Anybody want to buy some cows?

[lungs]

I was going to bump this thread but since it's in the archives I'll start a new one.

Anyway, I've made it 9 years milking cows since that thread describing my economic plight. But this year is different. I've pretty much decided on selling all the cows. That's over 1000 living and breathing animals I'm going to be looking to find new homes. Thankfully, I have two friends that are adding capacity and are looking to buy a good chunk of what I have. I know my girls will do just great for these guys.

Why, you ask? It's pretty simple. The dairy farm model I've been working with is very quickly becoming unsustainable and not competitive. I'm staring at some absolutely massive losses this year. Everybody out there is. But when I look at the future, I just don't see the way I'm operating now as being efficient enough to survive.

So what next? I'm looking forward to taking a breather. This isn't bankruptcy. It's a choice where I'm reading the tea leaves and getting out while I still have the shirt on my back. I don't think I'm completely done with milking cows. I plan on investigating putting up a robotic milking facility and starting back up in a year or two. As much as I value my 13 employees, the fact is that when performing a tedious task like milking a cow that still requires precision and diligence, humans suck. Automation is the future. With robotic milkers, I could probably run a farm my size with five people compared to the 13 I currently have.

Of course if I can't come up with a budget that makes robots work, it'll be time for me to find a new career. Anybody else reinvented themselves in their mid 30s?

[GoldenCrest Games]

Originally Posted by lungs

Of course if I can't come up with a budget that makes robots work, it'll be time for me to find a new career. Anybody else reinvented themselves in their mid 30s?

First off, I really wish you luck in the transition and I totally respect the fact that you made the call before you were forced to. Not enough people have the guts to do it.

I was in I.T. support back in my 30's when I got laid off and found that there wasn't a lot of work in the field at the level I was looking for. I ended up going back to school to become and engineer, and never looked back. It wasn't easy to sacrifice my pride (I have some stories there.... ) and start over, but in the end it changed everything. (on the order of +500% salary increase and far better working environments)

The cool thing I found is that all the skills/experience you gain in previous careers always find a way of being valuable again. All the people I work with that really stand out, are the same people who have had previous careers. They just "get it".

All that to say that it doesn't have to be scary to reinvent yourself. It could be the moment that changes everything for the better.

[GrantDawg]

I think in this day and age, it is common to reinvent yourself in your 30's. Heck, even in your 40's. I have had three different major career shifts from 34 to 48. Heck, I have had 3 minor shifts just in the last year.

[lungs]

One positive in my situation is that I'm single and have no kids. That probably allows me to take on a little more risk in my next chapter. No starving kids to worry about.

If my robotic scenario doesn't pan out (part me of me feels like I'd be like that person that plans on taking a semester off after freshman year of college and never comes back!) I do have some things going for me. My degree is a science degree. But I also have a business minor and a good amount of experience putting together budgets, cash flows, projections, etc... Hell, if I didn't have that experience I'd probably be plugging away until I went bankrupt.

[rjolley]

Good luck, lungs. That's a brave move to make. With the skills you listed, a second career in the accounting field could work, maybe as a bookkeeper, accountant, or MBA.

[tarcone]

Are you slaughtering them? How much are you charging for 1/2 a cow?

[NobodyHere]

Can I trade you some magic beans?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by lungs

Anybody else reinvented themselves in their mid 30s?

Transitioned from air talent to the agency side right around that time, so it's definitely doable.

A word of advice: don't pick a new career that's dying to replace the old career that's dying. Bad move that.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Are you slaughtering them? How much are you charging for 1/2 a cow?

Nope. Most will go to farms that will milk them. You can get better beef anyway.

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Can I trade you some magic beans?

I'd take cryptocurrency.

[thesloppy]

Good luck, dude. I've always been fascinated by your dairy tales!

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by lungs

Nope. Most will go to farms that will milk them. You can get better beef anyway.

Yeah. But hamburger is hamburger.

Figured you would sell cheap because its not great beef.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by lungs

I'd take cryptocurrency.

Magic beans it is then - I'll transfer you my 'VaughanCoins' later this afternoon

[cuervo72]

My son visited a facility that had robotic milking/feeding as part of an FFA trip, and it looked very cool (and very clean). Definitely looked like the way of the future.

Good luck with whatever transition you make.

[Fonzie]

Lungs, as others have noted career reinventions are quite common these days, well past the 30-40 year old age range, too. I do some career coaching as part of my practice and would be happy to talk with you if you like.

[Suicane75]

I can't offer any assistance. I can tell you however that this thread title made me crave a McDLT.

[molson]

Originally Posted by GoldenCrest Games

The cool thing I found is that all the skills/experience you gain in previous careers always find a way of being valuable again. All the people I work with that really stand out, are the same people who have had previous careers. They just "get it".

That's a really good point. You never really have to "start over." Everything you've learned in life will benefit you in unexpected ways.

As for the cows, lungs, I'm sure they'd get along fine with my border collie, but how are they around cats and elderly greyhounds?

[jaygr]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Transitioned from air talent to the agency side right around that time, so it's definitely doable.

A word of advice: don't pick a new career that's dying to replace the old career that's dying. Bad move that.

Specifically to the dying career part, anyone have any thoughts on if IT is dead? I'd love to make a career change but I really can only see myself interested in working with computers. I know IT/Computer careers can cover a lot of territory, so it may be a difficult question to answer.

It is tough, I've got two young ones at home and my wife is currently a stay at home mom. I'm making solid money with good benefits, the current job is just so unfulfilling, and has been so honestly since I started 10 years ago. I started as a temp and never expected to make a career out of it. But as you know, life happened. I'd like a change, but starting again at the bottom with a young family is scary.

[CU Tiger]

I recently did a back up power system for a dairy farm.
It was an amazing operation. Totally automated. Cows had rfid tags, and they walked up to the milking stalls autonomously. Literally unsupervised the cows just wandered in to get milked...I grew up around cows some, and the behavior blew my mind. When they said automated I assumed farm hands shooed the cows into chutes...But these cows were walking themselves up presumably as their milk load got uncomfortable.

The neat part was the data acquisition. They sampled every draw for nutrition levels, infection and various content that could affect taste. They then could alter dietary or medicinal needs etc.

No idea how profitable it is, but they wrote a check for a $350k back up power system that would allow them to operate seamlessly in an utility outage.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Magic beans it is then - I'll transfer you my 'VaughanCoins' later this afternoon

Sorry, no shitcoins accepted

Originally Posted by molson

That's a really good point. You never really have to "start over." Everything you've learned in life will benefit you in unexpected ways.

As for the cows, lungs, I'm sure they'd get along fine with my border collie, but how are they around cats and elderly greyhounds?

Cats are fine, as long as the greyhound doesn't bother a calving cow, they are fine too! But that placenta is oh so tempting to a dog. In fact I haven't bought dog food for my dog since he was a pup.

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I recently did a back up power system for a dairy farm.
It was an amazing operation. Totally automated. Cows had rfid tags, and they walked up to the milking stalls autonomously. Literally unsupervised the cows just wandered in to get milked...I grew up around cows some, and the behavior blew my mind. When they said automated I assumed farm hands shooed the cows into chutes...But these cows were walking themselves up presumably as their milk load got uncomfortable.

The neat part was the data acquisition. They sampled every draw for nutrition levels, infection and various content that could affect taste. They then could alter dietary or medicinal needs etc.

No idea how profitable it is, but they wrote a check for a $350k back up power system that would allow them to operate seamlessly in an utility outage.

This is exactly what I'm looking at doing. I've already got health/activity monitors on my cows but the added information a robotic milker takes things to another level. Another thing they do to get cows into the robots is feed them a tasty pellet.

The welfare aspect is also intriguing to me. Less human interaction with the cows is so much better. Humans are viewed as predators. It's stressful for the cows when even the most gentle human handles them. And then when you are relying on employees, there's always that good chance abuse will occur.

This whole deal is a roller-coaster. Got a call yesterday from a professor at the University of Wisconsin that they want to use my farm as a case study for a senior level class. One of the instructors is a world-class ag economist. Between my very intelligent business consultant and now this, I'm going to be having some great minds helping me out.

And of course, I always respect the views of my FOFC brethren Gathering opinions from outside the industry is important too.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by jaygr

Specifically to the dying career part, anyone have any thoughts on if IT is dead? I'd love to make a career change but I really can only see myself interested in working with computers. I know IT/Computer careers can cover a lot of territory, so it may be a difficult question to answer.

It is tough, I've got two young ones at home and my wife is currently a stay at home mom. I'm making solid money with good benefits, the current job is just so unfulfilling, and has been so honestly since I started 10 years ago. I started as a temp and never expected to make a career out of it. But as you know, life happened. I'd like a change, but starting again at the bottom with a young family is scary.

Not a difficult question, yes you can transition to tech but it's really about where you want to go, what type of areas you'd like to do - development/programming or just IT support roles - if you don't do network infrastructure, there's not as much money in pure support roles these days unless you've been in the game from the earlier days or can spin up a lot of experience fast.

I'd do some research on the various possibilities within the realm - it runs the gamut - and assess what kind of work you'd be satisfied with doing and opportunities in your area of the country, because honestly, it's not about transitioning that's difficult, it's the finding work part that makes it worthwhile to change.

If there's a world where you can get a certification and stay in your current organization and transition careers, that'd be smarter even than just starting over. Because while you can do it -- and others will concur in other industries - the fact is, you're indeed starting over and it can often be difficult to get a toe hold in those early years working back the ladder to mid-career essentially.

[Edward64]

Read up on it and make a list of possibilities and we can react to it better.

A lot of IT jobs can now be done offshore (and more being added) so that is something to think about.

As far as fulfilling, ever consider Nursing or Teaching?

[Coffee Warlord]

Actually. Some friends of mine bought a farm down in Tennessee a few years back. I actually wonder if they would be interested in a couple cows.

[stevew]

Can't you just like set up a Brewery of some sort. I mean you can make craft beer or something and transition existing facilities.

[lungs]

Yeesh.... letting my employees know was harder than expected. One has been working for my family for 30 years, kind of like an older brother to me.

One of the landlords that we rent land from was given notice that we won't be renting. Apparently that land has been rented by my family for over 60 years.

Tough day. But it needs to be done.

[cartman]

On the IT question, there is currently a huge shortage of IT security professionals, and the demand for them is only increasing.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by lungs

Yeesh.... letting my employees know was harder than expected. One has been working for my family for 30 years, kind of like an older brother to me.

One of the landlords that we rent land from was given notice that we won't be renting. Apparently that land has been rented by my family for over 60 years.

Tough day. But it needs to be done.

Yes, letting people go is always hard. You just have to do it as sensitively as possible and if possible, give them plenty of notice.

[lungs]

The first cows were officially sold today. Guy came in and picked out 40 and took ten home. He's got a pretty awesome climate controlled robotic facility. Cow paradise, you could say?

[Butter]

I am not expecting you to get all into the details of your finances, but how much do dairy cows go for?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Butter

I am not expecting you to get all into the details of your finances, but how much do dairy cows go for?

Right now, in a buyer's market, I am pulling in $1500 for the most valuable ones. Which is probably a few hundred dollars over market as I've worked with my buyers before so they know what they get from me. Back in 2014 I probably could've gotten over $2000 and even upwards of $3000 per cow.

But hanging on and waiting for a better price for cows would be detrimental as you can't just store them away until the price gets better.

[Butter]

What's a good lifespan and production amount for one?

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by lungs

I'd take cryptocurrency.

Is this offer still on the table

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by lungs

But hanging on and waiting for a better price for cows would be detrimental as you can't just store them away until the price gets better.

Maybe you just bought the wrong kind of cows

[lungs]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Is this offer still on the table

Sure, but I'd just adjust the price based on the correction. You missed the boat

[lungs]

How many of you folks out there open up your paychecks and find a letter with the phone number to suicide prevention hotlines?

A number of milk processors have done that this month as pay prices plummet to levels we were getting in the 1970s. Easier for me to chuckle now that I've decided to get out, but when I take a step back I realize how fucked up that is.

[lungs]

Over half the cows have been sold. Probably won't beat my March 31st goal of being done but it shouldn't take too long. Found two very nice farms in Michigan to take the vast majority of my cows. Very happy that they found good homes.

As for me..... I'm seriously pondering getting into hemp production. It's just been legalized in Wisconsin. I'm thinking it'd be more for CBD extraction rather than industrial uses. Get some infrastructure in place and if Wisconsin ever legalizes medicinal and/or recreational cannabis, I'll be ready to pivot that direction.

[GoldenCrest Games]

My kids think you should raise alpacas and dragons.

[britrock88]

Congrats on what sounds like a thoughtful and successful transition, given the circumstances. Let me know if you'd ever like a beer in Madison.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by lungs

Over half the cows have been sold. Probably won't beat my March 31st goal of being done but it shouldn't take too long. Found two very nice farms in Michigan to take the vast majority of my cows. Very happy that they found good homes.

As for me..... I'm seriously pondering getting into hemp production. It's just been legalized in Wisconsin. I'm thinking it'd be more for CBD extraction rather than industrial uses. Get some infrastructure in place and if Wisconsin ever legalizes medicinal and/or recreational cannabis, I'll be ready to pivot that direction.

Around here a lot of farms just got hit with bad news about losing their milk contracts with wal mart.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by stevew

Around here a lot of farms just got hit with bad news about losing their milk contracts with wal mart.

Yeah, that's pretty big news industry wide. Basically what happened is that Dean's supplied Wal-Mart but now Wal-Mart is going to supply themselves. So Dean's dropped a bunch of farmers. I was caught in a similar circumstance last year with my processor. Now I wish they would have dropped me last year. I would've gotten more money for my cows back then. But I am beating the market now on my cow values.

[lungs]

I still have about 200 cows left but today we received our license from the State of Wisconsin to cultivate hemp. Instead of industrial hemp, we've got some cannabis clones ordered from Colorado that will meet the legal requirements (<0.3% THC) but give a high concentration of CBD for medical usage.

Moving from cows to cannabis...... never thought I'd say that.

[NobodyHere]

So cannabis-fed beef anyone?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

So cannabis-fed beef anyone?

I've got a few Wagyu (breed used for kobe beef) running around. Sake, massages, and cannabis for them.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by lungs

I still have about 200 cows left but today we received our license from the State of Wisconsin to cultivate hemp. Instead of industrial hemp, we've got some cannabis clones ordered from Colorado that will meet the legal requirements (<0.3% THC) but give a high concentration of CBD for medical usage.

Moving from cows to cannabis...... never thought I'd say that.

Awesome news. Will this allow you to rehire some people you've had to let go due to economic circumstances?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Awesome news. Will this allow you to rehire some people you've had to let go due to economic circumstances?

Short term, no. We are just doing a pilot project with the state this year. License expires at the end of this year.

Long term, I'm hoping this could actually bring many more jobs between the production and retail plans we have.

Of my 12 employees, only three don't have anything definitive lined up yet and those three are going to be the last ones with me at the end. They live in a house we own and want to stay around here so it's been a little harder. If they wanted to move, I'd have no problem finding them work. Regardless, they also have vacation time built up and won't be charged rent until I'm sure they are on their feet.

[stevew]

Obviously there has to be some sort of artisanal cbd compund butter you can make, right?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by stevew

Obviously there has to be some sort of artisanal cbd compund butter you can make, right?

Meh, I won't be milking cows, no need to infuse dairy into everything

I'll probably be using CO2 extraction. The end product is TBD, whether it be vapes, tinctures or whatever.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by lungs

I was going to bump this thread but since it's in the archives I'll start a new one.

Anyway, I've made it 9 years milking cows since that thread describing my economic plight. But this year is different. I've pretty much decided on selling all the cows. That's over 1000 living and breathing animals I'm going to be looking to find new homes. Thankfully, I have two friends that are adding capacity and are looking to buy a good chunk of what I have. I know my girls will do just great for these guys.

Why, you ask? It's pretty simple. The dairy farm model I've been working with is very quickly becoming unsustainable and not competitive. I'm staring at some absolutely massive losses this year. Everybody out there is. But when I look at the future, I just don't see the way I'm operating now as being efficient enough to survive.

So what next? I'm looking forward to taking a breather. This isn't bankruptcy. It's a choice where I'm reading the tea leaves and getting out while I still have the shirt on my back. I don't think I'm completely done with milking cows. I plan on investigating putting up a robotic milking facility and starting back up in a year or two. As much as I value my 13 employees, the fact is that when performing a tedious task like milking a cow that still requires precision and diligence, humans suck. Automation is the future. With robotic milkers, I could probably run a farm my size with five people compared to the 13 I currently have.

Of course if I can't come up with a budget that makes robots work, it'll be time for me to find a new career. Anybody else reinvented themselves in their mid 30s?

Sorry to here about your tough times.

I myself came out of college in the late 1980s after doing ROTC . I became an Air Force officer after graduation. I was a combat weopons officer on B1Bs and servered 12 years making major. I got out at 33 and went back to get my Masters of Science degree in Cyber Security and MiS.

Now at almost 50 I am nearing the top of my career field as a CISO for a Fortune 50 global multinational tech company making more than I ever thought possible.

So, it is definitely possible to reinvent yourself. Just don't listen to the nay sayers.

Dan

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by jaygr

Specifically to the dying career part, anyone have any thoughts on if IT is dead? I'd love to make a career change but I really can only see myself interested in working with computers. I know IT/Computer careers can cover a lot of territory, so it may be a difficult question to answer.

It is tough, I've got two young ones at home and my wife is currently a stay at home mom. I'm making solid money with good benefits, the current job is just so unfulfilling, and has been so honestly since I started 10 years ago. I started as a temp and never expected to make a career out of it. But as you know, life happened. I'd like a change, but starting again at the bottom with a young family is scary.

Cyber security / IT security especially the management side is booming. I can barely find and hire people and the salaries are skyrocketing .

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by cartman

On the IT question, there is currently a huge shortage of IT security professionals, and the demand for them is only increasing.

Yes this very true . As a CISO for a large corporation I often need to hire offshore as we can't find enough mid level experienced people and those that are here are pricing themselves out it seems .

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Yes this very true . As a CISO for a large corporation I often need to hire offshore as we can't find enough mid level experienced people and those that are here are pricing themselves out it seems .

To be fair, the mid/high level experience people aren't pricing themselves out. They're demanding adequate salaries after years of salary freezes, unpaid overtimes, layoffs, and low salaries.

It's an obnoxious cycle. Corporations don't want to pay market value for veteran IT workers, IT workers are tired of being shit on, underpaid, and outsourced. You get what you pay for, though, and I can count on one hand the number of times outsourced IT projects have led to a quality product.