Farm subsidies ARE going to family farms! I'm proof! And these days, it's the ONLY way family farms are staying in business. Funny, we were talking about this just this weekend with some other farmers we were camping with. LOL!

Now, I can't help it if agribusinesses are getting subsidies as well. But to cut the help off is just cutting the throats of the family farmers. And I don't know a single farmer that doesn't get some sort of assistance in the form of subsidies.

Let me tell ya this. Farm equipment prices have skyrocketed. Equipment has to keep up with technology, therefore the prices of the equipment has gone up, up, UP! Ten years ago, we had a baler that was a piece of crap for $15,000. My husband was getting off that thing every two bales to fix the knotter. That's getting off the tractor, climbing up the ladder on the baler, fixing something using a flashlight because the only time you can bale hay is in the middle of the night here (which is a long, complicated process that I won't go into here). When we finally couldn't patch together that old machine anymore, we bought a newer, but still used one. For $50,000. A BRAND NEW one is over $75,000! But with the newer one, he only has to check the knotter twice a night usually. But still, machinery wears out, and you can only patch it for so long. Eventually, you can't find parts for older machines. And parts! Do you realize how expensive THOSE get! I can spend $10,000 a year at least in just parts! Time is also money. It takes time to fix machines. Two years ago, my husband needed me to run to Texas to get some parts and race them out to the field. When he got done baling, one hour later, it started raining, then snowing! Had I not been the one to get the parts, my husband would not have finished baling. And we would have had some black hay sitting there in that field for weeks til it would have dried out to bale again.

Don't worry, I have a point here.

New set of hay rakes: $15,000
New tractor: $100,000
New Pickup with NO bells and whistles like power windows or door locks (you have to get to and from the fields): $30,000
New swather (that's what we use to cut the hay): $75,000 or MORE
Then you have to look at the price of diesel. Farm diesel these days is getting real close to $3/gallon. 5 years ago, it was .64 cents a gallon. We can easily burn 200 gallons a day when we are plowing, or planting, or cutting, or baling, or hauling (and we sell and haul local. That is, within 60 miles of the field). And that's not irrigating at all. That is dryland farming, depending solely on rainfall. Wanna add irrigation costs? For ONE pivot circle of wheat, we were paying $5,000 a MONTH for a combination of natural gas and diesel to operate our 4 wells for ONE circle.

Now, the cost of a ton of hay has barely budged in many years. We sold it last year for $80/ton. This year, we HAVE to go up. We hope to get $100/ton. If we are lucky.

Wheat prices have changed very little. So has corn. So has milk. So has milo. So has peanuts. I can't speak for soybeans, I don't know anyone here that grows that. But EVERY SINGLE FARM and DAIRY here are family run. In fact, I have NEVER SEEN a corporate farm or dairy or feedlot or ranch. And we are talking the whole eastern side of New Mexico and west Texas.

Subsidies are what KEEPS the family farms in business. If it weren't for programs like EQIP, NAP, CRP, and others, there would be NO family farms or ranches. See what I'm saying? The price of the product has not gone up with the price of what it takes to get that product here. Not much, anyway. But if it did, you would not be able to afford to buy your milk, or bread, or beef, or vegetables or fruits, or anything else it takes to feed a family.

It costs $7,000-9,000 to put up ONE MILE of fence. And I have 7 miles of exterior fences to rebuild (this is paid for by the US Air Force since they had a fire that got out of hand on the nearby bombing range and it burned up those fences plus 900 acres of my ranch and nearly got my house and cattle. Thankfully, they admitted to their mistake and paid us to replace those fences. And thankfully, it was the air forces fault. If it had been lightening that caused that fire, I may not be getting anything). And about 4 more miles of interior fences that desperately needed rebuilding before the fire since they were 75 years old at least. Thankfully, a government program is helping, not completely doing it, but helping us, to rebuild that fence.

Now, I don't live off the gov't subsidies. But without them, the family farms would die. And you would be paying an arm and a leg for your food when it has to be shipped in from other countries.

Also, take into consideration about what makes an agribusiness. Is it a coop of family farms? Like I said before, I have never seen a farm or dairy or ranch that wasn't run by a family. Family farms aren't just a few acres anymore. Me and my DH farm 1,200 acres on our own. That's no hired hands. And that is about all we can handle. We also ranch an additional 1,200. That, we can handle more. But right now, we can't afford to buy more at this time. Work on a ranch is easy. It's the cost to buy the land, fence, and cattle that is hard.

Every dairy I know is family run. And I know about 60 of them in just our two counties here. Cows aren't milked by hand anymore, they have quite a few hired hands there. And the typical dairy here milks 5,000 cows a DAY. That's 2-3 semi loads of milk hauled out of there a day. And then they are taken to the local run milk and cheese plants.

What I'm saying here is, when you see a big dairy, or even a feedlot with cows waiting to go to the butcher, don't automatically assume that because you see thousands of cows, that it's a big cooperate run operation.

As for obesity. All I can say is try not to buy or eat it. I'm really sorry that food that you buy everyday doesn't help obesity. But not everyone has that problem with junk food. Or fast food. Yes, I have a high metabolism. And I guess my children do, too. Because we eat McDs or Sonic or Wendy's sometimes once a week. And I LOVE to go to Chili's and have me a big ol' juicy Mushroom Swiss Burger with Fries (which, according to Weight Watchers, is 42 points. And if I were doing Weight Watchers, I would only be allowed 20 points per DAY!). I'm lucky. Sure, I would like to lose 10 pounds. But I'm not too shabby at 135 pounds, those 10 pounds are my own vanity of wanting to have a flatter tummy so I can wear the jeans I had before I had 4 children.

To blame obesity on farm subsidies just isn't fair, nor is it right.

Sorry, Lynn. You struck a chord with me on this (you knew you would. ) And I'm sorry I hogged your blog. Guess I had some venting to do. And I know in past years we have done this before. I just had to restate my stance once again. LOL! Hopefully, someone learned something new about farming. LOL!