Farm work

[J_Dee]

Did you do farm work growing up? Or do you still? I've rarely done any since I graduated high school and moved out (mid-1990s), and I don't miss it.

I never once had to deal with the cattle (they were my dad and grandpas' thing), but I despised hauling hay every summer. Tobacco was our main crop though. We usually did about 50 acres and my siblings and I got to work in it year 'round, every step. I do miss all of the home-grown fruit and veggies though. We grew and canned tomatoes, and we also had plenty of onions, corn, grapes, blackberries, strawberries, and watermelons, and pumpkins that my grandpa sold for a buck a pop.

Anyway, here are some pics of the old tobacco warehouse in Pulaski, on University Drive, sometime in the mid-1960s., from C. Tom Smith's collection, posted to Facebook courtesy of Tim Manning. I was born over a decade after these pics were taken, so this area looked a little different when I was a kid, but not a whole whole lot. The warehouse is gone now, town down not too long ago.

Spoiler

In the first pic, you can see Pulaski County High School in the top left. Best gym in the state!

Spoiler

What are some of your memories of farm work? What do you like and dislike about it?

 

[Ron Mehico]

My father grew up on a wheat farm and at 87 he still has monster forearms.

 

[thabigbluenation]

Never did tobacco. Hauling hay, bush hogging. Helping move cows. Never a farmer but was sent out as a kid to help the others do shit jobs. First job was doing maintenance on the country club golf course. Not farming but i drove the tractor and every attachment associated with it. Learned a ton about field irrigation, drove the backhoe, front loader. Learned later on that we were just cheap child labor for the club. But we got to play on large equipment unlicensed or certified and they saved by not hiring actual contractors.

Now I have 16 acres, horses, chickens and guineas. Dogs and barn cats. Leased 7 for a friend that uses it to separate moms and babies, when it comes to sheep and heifers. Also has a donkey that runs the farm for the coyotes.

Neighbors young cow got out and was running the road in front of the house. Cops had no idea what to do. Wife jumped on the 4wheeler and Corraled that bitch up to a weak spot on the fence. Cops just high fived us. Lots of fixing fences. Cattle and horses can destroy everything just scratching their asses on posts.

I am no farmer. Just considered hobby farming free roam to be outside without neighbors

 

[thabigbluenation]

You ever enter a pig pen with 2 or 3 grown sows, don't fall down in the middle of them. What you think is cute cuddly will attack and eat your ass up if you ain't fast. Best way to get rid of a body. Shave the hair and smash the dental and burn. The Pigs will eat everything thing else bone and all. Pretty gruesome really.

 

[JonathanW]

My dad worked in a factory, but wished he was a farmer. Do we had some pigs some years, and yes they can be mean and dangerous; I would only go in with them if my collie dog was with me. And we grew tobacco 2 years. I know by brother hauled hay a few summers for family friends too.

Farmer strong is real.

 

[Keeping the faith]

Spent quite a few summers at my grandparents when I was young. Hauled hay, sometimes put up tobacco(glad I wasn't the one up at the top), helped with all kinds in the garden. Collected eggs from the henhouse, helped with the cows. Just a different life. They went to town once a month and spent most nights under the shade tree talking to whoever wanted to drop by. We rode in the back bed of the pickup standing up heading down to the barn and other times dangling our feet off the back tailgate driving down the road. Ate good 3 times a day and went to bed early because the next day starts before sunrise. Always fun was when grandma stayed up listening to the Wildcats on the radio. Just good memories.

 

[WayneDougan]

Farming is the easiest job in the world. You only work 3 days. 1) Seed 2) Spray 3) Harvest.

At least that is my perspective living next to a corn / soybean field.

 

[thabigbluenation]

I don't even know why we have farmers anymore when you can just go to Kroger's to get your food.

 

[HagginHall1999]

Grew up next to a farm. Next door neighbor owned a very large farm. Hay, tobacco, cows, horses, pigs, fruit, veggies, walnuts, the whole nine yards.

I helped several times growing up when they needed an extra hand. They had 5 kids but one was 3-4 years older than me and we hung out a lot during summers and after school.

I cannot even estimate how many acres they had, it was a lot, thousands I'm sure. They owned pretty much everything up there. My parents bought my childhood home from a family member of theirs.

 

[80 Proof]

Grew up doing hay, tobacco, and cattle. Now we just have cattle and buy the hay. We do raise a big garden every year and have a few chickens for egg production.

 

[Creed Bratton]

We didn't have a farm per se but did own horses on my dads 5 acres that we rode for pleasure. I also helped my friends who had farms hauling hay, working tobacco and even helped with a few times with livestock auctions when I was in the FFA.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

I was given the option to cut tobacco when I was a kid because I had some farmers in the family. I chose to enjoy my childhood instead

 

[JonathanW]

Grew up doing hay, tobacco, and cattle. Now we just have cattle and buy the hay. We do raise a big garden every year and have a few chickens for egg production.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about "the big garden too". we had one near the house about the size of a basketball court. But then about a mile away on 13 acres we had another garden about the length of a football field but only half as wide.

 

[JonathanW]

I was given the option to cut tobacco when I was a kid because I had some farmers in the family. I chose to enjoy my childhood instead

Cutting it not as bad as stripping it!

 

[80 Proof]

Cutting it not as bad as stripping it!

Stripping tobacco was the easiest part of the whole process.

I'm a tall guy and hated cutting. I'd usually only cut a day or two before spending the rest of that season in a barn housing. I mostly worked the wagon/ground where my height was an advantage.

 

[Bill - Shy Cat]

When I was 12 years old, my mother told me to learn to enjoy work because I’d be doing it the rest of my life. Shortly afterwards I was picking green beans in our garden. I told mom that I tried like Hell to enjoy picking those damn beans, but my back hurt way too much.

Didn’t mind working in hay or tobacco.

 

[cat_chaser]

Lived on a little over 100 acres (mom and dad built on my grandfather’s farm). Lot of that acreage was wooded.

When I was little I always “helped” papa with fencing and the cattle. When you have a lot of wooded acreage, every time the wind blows a piece of the fence gets taken out. I remember helping bust up the frozen pond in the winter as well. No fun.

He never had a lot of crops though. Mostly a large garden. Did help friends in tobacco and hay most years. Hated it.

Once papa was out of the cattle business, dad used the farm for horses. Much easier (other than they would get out often and try to founder on the clover field next to us).

My best friends dad was the vice president of agronomy for Philip Morris. They had a large farm and used it to grow experimental tobacco. Helped them set it and strip it mostly. Never did much cutting/topping/hanging.

By the time I was 16, I was done with that crap. I spent my time in sports, fishing, drinking, and chasing.

 

[WayneDougan]

Anybody interested in selling a farm?

 

[Creed Bratton]

Cutting it not as bad as stripping it!

I didn't mind stripping because it was usually during basketball season and I would help a friend of mine strip after work. We would turn on the radio and listen to Cawood call a game or listen to the Coaches shows. That was honestly my favorite part of working in Tobacco.

 

[Creed Bratton]

Anybody interested in selling a farm?

Billy Donovan is that you?

 

[Creed Bratton]

Lived on a little over 100 acres (mom and dad built on my grandfather’s farm). Lot of that acreage was wooded.

When I was little I always “helped” papa with fencing and the cattle. When you have a lot of wooded acreage, every time the wind blows a piece of the fence gets taken out. I remember helping bust up the frozen pond in the winter as well. No fun.

He never had a lot of crops though. Mostly a large garden. Did help friends in tobacco and hay most years. Hated it.

Once papa was out of the cattle business, dad used the farm for horses. Much easier (other than they would get out often and try to founder on the clover field next to us).

My best friends dad was the vice president of agronomy for Philip Morris. They had a large farm and used it to grow experimental tobacco. Helped them set it and strip it mostly. Never did much cutting/topping/hanging.

By the time I was 16, I was done with that crap. I spent my time in sports, fishing, drinking, and chasing.

I think one of the sickest times I can ever remember was when I helped a friend and were hauling and hanging their tobacco. It came a rain shower and the tobacco got wet as we were loading it to take it to the barn. I was on the wagon handing it up to the guys hanging in the barn so all the water was dripping off of the tobacco onto me. I was soaked to the bone and apparently either the chemicals or nicotine from the wet tobacco got into my system. I'm not sure which it was but I was puking my guts up that night.

 

[80 Proof]

We always called it green tobacco poisoning. One of my buddies would get it real bad, he ended up in the hospital for severe dehydration a couple of times. The rest of us would dip/chew or smoke before topping started to build up some nicotine immunity.

 

[JonathanW]

Stripping tobacco was the easiest part of the whole process.

I'm a tall guy and hated cutting. I'd usually only cut a day or two before spending the rest of that season in a barn housing. I mostly worked the wagon/ground where my height was an advantage.

I was tall too, was 12-13, but was nearly 6' then. I used an old-school pull-knife, instead of the hatchet type. Then when putting in the barn I was at the bottom lifting the sticks up to the guy in the rafters. But I didn't mind working up a good sweat.
The stripping it though, it was freaking cold, hands getting numb even with a heater going, the smell would knock you off your butt. And was so teadious standing there for hours doing it.

 

[MegaBlue05]

My dad is one of 12 kids from a big farming family, but didn’t want to farm for his career. Several of my uncles own farms. Back in the day they raised cattle, hogs, tobacco, corn, hay and soybeans. These days, they do cattle, hay and soybeans.

We used to help my uncles haul hay every year, and Thanksgivings in the 80s and 90s were spent with adults stripping tobacco, older kids helping and younger kids sword fighting with the tobacco stalks.

I also had a buddy in high school whose dad would pay us $5 an hour cash to help haul hay and load it into the barn - no elevator.

 

[BCD]

Cutting housing was the worst. Always 130 degrees in the top of the barn (easiest place to work) with wasps and hornets buzzing around you all the time, hoping not to step on a 'rolling tier'......ah, good times!

 

[funKYcat75]

I helped cut tobacco ONE time. That was enough.

will attack and eat your ass

Don't threaten me with a good time.