what do I do with 100 acres of pasture?

[Baymule]

@farmerjan If I were an aging farmer and my kids wanted nothing to do with it, I would do one of those young farmer/old farmer agreements. The young farmer and family lives on the farm, helping the old farmer, who leaves it to the young farmer or sells it real cheap, so the farm continues on. I would want my life's work to continue and be appreciated, not be a money pot for my kids.

 

[greybeard]

Merry Christmas! (in June)

 

[farmerjan]

We have looked into the young farmer/old farmer thing for ourselves since my son is 45 and no "future Mrs" in sight. We cannot justify full time help so any young farmer would need outside employment. But we are still looking at our options. And he is naturally no where near retiring out of it yet; still we sometimes wonder if it is worth all the work if there is no one to take it over and carry on the love of the cows/land that we have.
As far as doing that for some other farm, and us ( my son) taking over; you would not believe the opposition from the "potential heirs" of most farms, even when they don't want to farm. And most older farmers do not want to alienate their kids and/or grandkids, even if they want to leave their farm as a farm.
Then there are some that just don't want to give up the reins even though they are not capable of doing the farming anymore....and trying to get some of them to even consider trying something different is a lesson in futility. There are a few programs here we have talked to different ones about. Most all of it is for grain farmers in the eastern/south eastern part of the state, and a few dairies.
Dairy farming is absolutely not what my son wants, he is very tolerant of my milk cows but not his thing. With the state of the dairy industry, I would not even want to get saddled with it now and that was what I most wanted; a small dairy of my own.

 

[farmerjan]

@Baymule is right. Bush hogging it will return the nutrients to the soil. You may have some areas that get "buried" in the residue, the trick to that is to bushhog before it gets too far and too too tall, so the "clippings are smaller and decompose better. Also, bush hogging before the weeds go to seed will allow the grasses to come back quicker. The trick is to get the weeds cut just as they are coming to "flowering or seed heads". They are putting the most energy into reaching "maturity", it is nature's way to ensure they repopulate. So cutting right at the flowering stage, they will be weaker to regrow. Nature will be telling them to regrow to reproduce, but the vigor won't be there. And if you get them right before seed head production, you won't get the next crop of weeds.
Believe me, we don't get it all done right at the optimal time but we do try.

It sounds like you are definitely making progress with getting in touch with the right people to get some informed opinions. Remember this; it is their opinion....not written in stone as the only way to go. Get as many as you can, sift through them, and then make some decisions. You can always do something different if you don't like the way things go. Do not get tied into any long term programs for the first year or two. Some of them require 10 and 20 year commitments...mostly programs for fencing animals out of streams and such...but try something on a short one or two year basis.
I would suggest that you also see what is required by your county/state or whatever on tax breaks for ag exemptions. That might limit some of what you decide to do. The "land use tax" here is about 1/3 to 1/4 of what "normal taxes" are so a BIG difference for the landowner.

Glad to have you one here. Hope that any/all of us are helping you.

 

[greybeard]

As far as doing that for some other farm, and us ( my son) taking over; you would not believe the opposition from the "potential heirs" of most farms, even when they don't want to farm. And most older farmers do not want to alienate their kids and/or grandkids, even if they want to leave their farm as a farm.

I don't give one rat's butt what my 'heirs' think. When I get ready to leave this lifestyle, I'm selling to the buyer with the deepest pockets and pocketing every bit of it and my 'heirs' can sit back, cry and watch me spend it. Fishing and shopping trips to S America ain't going to be cheap.

 

[farmerjan]

Merry Christmas! (in June)

Neat, Thanks GB

 

[Mike CHS]

We had 6 or 7 years worth of growth in briars so thick a rabbit couldn't get through it and all of the other growth in neglected land that you could expect. I cut our place regularly for two years then had a soil test and added fertilizer and lime treatment to bring it up to speed. We have had sheep on it now for two years and it is looking pretty.

I cut the older woody grass now but pretty much let the sheep have what they want.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Thanks, @greybeard , for the Aggie War Hymn. That was fun and brought back my memories of A&M from 45+ years ago. For those of you don't know the reputation of Texas Aggies, see near the end.

What size, brand, and number of hours of tractor and mower do you folks think I should get, if I get one? Of the 100 or so acres I have, 10-15 are not worth cutting for hay (and the hay baling folks could not cut those pastures, as they are already growing up with small saplings and the hay balers' flailing mowers couldn't handle them). Yet I hate to let those pastures turn back to forest. There is a second spring-fed pond in the far back pasture that is as nice as the one in the picture I posted. But it is starting to get overgrown. So I would like to cut down all of that grass and the samplings and weeds. (Miss @farmerjan , I am way too late to get the weeds this year, but if I get the tractor and mower, I promise I will get after them next year! ) I don't want to buy too small of a tractor but not too large of one, either, as I don't plan on plowing or baling hay and don't want to waste money on things I don't need. So recommendations are welcome.

Also, I won't rush into any programs right away until we find out a lot more. That is why I am turning to you folks to help me learn -- and you guys are definitely doing that.

(As for heirs, my wife and I don't have any children, and unless something bad happens, we plan to live here the rest of our lives.)

Thanks again to all for your thoughtful responses.

Senile Texas Aggie
====================================
The Truth about Texas Aggies: for those of you who aren't from Texas or don't remember the Southwest Conference, here's the truth about Texas Aggies: they are reputed to have the I/Q of a head of lettuce. As an Aggie myself, I personally think that is insulting -- for the lettuce. I am tempted to put a Texas Aggie joke here, but I'll spare you folks. For those of you who might enjoy some, then Google "Texas Aggie jokes" and read a few of them.

 

[greybeard]

====================================
The Truth about Texas Aggies: for those of you who aren't from Texas or don't remember the Southwest Conference, here's the truth about Texas Aggies: they are reputed to have the I/Q of a head of lettuce. As an Aggie myself, I personally think that is insulting -- for the lettuce. I am tempted to put a Texas Aggie joke here, but I'll spare you folks. For those of you who might enjoy some, then Google "Texas Aggie jokes" and read a few of them.

I was up at TAMU 51 years ago for a cattle & swine meat judging contest/seminar. I was 16 or 17.
Glad you can take a joke, and present one as well. I very much remember (and miss) the old SWC. The Aggie war hymn is best appreciated in Kyle Filed tho. I lived 2 years 20 miles west in Caldwell back in the early 80s and saw the Longhorns and A&M play in Kyle Field twice. Texas won both games, the 2nd by a big margin.
Nowadays, I'm gonna have to find a new college team to pull for, since burnt orange has fallen on hard times even after stealing Houston's head coach. I may go with A&M even tho I don't care one bit for anything in SEC.

My brother worked for a school district for 20 years and was in charge of transportation. I was there one day when he and the band director were discussing transportation for the band to an away game and they were having trouble rounding up enough drivers. I remember the director's admonition to my brother. "Remember Ron..without the band, it's just a game'...

 

[Baymule]

We have a Kubota 2320 with a front end loader. Her name is Marigold. It is a 23 horse, 4 wheel drive. We bought it used with 198 hours on it (practically brand new). It was a package deal with trailer, front end bucket, bush hog, box blade, disc and clamp on forks. It is a little small, but perfect for our 8 acres. If we need the big guns, our neighbors bale hay and have 3 big cab tractors.

I am sure you need a bigger tractor than what we have. I suggest you get a package deal so you can get much needed implements.

OK everybody, tell him all about it!