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Deep southern Illinois | There’s probably going to be a lot of rambling here, but here goes.
I don’t know
I’m farming largely by myself this year, completely unexpectedly. I have a few employees, but can’t count on them to be there all the time, especially considering the hours I’m going to have to work to accomplish everything this spring. I don’t quit. That can be seen as a problem, and as a blessing. I’m driven enough to make it work no matter the odds, or die trying, but sometimes I’m ready to “die trying” too many days in a row. If I didn’t have a support system to call me at 3am when they see lights, I wouldn’t quit until something bad happens. That’s a balance I don’t even have close to figured out yet. You’re probably going to fight that balance too, and I don’t know what to tell you. You’re probably going to do things you shouldn’t by yourself, do things to protect yourself from your own questionable decisions. Running too late is a lot safer when your tractor is lit up like a space ship. Buy a Bluetooth headset so you can safely talk to whoever your support system is. When my best friends and I are both planting, we will talk for hours at a time while we’re planting along. We talk through a lot of problems together on those days, and we keep check on each other. That person can be anyone from your childhood best friend to your grandma, but everyone needs someone who will answer the phone at 3:00am. Bonus points if you can see that person’s headlights when you call them at 3:00.
As far as everyday moving around, this is what I plan to try. I have a semi with a lowboy tender trailer. It can tend both planters, and haul liquid to the corn planter and side-dress applicator. I’m also able to pull side by side up on the back of it. I’m planning to mount a gravity box seed wagon on the deck of the trailer for hauling seed beans to the bean planter. I’m to load this old trailer up with enough tools, parts, drinks, etc. etc. to take care of 90% of my imaginable problems. Have a fully setup service truck, but I’m going to leave it to my employees who will be fixing washouts, drainage, shoving limbs out of fields, etc. if we get to the point where we’re both planting, we will work in the same area. I like the idea of the semi trailer, because of the sheer volume of stuff I can pile on it. Really wish it was a little bigger. I can plant 150 acres of corn with the liquid in the tank, and I can have enough seed corn to swap out hybrids a couple times in that.
Like I said in the beginning, I don’t know your situation, I don’t have any answers myself, but posters on here have done a lot to help me with my situation, and I’ll do what I can to give back. Email is good. | |
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Farming Alone
