Rick Houser
Farming in the years I was growing up on our family farm farms was very different than farming is today to make the largest understatement that can be made. Today there is so much technology to apply to the getting the most out of the soil and the seed along with the what types of fertilizers and weed control chemicals that being accurate and on target almost every time is more expected than guessed about. Today’s yields are so overwhelming compared to a bumper crop from the 50s or 60s for sure.

But what I do recall of when my dad farmed was how farmers planned for the best they could yield at that time. From what I recall from after the first of the year until he could begin plowing ground dad spent his time in lining up all the crops he wanted to share crop on other farms that he felt he could care for adequately. Also some of these crops and mostly tobacco were crops that were the responsibility of my sister Peg, my brother Ben, and myself and including dads. To know when he felt he was at his growing limit he first would figure out what and how much he was to grow on his two small farms.

In order to figure this out dad had gone to Batavia to the Agricultural Office and had acquired an aerial map of our farms and each field was marked as to how many acres each field size was. He farmed on a rotational farming system. This meant a field went through a five year rotation so the soil worked with dad and he reduced erosion as much as possible.

Also in those years farmers signed up with the government into what was called the Soil Bank. To be in this meant a farmer had to set a fixed amount of land that could be used to grow on or pasture on. All you could do was mow it down and let the land rest. For doing this the government paid the farmer money for not farming. The money received normally went to pay property taxes and building insurance and gave the farmer a little extra that at least on dad’s farm was used to keep the farm in repairs. It also allowed soil to get a rest from the rotation and save the soil from becoming poor for farming.

Dad then would size up his fields and decide which fields went to corn and wheat and hay and pasture. Once the rotation began choosing which fields became easier.

Dad also carried a small pocket notebook. In it each page was assigned to a field until they were all assigned. He then calculated the amounts of fertilizer, seed, chemicals etc. for that field along with the cost of each item so he could keep a running expense for each field. That little notebook (I think it was from Agrico Fertilizer) was in his shirt pocket for the entire growing season.

Once he organized his farms he then assigned pages to each field he had rented along with Peg, Ben and mine. By doing this he had he entire farming operation next to his heart and by fall it was dog-eared! I always followed what dad was doing and once I saw and began to understand what and why he was doing this I knew I just had to do this also and keep track of my own crops. Since I was about a third grader my spelling was weak and contrary to my thinking my math paled to my dad’s. So no matter how hard I tried to keep book on my crops time didn’t lapse too long before I was asking dad what total did he get on the amount of sucker control I had used on my crop.

Dad was very advanced at doing math in his head and note only did he do it fast he was always accurate. The truth be known, probably almost every farmer of that time was very advanced at keeping records and doing high math in their heads. The farmers of that time didn’t own computers or even calculators. They used what they had and that was their minds pure and raw in function but versatile enough to add, subtract, multiply, or divide whatever was needed and done at the moment needed.

It is probably safe to assume that the part of the population who don’t or ever did farm realize that a farmer raising a field of corn or beans or whatever use more than just pure luck in reaping a bumper crop. Even though todays equipment is so large and makes planting or harvest look so simple is far from it. Just like any successful business the plans for how it is to run is done first. Whether it is done on a new lap top or recorded in a pocket notebook and figured with the brain the good lord gave you the result has almost always come out the same. The result almost always is SUCCESS!

Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics. He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com