Letting go?

[cowman]

I have often wondered why so many farmers have such a hard time of turning the farm over to the child? Yea I know a big part of it is the money thing. But I'll let you in on a little secret...you can't take it with you!
Now without a doubt you don't want to be eating cat food or something in your golden years!
The fact is what do you desire? Do you want to live the life of Riley and laze about? If so that is your right...you worked hard for it!
Now even though I have worked hard all my life, I never looked at it that way! I was living my "own version" of the life of Riley! Work hard, play hard(and at times I considered I was playing too hard)!
I have always believed "there comes a time"? A time to let the younger generation have their kick at the can...I had mine sort of thing?
Now mind you, I have sort of kept the wolf from the door, so to speak, and I realize not everyone has had the opportunities I might have had? And furthermore, I don't attribute that to any of my abilities. I do believe God had a plan for me and I just fulfilled it as best as I was able.
My son continues to bring me a lot of satisfaction! I am very happy that he has given me a grandson...and that he has turned out to be such a good sensible man. I have no qualms in turning it over to him.

[farmers_son]

Cowman, my sons are both in the oil industry and have no interest in this farm, but even though they are not following in my footsteps I feel that this place should one day belong to them.
There are a lot of retiring farmers that would give their eye teeth to be in your position, content to let your son take over the reins. Many parents have a tough time realizing that their kids are smart enough to make the right decisions and have the ability to take over the family business regardless of what it might be.
My sons just watch from the sidelines and give unsolicited advice from time to time....I can't return the favor because I have no clue what their jobs entail !!!

[cakadu]

We know that there won't be anyone to take over here and with all the development that is going on, I wonder just what will happen to the land. I've considered conservation land easements and still am not positive about them and of course my spouse has to agree.

We are trying to restore the land and have it become more productive from a grass management perspective and we're really hoping that one of these years we can actually see some positive results. Maybe this year will be the year for that.

It must be hard when you've built something up and you're not quite sure how it should be transferred etc., particularly when there is no interest in taking it over or when parents are not encouraging their kids to take it over. That has to be hard as well, particularly for multi-generational farms - to tell your kids to go find jobs elsewhere must be very difficult.

When it comes to succession planning, I think that all parties have to keep open minds so that misunderstandings do not occur and the transition goes as well as can be expected.

The other thing to remember is that the retiring person should be taking some time for themselves without having to look to the skies in order to see what will happen that day.

[cakadu]

Linda, I enjoy every day here at the farm, even though the cold weather, calving in blizzards etc. has posed some major challenges over the years.
My favorite way to relax is taking a short trip somewhere in AB., and just enjoying the diversity of this province. Thats how I recharge my batteries.

[cakadu]

Linda, I don't think that there will ever be a retired farmer that doesn't look at the sky and wonder what that day's weather will bring, old habits are hard to break !!!!