Why do we farm?

Farming is a gamble.

One drops a seed, breeds livestock, or installs some equipment with the anticipation of growth of product and eventual profit.

During the time between the initial investment of the time and effort to plant the seed and the sale of the product millions of things can go wrong.

With seeds, the seed cannot be good , the ground can not be good , too much rain , too little rain, an early frost, a late frost, insects, weeds, deer, rabbits, slugs, fungus, mold, harvesting equipment break down, market price drops, no human resources for harvest, ruins in storage ofater harvest.

One can buy the best seeds, pesticides, herbicides, new equipment, and top of the line employees. One can find a niche market and master production metods to eliminate spoilage and waste. One can do all of this and still not make a profit.

Livestock are also a gamble.

When you buy breeding stock so much can happen. You can have infertile male , infertile female, parasites, inadequate feed, inadequate water, problems birthing, birth defects, problems nursing, problems with disease in young,  wrong kind of feed, to much feed, too little feed, parasites, market price low,   problems getting to market, market fees high.

Forestry is a gamble, logs can be diseased, windshaken, and bowed. They can split while cutting , get hung up in moving loading on a mill, miscut , misdried, or not marketable. They can be rotten, stained, defective, or contain metal. your chainsaw can break, your moving equipment break, your trailering equipment , your sawmill, your human resources...


One has to ask, why put yourelf through all the stress and hard work to try run this obsticle course of potential downfalls?

Because we love to see new life come into the world, a childlike amazement at being part of something so glorious as a row of freshly sprouted plants peeking out of the dark damp soil or a lamb instinctively knowing how to struggle to its feet, only minutes old, searching around under the ewe for its first breakfast. We love to smell the sawdust and see the figuring of the grain of a newly opened log as the sawmill blade frees one, and then another, then another board.

Successful business depends on knowing which corners to cut to produce sizable quantities of a premium product with with limited risk and a good deal of luck.