What Is Your Motivation To Buy Land?

"ie what is your reasoning on a purchase or what details do you consider on a potential purchase?


I ask out of curosity. Have been contemplating another farm, unfortuantly, I as of yet have not figured out a way to make one pay. Need the land but snowballs chance in hell of actually renting land around here, only alternative is purchasing, which is more attractive and equally unfeasable at the moment. I just wonder what the rest of you consider in a land purchace, what motivates you?"

My response-"My reason was I had none. I owned very little in fact and one needs land to farm. Land has always been difficult to rent here so owning is about the only way to get in. Now making it pay as you said, is a whole different ballgame.


Wanting is one thing, necessity another but it must cash flow. You must figure out a way to cash flow it to finance it since most of us can't buy it outright.

The best thing we have going for us is high grain prices, fairly stable inputs this year and the lowest interest rates I've seen in my lifetime. That also is true for all of my competition so someway I must figure out an edge on them and make it work.

Another motivation is I trust my ability to produce income from land more than I do the bank, stocks, machinery or any other investment out there.

Producing a profit is what Ag Talk is all about to me, with some good friends on here, too."

Let's look at land from strictly a payback proposition for farmers.  How do you figure what it takes for land to cash flow?

This was one of my jobs as an Extension Agent in the 80's and 90's.  I was able to write a grant for a laptop computer that I took to the University where it was loaded with software, mostly written by Extension professionals.  One of those programs was one where you entered your data and came up with the maximum amount you could afford to bid on a piece of land, rental or ownership.  Of course, the output was only as good as the input and this could be done on legal pad.

Most programs only figure your payment.  They are basically a mortgage calculator.  The important part is how much income you can produce from a piece of land and how accurate is your forecast.

We will discuss this tomorrow.

Ed

1977

For some reason today I got to thinking about some of the things I did 35 years ago.  We had the worst winters I've seen in my lifetime.   Matthew was Deirdre's size and I am now my dad's age when all of this happened.  I won the state tractor pulling championship(that's the tractor and me in the top left corner( and my eye was one year healed from surgery.  My, things do happen.

I was in my sixth year of teaching at Blanchester.  I had finally learned how to teach and maintain some kind of semblance of classroom control.  I had two really good students, Randy and Brett that made teaching fun.  They actually helped me be a better teacher by setting good examples and being strong role models.  No one messed with them.  My, things do happen.

We had built a profitable school farm of 80 acres with a good line of machinery.  I was really into mechanics and ham radio at the time.  We lived at Fayetteville where I go to church now and Matthew teaches.  I had a new Kenwood TS-520 and could talk to about anyplace in the world I wanted to.  The Radio Shack CoCo or color computer and the Model I and III were about to show up and take over that world.  My, things do happen.

It's funny how you remember this working outdoors.  I've had a lot of peaceful moments in the fields where I can think.  I cleaned out a pile of cedar posts I have been meaning to clear 3 years ago.  I get such great satisfaction from such little things.  My two good men showed up at 2:30 p.m. and I gained new life.  I sawed wood like I did 35 years ago.  I still have 20 logs to saw up but the pile isn't so big now.

I have been in a wood sawing frenzy since this good weather just keeps coming.  Tomorrow might be the end of it but still the forecast isn't that bad.  TSC has Carhartt winter coats on sale for 50 bucks for Black Friday morning and Poulan Wild Thing chain saws for $99.  I might pick up one of each.

A bug went through the family after First Communion and LuAnn spent the day on the couch.  She found out the communion family had it first.  Wouldn't you know she asked me how much sick leave she had used this year last night.  I guessed 14 hours, she said the answer is 11.  She almost doubled that today.

So what are you having for Thanksgiving dinner?  Turkey and all the trimmings?  That is all that has been on TV and how many hundreds of thousands of meals that have been given away.  That didn't happen 35 years ago.  We all stood on our own two feet, at least that we knew about.

Now HOPE Emergency feeds 400 people right down the road where we used to live.  I can't say the world is a better place 35 years later but it is what it is.

What do you out of the states readers do today?  I don't remember being in a foreign country on Thanksgiving to see what it is like somewhere else.  Maybe we were a few years ago when we cruised the Danube but I don't remember.

I do give thanks today for what we have and what has been sacrificied, just like I did in 1977.

Ed

100 Today

"Today my dad turned 100. He was born a mile North of where I live on the family homestead. He is the oldest of 6 children. He has one surviving sister. He served in World War II. He was drafted into the army in 1942. After boot camp he was assigned to Battery C of the 692nd Field Artillery Battallion at Fort Sill OK. He landed in Normandy France in August of 1944. From there they moved inland and fired their first 105mm howitzers shells in combat at Borne Holland. His unit supported the 84th Infantry Division at the Battle of the Bulge. After the Bulge they crossed the Siegfried line into Germany.


After the war he returned to the family farm. In 1960 he married my mother. I am the youngest of his five children. I was born in 1967 a month before he turned 55. He has 11 grand children. The oldest is 25 and the youngest is 12.

In 1997 he had an asthma attack and quit breathing. I was a few miles North of where they lived when my wife called to tell me. I was able to get there in time to perform CPR on him and revive him. 15 years of life that he would have missed. I am glad I was there.

This weekend we hosted a family dinner and open house for him. We had over 135 people attend. It was a good weekend. All of my family was able to attend as well as several cousins. It was good to see everyone.

This afternoon we took him over to the house where he was born a 100 years ago and took his picture. After that we came back to my house and had a small birthday party for him with two of my sisters and their family. My second cousin from Edmond, OK made the birthday cake we had tonight. I don't know how many layers it was but it was rich.

My dad was a simple dirt farmer. He has lived his life with a strong faith in God, a willingness to help his fellow man, and a thirst for knowledge. He may be 100 years old but he still reads books and wants to learn."

Happy Birthday Mr. Sanders and thank you for your service!

Ed Winkle

Two Good Men

I need two good men today.  Anyone available?  All my part time help is busy doing other jobs.  Maybe 2 men and a truck are available.

I just sent a garbage bag full of jackets and winter coats to Turning Point this morning.  LuAnn has a good worker who doesn't have enough (any?)coats so I fixed him up.  Tractor Supply has a sale on Carhartt's this week and I love new Carhartt's.  It's amazing what you accumulate over time.

Everytime we travel west or east to Pennsylvania we stop at Cabela's.  I usually end up buying a coat on sale.  The next thing you know, they won't all fit in our mudroom closet.  I just cleaned mine out and it is still pretty full.

I need to do that with shoes, too.  I have a bunch of good workboots I can't wear comfortably anymore and there is always someone around here who can use a pair.  10 years ago you couldn't give away this stuff and now it's in high demand.  There is the American economy for you in Ohio right there.

HOPE Emergency does a good job of distributing these goods to local, needy people.  We like helping them.  This is their busy week to try and get a Thanksgiving meal to all of their families.  I think the number is around 400 right now.  The local churches and other groups have been accepting donations for a month or so now.

Those barns housed a lumber store years ago that should have never been built out in the country.  It went belly up and a friend of mine bought it.  I forget the story how the sisters ended up with it but it must be on their website somewhere.

This was brought up on ag talk this week.  "Had a little farm got sold today 67 acres +or- only 52 tillable in 4 fields with a power line running through the biggest field is 17 acres and the smallest is 7 acres trees on 3 sides, a farm place in the middle of it that is sold to someone else no tile and light soils and rolling ground sold today for around $9700.00 an acre tillable and the farmer that bought will have to buy new equipment to farm it because his equipment is to big for it. The 2 guys that bid against each other I heard do not like each other. I wonder who one the fight?"

There are others who have been reporting actual fist fights over land rental and purchase.  That's not a good sign!  I told them to come to poor old Ohio where 84 acres sold for $3250 per acre last week and 440 acres of rough ground only brought $500,000.  Some people can't believe that but it's true.

I better get to work.  You have a good day.

Ed

Blessings

First of all today I want to say a special prayer for Irv.  I found Irv last night.  He is fighting a tough struggle with pancreatic cancer.  The numbers are not in his favor but we know with God all things are possible.  I just don't know what God's Will is for Irv so I have to pray they come true.  We know all things turn out good in the end if you are on the right side.  There are a lot of friends hurting right now and we pray for their peace and their healing.

We got to witness our oldest grandchild receive her First Communion yesterday.  The church was packed to Standing Room Only as family and friends gathered for the celebration.  Hearing that little girl, now young lady say she came on her own free will just made our hearts sing.  You couldn't force her to do something she didn't want to if you tried.  She knows right from wrong.

We got to see almost all of our grandkids this weekend.  Baby Deirdre is the quietest little newborn you can imagine.  Liam tickled us though, he said "Now if it were just Deirdre and me, life would be so much simpler.  That Caoilin and Finn, they are always into trouble!"  He grows so many ways every time we see him.  I think he will be a better big brother than I was.

Baby Katherine will be baptized in two weeks.  That will be a very special day for all of us.  She is one of those babies who could compete with the famous Gerber babies for cute and adorable.  LuAnn has each grandchild's picture hung up the stairway to the top floor so we get to see them every morning and every night.  Every one of them fit that category to us.  We have a handsome set of grandchildren!

We have so enjoyed the weather this month!  It has been pretty much gorgeous in southwest Ohio.  I hope to keep replenishing my firewood supply as winter draws near.

Farmers who are still shelling corn are very lucky compared to last year.  This fall is more like 2010 which seemed to go on forever.  However, this gives the tiller guys too much time to tear up ground while the rest of us work on fencerows, lime and tile issues.  I imagine everything that is going to be planted this fall has been planted.

Some things to ponder this winter:
Soil Health and Civilization
Modern Day Challenges
Solvita Soil Health Test
Rick Haney's Work With Soil Health
Soybean Inoculation
Naturall Inoculant

This should be enough good work to keep the blessings flowing!

Have a great week,

Ed Winkle

Deer Hunters

The deer hunters are starting to swarm the area.  It's deer hunting season again!  This 32 point buck was taken by an automobile on US 35 near Jackson, Ohio!  Not!  That's what a gullible friend put on Facebook.  This is actually it's story.

A 22 pointer was taken in Highland County and made the local paper.  I don't get too excited about deer season because I am not a hunter.  I gain new friends at this time of year and all year long just because we own a little land.

I hunt for quality soil like some guys hunt 4 legged deer.  A friend sent me this new piece on soil quality.  I have a lot of reading and testing to do this winter and in the future.  I also received a pdf file I haven't found on the web by Rick Haney, soil scientist NRCS in Temple, Texas.  If you would like a copy, just send me your email address and I will attach the file to it.  It is very interesting and makes a lot of sense to me.

I like the work of Steve Hartman on CBS.  He had a great story about a couple in Minnesota who are watching their 12th son finish his high school football career!  The best part was when Steve asked the mother if she was glad to see it over.  She looked him right in the eye and said NO!  Then he mentioned their 49 grand children!  I thought 11 was quite a score!

I started two blogs the last two days but Blogger is now dating them the day I press Publish.  Maybe it's always been that way, I forget.  I am getting caught up on my blogging after the farm auction, a trip to Cleveland and so many things this week. 

This morning our oldest grand daughter receives First Communion.  I have been up early praying for her and just giving thanks for everything that has happened this week.  We are truly blessed.

Ed

Land Auction

We went to a land auction last night at the Elk's Lodge.  We saw something that we and the auctioneer and I assume everyone there have never seen before.

The piece of land was a scenic 84 acres near us.  We pass the property nearly every day or whenever we go to Wilmington, our county seat of government.  It's scenic because it is very rolling with 26 acres of woods on it.   The woods is split by a creek, Little East Fork of Todd's Fork, that runs through the farm(and also this farm).  It does have some excellent bottom ground on it.

We walked into the room and there were about 8 potential bidders sitting there.  We looked at all the maps and papers and confirmed what we had seen that afternoon walking the property.  We didn't take the time to walk the far reaches of the back of the parcel with our little creek that becomes a mighty river during heavy rains. 

We saw what we needed to see, though and the maps confirmed it.  It is over half tillable with Sloan, Ockley, Miami and Xenia Silt loams.  12 acres of it is in CRP and the rest is creek and woods.

Soon the bidding began and someone opened with a reasonable $2500 bid and the bids quickly went to $3,000 per acre before the bidding slowed down.  The auctioneer started taking $50 bids and it got to $3250 per acre when the bidding stopped.  The auctioneer went into his close looking for someone to up the last bid.

There was an elderly couple sitting behind us.  The gentleman raised his hand to bid $3300 when his wife exclaimed, what are you doing?  I am not signing any papers!  This caught the auctioneer and the crowd off guard so the auctioneer suggested they discuss it.  She said even louder, I am not signing any papers!

I think that ended the bidding!  The auctioneer sold it for the $3250 per acre bid.  I have never seen anything like that and the auctioneer said the same thing.

Who do you think the final bidder was?

Ed