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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gst" data-source="post: 180627" data-attributes="member: 373">One can not judge profitablity of agriculture on toy haulers and pickups and homes. In our area many of those that have these things are making more monies on what comes out of the land than what grows on top of it. Oil, Gravel, disposals ect........ Others have inheritances that make the bottom line a bit blacker and some have wives that have good jobs 5 and 6 figures off the farm. I guess I try not to get too wrapped up in what someone is driving or what their home looks like in passing judgement. I have friends that are millionaires that farm and some that are still putting up hay with 4020's, not everything is as it seems. The simple reality is one needs 350 to 400 cows to raise a family (college, healthcare ect.).........in good years. You can not put up feed in ND for 400 cows with a 4020 and a dump rake...so 50 more cows to pay for upgrading machinery. The boom in the cattle market saw ranchers upgrading equipment that badly needed it many times, hard to put some away when a new baler goes for $40,000 +. Bought all the filters air, engine hydraulic, cab ect. for our 4 wheel drive tractor wrote a check for $580  Had ones in the shop from our old 5020 with a price tags on and all of them added up to $42. Ran an old cultivator shovel thru a 30.5 x 32 tire and wrecked it before I saw it and a new one put on was $3300......to replace them all is $35000.  Two years ago the boys bought 40 head of cows we found a deal for running age good cows for $1600 when cows were bringing $2 - 2500. They had to borrow a portion about 2/3 of the monies. Bankers were borrowing monies left and right to buy expensive cows. Asked the banker we have done business with for 26 years if he had any advice. Gave them some good advice on keeping track of expenses, watching costs ect.... We talked a bit about the costs of cows and where it would stop. He asked me what advice I had given the boys.........I said don;t do business with a banker that will borrow you $2500 to buy a cow..........he laughed then said thats pretty good advice.</blockquote>

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