I’ve been told many times that it seems farmers only care about ourselves and making money from our farms and our animals. I would argue that we are very conscious of the future generation. A fellow young dairy farmer told me, “The land we farm isn’t ours, we’re simply borrowing it from the next generation.”
This idea of borrowing the land from our next generation is behind my title of “Borrowed Time”. My parents pushed us to go off the farm and find something we love to do. They want us to be happy and if that means being an accountant, musician or a teacher they are thrilled to support us.
I still remember the day I told my dad I wanted to take the farm over; the excitement on his face was something I will never forget. If you are working with a “Me” attitude, your farm will never last long term. So many of us in the industry are constantly thinking about having another generation come on the farm. I know I would be thrilled and proud to have the 4th generation here working with me.
On my family’s dairy farm we are constantly trying to take a great job of our land, cattle, air and water because we want the farm to be around for 100 or more years! We are proud of what we do and we want to continue the heritage of dairy farming for years to come.
