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Southern Indiana | Here’s the background… I grew up on a southern Indiana grain and livestock farm… When I was really young, Dad and Grandpa farmed about 550 acres and had 200 head of sows and a farrow to finish operation.. I was always around and involved from a young age helping grind feed, move/sell hogs, field work etc… Eventually when I was around probably 18 grandpa couldn’t help anymore and things were still pretty busy and dad started having me write down my hours and paid me what a local coal mine I was working at paid me. Never was enough farm to support me full time so I worked an off farm job.. Took two years of welding in high school through a vocational program so landed a job at a prep plant at the mine doing maintenance work… At this point the farm had grown to about 650 acres and dad was slowly getting rid of his sows like a lot of other operations in the area… I worked part time through all of it…. I went in on half of a 52 acre tract with mom and dad in 2011 and dad rented my half… I was deeded some woods and about 25 tillable acres by my grandparents in 2016 because they basically gifted all four grandkids something… They were well off from a lifetime of good farm management and having some land mined by the coal company I worked for… It was at this point where dad told me they wanted to deed it to me and that he was going to rent it for 300 dollars in exchange for my labor to help when I could… it was rough hill ground and probably not worth that… So I thought fair enough and rolled with it… Since then I’ve kind of worked for him on an as needed when he calls basis… He just has a couple buildings of feeder hogs and no sows… I’m now married with two children… My wife and I bought a 53 acre all tillable farm in 2021 for 13,750 an acre… Dad rents it for 300/ acre.. When I bought it, I didn’t really have a plan… Dad said I could farm it, he would rent it, or somebody else could… I rented it to him just because it seemed the easiest at the time… I had no equipment even though I could probably use his but that would just complicate things… I had no grain storage, equipment, or money for that matter… Used everything I had for the down payment… In the years past I used all the money I made on the 52 split acre payment, paid for my house, shop, and vehicles… So the only debt I have is the farms… My payments total 48,000 a year and I receive 30,000 in rent… The mine went south like a lot of coal mines in the area and I was fortunate to get hired on as an apprentice lineman at our local REC… Dad is 65 now, I’m 31 and I feel more disconnected from the farm than ever… The farm now sits at 700 acres all owned by family with dad trying to do everything on his own with a 6 row planter, 15 ft drill, and 45 ft sprayer booms… My mom isn’t in the best of shape to assist nor is my grandma who has always helped as well… I think dad thinks it will complicate things if he hires me or tries to help me farm some of my own acres… It makes it hard at home when he calls and needs help and I go to help with no pay since it just makes things harder at home for my wife and I bring home no more pay… It’s an odd arrangement but I’d say there are other family farms that operate in odd ways was like ours… I want to be more involved but don’t really know what to say or do to get there… I’ve put in the time and money and in ways I feel like I’m getting the short end of the stick or controlled… Should he hire me as a paid part timer? Or when I buy another farm in a few years should I make an attempt to farm my own? At this point I just feel like a simple real estate investor… | |
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Are All Family Farms Complicated? My Situation…
