Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Big Farmers

SWBUCKHNTR

SWBUCKHNTR

Member
What do you guys think of big farmers? I have a lot of farmers in my family both my grandpas farmed, my mom and stepdad farm about 2,000 acres and my aunt and uncle farm 2,400 acres and my wifes grandpa farms close to 2,000. Now with that said three of them have livestock 1 has cows, the other two pigs. They all make a pretty good living. They all have nice places and money to play.

Now we all know that everything is getting bigger and better. What is up with these guys who think they have to farm 10-20,000 acres. I am not saying all are bad because I am sure there are a few out there that are ok. I just dont get why they need that much. Also it seems like the big operations farm fenceline to fenceline leaving no cover for wildlife. I know they dont have to do that because all the farmers in my family leave trees along creeks plant filter strips and put ground into CRP. The next thing that bothers me about them is that they never get the corn out anymore. There is a farmer in my area who still has over 4,000 acres of corn in yet. Last year he he finished picking at the end of march and started planting two weeks later. To me that should show him he has bit off a little more than he can chew. I know farming is a competition just like everything is but c'mon let the little guys have a chance.

When it comes to shotgun or late season it becomes nearly impossible to kill a deer when there are a few thousand acres of corn still in. I have talked to a few guys who arent gonna hunt anymore becasue 3 out of the last 4 years there has been corn in even at the end of december.

Sorry for the long post but I just had to vent about why people have to be so greedy and think that they should have everything and leave others with little to nothing.
 
Business is business and its about making money. Bigger farms make bigger money...pretty simple. I'm pretty sure the farmers with standing corn through the winter aren't really worried about the consequences there will be for the hunters in the area or that maybe next year they should plant a bit less since they couldn't get it out in the fall. They get it out when they're able to get it out.
 
if the deer have it all eaten by the time its picked, they don't care....thats what insurance is for
 
teeroy said:
if the deer have it all eaten by the time its picked, they don't care....thats what insurance is for
Click to expand...

That's one way to look at it. The other is to shoot all the deer that keep a guy from making a living, your Farm Bureau in action. ;)

Seriously, I know a farmer who routinely leaves lots (most) of his corn standing all winter so that he doesn't have to pay to dry or store it at the elevator.
 
I fully understand the concept of economies of scale as explained to us by Ron Hanson many moons ago at Muscatine Comm College. I also understand that as farmers, or manufactures, or retail sales get bigger the profits can get bigger but the risk of failure also gets bigger. Now to me any one farming 2000 acres is a big farmer, much less 20,000 acres. It all depends on the money leverage position, just look back at the farm crisis in 1980. A farmer can be making pretty big money this year but any down turn next year could bankrupt them because they are leveraged right to the edge with input costs, land mortgages, and equipment costs. Research the "Grain Embargo".

I also know that the rural economies were much better when farmers raised families on 200 or 400 acres. There were more people living on farms, every small town had a couple of implement stores, grocery stores, feed and produce stores, and banks and lots of other things. People weren't getting rich or spending winters in Texas or Arizona, but they were raising families and putting some money in the bank. Meth and weed weren't major cash crops and people respected hard work and honesty. Corn was usually out by Christmas and you could hunt almost any where with very little competition. To me it looks like we have gone of track now, but who can argue with economies of scale. :thrwrck:
 
I also know that the rural economies were much better when farmers raised families on 200 or 400 acres. There were more people living on farms, every small town had a couple of implement stores, grocery stores, feed and produce stores, and banks and lots of other things. People weren't getting rich or spending winters in Texas or Arizona, but they were raising families and putting some money in the bank.
Click to expand...

Well thought out and said, same thing way up here. Rural SK revolves around farming and it is dieing slowly. Same aount of land being farmed, just less farmers and therefore people. My dad still eeks out a living on his 1200 but he's surrounded by guys with as much as 10000 plus acres. I understand the need to seed more land to make the money but truthfully I never feel bad for guys that have basically turned into a corporation when the struggle to get their crops off or when their stuff gets frozen in the spring b/c they need to start seeding 2 weeks before mother nature says it is wise to do so.
 
big farms

I understand the frustration of standing corn during the season. My neighbor is notorious for late corn harvests.

As far as leaving the corn until March, I am not 100% sure on this, but crop insurance coverage does not extend beyond December, so these farmers are taking a risk, by leaving it until March. To me, it could catch up to them and create a financial headache. Large farmers can fail as well. If someone is farming 10,000 acres, they are certainly taking big risks, and if there fields are still standing in March, that is probably not a good thing, and like you said a sign that they probably cannot handle that many acres.
 
Every large farmer I know of wants all of his crop out early, it just doesn't happen that way. Only so fast you can pick 200 bushel corn and get it to a bin or elevator. The ones that have crop left in the field right now are sweatin bullets.
 
If you have 4000 acres of corn still in around you, you should have a pretty healthy herd of deer next year. Not to mention some bigger bucks because they got to live one more year. :way:
 
nannyslayer said:
Every large farmer I know of wants all of his crop out early, it just doesn't happen that way. Only so fast you can pick 200 bushel corn and get it to a bin or elevator. The ones that have crop left in the field right now are sweatin bullets.
Click to expand...

I don't know anyone who wanted to have corn in right now.
And to everyone farming a couple quarters, 2000 acres is a big farmer. It's human nature to always look at those with more.
To a guy struggling to expand from a couple hundred acres, the farmer with 1200 is the one outbidding him at every auction, making it hard to grow. The guy with 2000, is comparing himself to the guy with 4000 etc. etc.
 
I can hunt a guy's farm and he farms over 16000 acres. The farm I hunt if the corn is up its dynamite. When it is gone you might as well not hunt it. It is a very small chunk of timber. This farm is the only farm that he has with timber on it out of 16000 acres. He still has a few thousand acres up and believe me he is sweating. I just wish my farm still had the corn on it.
 
i just think that they should have laws on how much hill ground they can bulldoze out to farm straight up and down, clearing out acres and acres of non replaceable timber is horrible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom