[AT] Sad times

[Greg Hass]

Had to take a trip to a town 20 miles from here today. Decided to bring 
back roads home; pasted many old barns some falling down, some being 
kept up. You could tell from the old milk houses that many had been 
dairy farms. Many old silos, a lot with the blower pipes still up. All 
are now a part of the past, a past that will never come back. Many 
memories came to mine of how it used to be, farms all over with small 
herds of cattle and the family making a living. My dad was able to raise 
6 kids and send most to college on 160 acres; my mother never worked off 
the farm- she never worked on the farm either but thats a whole other 
story. Now we have several farms in the county that milk over 5000 cows. 
The most my dad milked was 36 cows and I had 3 uncles that did about the 
same. My favorite time of year was chopping corn silage, I can still 
smell the smell of fresh chopped corn as I unloaded it into the blower. 
Now you don't get near it. My cousin chops 12 rows at a time with 1100 
horsepower and fills a semi in 3 and a half minutes but no one touches 
the silage. My brother talked to an older guy yesterday from northern 
Michigan that has a lot of hay ground and can sell small squares for $8 
a bale; however he only harvests 20 acres because none of todays younger 
people will handle bales. Just within two miles of me, three guys with a 
little over 100 acres each have quit and rented the land out, none were 
retirement age. I know they say change is the only thing certain in 
life, but  I,m not sure that a lot of it is really good for us, or maybe 
I'm just old and set in my ways.