farmfacts

                 Alright, so we now know how much money farmers make from whatever they raise and how much it costs us to plant crops. It’s pretty clear that we don’t make a lot of money. Plus, I mentioned that we have huge farm payments each year. One of the reasons why our payments are so high is because we’ve had to purchase machinery and land to do our work. Here’s a breakdown of the tractors and implements that we own and how much they cost. We, obviously, do not have new tractors, combines, balers, and so on. One of our smaller tractors, for example, is a 1949 John Deere B. And, one of the reasons why we cannot afford to buy new is because we’re not making much money. We do alright with what we’ve got, and we have to because there’s no way that we could get a loan for a new tractor due to the economy. I’ll do my best to come up with numbers for new and used equipment so you’ll have a better idea of what things cost. Remember that there are different size tractors and different brands so I’ll try to give you a high and a low, but I’m going to stick with John Deere to make it simpler. For the implements, I’ll do what I know. Also, these prices are base prices, before you add on the accessories.

Here are some used prices (as many as I could find) for similar equipment. The prices may be less, but, like buying a used car, they usually come with problems.

            So, maybe this gives you an idea about how much it really costs to purchase all of the tractors and implements that are needed to be a farmer. We can’t really do without any of them because costs to hire custom work have gone up and become impossible and uneconomical to pay. We do some custom baling work for some of the neighbors. They own 20 cows and like to call themselves farmers, but they’re really not. They pretty well just have the cows as a tax write-off. They have 40-hour-a-week jobs and just dabble in cattle. They have everyone else do the work while they sit in their comfortable chairs and wait until it’s time to take them to the salebarn. By the time they pay someone to feed them, they haven’t made any money at all. So, they tell their accountant and the accountant figures it in, and voilà, they don’t owe any taxes this year.

Anyway, all of the guys who custom bale hay talked here and there about a reasonable increase for their rates because the cost of diesel was outrageous. So, I think it was something like $10.50 per bale and $5 or $6 per acre to rake and I’m not sure what mowing was. The average field is around 40 acres, so it cost someone like $800 if they got about a bale an acre, which is typical. They would grumble (not every one of them, though) and say it was too high, but they’re not paying for the fuel. Then, a lot of them turn around and sell the bales for $40 or $50 each. They’re at least doubling their money, getting around $1,600-$2,000 when they sell them. So, they get tax cuts because they can show a loss for sitting on their butts, and they’re actually turning a profit.

However, we have to remember that these people are not really farmers. They claim to be but they are supplementing their farm income with a job, or their job income with a farm. We could sell all of our bales, too, but then we wouldn’t have anything to feed our cattle. Then they would die. Then we really couldn’t make our farm payment. Really, what these people are actually doing is called TAX FRAUD. Someone a long time ago saw that a lot of farmers were not having to pay very much in taxes because they can deduct pretty much all of their expenses and loan payments and they decided, “I’ll get a few cattle and tell the government that I’m a farmer but I had to get a job to supplement my income because farming isn’t cutting it so that way I won’t have to pay any extra taxes on my income.” Quite frankly, that is crap. It’s not fair to us and it’s not fair to you. If you want to be a farmer, be a farmer! If you want to have a job, then go get one! If you want to have a cow to butcher for meat, then buy one and butcher it! Don’t make us look bad because you want to screw the government. Wait, now I have to make it clear that we don’t want to pay taxes any more than the next guy, but everyone’s taxes are going up because of this and similar stuff. Sometimes they sell their cattle for cash and then claim they got less. That’s really tax fraud.

You know, having the best house and the nicest pickup isn’t everything. We know people who buy a new pickup every year and say it’s for the “farm” so they can use it for a tax deduction. Well, I’m here to tell you that 10 measly cows IS NOT A FARM! That’s a hobby. That’s a way to defraud the government. I think the government has really put this country in the poor house as much as the next guy does, but people like this haven’t helped the situation any. If you compound them, that’s a lot of money. We would love to have a newer pickup so that we could do our chores without having to put 2 quarts of oil in every day. Actually, we deserve a new pickup, but people like this are screwing us.

The point is that true farmers with 100 or more head of cattle are barely hanging on because of the costs associated with tractors, farming, supplies, parts, hay, and so on. We don’t need these fly-by-night “farmers” ruining our livelihood. It projects a bad image on us and gives us a bad name. What’s worse is that these people are the ones who usually get top dollar for their cattle at the salebarn. Well, we would get top dollar too if we could hire someone to take care of 10 or 20 cows. Believe me, we would love to have our cows bring top dollar at the market. It would really help us out and give us a little breathing room. We would love to haBut, they don’t, even though they are no worse then the hobbyists’ cattle.

Well, I hope you keep reading. I have so much more to tell you about farming, and the stigmas attached to it, and the jealousy that people have, and the hardships we face every day. It’s a different way of life, but we’re just like everyone else. Actually, we’re probably more down to earth and more appreciative of what we have. We’re definitely more humble and thankful.

Happy Eating, until we meet again!

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