I know exactly how you feel scarecrow. It has been hard for me to see my Dads place being rented out and then selling off the machinery. At least my Brother is buying the place and is planning to keep it in the Family and with hopes to farm it himself in some manner eventually. I miss not being out doing field work like in the past so I jump at the chance when I get asked to help some one else. And that is also why my wife and I are building up a herd of Boer Goats. Gives me some regular contact yet with farming. That saying is VERY true,,,,,, You can take the boy out of the country BUT you CANT take the country out of the boy. Unless you lived a farming lifestyle you dont totally understand the bond that exists to the land.

 

I've been involved with farming/agriculture ever since high school in one form or another. I enjoy having cattle more than anything and I'll eventually work back into it (when the price jumped a few years back my buddy/partner decided to bail and left me high and dry). For now I just help acouple guys out during the summer/fall and haul cattle when I get the chance.

 

I sold out of cattle last fall when hay prices went through the roof. I couldn't afford to feed me and them through the winter. I went from payin $22 for a 1500 pound round bail to $60 a piece. While market prices were still sittin pretty good I hauld em all in. Now all I'm feedin is these damn hayburners and already had the conversation with the wife that, that herd was gettin cut in half this summer to, so pick out which ones are goin.

 

AMEN to both you and Scarecrow!!!!!

 

Yeah hay is becoming just a bit expensive unless you grow your own. Theres alot of that around here in what little farm ground there is and whatever isn't in feed/hay is in wheat that they graze off. 20-30 bushel an acre wheat is hard to make any money off of and is barely worth planting.

 

I am a huge believer in the ethanol movement, but I think more folks are gonna be run out of farming once it really starts rollin. I see the corporations movin in on the grain farmers next. They come in and make you a contract farmer, workin for them or they won't buy from you and when they own all the sale markets your stuck. It has already happened in the poultry and hog markets. Tyson took over the chicken and turkey markets, Cargill took over the hog markets, and now between Cargill and Nutreena they are workin on the cattle market. When grain becomes the hot commodity it will be next.

 

I can't wait for the day when alt. fuels get fully online and big oil takes it in the teeth.

 

I agree Nate...but since I am employed in the oilfield...can we wait until I retire????

Even though this is where my paycheck comes from, there is a ton of animosity between the workers and the corporate offices...They keep gettin richer off our backs and the backs of the customers...no matter how it goes, it wont be long when we NEED alternatives...most of the reserves are getting very low for conventional oil and gas!

 

We will never be completely free from our dependancy on conventional fossil fuels, just not enough land to grow corn and soybeans to go around. The key will be to maximize the alt. fuels and sources we have to get the best effeicency out of them.

 

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