Reminiscing

I left the farm tonight and was in awe of the local BTO shelling corn just down the road from us. They like the green Kool-Aid and had quite a display of modern machinery going on. Two combines with lights blasting and beacons going round and round as grain carts chased them down!! 3 semis sitting on the road waiting. I stopped and watched for several minutes in amazement. I then started to think back to the previous owner of this farm. I turned 50 last year and I remember the elderly lifetime bachelor that used to own this ground. He used to combine this whole field with a AllCrop 72 back in the day. By himself. No hired help. He would park his simple grain truck which would be lucky if it held 200 bushel and combine with the 72 until he filled it up. Then he would shut down the harvesting and drive the load to the local grain elevator that was about 5 miles away. Then repeat the process again and again. Well he has been deceased for 20 + years now but I remember how things used to be. Were they better? Worse? or just a simple time lost. Ryan

this new stuff is great but i sure would like to go back to the 70s ways of things i am 52 so that is that decade  i want to hold on to .  i would not even complain about hoeing sweet corn or thinning sugar beets  not  to much anyways

I'm 61. A lot of families around here (Indiana) made a good living on 80 or 160 acres.I sat right next to them in school and they had everything that they needed. We were the bto. My Dad farmed 490 and had 3-400 head of cattle on feed in the late 50's and all thru/ the 60's. (all gone now) It all got big about 1970 around here.

The previous owner was probably clearing more $$$ per acre than the fella
does now.

Won't be long before everything is automated and if a problem happens it will auto call for service. You'll be sitting in the office watching with a drone just to keep an eye on what's going on or just driving the fuel truck to each one and giving them a little grease every day. They will run 24/7 even when you are asleep but the green ones will still burst into flames every now and then.   

I'd like to go back to 1970-1972 (just for awhile).  Dad's dealership had new One-Ninety's and Two-Twenty's sitting on the lot, got to demonstrate new tractors and moldboard plows, put together new implements and delivered them to anxious farmers, and gas was only about $.35/gallon.

When reminiscing I remember the simple times and hard work. I remember shocking oat and wheat from the binder for threshing. I remember picking up hay bales dropped in the field until it was too dark to see them. I remember loading milk cans into the truck and going to the creamers on my way to high school. (Dad also worked on the railroad and didn't have time to take milk). Yes, there was much work, but still a great time and place to grow up.

jjwo wrote: I remember mom said 80 acres would pay for itself. How different now!

Our farm is 80 acres and our grandparents and father lived off it. You had a few hogs, cattle, a huge garden, and farmed the rest. Back then they made it and were very well fed indeed!! Ryan

caledonian wrote: The difference between then and now is back then you could farm and work for yourself. Today you farm and work for the large companies. It will only get worse. Being independent is on the wane. Cargill, Monsanto, Dupont and other large corporations call the shots.

Your 100% correct !!!!!

caledonian wrote: The difference between then and now is back then you could farm and work for yourself. Today you farm and work for the large companies. It will only get worse. Being independent is on the wane. Cargill, Monsanto, Dupont and other large corporations call the shots.

And why is that? Farmers have willingly  traded their independence for Corporate and Gov't money.When you deal with the Devil it shouldn't be a surprise where you end up.

Crops require a market to give them value. A super crop without a market has no value. And its best if the market is relatively local.Marketing is as important to the farm bottom line as shopping for seed and fertilizer and growing the crop.

Gerald J.

The value of the dollar has a lot to do with crop prices and they manipulate the dollar all the time. And now corn and beans are tied to fuel so that gives it more volatility and exposes it to even more manipulation.

Brian F(IL) wrote: I'd like to go back to 1970-1972 (just for awhile).  Dad's dealership had new One-Ninety's and Two-Twenty's sitting on the lot, got to demonstrate new tractors and moldboard plows, put together new implements and delivered them to anxious farmers, and gas was only about $.35/gallon. Oh, and tractor pulling was a truly fun sport back then...

And corn and soybean prices in 1972 were higher than they are now...

Funny everyone talks about the good old days. But I think alot of people gloss over what life was like. My grandfather farmed the same property I am trying to make a living on now. The farm goes back much further in my family but my grandfather bought alot of land and some was sold off so it is closer to the avg size he farmed now. Anyway my point is he always talked about making a living off the land but he worked from before dawn till dark everyday of his life and he never had spare money any time he got savings he put it right back into the farm. My mother talked about growing up with just a single old radio in the house when she would go to school and everyone else had tv. When I grew up we had a black and white tv in the 80s with no cable. Now a days everyone needs all there toys or modern life electronics. Whatever you want to call them the money for our phone with Internet access in our pocket and our laptop and flat screen TV and the list just goes on and on look around your kitchen bread machine juice machine blender mixer. The point is all this crazy stuff we depend on is income our grandparents didn't have to spend to get by in the good old days. Back then they had one phone in the house that was a shared party line with the neighbors and you got in trouble if you used it as a kid. Now you have to have a phone for everyone to keep in their pocket. My point is people say how life was better back when you could live on x acres and get by independent but we forget the hours they worked the things we have that they didn't and more importantly we also forget that yes my grandfather farmed this land as an independent farmer but when harvest time came he got all the local mom's who didn't have jobs of their own to come and harvest potatoes or whatever crop he was harvesting. He talked about how you could get part time help then for just a simple day rate no benefits or taxes where paid on it back then no insurance. The people who harvested where doing it to earn some extra cash for Christmas presents or their own extra maybe they where saving for a big purchase but it wasn't their living. My point is that isn't how our society works now. Better or worse I am not sure but I think we forget all the new things that are in our lives and how we don't want to give them up. I think about this because I have given up alot or just gotten by with what I had before I moved back here 4 years ago as part of trying to get the farm going and taking care of mom. I don't think many people want to go back to splitting 12 cord of wood to heat the house for the winter or working 12 plus hours everyday and it being physical work not just driving a modern cab tractor with climate control and a smooth ride. I am more healthy since I have been here for sure. The last two years I focused on a garden that provided all the food not only for mom and I but also for my uncle. This summer I had to make sure the place atleast covered the actual bills so I haven't spent all the time the garden took and have focused in clearing more land and haying. I just think most people who say you can't live the life of the past forget what the life their grandparents had was. No you can't live on the same land your parents or grandparents had and still have all your modern stuff they never dreamed of. Now I do agree that some stuff costs more now but I bet a gallon of gas compared to the hourly wage now is alot closer then you would think to what it was in the good old days or at least it is if you add in how much more efficient modern motors are. I guess that is a long winded way of saying we feel we need alot of modern stuff that just wasn't an option for the people in the good old days. Heck yesterday I wanted to cut a bracket for my baler and didn't have a blade for my sawsall so I used a hacksaw and the entire time I thought well this is faster then driving over to town right now to get a blade but man it sucks. Right now I was thinking how my grandfather build this house with a hand saw. He commented that those times where hard and that he often had loans he had no idea how he would pay.

I have those cheap tractors they get expensive fast when you actually use them day after day.   There might be good deals out there but I haven't really found them I have ended up spending alot to rebuild them.   Just saying unless you are a great mechanic and have the shop and time to fix them these old tractors have probably served someone else well and now need alot of tlc to keep them running.