So what do you guys do?
- Thread starter HeyBob
- Start date
Welcome Tinkertoys!
It's good to see another Yanmar owner join. This makes five owners, and about 10 machines. (Mark777 has several Yanmars).
Can you post a normal-size copy of that avatar photo over in the Yanmar forum? How long have you owned it? I think the YM240's are classics - I have the 2wd version.
Welcome aboard!
I have dairy farmed all my life & still do. This living kinda covers a lot of areas. From bottle-washer to diesel mechanic, HVAC, vet work,....on & on. And believe you me there is a lot of sh#t involved too! 
Pay isn't great, but I am at home & get to spend a lot of time with my family & that you cannot put a price on! And they seem to even enjoy me being around a lot! 
Here's an aerial pic of our dairy & my home.
Pay isn't great, but I am at home & get to spend a lot of time with my family & that you cannot put a price on! And they seem to even enjoy me being around a lot! Here's an aerial pic of our dairy & my home.
Dan, One would travel many many miles before you could find a better looking farm property than yours!!
I took the liberty to enlarge it (the photo) and still couldn't find one thing out of place!!
I do all the cleaning & straightening, and try hard to keep junk to a minimum. If we don't use it & won't need it...it's gone! I try to keep mowing caught up...I do all that too. I used to think we were kinda disorganized sometimes....till I visted some other dairies. Man, some of them still have every piece of equipment they ever bought...some not being used in 20 years! We meant to paint 2 of the grain bin roofs this Fall, but weather has turned before we got to it. We do ALL our work, building & upkeep. Dad built the chicken barn himself when I was a "twinkle in his eye". We together built the freestalls, milking parlor, & more. Grandpa & his friends built the house in 1925, the year Dad was born. That pic is about 2 years old.
Very nice place you have there Dan. Something to be proud of for sure.
Yep, the far half of the barn behind the bins was built by Grandpa also, the closer half by Dad. ALL built by family. We put the grain bins up ourselves too. A lot of fun I might add!
We also built our own forms & poured the concrete feeders, & all concrete lots we did too. We're pretty much self sufficient compared to most dairies. Guess that's why we're still in business...that with living within our financial limits.Taught school for 33 years before I retired in 2006 and now work part time as a computer repairman. Raised in a small town but always out to visit Grandma at the farm my great grandfather first bought in the 1890s. Dad bought it from her in the 1960s. I used to hate working for him, because he never believed in power tools of any sort. (Try chasing a cow around a pen with a 5 gallon bucket and a hand-pump sprayer.) He was also an engineer, so every job took three times as long as it should. Married a farmer's daughter almost 37 years ago. Learned the joy of tractors from my father-in-law.
At age 50 (now 56), with Dad in declining health, decided I should do more for the farm than just deer hunt, so we built our retirement home out here. (I had to promise my wife that I wouldn't make her chop cotton like her Dad did before she would agree to it.) Run a few cows and horses and still do my deer hunting. Now I just love farming. I was patching a 30 ft. section of barb wire fence a few weeks ago. Was hot and frustrated, then I just busted out laughing at myself. My Dad has to be rolling on the floor laughing up in heaven because I am out there willingly doing what he had to make me do when I was young.
Learned the joy of tractors from my father-in-law. At age 50 (now 56), with Dad in declining health, decided I should do more for the farm than just deer hunt, so we built our retirement home out here. (I had to promise my wife that I wouldn't make her chop cotton like her Dad did before she would agree to it.) Run a few cows and horses and still do my deer hunting. Now I just love farming. I was patching a 30 ft. section of barb wire fence a few weeks ago. Was hot and frustrated, then I just busted out laughing at myself. My Dad has to be rolling on the floor laughing up in heaven because I am out there willingly doing what he had to make me do when I was young.
Funny, but we are both about the same age, both worked in our original career for 33ish years and are both part-time computer repairmen now! I suppose that's where the comparison ends since I don't have a farm yet (just the tractor so far!), but I must wonder from this if computer repair thang is going to become the preferred part-time retirement job of the future!Taught school for 33 years before I retired in 2006 and now work part time as a computer repairman. Raised in a small town but always out to visit Grandma at the farm my great grandfather first bought in the 1890s. Dad bought it from her in the 1960s. I used to hate working for him, because he never believed in power tools of any sort. (Try chasing a cow around a pen with a 5 gallon bucket and a hand-pump sprayer.) He was also an engineer, so every job took three times as long as it should. Married a farmer's daughter almost 37 years ago.
At age 50 (now 56), with Dad in declining health, decided I should do more for the farm than just deer hunt, so we built our retirement home out here. (I had to promise my wife that I wouldn't make her chop cotton like her Dad did before she would agree to it.) Run a few cows and horses and still do my deer hunting. Now I just love farming. I was patching a 30 ft. section of barb wire fence a few weeks ago. Was hot and frustrated, then I just busted out laughing at myself. My Dad has to be rolling on the floor laughing up in heaven because I am out there willingly doing what he had to make me do when I was young.
Are we starting a new trend here???
Dougster
Are we starting a new trend here???
Dougster
Could be. I started with a computer from a garage sale some 20 years ago and found that I had a sort of natural knack for figuring things out and repairing both hardware and software problems. At one time I fixed my friends computers for fun (read "free"), and then I started developing too many "friends). Now I only need to make enought to offset the difference between my salary and my retirement check. I notice that several guys are employed full-time in IT. Seems like a funny combination of interests for us, considering how many pony-tailed geeks you see in the industry. The guys on this board know that computers are work and tractors are fun (work, too). I find the guys who work in the computer dept. at the local Staples really humorous. I go in to buy computer parts dressed in my overalls or maybe jeans and ball cap, and they treat me like I fell off the turnip truck. Something about youth that makes them so much smarter than a guy who has done this for 20 years.
As for the future, I don't know. Computers are so cheap now that I know people who have actually gone out and bought a new computer rather than removing a virus from a one-year-old machine. Repair work seems to be feast or famine. I may not have a call for a week, then I may get 6 computers on the bench in one day. I still enjoy the computers and most of my customers, but sometimes they interfere with my tractor seat time.
I hear you loud and clear on the "feast or famine" thing.Could be. I started with a computer from a garage sale some 20 years ago and found that I had a sort of natural knack for figuring things out and repairing both hardware and software problems. At one time I fixed my friends computers for fun (read "free"), and then I started developing too many "friends). Now I only need to make enought to offset the difference between my salary and my retirement check. I notice that several guys are employed full-time in IT. Seems like a funny combination of interests for us, considering how many pony-tailed geeks you see in the industry. The guys on this board know that computers are work and tractors are fun (work, too). I find the guys who work in the computer dept. at the local Staples really humorous. I go in to buy computer parts dressed in my overalls or maybe jeans and ball cap, and they treat me like I fell off the turnip truck. Something about youth that makes them so much smarter than a guy who has done this for 20 years.
As for the future, I don't know. Computers are so cheap now that I know people who have actually gone out and bought a new computer rather than removing a virus from a one-year-old machine. Repair work seems to be feast or famine. I may not have a call for a week, then I may get 6 computers on the bench in one day. I still enjoy the computers and most of my customers, but sometimes they interfere with my tractor seat time.
I too started out doing this computer repair for charity (a very long story) nearly 14 years ago. Sure as sugar, over the years you develop a real knack for diagnosing and solving people's hardware and software problems.I know that these machines are coming way down in price... a factor that eventually led to my entry into the laptop repair specialty... but people are now more dependent than ever on their computers and the information that is locked deep inside. It's not about the value of the computer anymore. It's about the value of the information that they can't access until you arrive and save the day!
I look like a nerd... in fact, I am a nerd... so no problems with the techie kids working at the various electronic stores. They accept me as one of their own despite the huge age difference. And when sometimes a brand new kid comes along and wants to tell me everything he knows (be it right or wrong), I look dumb and play along with him... just for the sheer fun of it!
Dougster
Farmwithjunk
Member
Taught school for 33 years before I retired in 2006 and now work part time as a computer repairman. Raised in a small town but always out to visit Grandma at the farm my great grandfather first bought in the 1890s. Dad bought it from her in the 1960s. I used to hate working for him, because he never believed in power tools of any sort. (Try chasing a cow around a pen with a 5 gallon bucket and a hand-pump sprayer.) He was also an engineer, so every job took three times as long as it should. Married a farmer's daughter almost 37 years ago.
At age 50 (now 56), with Dad in declining health, decided I should do more for the farm than just deer hunt, so we built our retirement home out here. (I had to promise my wife that I wouldn't make her chop cotton like her Dad did before she would agree to it.) Run a few cows and horses and still do my deer hunting. Now I just love farming. I was patching a 30 ft. section of barb wire fence a few weeks ago. Was hot and frustrated, then I just busted out laughing at myself. My Dad has to be rolling on the floor laughing up in heaven because I am out there willingly doing what he had to make me do when I was young.
I almost got a little misty-eyed there after reading that last sentence. I loved my dad and respected him to the Nth degree, but I could not wait until I had the chance to get away from being his "indentured servant"/farm implement. Lyndon Johnson sent me a letter inviting me to come play soldier in late 1965. By the time that was over, I was ready to come home to my new bride and start farming on my own. So far, I've spent near 40 years working as a carpenter/substitute equipment operator/estimator/project supervisor for a general contractor to pay the bills. The farm is more a lifestyle than a vocation. I wanted my kids to grow up in the same environment as I did.
But I SWORE I'd never be the taskmaster my dad when I had kids of my own.
Funny how we slowly become our fathers
My son, who's now 36, a father of 2, and farming on his own, swears I'm a cross between Bobby Knight and Adolf Hitler when it comes to working for me.
My daughters both did very well in school so, in their own words, they would never have to spend another day working for their mean old dad. (I resemble that remark!
)And just yesterday, I told my wife how I though my dad was probably looking down on us, laughing at how I've embraced the lifestyle I tried so hard to leave behind when I was a teenager.
And how happy I am about it!I look like a nerd... in fact, I am a nerd... so no problems with the techie kids working at the various electronic stores. They accept me as one of their own despite the huge age difference. And when sometimes a brand new kid comes along and wants to tell me everything he knows (be it right or wrong), I look dumb and play along with him... just for the sheer fun of it!
Dougster
I have no problems with nerds and/or geeks. It's the smug kids at the stores that see someone almost 40 years older than them, and therefore must be a hick. This being a college town, there is always someone opening and then closing a computer "business". Some time back, one young man told me that he was "the best in town, in fact, in this whole area". I told him, "Good. I'm the busiest. I can use the help.". He was gone in a few months.
Lyndon Johnson sent me a letter inviting me to come play soldier in late 1965. By the time that was over, I was ready to come home to my new bride and start farming on my own.
And just yesterday, I told my wife how I though my dad was probably looking down on us, laughing at how I've embraced the lifestyle I tried so hard to leave behind when I was a teenager.
As for Lyndon Johnson's letter, whether you wanted to go or not, you have my respect, sir. I was a little behind you with a college student deferment, and by the time it ran out, Uncle Sam wasn't drafting as high as my lottery number any more. Being a musician, I had plans to go into a service band if I had to go, until a couple of guys came back from Nam who had done just that. The guy stationed at DaNang air base said it was good duty just playing for the generals. The other kid was in an army field band and had to wear a helmet while carrying both his trumpet and rifle to play a band concert in the villages. His group even took enemy fire at times.
You are right about us becoming our fathers. Even my wife accuses me of that sometimes. But now it is funny to hear my kids quoting me when they discipline their children. Interesting how similar our stories are and also how different it is from my Dad's story. He wanted to be nothing but a farmer, but his dad made him become an engineer, so he was part-time farming from the mid-60s until he retired and went full-time. I just wish I knew more about farming. I am starting from near scratch, since I wasn't paying much attention back then.
Good story Grandpa!I have no problems with nerds and/or geeks. It's the smug kids at the stores that see someone almost 40 years older than them, and therefore must be a hick. This being a college town, there is always someone opening and then closing a computer "business". Some time back, one young man told me that he was "the best in town, in fact, in this whole area". I told him, "Good. I'm the busiest. I can use the help.". He was gone in a few months.
I just got another call today from another "Geek" computer repair agency that wanted me to join them full-time... or if not full-time, then part-time... and if not part-time, at least sign on as an independent subcontractor. I told them no full-time or part-time as I don't work for anyone but myself anymore. Then they wanted me to give up a day to come in for an interview just to work as a mere subcontractor. No way Jose'. Not in the middle of snowplowing prep and contract signing season!!! 
Maybe next year???
Dougster
Good story Grandpa!
Dougster
Sounds like they wanted you out of the loop, competition-wise. I had a similar "offer" from an out of town company that wanted me to "bid" on local service jobs for them. Go to a job as low bidder? Don't think so. Like you, I just work for myself.
