Can I become a Hutterite colony?

[sumdumguy]

Been a long time lurker here on this site.

Actually my understanding is that the individual huts have very little of their own money. My wife does billing for a company that manufactures and applies prescriptions to lenses for glasses and sells frames.
Social services pays for this . I have seen the invoices.
Hard to believe when the colany as a whole is gushing with cash.

Interesting concept - your life is pre-programmed.

[grassfarmer]

Hard to believe when the colany as a whole is gushing with cash.

Who says the colonies are gushing with cash? Are you simply judging by the new machinery? When you consider the debt they have to service for land purchase to expand as rapidly as they do and the far higher number of people making their living off the land per quarter section compared to other systems of farming I would think it unlikely they are cash rich.

[pourfarmer]

Who says the colonies are gushing with cash? Are you simply judging by the new machinery? When you consider the debt they have to service for land purchase to expand as rapidly as they do and the far higher number of people making their living off the land per quarter section compared to other systems of farming I would think it unlikely they are cash rich.

Are you serious? The only debt they have to service, is that from a colony they branched out of. Which I would doubt is interest bearing. In my limited experience with them, they only expand when capital allows them to. I have seen first hand, colonies where residents are stacked on top of each other, most of the young families are all longing to be moved to new "start up" colonies, where they may have a slight chance to become a straw boss, or hog boss, etc. Believe what you want, but I highly doubt FCC is financing them.

[grassfarmer]

They must be a lot smarter than anyone else farming then eh? To be able to double your land base, livestock, machinery and build a new farm yard site with all the grain and livestock infrastructure as well housing for 100 people every 15 years or so takes some doing if it is based on production of commodity agricultural products.

[farmaholic]

But they are an innovative resourceful bunch. Alot of times they are involved in some sort of "supply management ag". I think they do everything they can themselves. Probably a lot of skill is bartered between colonies themselves.

We have a colony close by but their aggressive land pursuit hasn't really affected us, (not near as much as some other "entities" and speculators).

[Saskpraireboy]

Grassy, so you support the fact that mine and yours tax dollars support social service programs for them?

I dont

They can well afford to pay for eye care, dentil care etc as much or more than I can.

[BreadWinner]

Just wondering,
Say Breadwinners company XYZ999 kept most of its income 3 million invested in itself, while I had a young family. I have my lovely bride raising our 5 kids at home with no off farm income. I keep my dividends down to the bare minimum less than $45000.00 per year. Result is I get full drug coverages for our family, and the government send me a child allowance cheque for $5000.00 per month, qualified for low income programs. This is real and happens on allot of farms. In fact Trudumb also does something similar with his trust fund.

[pourfarmer]

They must be a lot smarter than anyone else farming then eh? To be able to double your land base, livestock, machinery and build a new farm yard site with all the grain and livestock infrastructure as well housing for 100 people every 15 years or so takes some doing if it is based on production of commodity agricultural products.

If old money financing is "Smarter", than yes. Like the neighbor boy whose father has 30 or 40 quarters paid for, the kid has new equipment, pickup truck, peterbuilts, new sled and quad, etc. Is he smarter then me, since I have none of those things?

Back to Hutterites
They have piles of liquidity because unlike us they don't have to shell out $7 a gallon for milk, they will bring in milk trucks from established colonies with dairies. Or vegetables from a gardening colony, etc. Most of it is based off a trade and barter system, which is not taxed. They don't have to earn 40% over each dollar just to pay the taxes. When we buy that $7 jug of milk, we're paying closer to $10 by the time we "earn" the initial $7.

If you want to skirt the tax system by using barter and trade, that is fine by me. But please don't expect to utilize extensive services that are paid for by taxes. That is simply unfair.

[grassfarmer]

Grassy, so you support the fact that mine and yours tax dollars support social service programs for them?

I dont

They can well afford to pay for eye care, dentil care etc as much or more than I can.

Who are you or I to judge whether they can afford to pay for dental care etc? You can't base their income on how many combines they have and whether they are new ones. If they are getting supported by social services I'll let social services judge whether they qualify. Not my area of expertise, not my business.

[seabass]

For a guy who professes to be so smart u sure are ****in stupid. Go to a colony and tell us what u find out. It will be exactly as the posters on here claim. **** sakes its hard to defend a dumbass.