For the first ten years of my working life, I farmed on a family farm in Washington County, Oregon. We raised wheat, sweet corn, potatoes, cucumbers, cane berries and hay. We also had a farrow to finish hog operation and beef. It's a tough way to make a living but very satisfying. About 6 months out of the year it's go, go, go. Long days, short nights and never enough time. The weather dictates when a lot of the work happens. But at the end of the season, having got the crops in, there is a lot of satisfaction in having put food on America's table.
In 1980 my wife and I started a dairy. We had been raising calves for a while and put together a small herd of Dutch Belted cattle. We milked with bucket milkers and stored our milk in cans in coolers that pumped refrigerated water over them. Twice a week these were hauled to the creamery, exchanged for empties, and we started over again. Dairying is very time intensive. Twice a day, every day, you need to be there to milk and feed. No days off, no holidays. I soon came to the realization that I wasn't going to get used to that and after a couple of years sold the herd to a dairyman in Tillamook.
In some ways I'm still in the dairy business. After leaving the farm in 1985 I took a job delivering dairy feed to dairies in southern Oregon and central Oregon for a family owned trucking company. In a management capacity, it's what I do today.
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