Posted by Buffalo Chips on November 30, 2007 at 23:23:08 from (64.68.167.165):
In Reply to: Help..New to Farming posted by Dennis A. Starliper on November 30, 2007 at 06:52:38:
18 acres isn"t worth investing in any equipment. But if you insist on something to do in a pair of bib overalls and clod hoppers, then here"s what you do... If you want to keep the 18 acres as pasture, you have 3 options...
1. Get some hamburger on the hoof. Fence it off and turn em loose. Now you can go to the house because cattle make money all by themselves. Just sell her calf when he gets big enough. That is if he ain"t dead already from the scours he got when he was two days old. Just don"t forget to check the fence. Yes that also means you have to fix the fences. Yes that means you found your herd "hoofin it" to town while your headin that way yourself (and already ten minutes late for a neighbors funeral). Don"t forget to thaw out the frozen stock tank. Yes that means you need to fix fence after the herd went "lookin" for water. Oh, and also make sure you keep plenty of grain on hand. Make sure they don"t get into your grain supply and flounder themselves. Yes that means you need good fence between your cows and your grain supply. And hay, haul in a lot of hay during those winter months. And don"t let your cattle get into your hay supply or they"ll ruin all the bales and they won"t keep very long in adverse weather. Yes that means more fencing. And protein tubs. And mineral licks. And salt blocks. Be sure to keep the flys controlled in the summer. That oil rubber and dust scratcher never need attention. HA. And haul the sick ones to the vet cause they don"t like to do house calls anymore. Be sure you get your bull tested to see if his ammo is any good. You also need to bring him back home from the neighbors when he gets tired of hanging around your own cows and goes looking for greener pastures. Yes that means fix the fence again. Don"t forget to check them cows every two hours every day and night during two months of calving season. Be sure you can see good at night when you do this. Bleary eyed from lack of sleep and tearing eyes from cold wet winds, freezing rain or blinding snow is no excuse. Be sure your health ins. and life ins. policies are paid up for the cow that finds you too close to her calf at 3am when you can"t see anything. (You will either find yourself ten feet in the air and wonder at the same time how you can see the big dipper amongst the stars when looking down at your boots or you"ll find yourself making a 6 inch depression in the ground, (even if its frozen) after she nails you to the earth with her forehead between your shoulder blades while she stands on your legs at the same time. Don"t let the butcher have all the fun when she goes to town, you"ve now earned the right to drill her between the eyes with the firearm of your choice. (Yes that means load her on the trailer FIRST, then BLAMMO). while we"re on the subject of loading cows, (live ones) lets not forget what happens to fences when you crowd a bunch of em into a corner while your trying to load em up. Do I have to say it? Speaking of trailers, lets not forget that trailer needs some new wiring done to the lights (state trooper) and the brakes need replaced (bent bumper). Four new tires wouldn"t hurt either but you"ll find that out when you have that big load on a cold day and 10 below wind chill and only an hour to get to that school function you promised your wife you wouldn"t miss while you wonder what piece of machinery you left your jack under last week. (the spare is flat anyway and if it wasn"t its probably not with the trailer anyhow). Also that pickup you own, (the one that gets 8 mpg but you have to have something big enough to handle that big trailer), well anyhow, it needs some tlc also after you ruined the trany trying to pull that trailer through all the mud you"ve created in your driveway because of all the time you spend driving in and out of the cow lot taking care of all these cows that make money all by themselves.
2. Don"t get any critters. Fertilize it (then fix the front axle on the tractor after you hit that big azz badger hole), spray it (then fix the sprayer), mow it (then fix the mower), rake it (then fix the rake), bale it (then fix the baler), stack it (then fix the loader), cover it (then repair the tarp), test it for quality (then do it again because the lab lost your sample), advertise it (then do it again because the paper misspelled your phone number), sell it (then sell it again because the first buyer backed out of the deal), load it onto someones truck (then load it again because it bales fell off the other side when you gave em a little "nudge" with the loader), do most of this haying activity in 90 degree heat, 90% humidity and 90 mosquitos/minute. Then tell yourself how much easier it is to not have livestock around.
3. Just let the grass grow and enjoy the wildlife, such as coons and skunks in your outbuildings and on your porch at night eating your dogfood and the mice invading your house and rats in the grainery. Badger mounds and fox dens all over so you can"t ride an atv without fear of killing yourself and the deer running into your vehicles every time you drive home in the dark. And since you have all this wildlife, you also have people hunting without permission with stray bullets whizzing by from time to time. The fences don"t do any good here either. I won"t mention the rabies and distemper your cats will get from all their "encounters" in the grass and your dogs barking all hours of the night over all the "sounds" they hear all night long.
Anyway, those are the three easy choices you have. If you want a real challenge, then we could talk about breaking that pasture and doing some real dirt farming to raise a crop. Enjoy your piece of heaven. Land ownership is the one thing you will never give up no matter how hard the work. Too much of a person goes into it (blood, sweat and tears) to give it up very easily down the road. Show me someone who doesn"t care for or care about his land and I"ll show you someone who has never put anything of himself into it. It becomes a part of ones own self and a part of who he is. Yet we can never consider it ours because we can"t take it with us when we go. We can only pass it on to the next generation to do the same. Goodluck!
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