Im not defending NDCattleman, im sure he is able to on his own.  But Garvo, I think you are saying basically what NDCattleman is saying, just from the other side of a career.  You posted the following:

Your Quote----------------
(Many of us simply don't want to work as hard as you have to to keep a cow herd going) (Which Includes Me)

That is NOT what he wrote.  The (Which includes me) was in the sentence about the new generation of farmers.  Although I am older, I would consider myself in that same generation.  I think he is just explaining what he sees going on within the new generation of young farmers and is giving credibility to his point of view by stating that he is in that generation.  I agree with him, and you, that the amount of work that it takes to generate income from cattle requires alot of dedication and hard work. 

Not many people in their 20's and 30's have farmed through real tough times of low prices and high interest.  Lately all they have seen is opportunities for pretty decent profits from row crop farming (again, not everywhere).  When you have a young farmer with cattle and row crops, if they don't have their heart fully into the cattle operation, it gets dropped for the "big profits of cash cropping".   Look how good the economy has been for better than the last decade.  People in our generation have grown up in a time of being able to do pretty much whatever they want.  Buy (or parents buy) new toys, take vacations, get a decent job pretty much anywhere.  Its the life they are used to. "Mom and Dad milked cows morning and night their whole lives, why should I have to be chained to the barn when I can just rent a little more land and make as much if not more"...

That is a broad generalization, and is not true for everyone, but I have seen ALOT of that thinking in the farmers my age.  I will also say it is not true for me either.  I farm with my brother (cattle and crops) and we got our foot in the door because we could rent family land.  (A HUGE opportunity that most beginners don't have) Other than that, we have had to build, borrow and work our butts off.  I work full time off the farm and work nights and weekends on the farm.  I don't have time for the hobbies and vacations I had in high school and college.  I haven't received reimbursement for any time or other contributions to the farm, and I get the priviledge of paying rent to live on the farm :)   I look at it as sweat equity.  I will farm full time soon enough, and I have yet to find a job I can work so hard at and still want to get up and do it the next day.