your farm history?

[Shadow Hill Farm]

Well my dad has always had cattle since childhood and put a house on my grandparents land. The land was well over 300 acres but my great grandfather sold all of it but 25 acres. Before that it used to be a convict camp and a civil war camp. We have found all kinds of neat stuff out there. It's about 18 acres now because my uncle put a house on it too. We would lease it out to people to put cattle on but in the late 80's I wanted to start my own herd. I started out with a Belted Galloway then got a Hereford/Angus cross and got into showing. I bought a registered Angus heifer and started with her. Overall I would buy here and there and of course I had my bred owned. I had registered Angus, 1 purebred Hereford and some chi maine cross's. I was really active in showing back then. When I moved out in 2000 that summer I sold all my cattle (I had 13) because with me working full time and off the wall hours it wasn't fair for my dad to keep up with them because he worked full time too. My dad started back up about 4 years ago with 2 registered Angus heifers and we are up to 5 now. I was so happy that he got back into it. I really hated to sell my cattle. It crushed me. I'm little rusty with stuff so that's why I ask a lot of questions because a lot has changed in about 15 years. LOL IMO anyway. We are slowly growing again. We are getting there.

I really love being out there with the cattle. I didn't realize how much I missed it. I would love to get back into showing but I'm not in the best of health so it puts a damper on things a little. I still break the calves and what not with him and clip them out. It's nice to have quality time to spend with my dad. Plus it keeps him outside and out of my mom's hair lol. Out of the 5 we have only is mine and dad took her cause her mother didn't take her. So my dad gave her to me as a birthday present last year for the help I give him with the cattle. I hope she pans out for breeding she just turned 2. She is nice looking Limflex not registered. Has an awesome personality. That's about it for the history of our farm. I actually named the farm after my first heifer Shadow. My dad liked the name too for the farm because it fit with all the tree cover we have. We don't have a website but do have a Facebook page and I'm hoping to get a blog up and going too. That is a work in progress. Feel free to check us out and join our page! I don't spam it up either. Just put the necessary postings.  https://www.facebook.com/SHFA21

 

[lightnin4]

My parents have row cropped on our farm for my entire life.  My Dad's family milked cows when he was in high school and he and my mom continued that for a while after they were married.  As a kid I can remember having bottle calves and the occasional steer to feed, but we didn't have many cows until I started showing steers in 4-H.  Around that time my Dad began buying commercial cows and we eventually had around 150 head.  They were a pretty random group (Angus, Baldies, Simmies, Charolais, a couple of Chianina, etc).  I bought my first 2 Angus show heifers in 1989 and from there we eventually phased out the commercial cows and grew the purebred Angus herd.  I worked away from the farm for 11 years after college then came back to the farm full time nearly 3 years ago.  In the time I was away my Dad didnt keep up with the registrations very well so we now have around 100 purebred commercial angus.  Since I've been back we have worked on re-establishing the reg. Angus herd and now have about 30 quality reg. cows.  I bought a couple of bred Shorthorn heifers about 2 years ago and now have 6 Shorthorn females.  I hope to raise some good Shorthorn bulls to cross with our commercial cows.

 

[bruiser]

I farm land that has been in my family for 6 generations. My grandfather bought "off" calves and hogs and fed them out for years. As the oldest grandson I was his "hired man " until he died . We bought calves  together with me providing the labor for half the profit. My dad had 70 comm. cows and I also bought feeder pigs and fed them out. My oldest daughter started showing pigs then moved to cattle. My son now shows cattle in several states around the midwest. I only have a dozen cows because most of the grass around here has been planted to corn and beans. My mom and dad's house sits on  the site of my great-great grand fathers house. My grandpa told me the farm was given to my great-great grandpa as a wedding gift from his in-laws. I still farm our land and rent some other also. It's getting tougher to rent ground anymore with giant farmers doing anything to get more ground. The lack of morals that "high standing community leaders" and "christian" people have been displaying makes me laugh in their face. I really miss the old timers who bought and sold on a handshake and their word. LONG LIVE COWBOYS

 

[Will]

Great stories.  My wife and I live on a farm that has been in her family since the 1830's.  Her ancestors settle our farm when they left North Carolina.  They were Cherokee Indians that left early because they were poor and could get free unsettled land if they left early.  All you had to do was fight for it and keep it.  They were amazing record keepers.  We have ledgers from the 1880's.  We have 2 of the original old barns.  We know one was built in 1887 and they were living in the other barn while it was being built.  In one of the ledgers it show were a family took 4 fat hogs as payment for the labor to build the barn.  It is interesting how each family had their own mark if they could not write their name.  The house we live in was built in 1901.  We completely remolded it in 2004.  The farm has always raised crops and livestock.  Now it has commercial cattle,chickens and hogs.  It has always been diversified and hopefull will always be diversified.  One unique thing about our place even though their has always been sons the place has almost always been kept running by the daughters and their families.  My wives family has always pushed education.  My wife is a 4th generation teacher.  Her Great great grandmother went to the all women all Cherokee college in Tahlequah OK before the state of Oklahoma existed.

 

[LLBUX]

My grandfather Earl Rahe bought 160 acres from his father-in-law in 1917.   They raised cattle,hogs, wheat, oats and corn using horses for all applications.    
He was a pioneer in that he was among the first to import Landrace hogs from Sweden.   He also owned a threshing machine and a baler that was used by many of the farmers in the community.    My grandfather was recognized as Illinois' oldest farmer and lived to 107 1/2 years of age.

My father, Vernon Rahe, bought his first purebred Angus heifer in 1936 and has raised purebred Angus ever since.   He married my mother shortly after returning from Germany and they raised 9 children.  Despite the poverty in which we were raised, all of us earned college degrees and became professionals.  Some are teachers, bankers, executives or other leaders in agriculture.   Six of us joined Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity during our college and a sister was a Rho-mate.

My dad worked for Select Sires for about 35 years and trained thousands of cattlemen how to AI.

We showed Angus and Simmental along with a few crossbred steers through the 60's and into the mid 80's.

My father is now 85 and continues to raise Angus cattle on the home place.  He works every day on the farm and loves to see my son show the calves we have bought from him.  My son is the only grandchild to show cattle.   He tells people he likes to carry on the family tradition.

 

[wyatt]

i love reading all these posts!  (clapping)  (pop)

 

[AAOK]

Outdated, but here it is 1989 - 2000.  http://www.clubcalves.com/asklundhistory.htm

 

[wyatt]

i think every steerplanet user should post a history on here ... everyone has one good or bad  (angel) (clapping)

 

[aj]

A

 

[OKshorthorn]

aj...What address can I send you a couple of these at?

 

[wyatt]

A

i went to ur www link and clicked cattle for sale second pic down is a guy i have an uncle who is identical to him lol

 

[shortii]

To make a long story short, my great grandpa came from Germany and settled in Michigan. He started farming, mainly row crops with some livestock. My grandpa took over the farm and started a dairy and broke horses that would get shipped to him from all over the country for about 25 years all while still doing cash crops. My dad and mom got married in the 80s and started cash crop farming on their own and feed out steers.Now my dad mom brother and I along with some seasonal help,  mainly do cash crops but also have a small feedlot and cow calf deal. My brother and I plan to continue farming. So I guess you could say im a 4th generation farmer.

 

[ruhtram]

To make a long story short, my great grandpa came from Germany and settled in Michigan. He started farming, mainly row crops with some livestock. My grandpa took over the farm and started a dairy and broke horses that would get shipped to him from all over the country for about 25 years all while still doing cash crops. My dad and mom got married in the 80s and started cash crop farming on their own and feed out steers.Now my dad mom brother and I along with some seasonal help,  mainly do cash crops but also have a small feedlot and cow calf deal. My brother and I plan to continue farming. So I guess you could say im a 4th generation farmer.

Great Story!