The newcomer’s hat looked a little out of place, alongside those of the locals at the morning gathering spot. The regulars had been meeting, daily, at the rural café for many years, to enjoy a good cup of coffee, socialize and attempt to solve the world’s problems. Their sweat-stained and manure-speckled lids lined the hat rack inside the entrance to the eatery, so the newcomer’s recently purchased 10X beaver shined like a diamond in a mule’s….
Nonetheless, the locals liked the young man. He was polite, personable, had a good-paying job in town, and openly dreamed about being a rancher himself. Although he was raised in the city, he proudly proclaimed that John Wayne was his boyhood hero – a fact that endeared him even more so, to the table of old men that regaled him with their daily stories from the farm.
Eventually, the newcomer amassed the resources to acquire a modest-sized piece of land in the area. The property was pretty run-down but the locals assured him that it could become a good farm with the right management. Armed with what he thought was a vote of confidence from the old men, he began the process of transforming the place into a real farm, by hiring land-clearing contractors and fence builders, not realizing that the old men’s farms were made picturesque and productive, gradually, with backbreaking sweat-equity.
The old-timers grimaced as they observed the young “cowboy” purchase an outstanding set of cows, for a couple-hundred dollars more per head than they were worth, even at the very top of the cattle price-cycle. Again, the young man didn’t realize that the old guys’ cow herds had been meticulously assembled over decades. But, the old guys sure wouldn’t appreciate someone telling them how they should farm, thus, abiding by the unspoken rule of their culture, they were certainly not going to give unsolicited advice to the new guy.
The experienced farmers also winced as they watched their young friend buy a complete line of brand-new, top shelf, farm equipment. It caused most of them to think back to their first tractors that were bought well-used: Farmall Ms, John Deere Bs, and Ford 8Ns. Silently, they wondered if the new guy could make the payments on all those purchases.
Over the next couple of years, the new farmer continued to come to the diner to visit with his neighbors and idols. He began to ask questions and learned that you can’t grow grass without fertilizer – and that fertilizer is expensive. He also learned that rains don’t necessarily occur when you need them, snow and ice come at the most inopportune times, and cattle prices can go from low to lower; not every cow breeds on time, and not every calf that’s born… lives; cattle have to have feed and water every day, not just on weekends; when you owe money at the bank, the payments are expected on time… with interest.
The old men that he had visited with every morning at the diner, and had watched admiringly as they transported loads of cattle to the yards and big checks to the bank, were saddened when the newcomer admitted that he was selling out and moving back to town. The young man hadn’t realized that when he met them each morning, they had probably done a half-day’s work already, and it had taken each of them 50 years of hard work to get to the point they now were. Their hats were dirty for a reason.
On his last morning at the diner, the oldest of the old-timers put his arm around the young man’s shoulders. With genuine compassion, he looked in the young man’s eyes and said, “Son, don’t feel bad. This ranchin’ business ain’t as easy as it looks.”
