Decisions

I'm finally home for the Christmas break.  As usual, I've been helping my dad with chores, especially feeding the hay.  I do this every year.  I come home and spend the morning with my dad every few days as we feed enough hay to get the cows through in the cold.  As we drive out to the pasture in the tractor, we talk.  Usually Dad tells stories or drops bits of knowledge in my direction.  This year has been different, though.  This year we've been talking about the future of the farm.  My future.  My dad wants to know what I plan to do with the farm and how I want to proceed with actually buying the farm.  The decisions I need to make are starting to pile up and become overwhelming.

Some of the first decisions I need to make have to do with school.  I have three semesters left and I need to decide what classes to take in the last two.  Since I'm taking so many second-year courses this year, I will be able to take extra courses.  My friends who are in their second year of the program often talk about all of the interesting classes they've taken and I admit I want to take them all if I can.  I have so many options, though!  I could even take a second major.  Before I figure out which classes to take, though, I need to know what I want to do with the farm.  I could focus mainly on livestock.  After all, most of the land on the family farm is much better suited for livestock than for crops.  And I can't imagine getting rid of the cows completely.  Yet, neither can I imagine not having crops.  We do have good crop land in the area and I know that it's dangerous to rely only on cows or only on one crop for revenue.  I will likely do as my dad does, raising both crops and cows.  Unfortunately, that presents a bit of a problem for school.  You see, in the production major, second-years concentrate either on crops or livestock.  I'm a bit worried that I won't have the time to take all of the courses that I want to.  I suppose I'll see how it all works out in a few months when I sit down with my program advisor to figure out classes for next year.

The other major decisions piling up have to do with farm succession.  This is, I've heard, one of the most divisive events in farm families.  Essentially, the inheritance is being handed over while the parents are still alive.  The successor needs to have enough capital to survive as a farmer (that's a lot).  The parents need to be able to support themselves in retirement.  Other important people, like siblings who are leaving the farm, need to be considered to make sure everything is fair.  It's a delicate balancing act.  It's also really scaring me because all of sudden everything I've been working towards the last several years is starting to actually happen.  The part that's overwhelming (aside from realising that, hey, I'm a grown-up) is trying to sort through all of the different options:  Do I keep the south quarter?  Do I see if the neighbour will sell me his east quarter?  Do I build up my own herd or buy cows from Dad when he sells off his herd?  Do I buy the farm outright or work towards owning it?  Do I pay Dad directly or go through a bank?  How do I make sure my sister is treated fairly through all of this and that my parents don't just lose all they worked for?  It's a lot to think about.

I realise this is shorter than most of my other blogs, but I don't really have much more to say.  I have more questions than answers right now.  One day I'll look back and see how it all worked out, but for now, the future is a bit of a mystery.