My FIL farmed full-time his entire life after he got out of the military. He worked at a factory and farmed for a few years.
Retirement was not in his vocabulary as it isn't in most farmers. He very sadly died of the way he was treated for covid October 2020. He had just sold all his equipment in April of that year. He was looking forward to helping his friend with his fields that harvest season.
Farmers just slow down and farm less or help their farmer buddies or their kids. My wife's hairdresser said that her dad is farming in his 80s and that his son lifts him up onto the big tractors with a tractor bucket.
It isn't just a job for a farmer it's their life and their culture.
That's been my experience around the farmers I know anyway.
My FIL farmed full-time his entire life after he got out of the military. He worked at a factory and farmed for a few years.
Retirement was not in his vocabulary as it isn't in most farmers. He very sadly died of the way he was treated for covid October 2020. He had just sold all his equipment in April of that year. He was looking forward to helping his friend with his fields that harvest season.
Farmers just slow down and farm less or help their farmer buddies or their kids. My wife's hairdresser said that her dad is farming in his 80s and that his son lifts him up onto the big tractors with a tractor bucket.
It isn't just a job for a farmer it's their life and their culture.
That's been my experience around the farmers I know anyway.
ABSOLUTELY!
My father fit this general profile. While he worked for the airline, he farmed our family lands since the Oklahoma land runs and rented additional land as well. When he retired from the airline, he farmed full-time and did other odd jobs until he finally retired. During his working life, he always talked about retirement plans traveling the USA in a motorhome and on a Harley motorcycle.
In classic farmer style, 2 months after he finally 'really' retired, my father was working on the tractor he was restoring when he was diagnosed with Leukemia. My Grandfather on my Dad's side was similar but, he went to South Texas during the cold Oklahoma winters while his adult son fed cattle and chopped ice. He enjoyed some time in South Texas when he "got the flu" and refused to go to the doctor. Two weeks later he could not protest enough and Grandma took him to the doctor where he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung cancer that had metastasized to all the major abdominal organs and died never leaving the hospital again.
Retirement for my Grandpa and Father really was mainly about farming they wanted to instead of how they had to in their younger years. My Dad talked about buying a Harley Davidson motorcycle and going places but, what he really did was restore his childhood Allis tractor, a John Deere 730LP that replaced it, and was working on a third John Deere when become too sick to continue. Grandpa was a bit better with the travel trailer to South Texas during the Winter months when the only thing to do really was feed cattle and chop ice which either of his two Adult sons could easily do any day of the week and, heck even as a Teenager I did when my Dad was otherwise engaged with something.
Even in retirement, the farmer lifestyle never leaves. Heck, I spent my working life in a cube farm in the city and what did I do when I retired early? I moved to the country where I bought an older farmhouse so I could fix broken barb wire fencing and run a Bush Hog/Rotary Cutter in a pasture and raise livestock!
Some people want to see art in museums, I want to see a cow nursing a newborn calf in my pasture! I may even get a horse to ride some while checking them when they are back in the trees out of the wind or midday sun!
