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| I've been both the son that farms with Dad and the Dad that farms with the son. Several things that I've learned over the years of what to do and of what NOT to do.
When I graduated from high school, I went to a 2 year vo-tech school ag production course and then came back to farm full time. My son went to the same school (renamed/ community collage now) for 2 year diesel mechanics and worked full time for a JD dealership for 12 years and farmed with my wife and I part time. When I started having some health issues about 6 years ago, he quit his wrenching job and took over more and more from us and for the 2025 crop my wife and I are retired and work for him now and rent all of our ground to him.
Some quick lessons I've learned.
!. My son working off the farm was great for his attitude and also for MINE!!!!!! I found that I appreciated him a LOT more than I had before. He also was able to observe a lot of other successful operations/farmers and bring back a lot of excellent ideas to our farm.
2. Don't be afraid to embrace new ideas. With my Dad, he drug his feet on any new technology that I wanted to try. I swore that I wouldn't be that way with my son's ideas. There have been several that I kinda shook my head about, and when we tried them for a little while, it was "why didn't we do this sooner". If possible, try different ideas in small increments. Some will work, some will fail. Don't have BIG failures. If something works, do a bigger test next time. If it works several times.... go for it.
3. There's more to life than farming 24/7. Work hard when it's time to work, but take time to get away for a bit also..... for BOTH Dad's and sons!!!!! | |
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Son coming back to farm.
