Ernie - 11/11/2015 13:31

"Whats enough "has grown through the years .

When I started in 1969 with 500 acres of crop , it was a living . (rental acres) 1000 acres was economic , allowing for machinery upgrades and farm improvements .

When I got to 1000 acres of crop , it was 2000 acres of crop that made it an economic unit .

When I got to 2000 acres it was 3000 acres that made it work .

When I got to 3000 acres of crop it was 5000 acres that would provide ROI to buy newer machinery , build infrastructure .

Thats about when I retired . The simple truth is you grow or you die in small grains farming . Econmy of scale plays a very big part in economic survival .

Now it appears 10,000 acres is what it takes to buy new equipment .

In the 40 years I farmed I owned very few pieces of new machinery . Always some one elses trade in . Or an auction special that required lots of TLC and repairs .

Hope I live a few more years to see how this all plays out .

My farm will never be a standalone unit again . It will always be a part of some one elses opertion as rental land . Sad to see it go that way but thats just the economics of dry land ,small grains
production in this area of Montana .