Great Small Farm Story (public school, university, organic)

[BrokenTap]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

Either way, you're welcome to keep your opinion and I'll keep mine.

That's just silly. Without differing opinions what good would a forum be? We need to share ideas, opinions and ways of farming. We all got to get along here, that is what makes communities what they are, whether or not they are online or in rural Maine.

My farm will continue to farm in Maine regardless of what your opinion is,just as yours will. But maybe...just maybe...you'll get me to rethink my position on something, and maybe somewhere else you will tweak your opinion to see things my way. Read the thread on Grass Fed Farming and you'll see that Nuala and I are not that different after all. She got a different view on Homesteading, and she saw mine change a bit too. Sharing is good

[wordsmith680]

Originally Posted by BrokenTap

I had heard that alpaca socks were extremely warm and as someone who wears wool socks year around (long story) I thought they would be good to have. When I saw the price at $25 bucks a pair, I decided to do my part in regards to supply and demand and not purchase them.

Alpaca Socks - Alpaca Direct
I wear them all winter, best comfort! Bought all the kids some when I discovered theme. (Clearance prices work ) DW is a 4H leader and purchased the first pair for me at the local farm.

[BrokenTap]

Originally Posted by wordsmith680

Alpaca Socks - Alpaca Direct
I wear them all winter, best comfort! Bought all the kids some when I discovered theme. (Clearance prices work ) DW is a 4H leader and purchased the first pair for me at the local farm.

Thanks!

I was thinking last night too that the latest 2009 Stimulus package has provisions for purchasing new and used equipment. I have yet to discuss this with the accountant but as I read it, you can depreciate 50% of the cost of new equipment in the first year. It also allows most 2009 farm equipment to be depreciated faster (from 7 years to 5). Those are some good incentives!

Now the provision does max out at $800,000 dollars but how many of us are really going to buy tractors in the 3/4 of a million dollar range? Either way, if farmers on here are planning on purchasing some tractors or equipment this year, there are some new incentives to do so. Just letting everyone know these incentives are out there this year!

[Maine Writer]

The bottle baby on a meat and fiber farm in Washington county. These are Jacob lambs.

[BrokenTap]

Lambs are the cutest that is for sure. I like calfs, but probably see too many of them to appreciate them. Lambs though, with those little ringlet type fleeces, diminutive sizes and human-baby-type bleats make them more cute I think.

Here is my latest addition to the flock.

[BoundtofindME]

Maine Writer and Broken Tap those are the sweetest pics. (love the tattoo BT)

[BrokenTap]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I agree; a Ford 9N tractor might today be worth close to what it sold for brand new, but I think today's tractor prices are extremely inflated. Today a tractor that costs $100k, will it be worth $90k in 50 years? I doubt it. I think that the prices of tractors have inflated themselves too much.

True, and that is very likely, but what makes a tractor efficient today as vastly different from 1950's farming. Today, all our equipment purchases are based on reducing fuel consumption which was something that was not a concern for 1950 farmers. Last year buying some bigger equipment saved us when fuel was hitting $4/gallon.

Our tillage costs for last year were a mere 1 gallon per acre. I could never achieve that with my 25 hp Kubota, nor could our old 10 foot mower keep up with our haylage demands. For every 3 trips around a field, our 16 foot mower makes two and we are looking at upping that up to a 45 foort mower.

Why?

In all its a dominoe effect...it not only reduces fuel costs, it allows us to get crops in faster which means our feed is of higher quality giving us better quality milk which produces milk check bonuses that affect the bottom line. Combined the price of the tractor is mitigated at a far faster rate so it pays for itself far faster then in earlier decades of farming. Will it sell for 90K? Probably not, but taking 50K for it, with the addional fiscal benefits above, makes for a pretty darn good return on investment (ROI)

Maine Writer's statement does hold true however. A micro-farmer can indeed get by without a tractor, but I would think it would limit a person to certain crops. I am a huge proponent of the Localvore Movement, but we cannot get by on veggies alone in our diet. Those crops are good for non-capital-investment heavy types of micro-farming, but certain aspects of farming do require equipment and dairy farming is one of them.

I have had the pleasure of dairy farming without equipment as Maine Writer describes. An uncle had 20 cows and sold the milk wholesale. Everything was by hand, but to remain as he was would have meant making less and less money every year. That is because the cost of living, and the increasing property taxes of Maine would have drove him under. So he increased his herd to 30 cows, but at that level hand work was too much. So a tractor was bought in large part to deal with Maine's rather extensive Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan laws. It's one thing to borrow or lease a tractor on an as-needd-basis, but its yet another to do so 365¼ days a year!

Now he was at a quandry...he could not make a living full time from 30 cows, and yet he could not afford to hire out part time help. he had a choice...stop logging (his primary income) or go bigger on the farm. He opted to sell. Now the farmer that took over that farm is dying a slow death.

The real issue is, how long can a micro-farmer stay micro and profitable? At some point the cost of living will creep up to a prohibative level. At the same time the farmers are aging. Will they be able to maintain that style of farming as they grow older or will they secume to the seduction of labor saving equipment? Historically speaking the later happens a lot faster then anyone cares to admit.

[BrokenTap]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

We have been looking at grain crops. There are folks who have tried 'micro-farming' with grains, but few are successful. If I need grain for my family for our bread, pasta, and beer; and I need grains for my livestock. then I would like to produce those grains. But I need a combine. Have you seen the prices of a combine?

I got our oats this past fall from a guy, must be 90 years old. I got a tonne of oats just as he finished bagging them. Talking to him, he was half way through his oat harvest, and in his barn he was about half way through bagging what he had harvested so far. So I would estimate that his total harvest of oats is about 4 tons. So I think to myself that his Gross Income from oats is around $800/year. His combine harvester is so old that it looks like it has not seen a coat of paint since Noah was a seaman. There is no way that a small time grain farmer like that could ever buy a combine.

The math does not work out.

Now I don't know if he sharecropped our fields using his equipment, through the 50's, ... 90's, and is now cutting back due to his old age.

But I see that I need grain. I would like to produce enough grain for myself. So I look into how grain is harvested, and even on the 'micro' level. I do not see how it could really be done, and make any sense financially.

Grain farming in Maine has been tried in various ways, and is still on-going. Recently the price of synthetic fertilizers has caused them to form lines at our farm looking for liquid dairy cow manure, but atlas we need every drop for our own farming needs.

As per your question; we are fortunate to be able to farm via a combine and I can tell you the price. It was ¼ of a million dollars...USED! When a ATV kicked up a rock in the field, the resulting damage was 40 grand! Yes its prohibitively expensive to own combines. That leaves micro-grain farming which has its own set of issues.

Maine Writer did indeed mention that she never said organic grain, but I don't see how a micro-grain farmer could compete with the current tumbling of wheat and soybean prices that are hybrid and genetically modified. Due to economy of scale you simple cannot produce an identical product competitively. That leaves you with heritage breeds of wheat, oats and whatnot. The reason those breeds have been improved upon with hybrids and genetics is because of deficiencies. One erroneous thing I heard was that the stalks of hybrid and GM wheat was reduced to reduce the growing time. That is true, but not the biggest reason. Hybrids and GM wheat has reduced stalk heights (and stronger stalks to boot), to stop lodging. Lodging is simply wheat that has been toppled over by the wind. Can a micro-grain farmer afford to lose a few acres of wheat when a sudden thunder shower in July blows hard? It sucks to have months of hard work lost because of a 30 minute thundershower, but that is the reality of the situation. Modern GM wheat help with this.

Then there is the grain loss from hand harvesting wheat if indeed a combine is not used. A lot of grain is lost from hand scything grains as the stems are felled and the grains rattle off the stems as they fall. More is lost in the hand threshing operation...again depressing...

My suggestion FBK is to maybe switch your needs a bit. The old timers did not raise much grain to go to beer...to much hard work for a drink. Oh my ancestors drank I tell you, but they did so with apples. During prohibition my Great Grandfather had 5 counts of distilling alchol leveled against him.

Hard cider is VERY easy to make, cheap and requires a lot less work. Before mechanization after 1900, that was the most popular drink of choice for most of the nation. For Maine, hard cider lasted until the 2nd world war. Could you change your drinking needs perhaps? I'll PM you on how to make a good batch. It's easy and no special equipment required.

As for livestock grain, I would look towards corn. That is what I do, both on the big farm and in a micro-farming way with my sheep. Corn pencils out very well, and you could easily harvest corn with equipment you already have on your farm. Again no special equipment required and the nutrionist of both cows and sheep recommend it. Incredbile energy comes from corn, and a single acre can produce 23 tons!

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by BrokenTap

Maine Writer's statement does hold true however. A micro-farmer can indeed get by without a tractor, but I would think it would limit a person to certain crops. I am a huge proponent of the Localvore Movement, but we cannot get by on veggies alone in our diet. Those crops are good for non-capital-investment heavy types of micro-farming, but certain aspects of farming do require equipment and dairy farming is one of them.

It does limit what I can grow but I do grow what I want to grow and my customers want to eat. I surprised someone a couple of days ago with eggplant. She had no idea you can grow eggplant in Maine. And she's writing a gardening program for the school in her town. I offered to give her my curriculum or help her. It would be a shame to teach the kids they can't grow very simple things here. Back on track - I'm not going to grow grains right now. Maybe later for myself but not commercially. The small dairy farmers I know aren't going to milk 30 cows by hand, they don't need to. Their product isn't milk. Their small farm's income comes from value added, not the raw product.

The real issue is, how long can a micro-farmer stay micro and profitable? At some point the cost of living will creep up to a prohibative level. At the same time the farmers are aging. Will they be able to maintain that style of farming as they grow older or will they secume to the seduction of labor saving equipment? Historically speaking the later happens a lot faster then anyone cares to admit.

No matter how small or large a farm, labor saving equipment is common sense. Labor's expensive. Labor saving doesn't mean it has to be big or expensive. I'm happy with my equipment. Now that my husband is looking closely at the operation, he has lots (and lots and lots...) of ideas. The equipment we looked at yesterday is $200.

[Maine Writer]

Machias market wants new farmers (http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/101767.html - broken link). (Thanks MeNMe!)