# Financially Savy Farming



## Vol

Do you want to be a top producer?.......micro-manage according to this report.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agweb.com..._savvy_farming/


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## steve in IN

Interesting article. There is a lot of truth to this . The thing I have noticed about the savvy operators around me are that they usually have family that is out doing the actual farm work while one manages. i also know operators (most of which have now passed on) who were savvy and did thier own work. Times are different and I am not sure they are getting better. I myself choose the latter. As I learned along time ago that what is good for one operation is not always good for another. Who says the college professors are the ones to say what is best.


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## LeadFarmer

I do the majority of management around here, but I also spend as much time as possible operating machinery. I am exponentially better on the machines than any "help" we can find around here, plus it keeps costs down. When I am stretched too thin, I always have my old man around to help me out with management stuff. Spending lots of time in tractors also makes me intimately familiar with each process/job and makes managing that process/job that much easier for me as well.

It's always better to have operators/help who have a vested interest in what they are doing, and not just some meat in the seat.


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## gradyjohn

I do my own operating of my equipment. I hired two young men one summer. One I fired because he raked a field in an hour and a half ... I knew it took 4.5 hours to rake the same field. After I fired him I had to rerake it to get what he missed going in road gear. When I was trading my equipment every three years John Deere people would visit me to get my take on the new peice. They knew I operated my own stuff. By the was the year I hired those young men ... they were the ones making money. I cannot find anybody that will take care of it like I do. I had a neighbor that he and I worked and helped each other and that was good. When I went to custom work we had to go our separate ways.


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## urednecku

Ya'll are right, NOBODY will take care of your equipment like you, -he-who-must-pay-the-repair-bill- will.
I've told my wife a couple times, "I can't afford that kind of help" ---can't afford the repair bills. And that's just the lawnmower. And some wonder why I don't let somebody "help me" by letting them use my tractor to mow, disc, bale, etc.


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## swmnhay

urednecku said:


> Ya'll are right, NOBODY will take care of your equipment like you, -he-who-must-pay-the-repair-bill- will.
> I've told my wife a couple times, "I can't afford that kind of help" ---can't afford the repair bills. And that's just the lawnmower. And some wonder why I don't let somebody "help me" by letting them use my tractor to mow, disc, bale, etc.


I can relate to that.I had a guy helping me for 8 yrs and after he left I had a lot less repairs.Problem with him he wouldn't notice something wrong and stop and fix it and it became something bigger.I don't think he ever looked back.


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## urednecku

swmnhay said:


> I can relate to that.I had a guy helping me for 8 yrs and after he left I had a lot less repairs.Problem with him he wouldn't notice something wrong and stop and fix it and it became something bigger.I don't think he ever looked back.


1: didn't look back
2: didn't listen to the machinery to hear something different
3:_* BOTTOM LINE*_: "Don't care, it ain't mine."

I hate people like that. When I work for somebody else, I try to take at least as good of care of their stuff as I do mine, usually better.


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## kyfred

I have tried to drive the point home with our son when he is on my equipment or someone else's. Keep eyes and ears and senses open. If something dosen't look sound feel or smell right, find out what is going wrong before it destroys something.


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## urednecku

Young man was mowing my yard this summer, (my mower) talking about hitting oak roots. "Ya go slow it goes grgrgrgr, hit it fast it bounces & it's over with. I figure just hit it fast & get it over with." When I almost lost it & ask "why not GO AROUND THE DAM* THING SO YOU DON'T $heet UP" he had that dumm-a$$ -deer-in-the-headlight- look, didn't know what to say.

Yea. I'm still PO'd about that.


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## swmnhay

_One thing I've noticed with help is if they are having issues at home they tend to screw up ALOT more.They have their mind on that not what they are doing._

_So if your helps wife is on drugs out Ho-ing around and kids are on drugs out stealing to support their habit.You would probably be better off letting them go then trying to help them out.







_


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## Vol

I remember a couple of years ago, Rodney called them steering wheel holders when he was referencing some of his hired help....because that is about all they can do. That's a great name for them.

Regards, Mike


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## mlappin

Amazing how when your the only one that runs your stuff, it never needs fixed. I'm the only one who uses my hay equipment, bought the v rake new in 2004, a few dozen teeth and a set of wheel bearings is all it has needed. Change blades once a year on the discbine, just runs and runs. Haven't had to do anything to the round baler. Tedder I change a tooth on it once in awhile due to ground hog holes.

After years of mowing about 3 acres of grass with whatever cheap piece of crap Dad had for a lawnmower, I finally bought a diesel ZTR, keep about three sets of blades around for it always sharp. Have done nothing but change oil and grease it. But I'm the only one who uses it.


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## IslandBreeze

Funny how it doesn't matter what line of work ur in, the help is always the same. I always ran the backhoe when we was digging n utilities on 1 of our jobsites. I finally let one of my foremans dig even though I have a tendency to micro manage. About 15 minutes after he starts he comes walking n nonchalantly & tells me the backhoe is about to flip over outside. I jump off my scissor lift & run outside to see my backhoe still running, halfway in a ditch & setting at a 45-50 degree angle. After walking around it to see what I needed to do to get it out, this clown is telling me to call a tow truck to to lift it out. I was thinking, hell it's not ur $250 to get him out here. It took about 10 minutes to get it out. Needless to say, he didn't dig again.

I love the term steering wheel holders. I think I might have to borrow that one. I always told them that I was hiring them from shoulders down. I didn't need them thinking. Haha


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## somedevildawg

IslandBreeze said:


> Funny how it doesn't matter what line of work ur in, the help is always the same. I always ran the backhoe when we was digging n utilities on 1 of our jobsites. I finally let one of my foremans dig even though I have a tendency to micro manage. About 15 minutes after he starts he comes walking n nonchalantly & tells me the backhoe is about to flip over outside. I jump off my scissor lift & run outside to see my backhoe still running, halfway in a ditch & setting at a 45-50 degree angle. After walking around it to see what I needed to do to get it out, this clown is telling me to call a tow truck to to lift it out. I was thinking, hell it's not ur $250 to get him out here. It took about 10 minutes to get it out. Needless to say, he didn't dig again.
> 
> I love the term steering wheel holders. I think I might have to borrow that one. I always told them that I was hiring them from shoulders down. I didn't need them thinking. Haha


 I had a guy working for me get a DUI on my backhoe, worst part, they shut my job own for 2 days. Didn't matter it was a clusterf*** anyway, glad they stopped him if not i woulda had to resurface the entire road..... Instead of just 1/2


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