AgTalk Home
AgTalk Home
Search Forums | Classifieds (49) | Skins | Language
You are logged in as a guest. ( logon | register )

help me understand cattle farmers mentality
View previous thread :: View next thread
   Forums List -> Crop TalkMessage format
 
Ed Winkle
Posted 10/4/2012 07:04 (#2622764 - in reply to #2622659)
Subject: Re: help me understand cattle farmers mentality


Martinsville, Ohio
My Dad was the best cowman I ever met. Good feed meant good stalk but he was married to the cows first. When I showed him our first soil test I ever took as a boy, the look was like, "Why we can't ever afford to do all of that!" All the manure we spread probably never had enough calcium spread with it to balance our soils but we did the best we could. Many cowmen never spread lime or if they did, it was a monumental accomplishment, at least where I am from.

He did an amazing job feeding our stock on limited resources. All my life we never sold grain, we actually bought grain when we couldn't raise enough to feed everything. Our income came from "walking the crops off the farm" and he did the most amazing efficient job of doing that I could ever imagine.

No we didn't use enough lime and no we didn't spread much fertilizer but we survived and learned a lot more about life and family than most of the BTO's I see talked about on here. The livestock came first every day and we learned a lot of responsibility from that.

Our communities were stronger here when we had all these little general farms that milked a little, fed cattle and hogs,, chickens and raised a little tobacco for cash. We could have done better with the soil but IT NEVER WASHED AWAY. There is a lot to be said for that.

Dad sent me to college to learn all this stuff and we worked together in applying the knowledge but there never was enough money to feed the soil like I learned it should be. Dad has been gone almost 12 years now and I miss my dad a whole lot more than any grain farm could provide. Still, we raised 160 bu corn in the 60's and hit 234 bu in 1971 the year after the corn blight. We could raise 50 bushel conventional beans as easy as we do today with all the fancy equipment and fertilizers and all we had were a plow, disk, harrow and a worn out Oliver Superior drill.

I think you would have liked my dad and you would have a better understanding if you knew him. Your topic hit a button this morning so I just had to share the cowman's point of view. Baxter Black has done a humorous job telling the cowman's life.

Ed
Top of the page Bottom of the page


Jump to forum :
Search this forum
Printer friendly version
E-mail a link to this thread

(Delete cookies)