Posted by John_PA on February 05, 2014 at 01:49:50 from (72.95.244.67):
My grandfather and my dad had similar weather conditions like we have now, when they were milking cows in 1968. On New Years eve of 1968, the high for the day was 2 degrees below zero.
They had a manure spreader full, and the cows were milked. From the morning, and through the day, the spreader got full. At the height of the day, my dad went out to spread the load. The web was froze to the bed, and the web broke. it was an old spreader.
My grandfather went out to help get the load out. They were going to hand fork the load out in the field.
part-way through the load, my grandfather looked up at my dad and his face was purple. He said, "I'm going."
He fell down, face first into the spreader. Those were the last words he ever spoke. My dad took him to the house in the spreader, and the doctor came. They took him to the hospital, and he was pronounced dead the next day. He never spoke again or regained consciousness.
That was Jan 1, 1969.
My dad had to finish milking the cows that day, and had to milk the cows all through his funeral.
My dad was an only child. He carried on, with some help from his cousins and his mother. For several years, he did that, by himself. He carried on. He got married in 1973, and his new wife helped him milk through 1973. He worked so hard to keep the farm. He was in control of the neighboring farm. He used that barn for storage, but only for mostly machinery and hay, and some horses. He had to hire help. In 1974, one of the guys he employed was a fan of the new drugs and beer. He had friends, and he was young. In 1974, That young man had a party in the barn, and they burned it down. It housed lots of machinery, a few horses, and some hay.
That night, the barn burned and it took out the combine, the corn picker, the baler, the lime spreader, the corn planter, the farmall MD, and the second cutting hay he had stored. No animals died.
I was born not long after, and farming was no where near as important as a new family. Once we were older and the insurance from the fire came in, he was able to buy 1 used baler with all the money he got. He built it up, and kept the bulk of the land clean.
He never recovered, though. He sold the cows. Everything stopped.
All these years later, and after a job away from the farm for 30 years, he and I are farming again. My dad is the best man that ever lived. He kept all the land and did the best he could for his family. He did this all, after loosing his father, and loosing a lot of machinery. He did this to keep everything a farm. His cousins sold off the land. the land went into trees and is out of the family. We don't have much anymore, but, my dad has me, I have him, and we have what he built.
Now, we are considered BTO for this area. We rent other farms that lost their cattle and their fences. The land is bond to be houses soon. I have to dash between cars and trucks to get from one place to the other. We have local government that wants more houses and between that, and the strip mines, there is not much ground left. We farm all we can get. I guess I am a BTO, because I rent all the ground that the owners will keep out of CRP for me. I pay them good, and I don't make much money. We haven't made much at all, but we keep doing it. If we didn't, no one would.
I am trying real hard and I hope I make my granddad proud. He didn't die in vain.
I posted this to remember what we have been through, and what we need to go through yet, to continue farming.
I love my life and farming. I hope I can show my dad how proud I am of what he had to do to get me to this point. I hope you all can see how proud I am of what he did to keep this farm and keep farming in our area. I love you Dad.
God Bless to all those who had similar struggles and kept the lifestyle for your family. it is not a loss. Keep farming no matter what. God will reward you in the end, or reward your children or grandchildren. It will be ok. Just remember the sacrifices in your family and it will be ok.
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