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cropsey, il 61731 | Are you sure about livestock? With all the latest termoil the only ones left are the true believers. There will always be someone who wants to raise a few, but far fewer that want to get into it full time - around me grain guys all had livestock and as soon as the shine wore off that ended. Most closed livestock operations are replaced with larger operations, but even these are not particularily attractive (big payments, uncertainity of the market, etc). As it turns out, animals require way to much management to just throw 'jockeys' in the barn and expect good results, so it takes commitment - not so popular. I don't think that no one wants to raise livestock, I just think the number that want to in these economic conditions shrinks every day. On the outdoor thing, it's just too much work for the reward (in general) - at least with our winters. What got folks into hogs and livestock in general in the past was decent profits that more than compensated for the work. Typical of us farmers we get it to the point of limited profits and spoil the fun for everyone.
On the grain side there will always be at least 6 guys who want to farm any given acre with 5 willing to do it at a loss and make it up in volume (there are also 6 more guys who don't farm that want to farm it also). Part of the non-farm guys interest is the myth of being your own boss - in farming everyone and the gov't is your boss, and everyone likes playing sandbox with big tractors. Probably always be that way. It will be interesting when the generation still farming at 70+ decides to retire - will new blood come in or will everyone in business now just absorb it (in our current drive to farm everything, I'm voting the 2nd will happen).
Kids don't have parents these days - no one teaching how to work. 2 parents working their tails off for baby sitting, big screen tvs and a summer cruise. I'm generalizing, but work ethic, manners, etc all have to be taught and so far they get plenty of teaching on selfishness. Why do you think we voted for Obama - it was what he could give us, not how he could make it better for us to work hard and succeed.
Thanks,
Pat | |
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who will own the land
