This is why ranching sucks.

[Drycreek3189]

Those problems don't go away because it is the weekend or a holiday. I remember helping my Dad bust up the ice on the pond so the cows could drink on Christmas morning.

My daddy used to say his job was eight days a week !

[dclifton]

I love every minute of it. I only wish i could do it and make a living. Right now i work a full time job to go home and work another one.

Sure i could probably make a living doing it but thats alot of added stress. Best advice i can give you is start buying better or new equipment.

Me and my dad started phasing our old out for newer equipment. Something else we have done is by tools or attachments that make us more productive. I cant find day workers for nothing. So we started buying things that make our life easier instead of paying hands.

[Palmetto]

I bent the hell outa ours a few years ago. Hauling tractor and cutter on a flat bed trailer, and I hit about a 4" diameter pecan tree limb hanging over the road. This limb was usually out of the way, but it was loaded with pecans so it was hanging lower. The limb no longer exists....LOL

We were able to remove the arm, and put it on a huge fab table that was anchored into the ground. Took a rosebud torch and a backhoe, but we got it bent back into shape.

I truly believe that army worms are the spawn of satan. I used to think that about fire ants, but I think I would take fire ants over army worms!

[GARY]

Understand that life. Our rains have brought epic hay crops..so much we are not even cutting a 20 acre fertilized field like we normally do, will graze it ....but other unfertilized (we alternative hay fields) waist deep as is...so likely end up shredding.

Of course, not complaining as we too often have to hustle for hay with dry conditions.

[Farmdog]

Snapped the rod on a disc, had a clue when i saw a spool on the ground, burned the fan belt on a cotton picker from bad bearing and its just morning still, see what happens after lunch

[dclifton]

I bent the hell outa ours a few years ago. Hauling tractor and cutter on a flat bed trailer, and I hit about a 4" diameter pecan tree limb hanging over the road. This limb was usually out of the way, but it was loaded with pecans so it was hanging lower. The limb no longer exists....LOL

We were able to remove the arm, and put it on a huge fab table that was anchored into the ground. Took a rosebud torch and a backhoe, but we got it bent back into shape.

I truly believe that army worms are the spawn of satan. I used to think that about fire ants, but I think I would take fire ants over army worms!

Been there and done that. I took a portaband and sawed thru 3 sides and bent it back straight then rewelded it. Sold it a few years later.

[RMW]

If you need a job I’m always hiring, lots of work to be done, and plenty of headaches to go with it.

Got 6000 acres of row crop
5000 acres of turf grass
1000 head of cattle

[Farmdog]

You wouldn’t have time to be in TBH

[Katsaregood]

Wait until you’re right in the middle of planting winter wheat in sandy soil. You’re doing conventional tillage and trying to get things done before another rain. Because if another rain falls before planting is done, all your trips across the fields discing and harrowing is wasted and will have to be redone.

Then one of the hydraulic cylinders on a three section, folding Great Plaines drill breaks as does part of the frame. That cylinder helps fold and lock the grain drill. You can’t get to the next field to plant six or seven miles away on a narrow dirt road without folding the drill. When part of the frame broke, one of the long hydraulic hoses was yanked out. In order to make the repair you must first unbolt the hose hold downs, unscrew fittings, and then fish out the long hoses separately. The tractor and drill had to stay put in a soft area until fully repaired.

Upon driving back to where a cell phone signal exists, a call is made to the closest Great Plains dealer over thirty miles away. They don’t have any of the individual parts available for purchase separately. You can’t even order them separately. We tried calling and driving to hydraulic supply shops but that hydraulic cylinder was special. So we then had to order an entire new cylinder.
We were so short handed and spread out over several thousand acres that we had to hire a welder to weld the broken frame. I don’t remember what that hydraulic cylinder cost then but it sure wasn’t cheap.

[Goldeneagle]

Maybe its pay back for the PITA fliers that were put on our trucks at Twin Peaks one time.

[Dale Moser]

This is why ranching sucks.

I put three semi trucks. 4 forklifts, 4 or 5 pickups, several trailers, and 7 or 8 employees, on the road 10 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week….every week.


…. And pay the insurance for all of them…

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Katsaregood]

I was raised on a dairy from birth to ten years old. This started in 1947 so not much automation was involved unless you count the fact that as soon as the cows got their heads in the stall they were gonna crap………automatically. Those were the best years of my life ! Why ? Because I didn’t know any better and all I had to do was put the feed in the trough, wash the cows bags, shovel up the crap, let some more cows in the lane, and help my brother wash up the dairy barn and the milkers. Every night, 24/7/365. I had no clue what my daddy was going through trying to make a living through seven years of the worst drought in recent Texas history. Yes, ranching and farming are hard sometimes, but you do it because you get to make your own mistakes and have your own successes. Good luck Sir !

Fun fact:

I looked up 1947 prices $4.90 a cwt

Today $16.90

So just quick math about 4x!!!!!!…….

But just a truck new cost under $2k… x4= I can’t buy a new truck for $8k
Prices were higher in real numbers 2001…

I don’t love anything on earth enough to be a slave to it

A few years ago I had a chance meeting with a former dairy farmer outside Sulphur Springs. Anyone familiar with Northeast Texas probably knows that even today you can still see remnants of the dairies there. The man was out baling hay on what would be his last hay crop on leased land. That leased land had been divided up and sold after the longtime owner passed away. We were just making small talk and he began telling how his dad (a dairy farmer) had helped him get into the business back in the early 1970’s. He started with five hundred acres purchased with a loan that his father helped him get. All the milking was done completely by hand. Vacation was a word he didn’t know the meaning of nor what one looked like.

The 1980’s forced him to sell all the dairy cattle and just raise strictly beef. All that hand milking he said was what wore out his hips. He was looking forward to age 62 so he could qualify to have hip replacement surgery. That year had turned to drought conditions and he mentioned how he couldn’t afford to take out a loan just to buy hay. So that meant part of the herd would need to be sold off in order to get by. All of his farm equipment and vehicles were old but they were all paid for as was the land in his name. You could tell that nothing had been easy for him.

[bowhunterchris]

Being a person that works a full time job as well as farm and ranch. All I can say is I can not wait until I do not have to come to my day job. I would much rather be out fixing something that I broke doing what I love to do. We are not big by any means, we lease 500 acres of pasture land and cut hay off of Half of it for our cows and to sell. We also have some people that we cut hay for. I always say by older tractors 30/40/50/55/60 series John Deeres and get new equipment. This morning I welded my rake back together that snapped while raking our neighbors place. I jumped on the tractor and raked to 1230. Got off and cleaned up a little to be at my job at 130. Then do it all over again tomorrow.

[Lungbustr]

So you have some minor problems and too much hay!?!?

[planomustang]

A little context

A ton of great responses!!!! Thanks for the feedback.

A little context is needed. My original post was about immediate frustrations. So, I know the day-to-day struggles of running a ranch. The bigger story is about transitioning, between generations.

This is the family farm that I grew up on, and have been working on and off, since I was young. My father finally consolidated it, from his siblings, about 20 years ago. I have been helping him since then. He is about to be 84, and he started loosing his eyesight years ago (bad form of Macular degeneration).

I live in Plano, which is 82 miles from the ranch. I have spend 3-4 days, and sometimes 5, at the ranch. This is a full time job.

I retired early, at age 56, in order to kind of take over. I don't mean strong-handedly, but just taking over responsibilities. I started building a Barndo, in the fall of 2017, just to have a clean place to sleep and take a shower. I have a clean place to sleep, but still no shower.

Why is that? Something changed about my father, around the time he turned 40. I was 18, the time. He stopped taking good care and maintenance of the things he had. I became the default vehicle caretaker.

Eventually, he retired from teaching, at age 53. Then the ranch was his main deal. But like with the vehicles, he did little maintenance of what he had, instead just putting in band-aid solutions, that would buy a little time. Everything from fences, gates, tank ****s, equipment, etc. A job that would typically take an hour or two, would take more than half a day, because we would have to hack together whatever tools/trailers/etc. we needed for the job.

In the meantime, my father showed to be a "Hoarder". Not surprising, since he was raised at the end of the Depression. He will spend time, hoarding junk, instead of doing maintenance. You would be shocked at the amount a person can hoard, when they have access to FEL's, trailers, 10,000 square ft of covered storage, plus field storage. Look for deals in the Classified's, once I get permission to cleanup

Fast forward to October 2018. I finally got the shell of my Barndo built, after over a year since I poured the slab. My father came up to me and asked, "With your building done, what is your next priority?" I said get a fence around the building, so we can let the cows back in the pasture.

Based on his reaction, you would have thought I just shot Mother Teresa! Hand waving, feet stomping, and yelling! "You don't know priorities! We have 3200 feet of fence to build, by the end of the year!" That was a surprise to me, on a couple of levels. First, the last we had talked about the fence, the plan was to do it after the first of the year. This was news to me. Second, the reaction completely caught me off guard.

So, for the next year, I built the fence, including all the h-braces and wings. Cut/bailed all the hay. Fertilized. Sprayed insecticide. Patch (not fixed) fences, as we moved cows. Worked all the cows with vaccination, etc. The list goes on. Nothing got done on my barndo. Nothing got fixed on the ranch, either.

During the whole time, I was getting hit with his hand-waving/foot-stopping/yelling tirades, over the most trivial crap. I know this was largely due to his frustration of quickly loosing his eyesight, but it is not right to take it out on the main person trying to help.

All of this came to a head, in August 2019. My son and I were finishing the second cut of hay, for the year. Ryan was bailing, and I was raking. I ran off to town, to get burgers for lunch. I left the rake far away from my father, because I did not want him to get on it. I knew he was not feeling good.

I get back with the burgers, and I see my father on the rake. I look more closely, and I can see he had not done much. Then he stops the rake, then walks/stumbles to the shade tree, where we eat. He leans against the Ranger, for a minute, then passes out. Falling hard. Turns out, he was completely bloated from onions, cucumbers, and cantaloupe. It looked like he had swallowed a basketball. Still, it was a hard fall, and he injured his knee.

My son and I kept a close watch on him, as we finished the hay. Between the baler and the rake, somebody was close to him, every 60 seconds. I take breaks from the rake, to check on him. A Seven-Up made him feel much better, and I could tell.

We finish around 6:00, and head into Decatur. My mother is going to meet us on the north side of town, to pick up my father. That saves me about 25 minutes, and we are ready to get back to Plano, after 4 days work.

We meet, and my father heads to the other truck, then circles back. I am thinking what now! "Well, now that we have done all my work, you can start working on your building." Maybe it is just me, but that did not sit well with me. First, the only WE doing his work, were my son and I, and mostly me. Second, nobody tells me what I can do or not do.

For the next month, I a stuck at home, dealing with my Border Collies knee surgery. Works out great, since none of his work needs to be done, at the time. After a couple of weeks, I noticed something. My stress level had gone to nearly zero. A couple of weeks later, I noticed that the thought of going to the ranch, made me anxious. In September and early October, I made a few trips, to work on my Barndo. Got some framing and insulation done.

In the third week of October, I went up, then saw something that opened my eyes. It was raining, and I was putting insulation in my barndo. I see my father and mother speed by with the truck and feed buggy. I don't want a confrontation, so I start packing to leave, all the while watching what they were doing.

My blind father and mother (79 yo, two knee replacements, hip replacement, and shoulder replacement) were trying to work cows, in a makeshift corral, in the middle of 120 acres, on a hill! Please don't tell me that is a "tough old man" that refuses to give up, with "a wife that will stick with him."

No, that is a stubborn old man, that refuses to admit getting old, and he will risk life and limb of his family, in order to stay in denial.

That is when I realized something. I was just as guilty, as my father. The work/obedience I had for the previous year, just enabled him to live in denial of getting old, and its consequences.

I QUIT!

I think this story is probably getting tiring, so I am going to stop here. That is not the end of the story, but probably the beginning of a better story, thanks to my wife.

Randy