5,000 acres is common? Are there family farms that are that large, or are those corporate farms. I've never heard of a family farm that was 8 sections large - so presumably these are corporate farms?
My grandparents own 5000 acres, of which they used to farm around 3000 acres of that actively. And we managed all of that with my grandfather, a hired hand, and myself in the summer, and just my grandfather and the hired hand during the winter. We did a 2000 acre wheat harvest, and 4 cuttings of hay at a 1000 acres a cutting in the summer from June through September.
I worked 12 hour days during the summer from the time I was 12 until I was 17.
>And we managed all of that with my grandfather, a hired hand, and myself in the summer, and just my grandfather and the hired hand during the winter.
well, i see one more time how USSR planned collective economy sucked compare to the US farming - a USSR collective farm of 10-20K acres would contain 200-300 households with most working age people of the households employed at the farm.
Then you understand nothing of how URSS actually worked. They didn't "employed" 300 people because they were needed, they did so to keep everyone busy. The head of a "colhoz" (I think that would roughly translate to "farm"), sometimes had to make up stuff, just keep people busy, and write the hours on paper.
>Then you understand nothing of how URSS actually worked.
i was born in 72 in USSR. Roughly half my family, like grandmother & grandfather, 2 uncles and an aunt lived in a "kolhoz" and "sovhoz" near by. We visited frequently and i spent some summers there. I also worked at a "sovhoz" the summer after 6th grade. There wasn't making up of the stuff. There were a lot of inefficiencies, low productivity - manual labor instead of machines - and bad organization - typical slice of USSR economy.
>I worked 12 hour days during the summer from the time I was 12 until I was 17.
Wow, honestly just reading that just blew my mind. Do you think that made you a better person or helped you at all down the road? That is a ton of manual labor for anyone, especially a child.
I know that this used to be common practice back before the industrial revolution but I guess I never really thought about it, or heard of anyone who actually went through something like that.
I feel that it did help me. I have a work ethic that is not really found in a lot of people even at my age(30). I still love to work outside, and enjoy a good hard days labor. It has allowed me to get ahead in the IT field because I am willing to work 12 - 16 hour days, without even blinking, because to be honest, a 16 hour day in a really comfortable chair with music is pretty easy compared to a 12 hour day of bucking hale bales when it is 100F outside.
And to be honest I don't feel that it in anyway hurt nor hindered me either. I grew up just as healthy, and probably stronger then most of my peers. And still don't feel that I was abused in anyway, not to mention all through highschool I was making 2 - 3k a year in income because of that work.
Not the GP but I did the same. Longer hours sometimes - make hay while the sun shines and all that (where I grew up in NZ we have a good 14 hours of sun to make the most of). I was on the market gardens, so planting, hoeing, picking, shifting irrigation pipes around etc. In the winter every Sunday was a 7:30am start picking cauliflower. When you grow up in that environment, it's just normal.
Though, it's really not uncommon. I picked apples for a season and most people worked all the hours they possibly could, because they had to (me included).
An interesting moment of mis-calibration that I'll never forget; At one point I was picking apples near the roadside and a man driving by stopped to ask me a question. He said, "How much do they pay you?" to which I replied $15. And he said, "For one of those?" pointing to the bag around my neck [0]. Slightly astounded I replied, "No, for one of those!" pointing to the large wooden bin on the ground [1].
It's a moment that will stick with me forever as a stark realisation that most people are totally disconnected from the manual labour that goes into the production of the things they consume every day (I know that applies to a lot more that just fruit and veg, and we're all guilty of it). I remember thinking at the time how unjust it was that once I made enough money to travel back to the city, I'd be earning a magnitude more sitting in an office in front of a computer.
I think if nothing else you develop a strong work ethic. Probably to a fault; over the years I've had to learn not to look so critically on those that don't put in as much work as I do. At the same time, I notice and admire those that have the same work ethic as me.
All in all I think it's a positive experience that's helped me along the way to be good at what I do now (tech startup). I think it's become part of my core character and I feel a certain sense of pride at how hard I worked when I was younger (and still do).
FWIW, in NSW Australia, the average land size of farms is just over 3,300ha.
Heavens knows the average size in Australia - the biggest station is 2,366,700ha. I guess it probably needs to be defined by the sort of farming being done.
By farming, I'm referring to land which is planted/harvested, typically row crops like Wheat, Corn (maize), or hay (alfalfa). From doing a bit of reading on things like http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=5707&Di..., I'm guessing the practical limit is the speed/capability of a combine, and the length of the harvest season. It sounds like 100 acres/day is a limit, and harvest season can (typically) stretch from mid-september to end of october - or around 45 days. So, full out, presuming you use your own equipment, the largest "family" farm that can sustain a single annual harvest would be around 4500 acres.
