No worries back then

[tstep]

U didn't do very good at math did u hopper. 1947 to today would be 68. Far from 80

[Klause]

I don't think a baby would remember though. .. a 14 year old might. A 20 year old would.

[cottonpicken]

We've got records,take some time.

[charliep]

Perhaps stress is an internal thing based on expectations/lifestyle. Farming has changed greatly if you look at this component. I was just finishing highschool but I can still remember the late 1960's/early 1970's when wheat inventories across the prairies/LIFT was brought in (Lower Inventories for Tomorrow). Lots of discussion about the early 1980's. Farming has always been a high risk/unforgiving business. You guys want to separate out the debt side but this has always been a factor.

[MBgrower]

Your wrong charlie. Farming likely less stressful now. Grain farming has become so simple with our modern conveniences. When is the last time any of us walked behind a plow all day, how many remember shoveling grain off a truck with a scoop. Most farmers under 30 dont even know what a grain shovel is. Can you imagine what things will look like in another 60 years? Skfarmers grandkids will be planting their 100, 000 ac via remote from hawii.

[freewheat]

But never before has so much been put on the line in the form of MASSIVE inputs. In the good old days, if you put in a crop, you spent the 5 or 10 dollars an acre, generally out of your own pocket.

[tweety]

freewheat, who says you HAVE to farm like that today? Moderate inputs, machinery, and expectations make farming quite stress free today. And i don't even have to steer!

[freewheat]

MASSIVE input dollars, moderate inputs or not, relative to our forefathers. And I DO have to steer, and it doesn't bug me a bit! lol. I personally do not stress about the actual farm work. But I do sure as heck stress about cash and how to make it so I can farm again next year.

[Hopperbin]

Free I want to question 5 or 10 per acre. First of all what was the price of planting clean seed wheat. Maybe 6 bucks. Labour to take a crop off a quarter section although cheap by our standards today. Was it 50 cents per hour at most. Labour would must add another five bucks or more. Then fuel. Fert if even available Then. etc etc

[Guest]

we got a couple tenths this morning ,settled the dust , can breathe again , crops really coming nice , hoping for a little more

[Hopperbin]

Oops maybe a dollar a day for labour

[fjlip]

Right a dollar a day labor. Fuel was maybe 10 cents a GALLON!. Fertilizer what was that? Oh ya MANURE. New land grew great crops. Seed out of bin at a buck a bushel. No chem, no insurance, no electricity, wood for heat, zero tech to screw up. Machinery you could fix. And NO market info daily to make stress for you. Blissfully unaware of world market conditions due to newspaper delays equals NO stress. Today if 10,000 acres X 40 bu/acre of canola at $10/ bu, only a 10 cent market move and your cost or benefit is $40,000. 20,000 acres needs 400,000 liters of diesel, a 10 cent move equals another $40,000. Similar for all inputs and grain sales. Then you add STUPID machinery prices and obsolescence that ruins resale, that costs big time per acre. That is the major stress of today's farming, IMO.

[tweety]

fjlip, ever notice that certain people who really have no stress in their lives are stressed to the max? Stress often has a lot less to do with the situation but the way the person deals with it.

Back then there were those who stressed about everything and those that didn't. Just like today.

[agchat]

fjlip, you hit the nail on the head. That was the point to my post. Back then I am sure there was stress in there life also, BUT a frost this time of year just meant more hard work for them, AT VERY LITTLE COST. Was also thinking today while spraying for flea beetles, that I am getting tired of shortening my life span with all these ****ing chemicals just so others can eat. Glad these farming days are winding down for me.

[Hopperbin]

Agchat this is another topic. Farmer safety of chemicals. I remember talking to a now dead neighbour that applied some chemical powder always on a windy day don't know what it was. But he laughed when the towns people started talking about their gardens ****ed. We take much more care today.