.

[DeereClone]

I would add these to the list:

Tile projects
Fixing tile
Building repair and maintenance
Equipment repair and maintenance
Bookwork
Clearing fencelines/cutting trees
Picking up rocks
Networking with other farmers/landlords/suppliers at the coffee shop or watering hole

A lot of stuff that needs done, but none of it is very urgent or has a hard timeline. There is seasonality to farming just like a lot of other businesses, and having a little downtime isn’t a bad thing or something to apologize for. Harvest, planting, and a lot of summer months can lead to a lot of hours worked/week during those busy times.

 

[CYdTracked]

Those that have livestock have plenty going on year round. Calving season especially can be some short nights of sleep having to check cows every couple hours or so to make sure you don't have a cow that needs assistance having a calf. A dead calf means lost income potential and a lost year of productivity for that cow. Winter time chores can take much longer if you have snow to move or have to unfreeze a waterer. Summer time even when you may have little for chores but most probably bale hay 3 times or chop silage. Have fences and equipment to maintain along with possibly having to treat animals for health or injury and keep up on vaccinations. Some cattle guys do AI or embryos which is time consuming when doing that. Also buying and selling of livestock and depending on the operation some guys have extra marketing to do or have cattle they take to cattle shows or the state fair as part of their marketing too. Probably more things I am missing but the guys that do both crops and livestock usually have plenty to do on a given day.

My in laws do both crop and cattle and with the passing of my father in law early this year my brother in law has a lot more on his plate running it all on his own now and there are days during the busy seasons he probably barely sees his family. Hes had to hire a guy to help him some days too. He doesn't have very new or high tech machinery and he hasnt bought a new truck in a long time either. I dont know exactly how many acres they have but he has about 100 head of cows and that is down from about 200 when I first met them. I grew up on a small farm where my dad had a full time job on town but we raised about 20-30 head of cows on our acres so depending on what we had going on we might not sit down for supper till late in the evening if we needed to do things after he got home from work.

I don't know what the intent is for this thread but if it to say farmers have an easy job would love for those who think that actually try to do it for a living then tell us what they find out because it's not easy or fun a lot of times.

 

[SCNCY]

Purpose/description of moving snow?

Didn’t grow up on a farm. But I would assume if the snow is deep enough, you’d have to plow snow to get to some of your buildings and fields/pastures. Thus allowing supplies, in trucks, to be able to get to where you want to store them.

 

[cycloneML]

Serious question, as I have no knowledge of farming.

What do crop farmers do outside of planting/harvesting season? What do they do in winter? What is a daily schedule like?

Florida

 

[cycloneML]

Calculate break even price for beans

 

[DeereClone]

Purpose/description of moving snow?

Grain farm would have trucks hauling grain out of bins, so you need to keep the yard cleaned out. Same thing with access to sheds and shops so if you are doing off-season maintenance you can access the equipment. We have livestock and like to clean our lots after a snow so cattle don’t have trouble slipping on snow and ice...it’s easier on us humans too. And we have to push snow at our hog barns so feed trucks can get in and out, and we can get in and out to do chores. Also push snow away from hog barn ventilation fans to ensure the fans run properly and the hog barn is properly ventilated.

 

[CyberJJJ]

It's amazing all the little tasks that take time.

• Machinery breaks/needs maintenance all the time. If you have a car you have four tires. Farms have tons of tires so fixing flats is a pain, especially working with large tires with fluid in them for weight.
• I wish I had a dollar for every bearing I had to change from combines to tillage equimpent.
• This time of year all the seed companies are making their best offers with early order deadlines generally around the end of October. Majority of farmers plant multiple brands of seed, but for everyone they plant they probably get 5+ other brands calling on them to pitch (and that is not counting all the seed treatment options), and that is just one of the inputs as others include, lime (for adjusting soil pH), fertilizers (many do tillage after harvest and may want to fall apply some fertilizer), crop chemicals for weed control...etc.)
• If a growers is doing any specialty contracting, many of those contracts are starting to be offered now for planting in 2021.
• Someone mentioned insurance earlier, but it isn't just home/auto/life most non farmers think about, but also crop insurance as the derecho this fall showed was so important.
• For those with livestock, they often are going to sales and transporting livestock to market. dealing with veterinarians when needed.
• Livestock also means handling (not really literally but sometimes!) manure and repairing buildings, fences, water supplies...etc.
• If they are grinding their own feed that is a constant load in accessing vitamins, minerals & micro nutrients on top of the grain and protein meals.
• Post harvest there are lots of meetings and short courses (some farmers try to keep certified crop advisor status and have to keep continuing ed credits up to date) reviewing the season past and prepping for the coming season looking at new equipment, products and techniques. You might be surprised at just how much reading farmers do.
• Farming is capital intensive for land, buildings and machinery, but also cash flow intensive for all the inputs. You might be surprised at how much time the spend filling out financial forms for credit on all of those items.
• Post harvest they are reviewing and interpreting yield data as they prepare to plan their fields for the coming year.
• Many farmers are trying to expand, be it through purchase or rent. Meeting with landlords can take a lot of time, especially if you have multiple different ones.
• I know several farmers that also have farming operations in South America (and a couple in Africa) were they have similar work opposite seasons to the US.

This list could go on, but it is a surprisingly complex business to do well.

 

[Acylum]

I was jokingly going to say sleeping and ******* their wives/GFs but now I’ve thought better of it.

 

[STC061693]

Serious question, as I have no knowledge of farming.

What do crop farmers do outside of planting/harvesting season? What do they do in winter? What is a daily schedule like?

Depends on the time of year. My family does both crop and cattle so I couldn’t tell you much about crop only but the way it works for us is this.

January-Early March
Mainly working with cattle and selling harvested crop. Also doing work on tractors such as changing oil, pumping up tires, etc.

Mid March-April
Mainly planting or finishing up some tillage/disk work. Also taking care of cattle and most calves should be born and selling last years crop.

Summer-Late Sep./Early Oct.
Lots of Hay work so mowing and baling. Also injecting manure on some fields. Of course still taking care of cattle along with selling.

Late Sep./Early Oct.-Early/Mid Nov
Starting harvest. That is about your whole life besides taking care of cattle during this time frame.

Post Harvest
Tillage and spreading manure. Selling and taking care of cattle.

 

[ruflosn]

It's like the winter weather thread for 10/18 &10/19.

 

[MuskieCy]

So, nobody does any tax planning/avoidance before years end?

 

[isufbcurt]

wake up
watch fox news
shine new truck
drive around slow for a couple hours
lunch
go look at a newer truck to trade the new truck in on
drive around property on ATV for a while
dinner
sit around in underwear watching fox news and drinking beer
go to sleep


lol

 

[DeereClone]

So, nobody does any tax planning/avoidance before years end?

Pretty sure tax planning/record keeping was mentioned in 3 posts??

 

[awd4cy]

Probably no less busy than half the posters on here that post on CF all day long from their desk at “work.”

 

[WGO]

Lots of farming videos on YouTube. I think the Millennial Farmer has the most viewers.

 

[MuskieCy]

Pretty sure tax planning/record keeping was mentioned in 3 posts??

Record keeping does not equal tax planning/avoidance.

One is a day-in/day-out necessity. The other is an exercise in deciding tax options.

Is record keeping of more value than tax manipulation in your mind?

 

[DeereClone]

Record keeping does not equal tax planning/avoidance.

One is a day-in/day-out necessity. The other is an exercise in deciding tax options.

Is record keeping of more value than tax manipulation in your mind?

You can’t do tax prep without good records - they are essentially one in the same.

Either way, tax prep is a very small part of farming, which is probably why it was only mentioned a couple times in this thread.

 

[simply1]

Fed checks are direct deposit I assume?

 

[nfrine]

Lately it looks like a number of farmers have been busy filming political ads...

 

[mcblogerson]

Most of the day involves drinking coffee with other farmers and driving around in a truck waiving at everyone you pass.