Sometimes...

Once in awhile, I get down about farming. Not so much about the work itself, but the idea of staying in business. It's been difficult to find land to rent. If it weren't for my Grandpa and Dad, I would  probably be a clerk at the nearest gas station. I rented my first ground 50/50 with Grandpa and Dad and I currently rent a farm 50/50. There was another place that Dad and I rented. For a year. That was a learning experience. It was so sandy Sam (my brother) and I had to put socks on every gate that we opened. A sock is, well, a sock. It's a piece of canvas probably 3' long that clips onto the irrigation pipe. The water flows into it, so you don't create a gargantuan hole in the ground right in front of your pipe.

Anyway, I ramble. 

So I was doing my quarterly freak out about how I'm going to get left in the dust by all the megafarmers around here, when all I really want to do is farm enough that I'm busier than crap, but I don't have a hired man. And I don't see how this is possible. I want to own 800-1,000 acres by the time I'm 60, and I want a lot of it to be within 5-6 miles of home. And I don't see how this is possible, either. 

At the same time, I'm freaking out because Grandpa and I are taking cattle into town today, and I am nervous about how much they weigh, because I need to buy a grain trailer and I need to pay for the windows that were installed in the house and we just ordered siding for the house and garage and I need to put a grain bin up by harvest. And I need these cattle to do well and I don't know where I'm going to find a trailer and why is everything such a pain in my ass sometimes?

Then I see an ad on Craigslist for a 32' DMF grain trailer, which is a little shorter than I want, but is priced right. So I call the guy and he tells me how clean it is and it has almost new brakes and a good tarp and that it's always been shedded and has no rust. To which I reply:

"How much do you have to have out of it?"

"You just need to come look at it. It's a real nice trailer."

Right. 

So, I go look at it. And you wouldn't know it's a 17 year old trailer. It really has good brakes, a good tarp, and no rust. And I pay $1,500 less than he was asking for it. 

Also, the new door for the corn stove showed up today, which was ideal, because it's 6 degrees right now. So I installed said new door (I broke the glass out of the old one and the handle was jacked up), started it up, and headed to Grandpa's to load cattle.

We got our second load in around 6 tonight, maybe a little later. We unloaded and Grandpa headed to the scale house while I waited in the pickup. And waited. And waited some more. And waited so long I had to water the parking lot. Right when I was getting to the good part of my solitaire game, Grandpa opened the door, scared the piss out of me, and handed me the ticket.

Our heifers weighed 1,395 pounds. They are the heaviest cattle I have ever sold. 

See what I'm getting at? Life is good. Things happen, plans come together or fall apart, and I'm still above ground. 

Matthew 6:34 - Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.