how farming has changed in your lifetime

swindave · Jul 2, 2020

how has farming changed in your lifetime? i know were all differant ages ,so i thought it would be nice to compare the changes we have seen in my lifetime im 57 years old, from indiana used to be several feed mills and stores in most small towns, now there gone
it seems like a lot of farms, full time farming with row crops and livestock, beef, dairy hogs and cash grain
and some poulty , mostly turkeys were and still raised in m y area, then the 80s hit, and most part time and a lot of full time farmers qiut, if they didnt sell out, they rented there farm and keep the county lifestyle

it now seems like mostly big 2,3,4 even 5000 acres operations in the corn belt
all the small communities are dried up, and busineess and churchs are closing

the small towns and schools are all but gone,

Hayfarmer · Jul 2, 2020

In may area, central Washington, one of the biggest changes was with dairy farms. There were many here when I was young, including ours. Now there are none left in the valley. Most farmers here had at least a small dairy operation, some skimmed milk to sell. Most farmers had some chickens and sold eggs and for the family. 100 acres was a fair sized place. We grew silage corn for cows and also some sweet corn(picked by hand). My grand father always drove horses. We farmed with one tractor, an unstyled G that was also the "big tractor" in the neighborhood and often called upon to pull the small Fords and IH Hs out. The old JD G was used by my dad to do custom work with threshing machine, buck rake and plowing in the fall. He worked that in around milking cows and tending our place.

Charlie M · Jul 2, 2020

The size of the equipment and computer technology is most noticeable to me. Growing up on a small dairy farm in the early 60's a 50 horse tractor is the largest we ever owned. There were bigger tractors during that time but a 50 horse tractor still meant something. Today you need more than that to cultivate, if you cultivate. The things I hear you can do with GPS and other computing technology just blows my mind. All you have to do is look at my curved corn rows vs the dead straight ones across the road to see the difference. I like to go to Empire Farm days every few years just so see the state of farm equipment vs the 1940's and 50's stuff I own. I always like to ask the cost too. LOL

Dean · Jul 2, 2020

Small (commercially viable) farms have vanished.

When I was young, it was still possible to scratch out a living in my area with a 100-125 acre hill farm. Yes, it was probably necessary to raise tobacco (unless the wife was a school teacher) as well as milk at least a few cows and raise the corn and hay needed for the cows. Many such farmers in my area supplemented their income by operating a school bus (which they owned and maintained) in order to pay the mortgage on the farm. Many, many small farms in my area were paid for by the cash income from a school bus contract.

Changes in federal regulations since the FDR administration (I'll avoid the pros and cons of such regulations, herein.) resulted in the failure of small 100 acre tobacco/dairy farms once so common in my area, even if the the owner had paid off the mortgage and still got up at 4:00 to put the chains on the school bus (In those days, they did not close school for a forecast or even 4" of snow.) before milking the cows.

For better or worse, it's the world in which we live.

Dean

retired farmer · Jul 2, 2020

Machinery has gotten bigger and more expensive, land costs more and is being turned into subdivisions. Old neighbors have died off. Farming is no fun anymore.

NY 986 · Jul 2, 2020

When I was a small boy during the 1960's all the farms in the neighborhood if not dairy had some type of livestock. All farms were under 300 acres and farmers were just starting to buy 80 plus HP tractors and most farms had 3 and maybe 4 tractors total. Corn was a minor crop with hay and wheat the biggies. Most dairy herds produced 13-15K lbs of milk per cow. Seed genetics were as such that sandy loam soils could not take a minor drought without seriously hurting a crop such as corn. The hay that was not put up for silage was baled by a small square baler and put in the barn. Manure got hauled to the field every day.

Today very few farms are under 1000 acres. An 80 HP tractor is of limited use. Very few dairy farms and nearly all over 1,000 cows. Corn is king unless the soil is very poor and it takes a very serious drought to hurt it. Manure is stored until applied just ahead of a crop being planted. A good JD 336 with 30 ejector used to bring over 4,000 dollars but now can be bought for less then 2,000 dollars and if you don't mind an ugly but works 336 then under 1,000 dollars. Box spreaders bring very little money unless a horse person is there at an auction and their checkbook does not open very wide.

Butch(OH) · Jul 2, 2020

Aside of the obvious size differences the biggest change I have seen is people used to like thier neighbor farmer and help each other out. Now the valley is farmed my 5 large operators that hate each other.

bcdave · Jul 2, 2020

I live in Southern British Columbia. We are mainly fruit orchards and cattle ranching.
When I grew up the trees were huge and planted 30 x 30 and wider. Fruit was picked into wooden bushel boxes and handled by hand. Work was done off 12 and 14 ft. Ladders. Trees now are planted 2 x 10 ft and the biggest ladder is 6 ft. Most fruit is picked into bins and handled using tractor forks and forklifts.
The ranchers cut and raked hay and put up loose hay or bales I couldn't lift. Bales were picked up and stacked by hand. Today haying is mostly done by machine.
Dave

ford1956tractor · Jul 2, 2020

I grew up in East Tn and still manage to live there after corporate life{;. We had 180,acres, grew 40 acres of corn milked a few dairy cows and grew 2 acres of tobacco plus 70 acres of hay. We ran 100 +- head of beef cattle and for years our largest tractor was a MF 165. We farmed for my teen years with a 600 and 800 Ford.
180 acres back then in E, Tn was a large farm. Most milked grade C --which most of you will have no clue-- grew a small tobacco acreage while working a day job.
Between my Dad and uncle we would put up 11-12k squares per year.

jCarroll · Jul 2, 2020

You could not have convinced me in 1955 when I was 18 that cows could be milked by a robot.

Centerplate · Jul 2, 2020

When we were young, We put milk in cans and cooled them in a water tank at evening milking. We later bought a used bulk tank. The barn was fitted with a pipe line after that. I could almost write a short story.

When I was in grade and high school there was a dairy farm behind almost every kid that stepped on the bus in the morning. Most all the little diary farms under 100 cows are gone except four in out township. I am also the only farmer in my high school graduating class of 95 students.

Bob N.Y. · Jul 2, 2020

I was born in 1952 and grew up on a 160 acre dairy farm in northern New York about 20 miles inland from the St. Lawrence River. My family had 24 cows, a 1927 Fordson and 2 teams of horses. The milk went into cans. Hay was put up loose with a hayloader and corn was chopped into a snow fence "silo" with an ensilage cutter. My father bought a 1952 8N with a 2 bottom 3ph plow in 1955, put up a concrete stave silo in 1958, a JD 14T baler in 1959, an MF 65 high arch with a 4 bottom 3ph plow in 1960, a used NH 611 chopper in 1963, a JD number 9 3ph hitch mower and a 3ph snow blower in 1964, built a new milk house and bulk tank in 1965, a NH 461 haybine and a JD self unloading wagon in 1967, another JD self unloading wagon in 1968, a JD 34 chopper and replaced the Fordson with an MH 101 Jr. standard in 1969, a Patz silo unloader in 1970 when I went off to college, an MF 165 high arch diesel with a loader in 1971 and a NI roll-a-bar style rake in 1972. The herd had crept up to 37 cows and the horses disappeared in that time period. I took over in 1974.

gtractorfan · Jul 2, 2020

A big change is Round Up (glycospate) ready corn and soybeans allowing spraying instead of cultivating which was s-l-o-w.

paul · Jul 2, 2020

Much like you.

Locally the small under 1000 acre farmer is doing elk, with a town job. More so than other areas as I understand.

But the big outfits of 4,000 to 25,000 acres are around and growing.

Before the 1980s farmers owned most of their acres and rented a little.

The 1980s used up the equity and now most farme own a few acres and rna lot of acres.

I wonder what thry bun up in assets a the next tough times?

Paul

centash · Jul 2, 2020

Mid western Ontario was a mixed farming area. Everyone had cows, pigs, chickens or ducks or geese, skimmed their milk, big gardens etc. on a 100 acre farm. Still a mixed farming area, but each farmer has specialized.... on my road, there are several crop only farmers of 1000 acres plus, a few looped pig farms with 1000 sows, couple of dairy farms with 100 plus cows and a few feather farms with tens of thousands of birds. Almost all land is drained, with a few trees being planted for badly needed windbreaks. My other farm ...100 acres...was for sale in 1953 for 700 dollars, with no takers....it was rented for pasture, had about 30 head, but needed hay brought in by mid summer. It was eventually inherited by descendants of the owners, and my dad bought it in 1973. Has yielded 50 bushel soys, 100 bushel wheat and 175 bushel corn. What will the next 50 years bring???

Ben

MF#1 · Jul 2, 2020

Wow, that's a good one. I grew up in Kentucky in the 60's through the 80's. Yes, I know what Grade C milk is, that's all we sold, no pipeline, milked a dozen cows by hand the old fashioned way. At eleven I could swing a 10 gallon can of milk up and over into the cooler. No matter how hard the other farming was you knew you were going to milk EVERY day, twice a day. My mother taught school, Dad drove a school bus and farmed. Started out with about 1.5 acres of tobacco which grew to 20 acres, I don't care how hard baling hay was tobacco was a killer. I've hung tobacco when I only came down out of the barn for lunch and supper, soaking wet with sweat, did it day after day. At least when cutting or loading you were outside where maybe you had a breeze;-) When we started tobacco we would burn our beds where we grew our plants then used plastic and gas, then bought plants grown in a greenhouse. We used to strip the leaves and tie them in "hands", 12 per stick, that became baling in bales, big change. Also grew corn and baled hay for the cows. I remember when we tried no-till, paraquat was the weapon of choice, hand picked many acres, finally got a picker and elevator and thought "what took us so long". By the time I finished college I was ready for a change and did twenty years in the military. When I came back home I bought my own farm, still raised a little tobacco until the buy-out and had beef cattle while working a "town" job. Sold the cows in 2018, maybe I'll get back in cattle....maybe. When you grow up working on a farm it never leaves you.

Bruce from Can. · Jul 2, 2020

When I was a kid, farms around home had been mixed, but were specializing. My dad shipped cream for 25 years and fed skim milk to hogs, from 1945-1970, also had a flock of laying hens. Dad decided to semi retire and switched to cow calf, no more dairy cows, hogs or hens.
There was both a fluid milk plant and a creamery in our town just 5 miles from the farm. A large feed mill and a farm equipment dealership, all gone now. Where I live as a kid there is no commercial farmers, only hobby farms and cash rent cash crop farmers . The area where I farm there are still many farmers milking 50-100 cows, several with robots doing the milking. No hog farms anymore near us. Few feather farms and even fewer cattle finishing set ups. Some part time cow calf and sheep guys playing around. Mostly the land grows wheat, corn and soybeans. Almost Zero chance for a young person to ever start their own farm now. And tough as hell for many established farmers to same in business. Fewer farms and that is the biggest change. And little money to be made for those still hanging in.

Keith Molden · Jul 3, 2020

Never liked working in backer, sticky and stinky, but always enjoyed it when we sold ours. As a kid, we farmed with horses then got a big tractor, a J.D. MT to pull the horse drawn mowing machine and raked with a dump rake. (my Grandpa swore that tractor was gonna compact his fields and didn't want it on his corn ground at all) Threw the doodles on the wagon with 2 of the men with forks flipping it over their backs. When I was little I got the job of tromping on the wagon. Now I have some classic tractors and a new cab tractor with a V rake, round and square baler and mow with a drum mower. If memory serves me correctly, and I think I have a picture someplace, he grew wheat that stood 5' high. Took some of the wheat to town and had it ground into flour. Never had a corn picker when I was young, always cut and shocked the corn then after dry down husked it and hauled to the crib Life sure has changed on the farm. Keith

JK-NY · Jul 3, 2020

Like many have stated, a lot of changes. The biggest change in my opinion is that the smaller owner operated farm can no longer generate enough income to cash flow unless they are pretty much debt free and even then it is tough. Most of the farms in my area were dairy farms when I was young , very few dairy farms left with most being very large now. The ability to work large acreage with large equipment and no till, higher yields of crops and milk per cow , some good land no longer worked and going back to brush/woods , and many more obvious changes.

Torwood · Jul 3, 2020

Im 39. Grew up on a 30 cow dairy farm. We even had buckets to milk with yet. Dad retired in 1999 and sold cows to a farm down the road. I started working for them that summer to make money for college. Been there 21 years now helping out. They had a double six parlor with 200 cows. I thought that was pretty cool. They kept expanding their herd til they got up t 400 plus. 2 years ago they started the switch to robots for milking. It has gone super well for them. Cows averaging right around 98-99 lbs per day, even in the heat.

Field work wise, as a kid we were super excited to get 10 acres of chopping done in a day. I get sent out to cut and am told let us know when its all laying. On Wednesday we just chopped 300 plus acres off like it was nothing. Even traveling 5 plus miles for a 1/3 of it. (Another change in farming is the distance of travel for fields).

I miss the old days but do enjoy all the technology and its benefits. By the way, this farm is a family farm in the truest sense. There is one full-time employee and myself that arent family. Hes probably worked there 15 years himself.

Texasmark1 · Jul 3, 2020

NE of Dallas, where my farm is located, was part of the "Cotton is King" Blackland Prairie thing back in the 60's and prior years for decades. Then everything dried up. Now DFW is exploding and acreage is being bought up as fast as is available for homesteads. 15-20 acres most in demand. Prices are high but not near what Corn Belt property goes for in large tracts no less.

MARK ROBKE · Jul 3, 2020

I grew up on a small dairy farm also, in Northern Kentucky, just 5mi from Cincinnati, Ohio. My Dad and Uncle were partners from after WWII until about 1962-63. My Uncle took a 'town' job, so it was my Dad and me as a helper-I was 6-7 yrs old. We also had a small dairy store, which my Mom ran. From the mid 50s milk had to be pasteurized so every day Dad took our milk in cans to a large dairy plant and brought home cartoned, pasteurized milk for the store. We milked 18-20 head, and put up hay-small square bales. We were surrounded by growing older suburbia, so we also did a lot of custom work, from plowing gardens, finishing yards for new homes, baling hay, bush hog work, and selling firewood. But what is amazing to me is-our farm was 33 acres! It had started off at 40 but the state highways kept creeping in due to eminent domain, and took land to reroute or enlarge the roads around us. We had no health insurance with 6 kids. After my uncle left Dad only ever bought one new piece of equipment- a Woods 6' rotary mower. Our big tractor was the 300u, along with a 340u and an 8n, Dad's favorite. Mark.

jaoneill · Jul 3, 2020

In the early 50's, worked on neighboring farm, believe it or not in Northern Westchester County NY, just 30 miles or so outside of the Rotten Apple, it was 20 milk cows with floor pail milkers, carry to the milk house, dump into cans, heist into spring fed concrete vat to cool; one 8n tractor and an old Wisconsin powered NH 77 baler.
In the early 60's, again a neighbor's farm, another 30 miles out of the city in Dutchess County, 60 cows, floor pails into a dumping station and bulk tank; JD A, B, and 50, #9 mower, crimper, 24T baler, & NI chopper w/concrete stave silo.
In the early 70"s, bought my own place in St. Lawrence County NY, milked 50 head, pipeline, bulk tank, concrete stave silos, fleet of old iron w/one new diesel 70hp tractor for the heavy work. I still have the farm but when I sold the cows in '88 I was one of the last in the neighborhood where there had been 15 dairies when I started.
Today, except for the Amish, most in the area milk upwards of 200 head, many in the thousands, their machinery will cover more ground in an hour than we would do in a week; it's a whole new world.

GaryinKs · Jul 3, 2020

I am 62, in my lifetime farming has changed for the worse

MF#1 · Jul 3, 2020

Yep, when you sell is the -only- time it was good. I rode a mule before I rode a tractor;-)

Leroy · Jul 5, 2020

GaryIn Ks, I am 76 and agree with you. Hanged for far worse in every way. Actually no farmers left in bussiness, only commercial operators.

how farming has changed in your lifetime

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads