Lineman North Florida
Elite Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2008
- Messages
- 2,556
- Location
- LaCrosse Florida
- Tractor
- Farmtrac 360 DTC with FEL & John Deere 5093E with FEL ,Kubota SVL 75-2
It has always seemed to me that a dairy farmer's job is never done, I worked at a dairy some during high school and those cows had to be milked twiced a day and there was always the corn planting for silage and then haylage , fence fixing, equipment breakdowns, repairs, etc, there was never a vacation for the dairy farmer.Thought I would bring you over here to my thread with your question to Hay Dude if you don't mind. Don't know if you have seen this thread.
I tried to quit farming all together. Grew up on a dairy, after dad passed took it over ran it for 3 years(2000-2003). Issues and switched directions. Did custom work and relief milking. Leased out the cows and did that for 2 years(2003-2005). Things were growing steady but slow. Sometimes family don't see things the same so said screw it and had an auction. Said never going to farm again and went to work at Cummins(JEP). The first time I sat on a tractor to plow snow that winter immediately told myself that's not good and knew if I didn't do something farming it wasn't going to be good. 4 months after the auction I'm buying equipment and never missed a season with my customers. The custom grew and I slowly started to take back the farm ground and sell hay. There was a point I was doing $30,000 for a large group of Amish 2 hours away by tractor making baleage and tillage while working at Cummins. In addition to what I did locally. It was a lot to the point if I continued I could lose both the Job and business. Was putting in 48+ hour days never going home. Field to work back to field to work back to field. Left Cummins(2006-2015) had been steadily acquiring home ground back for hay sales. Milk prices took a turn and no more calls from Amish which was great because no time with doing my own. Now I go over about 250 acres of my own ground. Have a couple local custom jobs and sell beef(2015-2024). And just last November added a new twist due to major loss of revenue due to weather in 2023 I started at UPS as a preloader. Quickly found out not getting any younger.
So your question to Hay Dude coming from another farmer. Not only would I do over again, I did it over again.
As for the dairy. Miss it everyday. It is in your blood. I actually bring a couple cows in during the winter and milk once a day for my own use and just keep the urge to go back professionally under control. Get to spring and busy it is nice to kick them out and be done milking for 6 months.