill recently.The profit margin is so small and our money has no buying power when we go to town.High priced parts,fuel,seed and fertlizer not to mention land rent is pushing us little fellows out fast.I am tired,the wife is as well,the equipment is wearing out and the children want nothing to do with the farm(They are going to get rich without working hard).Spent today working ground and seeding fall barley and I just can't imagine what else I would sooner due than farm. I guess I will quit when they bury me or when I can no longer drag myself up on the old 3020 and 4020's.