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My great great+ grandfather used his middle-name for the deed on his farm, then he named his first son with that name. The thinking was that when he died, the deed was already in his son's name.
His son did the same, he gave his middle name to his son for a first name.
In theory, there was a time when, whose name was on the deed settled everything.
What the heck, I did the same with my son. Do you really think that if I died today, then my son could simply assume ownership of my property? I am not sure.
Things have changed.
As things change, new generations of people may need to adapt to those changes.
Fortunately today, if a person wants to get into farming they can. They do not need; an inheritance, or huge nest egg, or even a high paying job.
At least in this state, we have more farms every year.
The old days when a man could work hard all his life to have a ranch or farm, and then plan on leaving it to his heirs is long gone. The governments greed and ability to take anything they want pretty much did away with private property.
Now we just pay rent in the form of taxes to the government landlord, and then have nothing to pass on after a lifetime of paying taxes for the privilege of busting your butt. You come out with nothing.
Much of the area in my state isn't good for growing plant material as it is far too dry and very short growing seasons. That said, we have a lot of open grassland that is just as good for grazing cattle and sheep as it was for herds of buffalo and antelope. So this is a meat producing state instead of a vegetable producing state.
The prarie has shallow topsoil, it's dry, and we have a lot of wind coming off of the Rocky Mountain Front as well as the flows from the gulf of Alaska down to the gulf of Mexico.
This means, if you break the sod, it starts to erode unless you use very specific tilling/no till practicices. We can do this with grains like Wheat that can be raised without irrigation, but grazing cattle causes a lot less erosion and wear on the land.
About 1/3 of my state is government owned, and a large portion is in wilderness, the "Land of No Use". Covered in jackstraw timber and deadfall scrub, it builds the fuel load until it erupts in huge wildfires that pump millions of tons of carbon, ash and particulates in the form of smoke into the air. The fuel load is usually so heavy you get whats called a white ash fire, very hot, which sterilizes the ground for several inches deep.
This means a lot of erosion next spring when the snow melts, silt and slide that plug streams and kill fish.
Then come the matts of weeds, and if you're lucky, in a few years you have a new growth of trees coming up so thick you can't walk through them. They grow a few years, then repeat the cycle.
Wildlife can't use that ground because there isn't anything for them to eat, so they tend to live on the larger pieces of private land where there is actual management and there is a mix of open timber, water, and good grazing. The vast majority of Montana's large herds of wildlife live on private ground. Many ranchers allow hunting, so everyone benefits.
Once a large ranch is busted up into "ranchettes", the ground is overgrazed, cover for wildlife to live in and have young in is destroyed and gone, no grazing, the water is contaminated from runoff from what are now usually 5 acre corrals, the wildlife is gone, the potential to raise food for humans is gone, the land is covered in houses and those with the obligatory 7 horses are dust.
Once the land is cut up, it's potential to produce significant amounts of food is gone, and only raises yuppies and SUVs.
The destruction of agriculture in this country is a crisis, but as long as the producers are seen as the enemy, and farm land is priced at residential prices, we will continue to lose the ability to support ourselves and will be forced to import more and more of our food from undeveloped or unsavory sources.
The old days when a man could work hard all his life to have a ranch or farm, and then plan on leaving it to his heirs is long gone. The governments greed and ability to take anything they want pretty much did away with private property.
Really? Is the government openly appropriating land by taking it from private citizens? Someone just outlined a way to keep the ranch in the family by simple legal manipulations. You yourself said that a lot of old-timers do not pay attention to that way of passing on the property and are not properly set up to do so before their death - well, whose fault is that??
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Originally Posted by MTSilvertip
Now we just pay rent in the form of taxes to the government landlord, and then have nothing to pass on after a lifetime of paying taxes for the privilege of busting your butt. You come out with nothing.
Anyone making enough money to pay taxes and have money left in the bank is doing better than someone who is not making money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip
Much of the area in my state isn't good for growing plant material as it is far too dry and very short growing seasons. That said, we have a lot of open grassland that is just as good for grazing cattle and sheep as it was for herds of buffalo and antelope. So this is a meat producing state instead of a vegetable producing state.
At what cost? All the natural predators were wiped out, even mustangs are a threat to the grasses in many parts of the West. Cattle has ruined fragile riversheds too for the benefit of 30 people who occupy 20,000 acres of land over 4 generations. Give me a break. Graze cattle in Florida, there is ample grass and rainfall. The only reason cattle is grazed in the West is because there was land for taking 200-300 years ago and once settles people did what they knew best. But it is 2014 now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip
This means, if you break the sod, it starts to erode unless you use very specific tilling/no till practicices. We can do this with grains like Wheat that can be raised without irrigation, but grazing cattle causes a lot less erosion and wear on the land.
Maybe in Montana. Certainly not in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip
About 1/3 of my state is government owned, and a large portion is in wilderness, the "Land of No Use". Covered in jackstraw timber and deadfall scrub, it builds the fuel load until it erupts in huge wildfires that pump millions of tons of carbon, ash and particulates in the form of smoke into the air. The fuel load is usually so heavy you get whats called a white ash fire, very hot, which sterilizes the ground for several inches deep.
This means a lot of erosion next spring when the snow melts, silt and slide that plug streams and kill fish.
Then come the matts of weeds, and if you're lucky, in a few years you have a new growth of trees coming up so thick you can't walk through them. They grow a few years, then repeat the cycle.
I wonder how this mythical wildlife survived before white people showed up in Montana with all their smarts and ambitions? Can you explain that to us?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip
Wildlife can't use that ground because there isn't anything for them to eat, so they tend to live on the larger pieces of private land where there is actual management and there is a mix of open timber, water, and good grazing. The vast majority of Montana's large herds of wildlife live on private ground. Many ranchers allow hunting, so everyone benefits.
Bless these ranchers, the stewards of the land and protectors of wildlife! This is one of those situations where black is white and white is black, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip
Once a large ranch is busted up into "ranchettes", the ground is overgrazed, cover for wildlife to live in and have young in is destroyed and gone, no grazing, the water is contaminated from runoff from what are now usually 5 acre corrals, the wildlife is gone, the potential to raise food for humans is gone, the land is covered in houses and those with the obligatory 7 horses are dust.
Once the land is cut up, it's potential to produce significant amounts of food is gone, and only raises yuppies and SUVs.
Hmmm. I can't speak for Montana but I can give you a local example. A family hogs a 1000 ranch for generations with some cattle. Then it gets chunked up and some places become what you describe, however, others become small organic farms that people like me are happy to work and make better. These "farms" are often 5-10 acres and they produce food, even in poor soil conditions. Why? Because the 1000 acre rancher does not see the land in 5-10 acre pieces, he sees it in one big chunk. I, on the other hand, have the 5 acres and I can cover these 5 acres in horse manure over time and produce the soil I need to grow stuff. The rancher will not bother, I will.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip
The destruction of agriculture in this country is a crisis, but as long as the producers are seen as the enemy, and farm land is priced at residential prices, we will continue to lose the ability to support ourselves and will be forced to import more and more of our food from undeveloped or unsavory sources.
It's a huge tragidy, and will only get worse.
Producers? Puhlease. People are not interested in farming because it is back-breaking work for little pay and because large corporations produce food cheaply enough for nobody to bother. By all measurements, Americans enjoy cheapest food around - it is what - 10% of the average paycheck? Why kill yourself all day working and praying for rain when someone can make it happen for you and you are free to do something else?
Farming used to be a way of life and a necessity before food distribution systems were invented. Even in the 1950s the average American consumed tons of canned foods and frozen foods and prepackaged foods. In essence, as soon as it became possible - people left the farms in masses because let's face it - nobody wants to sit in 100 degree Sun and toil over a tomato plant. Unless they are an illegal immigrants - people who make the cheap food supply possible for their hosts.
Everyone except Arleigh seems to think that canned goods deteriorate or degrade over a relatively short period of time. Nonsense. They last decades with at most a slight change in flavor. The food did react with the metal in oldfashioned cans many years ago, but now they have an extremely thin barrier to prevent that.
You can make dried food, but usually that doesn't last more than a year or two unless you package it very carefully. Also it's hard to get the right degree of dehydration, too much and it won't reconstitute no matter how long you cook it, too little and it will go bad. The main good point of it is that it can be done cheaply at home in vast quantities with a $30 dehydrator.
Freeze dried food is very high quality, durable, and convenient, but it's very costly and you can't make it at home. This is what the backpacker's meals are made of, pour in some boiling water and it's perfectly reconstituted in 5 minutes, tasting like fresh. Sealed in their original pouches, these meals will last far longer than dried, over 20 years from what I've heard. However the individual meals are way too low in calories and especially in fat, which is a vital nutrient over the long haul. Without fat or oil in the diet, you will get more and more insatiably hungry over time, just as with "rabbit starvation".
It is soooo much easier to rotate any food you keep for emergencies once a year and simply replenish with new.
It doesn't matter who says what about how long food lasts in cans, finding out when you need it isn't being prepared, it is foolish.
Once a year, eat the food you put away for the rainy day. First, you'll quickly find out if it is any good, both in quality and in how much you like to eat it and second, you get to modify your food store to match your needs.
There are plenty of foods that you can store easily for two years, including lots of fruits in bags and so on. Take a camping trip and eat all the food you put away. Now you'll know what to expect and how long it will last you in real life as opposed to putting it away for years and hoping that when you open the can all is well.
Don't over think being prepared. In all likelihood, the disaster everyone prepares for isn't the one that will happen, it will be something else. What good does sitting on a year's worth of food do you when you have to leave the area where the food is stored?
Show me someone with a large amount of food stored away and I'll show you someone who is stuck right where they are and is a sitting duck when everyone else figures out it is time to leave and they are left wondering what happened.
Show me someone with a large amount of food stored away and I'll show you someone who is stuck right where they are and is a sitting duck when everyone else figures out it is time to leave and they are left wondering what happened.
Or, you could be dealing with someone who has carefully picked his/her location so that the need to evacuate isn't on the table. Above all else, one should strive NEVER to become a refugee...
Or, you could be dealing with someone who has carefully picked his/her location so that the need to evacuate isn't on the table. Above all else, one should strive NEVER to become a refugee...
This has always been my first requirement. The areas that fit this requirements are the best places to live too. Does anyone really desire a hurricane, a tornado, or a race riot? They're all very easy to avoid. I could say the same about heavy traffic or corrupt officials.
This has always been my first requirement. The areas that fit this requirements are the best places to live too. Does anyone really desire a hurricane, a tornado, or a race riot? They're all very easy to avoid. I could say the same about heavy traffic or corrupt officials.
You have no idea, I see. I have explained it in detail many times on this forum, and once in this thread. Yet, you have no idea.
Do you wish for me to explain it again?
It is possible. Is it probable?
Around here land goes for $15K/acre. Water is becoming a problem too.
Joel Salatin and people who follow him make the same claims - if you want to farm, DO NOT buy land first. Rent it, get experience first and then rent it, whatever. However, don't the same people tell you not to bother if you are past 35 years old (unless you are bringing money to the table)?
Farming used to be done for survival - EVERYONE had to farm to eat. At a certain point in time after the industrial revolution, people realized they would rather work in the city to make a living - anything is apparently better than the back breaking farm labor that barely pays off and depends on so many things you cannot control.
Today people see farming as optional - you do it if you love it, just like you become a doctor if you love medicine and helping people (supposedly). For the rest of the crowd who doesn't love farming, there is always corporate grown food...
If you are 40 and late to the game, you better have no debt, a big bank account and the ability to support your "farm" for the first 5 years...
Around here land goes for $15K/acre. Water is becoming a problem too.
Yes.
Drought-prone land is expensive.
Drought-free land is as low as $300/acre. [Though I paid $350 and $900/acre for our land].
Quote:
... Joel Salatin and people who follow him make the same claims - if you want to farm, DO NOT buy land first. Rent it, get experience first and then rent it, whatever. However, don't the same people tell you not to bother if you are past 35 years old (unless you are bringing money to the table)?
I have no idea. I am not familiar with your buddy.
Quote:
... Farming used to be done for survival - EVERYONE had to farm to eat. At a certain point in time after the industrial revolution, people realized they would rather work in the city to make a living - anything is apparently better than the back breaking farm labor that barely pays off and depends on so many things you cannot control.
Today people see farming as optional - you do it if you love it, just like you become a doctor if you love medicine and helping people (supposedly). For the rest of the crowd who doesn't love farming, there is always corporate grown food...
If you say so.
Quote:
... If you are 40 and late to the game, you better have no debt, a big bank account and the ability to support your "farm" for the first 5 years...
I retired on pension at 42. I paid cash for our land. No debt. I used up all of our cash to buy this land. Then I began building, first a house, then a farm. My pension is basically Minimum-Wage. We are fairly wealthy in this region, as we bring in a lot more than most of our neighbors do. Now 7 years into it, our farm production looks better each year.
Though as I have said; I deal with many other folks who have much less. I help others get into farming who do not have the same level of wealth.
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