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I think I'm gonna quit

D

DeltaRed

Well-known Member
We had a banner year.Hit a home run. Possily the best corn crop I ever raised.Paid all the bills and still have a few thousand left over.Even had some folks hold off payment till after Jan.for the first time EVER,I need to spend some money now,rather than later(or not at all) for tax purposes.Next year I could double(or even triple) my corn acrage.But,I'm thinking,Maybe I should quit now,while I'm ahead.It gets harder every year.Not just financially,but in other ways too.I'm 61 now.I hurt,asthma is bothering me more than it used to.The stress is 'killing' me.I have struggled my whole 'career'.Lots more poor/mediocre crops than good ones.My equipment is all pd for.Yes,it's old and worn out,but it works and has always done the job,right beside the neighbors 'new' iron.I will have no trouble finding work.Both custom farming,and working for wages for a couple neighbors and friends.I will also continue with the home place(10 acres) and one other small place that I've farmed for 15 years.But that 'pie in the sky' syndrome kicks in and I think about 5-6 dollar corn,another high yielding year and I start to rethink.But,I fairly sure that for now I need to 'quit',or at least take a year or two off.I always said,"I'll continue upon the current path that I'm on till I come to a fork in the road.the road has been getting steeper and rocky however. I think I have come to that fork. With God's guidance,hopefully I will make the right decision.Farming is all I've ever wanted to do. I loved being out there,inspite of the hardships.But maybe now is the time.Thanks for your input. Steve
 
It's a personal decision that everybody has to make for themselves. I was ready to run out the clock for the last ten years,but my health has improved,so I'm up to keep going. I knew when it was time to quit milking cows and haven't regretted that for even a split second,even though there were plenty who said I'd be sorry and couldn't make a living off these beef cows.
I suppose I'll know when it's time to quit this,but like I said,it's a decision everybody has to make for themselves.
 
If you can work for a local farmer and get along well with his crew, may well want to consider it. Still be helping farm, but not have the daily stress of making the right or wrong decisions. Best to keep busy somehow, whether keeping going as you are, or being a hired hand.
 
It's a very HARD decision. We've had a herd of grass fed/finished Devon cattle for years, phenomenal mixed grass hay and pasture ground, a true self sustaining business. Market direct @ $4.50 a # hanging. But no kid interested, I'm 73, wife @ 70 both in excellent health but the work is getting harder, this year being the hardest. So, the cattle have been sold, we were fortunate to find local direct marketing farms to split the herd up with, and now, I have just 1 ol bull at home. We're quite a pair. You feel empty, w/o purpose and all sorts of other feelings. But then, when it was -22 a couple of mornings ago, not having to feed, check water etc etc felt pretty darn good. I'd rather have the decision to move on ours, rather then the kids or some care provider in the future........ you'll be making the right choice if you think it thru in a positive manner. I'm looking fwd to more shows and tractor tours if nothing else...............
 
I'm only a bit younger than you. I did not grow up on a farm. I had a chance to start doing hay about 17 years ago so I did a 10 acre field with about $6K in equipment...$4K was the tractor. Wife and kids help me. I started doing more hay. Hay was good to me for the most part. Every 3-4 years the price bottoms out but it comes back quickly. I now hire the bales loaded and my hay acreage is eroding due to development on land I do not own. Seven years ago I bought a larger acreage and started with corn/soy. Grain has not been kind to a novice. Bigger equipment, pricey when it breaks. I cannot fix the big diesels like I did with the 4 cylinder gassers. I hold my own pretty well with the help of some good friends here. My sales exceed inputs most years. Depreciation eats up the rest but I do not factor that into my old equipment costs...I just take repairs and maintenance. So realistically, from a strictly cash flow basis, I break even or stay slightly in the black each year. YES! It hurts sometimes to get out of bed in the AM. YES! Worry overwhelms me sometimes. I'm not sure when, if ever, we are going to see higher corn prices. If we do, and I don't plant oats that year, I stand to make back some of my larger repair bills from the past. Never going to get rich unless I sell the place. Do I think of quitting...just for a year or two? Every single day of the year. But I chose to be here and it is a lifestyle I enjoy. Two years off will put me in such poor condition physically that I would probably not return. I would miss my big tractor and the combine, etc. Everything except the sprayer, LOL! I'm not going to quit. I'm just going to keep working at making things easier and being more efficient. I get more stressed when someone else farms it anyway. I say keep going until you absolutely cannot physically do it.
This sums it up.
 
I can tell you this much Steve - my Brother and I decided to quit farming a couple of years ago and rent the land out. I have not regretted it at all. Like you are thinking, I still have about 50 acres of hay I fool with to keep the "shakes" away..lol, but the worry and stress of trying to raise (dryland here) crops is not there and I sure sleep better at night.

Working for another farmer might be the ticket, if they don't try to work you to death. Sure beats watching 3 or 4 hundred acres of soybeans start going farther backwards every day once the rain shuts off as I did more than once.

If you keep some land to play with, you will probably be fine. But there is definitely something to say for working for yourself. Only you can make the decision. Weigh the options both ways and don't look back. Good luck - Bob
 
If quitting is on your mind it is probably best to do so. Our bodies have a way of signalling to us when they have had enough both mentally and physically. It will not be easy at first, so if you can farm a small bit and possibly work for another, it will ease the transition. Believe me, the more you move into a slower lifestyle, the more you will enjoy it. Good luck!
Ben
 
Dear Steve Thank you for your hard work in farming. It is always nice to know that there are still people like you who do those long hard working days just to feed Americans like me. It is nice to read that there are people out there who do jobs that they love and some how do not have to worry about a boss yelling at them. I had a JOB I had to worry about If I had a job the next day or for the next year. Farming is some thing very special just like those ranchers and cowboys. You really have to be the person for it. My dad was a farmer but our land was taken when the city grew forced him to a job. I really did not like my job and could not wait to retire out of it. Some times I miss that farm we had when I was a kid. What ever you do it is because you made up your mind. I just want to say thank you for farming.
 
Going onto uncharted territory is tough. I went through that somewhat when I quit livestock. There was no more regular hog check coming in but I adapted and survived. Getting rid of the combine fifteen years ago and putting myself at the mercy of a custom harvester was scary, but it worked out for the best. You will make out OK. You have talent, experience and a desire to work. Farming doesn't look good for the next few years so I think you are making the right decision.
 
I shoulda quit in 1988 or 2015...... won't ever have years like those 2. 1988 was so dry no weeds grew, harvest was low and early so it was like a vacation year, crop prices were high and I stumbled into a crop that grew well and the price jacked up, so it was like a vacation year, no work, same or better income. 2015 was a perfect weather year, from early spring to late fall, very little heavy rains, only one brief dry period, crops were level and even and full from the top of the clay knobs to the bottom of the wet peat sloughs every week the weather was perfect. I will never see that again in my lifetime, once in 500 years in my climate.....

The past 2 years have been wet and stormy and miserable, with low prices added in. It gets old getting up every morning and fighting water and the weeds and issues that water brings, for low to almost average yields and low prices.

Still, really looking forward to 2018, see what spring brings. Planning out the best course of action for what is likely going to be a low crop price year.

Paul
 
I made that decision last summer, wasn't a farmer, but it for one main reason, STRESS, still keep busy but sleep better
 
For what it's worth-I was about where you are at one time. Caught a good crop year with good prices and quit cropping, worked out well. Kept a small cow herd for several years then sold them and just bale a couple thousand bales a year to sell to horse ladies and rent the pastures. Now at 70 I may be ready to park the baler and only collect rent. I know without question we would be better off financially if I had quit cropping earlier(or never started). Regardless, we all have to quit someday. I bet you will always be happier if you can feel like you went out on a good year with a win rather than having been beat down by the game.

Good luck. Be well.
 
If you ever want to feel ashamed of yourself for even thinking about quitting at a young age,come here and go to the fertilizer plant. The old guy who owns it is 89. He farms 4500 acres,has no sons in the operation,there's always new equipment sitting around there,still buys land when it's available. He's always bouncing off the walls like a teenager. If he can keep going like that,somebody in their early 60s like you and me have no business thinking we need to be sitting in a rocking chair.
 
How about instead of going from pedal to the medal to zero speed, throttle back a little and make an adjustment to that each year and see how it goes - setting up a glide path to zero over several years.

Good luck,
Bill
 
Tough decision to make but it sound's like you'll be ok either way.I'm at a similar crossroads.I farm a couple hundred acres of hay and have a full time day job as a hyster fleet mechanic in a local paper mill.Their shutting most of the mill down in the next couple months.Been there 30 years and planned on being there a few more years.But I'm gonna pull the plug and farm full time.I'm 56 so have a few good years left in me.Go with your gut that's what I'm doing.
Paul
 
I've quit doing quite a few things in my life at different times,I figure when I don't enjoy something anymore and just tired of it,its time to find something else to do.Think about it and if you think you'd like doing something different better go for it.Wife asks me often how long will I keep farming,my answer is until I don't enjoy it anymore might just up and decide to have a sale one day and move to the beach,mountain top,etc.
 
I'm 62. Your at a point in age that all men come to. For me it was about 6 years ago with my hay operation. Long story short. I scaled way back. Now just a little hay, kept my cows (40 head) do a little custom bailing. What time I have now not farming is taken up with the grandkids.

You do have a different outlook on life than you did 30 years ago. Slow down a little and enjoy farming again.

Also i enjoy reading about your combining posts in past. Takes me back about 40 years.
 
I'm not a farmer,but a lot of farmers depend on me to keep their tractors and equipment running. I am 67 years old, been in business for 41 years,got more business than I can handle, no one to pass it on to and can't sell it due to the location. I could sell my shop, home and rental property all together but no one around here could afford to buy it all. I am not ready to retire,but I need to cut back to 3 or 4 days week,but what days do I work? I've had enough of employees, all they are looking for is quitting time and pay day and most have too much baggage for me to put up with.Almost every day someone comes in and says, I don't know what us farmers are going to do when you retire.I really don't know either. The nearest John Deere dealer is 40 miles away, New Holland 60 Miles away. Case IH 90 miles and the Kubota dealer that was 75 miles away closes tomorrow. Life is full of decisions and who knows when we make the right ones.
 
There was an old guy out east of town that was the same way. He was THE BTO around here when I was young. They had ten or eleven kids. One of them kinda took things over for a while but then went to work for the county road commission. The son who probably would have stayed and taken over eventually was killed on the rail road tracks when a spring snowstorm blew wet snow on the crossing lights and he hit a train with the milk truck.
There was no stopping him either. He just hired help and kept milking cows for as long as his health held up. I felt so darned sorry for him toward the end,and I know that was the last thing he wanted anybody to do. He lost his drivers license,but he'd still drive around on the back roads looking for anybody who might be outside for him to stop in and talk to. There's just no holding down somebody with that kind of energy.
 
If you have an income problem on your taxes and need to spend some money then why not spend it on some newer, bigger machinery. Kills two birds with one stone. Solves your tax problem and makes your farming easier and more fun. You said your equip is all old and worn out. Only problem is you only have 3 days left to do it. I don't know how big your income problem is and don't care but maybe your dealer has a nice tractor you have been eye-balling for the last two months. Shut off this computer and go make the deal this afternoon.
 
Yep i know the kind, we got a old guy he just turned a 100, in October 2017, he was a ww2 vet, he was a pilot in the war,his mind is as sharp as ever, I just want to be like him, he got sons older than me, he was on the REA board in the late 40's, a heck of a guy !!
 
Be thankful that the decision to quit is yours, it?s when you are forced to quit whether it be due to finances or health that it?s hard to accept or adopt to!!!
 
Can't help you with the farming decision, because I was only a part-timer for about 10 years. It quit being fun after about 10 years, so I sold off the cattle in 1983 and have never missed them. But on the subject of needing to spend some money in 2017 to save taxes, GO SEE A FINANCIAL PLANNER TODAY to make sure you're putting all you can into retirement accounts. There are other types of accounts than the familiar IRA that has a $6,500 annual limitation- Wife was putting $12,500 a year into a plan for many years, deducting it all from income tax, and it sure is going to make our retirement a lot more comfortable. It isn't as secksy (sic- to get past the filter) as new equipment, but you get the tax break and still have the money to spend later on.

There is some value to the old saying "quit while you're ahead", might be especially appropriate if you're not really enjoying the stress of it anymore.
 
That is what my dad did.
Once us kids were out of the house it was just mom and dad at home.
The last ten years dad farmed for the fun of it.
He climbed down from the tractor at age 74.
 
Something that helps me make decisions is to try to imagine what possible choices would be like on a daily basis. Like going to work for someone else, and not (getting or having) to make decisions on how to do something. Consider the freedom you have now compared to working for someone else. Is giving up freedom vs. reducing stress a good trade? Pray about it. Lots of talks with the wife.
 
Las Vegas would be a vastly different town if all people thought like you did.... :)

Good luck in your decision. I'm guessing you won't see that $6 corn next year. The poor crop, maybe more likely...
 
I think to many people just spend money to avoid taxes, at least you keep 70% when you do not spend it.
 
Robert Townsend, the fellow who took Avis out of their financial doldrums and put them next to Hertz in the car rental business once said, "You're in business for two reasons. To make money and to have fun. If you aren't making money and/or having fun, what the heck are you doing it for?"

There's a lot of truth in that, but every one has to make that decision on their own.

I've said two of the happiest days of my life were the day I started farming and the day I quit. The last year I farmed, we had a drought during the summer, and an early killing frost that got what the drought didn't. Quitting came pretty easy. But-it's less stressful if you quit while you're ahead.
 

I had a professor in college that once said "Work smart and you won't have to work hard". I have remembered that for years. A couple of years ago our produce business was turning into more hard work than we wanted, so we hung it up. Now I ride around on a tractor for 6 months out of the year and my wife works 4 day weeks w/benefits in the medical field. We are back to working smart....and enjoying life a lot more.
 
oldproudvet, My aunt Joan has grass fed Red Devon in Upstate New York. She painted for the Devon Calendar if you had one a few years ago.
 
If you're talking about Jerry, one of the better people to work for also. I spent a few falls up there chisel plowing when I got my yearly railroad layoff. Treated everyone with respect, which seemed to gain it from almost everyone.
 
This was stuff I was going to buy later anyway. Fuel,tractor tires,oil,'part's.I would normally wait till spring to buy these.
 
My income problem isn't that big.No new iron will be heading my way.Especially if I quit farming.About the only update I would need would be a nice planter.Bought the bigger tractor(1456) this summer. The bigger roller last year.Bigger disk,land plane,plow within the last 5-7 years.I'm about as big/wide as I want to be.
 
I was watching a movie a couple of days ago about the mob guy that built the Flamingo Casino in las Vegas; Bugsy somebody. He told the mob it would cost 1 million. It cost 6 and his girlfriend/partner stole 2 Mil. which she gave back after he was terminated. Per the movie, the mob didn't like what he did and he didn't survive the incident. In the Credits, it posted the fact that as of 1991, the Flamingo has grossed 100 Billion Dollars......that's with a B........as I recall.

If it weren't for people wanting to GAMBLE that wouldn't have happened. Wink! Farming sir as we all know, is gambling with most things beyond your control.......looking for that pie in the sky. Good luck.
 
Steve , I am 4 years younger than you , and have had my own dairy farm for the past 37 years. I would be ready to call it a day now if I didn't have a son home , and wanting to farm. I have to find some way to transition , and not quit.I think that if I where you,perhaps this is a good choice. I really in all good conscious quit , and leave my boy high and dry. But there are getting to be more times that I would like to hang it up every year. All the best to you and your wife .
 
If you want to cut back keep raising your prices until you are getting the amount of work you want to do and you will still probably be making the same money as you were doing
more work.
 
I'm 75 years old now and still in pretty good shape. Farmed in Wi with my son til about 20 years ago. At that time he knew more about it than I did, just ask him. Really he did. Like you I had no problem finding a job actually, the feed and fertilizer got stopped in to sell us something and just before he left he asked if we knew anyone with a CGL looking for a job. I said I could do that, and worked about 4 years on that one. Then a friend of mine told me the BTO was looking for help so I became a tractor jockey/electrician. Most of the work was tractor work, and I loved that job He kept his equipment in real good shape, wasn't afraid to spend money on repairs, even the radio and air conditioner. Sometimes I worked sunup til sundown and loved every minute of it. I had nothing at all invested in it. Just drive and pickup my pay. My choice would be get a job on someone else farm.
 
Oh NO! I wont sit in a rocking chair! Probably be busier than I am now. And making lots more money........
 
Everybody knows Jerry,that's for sure. He and I have a pact. Neither one of us are gonna die during planting or harvest season. lol
 
Sure do, mine too, were Red Devon, with my last bull a pure Rotakawa Red Devon from New Zealand. What a breed! Mid sized, mellow, and very easy to work. Easy calving on pasture or in the woods, very seldom an issue. The breed finishes very well on warm season, high sugar grasses. Traditional breeds guys try and feed out on grass, because the market is so good, usually taste like some Elk shot in Canada that grew up on pine needles............
 
I vote for stopping, only because you say the stress is killing you. And it is. Work for somebody else and take the time off you want to. My dad struggled farming in the late forties and early fifties. When he had to go to work in an aircraft factory winter of 52 he could not go back to farming, said a pay check every week was too good to be true. He had never worked a job other than as a B-17 pilot for Uncle Sam.

I'm now 68, down to 20 cows on my home place and get all the hay on shares from my hay meadows. Some days I consider selling the cows because I've been bitten by the hot rod bug and don't want to leave the shop to brush hog, fix fence, etc. But the cows are pretty easy and make money every year. It is about time to start selling land but that's a hard decision.

Best of luck on whatever decision you make.
 
I'll add something that I don't see in other post. I'm a little older than you and faced the same decision. I got out and tried to not look back although that's hard to do entirely. What I have found around here is that there are lots of opportunities for retirees. Part time jobs are easy to find and they are looking for our age group for a few reasons. A couple are that they don't have to pay our insurance, another is dependability to come to work and then our work ethics. I can't tell you what to do but retiring worked out for me. You could scale back also I assume. I stay busy enough for me and I am one of those guys that can't just sit around. Good luck.
 
I will not tell you what to do, that is up to God and you. I will tell you what I did. It was a difficult decision to make for me, but I signed my small farm into the CRP Pollinator program. I just turned 66 and am 1 year into a 10 year program. The last harvest was tough, knowing I would never do this at home again, but financially, I would have been a fool not to sign up. I'm still working, lots of overtime. It was all I could do to keep the weeds mowed this summer. I sold the combine and next year I will try to sell planter, sprayer and field equipment so I don't have to mow around it. I still tinker around with tractors, I just bought 2 more in Oct. If I ever retire, couple neighbors want me to drive tractor and combine for them. I think I can stay busy as long as my health holds out and I don't have to worry about prices, weather, breakdowns, etc. My long term goal had always been to have a small farm to work when I retire to keep busy and keep me active. Farming has changed so much and gotten so expensive it just wasn't fun anymore. I pray that God will guide you in the right decision for you. Chris
 
Farming is a very tough occupation, mentally. You have to either love it totally, or you will hate it totally. Some days when things arent going well I question myself also. This time of year it is hard to make good choices about the future, at least here where I am from. The daylight is very short, it is barely above zero outside, And because of the lake effect we rarely see the sun. It is always cloudy, rainy ,or snowing like Hejl. I some days feel like putting a hole in the roof of my mouth with a lead candy. But I know in a few weeks the sun will start to shine once in a while and it will melt the snow off the roof. The days will get longer, and I will unstopable energy. I will be thankful for the chance to be outside and alive.In the winter everything looks worse.I would wait a few months before I thought about quiting. If you can walk away from it in the spring then you didnt love it enough to stay. Al
 
Wait a minute, wait just a cotton pickin minute here! Your sayin you want to quit when your on top, things are paid for, good crop, tractors are worth something? Surely you jest! If you were any kinda farmer at all you would wait til you had 2 or 3 bad crops, the prices were in the tank, you were heavily in debt, and the farm economy was really in the tank so nothing you have is worth anything. THEN and only then, would you sell out. That is if you were like most of the farmers I know. How else you goin to have anything to complain about at the cafe in the mornin at the old folks table?
 
Ah keep farmin once you quit it?ll be hard to start again I plan to be like grandpa and farm until I die
 
Steve, I've been farming close to 55 years, and I guess I'm in the same boat The past few years have been harder to find the fire that burned in me for farming. I have been giving up hay acreage and corn ground, have pared the herd from 105 head to less than 20. I'll be 70 shortly and I just do not feel like hustling cows anymore, and those hot days seem hotter than 20 years ago. I'll still piddle with something, but I just guess you and I are gonna flame out together!!!!
 
oldproudvet, The name is Harrier Fields Farm if you have heard of it. They have been involved with the Devon breed for awhile.
 
It is up to you, I tell you what between the cold and long hours and not much money for doing it, it has been crossing my mind, mostly from the cold. Then my wife has been after me about not spending any time with the family, she says she feels like a single mother raising the kids by herself.
 
quitting when you are ahead is not the same as quitting. Get out before you hurt yourself too bad to enjoy the rest of your life.
 
"Wait a minute, wait just a cotton pickin minute here! Your sayin you want to quit when your on top, things are paid for, good crop, tractors are worth something?"

I know you're being sarcastic with the rest of the reply,but that part right there is where I'm at. I beat myself up and wore myself out to get to where I am and now I'm gonna quit when I finally got to where I always wanted to be??

I'm gonna ride this high for as long as I possibly can. There has to be a plateau. I didn't get to the top just to fall off a cliff when I got there. I'm gonna level off and take this as far as it can go.
 
(quoted from post at 22:15:00 12/28/17) don't say quit, say change
Andy,
hot rods? you got my interest pics?
Click to expand...

My grandkids and I going to lunch

8291.jpg
8292.jpg
 
I've set dates,or picked ages before when things were gonna change,but that age gets here,or the date,and I don't feel any different than I ever did,so doing something so arbitrary isn't even something I'll do anymore. When the time's right,I'll know it. There's no rushing it.
 
I rented the farm out at age 59 in 2008 and in 2012 retired from the town job at age 63....Its the best 2 things I ever did..
 
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