Hey, IAMA cotton farmer in West Texas.

I meant to add this, too lazy to do an edit. It's more a family thing than people realize. Growing up, we would help in the farm without knowing it. I learned to drive when I was 10, but that was because my dad wanted me to drive the wells and make sure they were running. If one of them wasn't making noises I would drive home and tell him. My mom makes dinners and lunches for everyone when we work long days. By everyone I mean upto 10 people, harvest has the most labor.

How much time do you spend sitting on the porch and sipping ice tea? A lot, I imagine.

At least two afternoons a week. And five afternoons a week are spent on the back porch drinking beer. We do live in the Bible Belt after all, can't let all our neighbors who are doing the same thing, see us drinking.

How often do you use "cotton pickin" as an adjective?

It's a banned term on the farm. Anyone caught using it has to hoe weeds for the rest of the day.

How many hoes you got?

Personally or collectively? I always keep at least one on hand. Ha.

How big of an issue is water scarcity where you're farming?

Pretty rough. This year was better. From 2010 until May of last year we got pretty beat in by the drought. We have irrigated farm land even that is suffering, you can make a harvest, but you can't make a crop through irrigation. The wells we run aren't producing what they used to either. We have a way to measure this, engine rpms required to achieve desired pressure. "Dry land" cotton, non-irrigated farm land was basically died year after until last year. We have one farm that to offset the lack of water we water via a grey water harvesting system. Our city pumps their grey water to our farm and we "dispose" of it.

Ahhh, a fellow Texan!

I can't really tell if you're in northwest, or southwest Texas. Anyways I have two questions.

1: if you're in North west region have you ever considered building a wind farm on your property? I'm sure you could make an absolute killing!

2 Due to our border situation does that impact your farming in any way?

North west. We do have some land that has windmills on it. This was a hard fought battle between the old man and myself. He personally thinks it's a massive waste of land, because you can't farm that land. The energy companies tell you whether or not they'd like to put a windmill on your land.

As far as the border situation goes, where we're located we don't have a lot of problems. We also don't hire illegals. No papers, no job.

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I think keeping hands varies from farmer to farmer. We've been exceptionally lucky the past 5,6,7, years. I've had two guys working for me who are great! Pay is umm different. Than what you might be used to. One of our guys lives in one of our houses for free and makes $10 an hour. The other "rents" land from us, basically he buys the seed and we pay for the rest and that's all he gets paid is what the land makes minus our 10% landlord cut. Which means he's making 45k-60k a year. The guy living in our house probably makes 22-25k a year, but with his benefits (house, insurance, free gas, and free utilities for his house) his pay probably equates to more than 30k a year. We also provide work trucks and tools they drive and use in their free time. There's different perks, it's just not always money.

what are the reasons behind not being able to farm the land with wind mills on it?

We lost 3 or 4 acres to the windmills. We also like having a little buffer zone so we don't smash one with a tractor or plow or whatever.

Though, given the drought, are the windmills a net positive thing?

Sometimes. It's nice to get paid for not doing anything.

I have heard farm insurance is a huge cost of outdoor farming. Can you confirm?

Can confirm. It's expensive and is basically a break even protection at best. You don't make money on insurance claims.

To my understanding, people can use hemp for many of the sames uses as cotton. Would you consider planting hemp, if or when it is legal? ( I think it might be legal in a few states to plant crops as a non-budding plant.)

I want to answer your question without being dismissive of the idea.

I don't know much about commercial hemp farming. Googling it as much as I know.

So we are set up to grow and harvest select crops. We have plows and equipment that are purposely designed for this purpose. Equipment i.e. tractors, plows, spray rigs etc isn't cheap. A tractor can run you in the 200k range for a newer used one. We purchased a 2007 year model John Deere 8430 with 7000 engine hours for 85k two years ago. While we could sell our equipment to transition to machinery for hemp, we wouldn't gain back our original investment. We would need hemp to outperform cotton price wise enough that we could sell our equipment, purchase the equipment necessary and pay for all of the things necessary during the year. For example when we are irrigating over the summer gas and electricity are roughly 85k-100k per month for the months of June, July and August.

It could be done over a longer period of time where we slowly got into that crop, but then we have to find a way to sell it, store it, and transport it. Where now we have a Co-op Gin that does this for us. Switching crops isn't a matter of planting different seeds. It's changing everything.

Economically, for us I can't see that happening. And this is probably a moot point seeing as we live in Texas and possession of hemp is probably life without parole. (I have no idea if it's legal or not to be honest.) There are quite a few people moving from cotton to grapes(wine) lately...so who knows.

How much of your spare time do you spend playing Farm Simulator?

None. I see that on PSN and think "Why?"

How much of your spare time do you spend on PSN?

According to my girlfriend too much.

What type of growing conditions does cotton thrive in?

Hot, rainy, humid. Growing season of 90-120 days depending on the variety. I think ideally during the summer I'd like an inch of rain every two weeks. With Hot days and nights. Cotton really responds to heat.

Former farm kid & now agronomist in Ontario. First- thanks for doing this AMA! It's always nice to see farmers being agvocates! Second- I have a couple questions: 1) hot humid- so do you guys have a routine fungicide program through the season? 'Hot, wet, & humid' is my worst nightmare from a plant health standpoint and just screams disease risk lol Potato guys in my area end up tightening their fungicide rotation to every 4-5 days when this weather hits.

2) Where do you guys market your cotton? Local elevator? What's it's end use/ companies they market to?

Thanks again!

The varieties we plant are GMO cotton and have some built in fungicide resistance, but we have a soil and crop consultant who makes recommendations when we have problems.

We don't market our own cotton. Our gin "pools" the cotton and markets it for us. Cotton has different guidelines than most commodities, we can't store it in our own. After the gin is through with it. They send it to a federal storage facility.

I've grown it as an ornamental a couple times. On the edge of SW MO we have row cropping...but I have never seen cotton there...just the bootheel and when you go west the closest is just east of Wichita...so one ground seems moist, the other seems well drained...what exactly does cotton like for soil? Also, I guess the lack of hot and humid is why my late bolls this year never fully broke?

It depends. We grow across a massive range of soil types. Sandy to clay. Sandy dries out fast. I think it would probably prefer a cross between the two.

The lack of hot would do it for sure. You want the last part of its lifespan to be dry and hot.

I'm sure you put in ridiculous hours sometimes. Is there anything in particular which is a favorite of yours, like tending to livestock births or fixing machines or just driving around on a scenic day?

Tending livestock births is disgusting. No, two ways about that. I love repairing things. Which the farm life provides an ample opportunity to do so. I really enjoy working cattle. We do it two or three times a year and it's amazing. Cutting, branding, giving vaccines, ear tagging best days of the year. Harvest and planting are also fun...for the first few days. Harvest this year ran from Oct. 12th to the day before Thanksgiving. 12 hour days, unless it rains, gets old fast.

My sister is a vet, and she says her training with cattle and horse births were probably the toughest things she dealt with.

I hope you get to enjoy some relaxation time during the holiday season. And I'll keep a good thought for you and yours in West Texas!

Thank you for that. Hope your holidays are calm and peaceful. And hopefully y'all can continue to avoid the Hurricanes.

Why do these animals need help with birth? Aren't all animals fine without help?

They don't always need help, but sometimes the calf is too big, or not "presenting" correctly, so the rancher has to stick their arm in, straighten things out, and possibly help pull the calf. Some quick Googling tells me about 2% of births are malpresentations where the calf will need assistance to be born; big calves are a little more common than that. First calf heifers are more prone to issues than mature cows, and animals that consistently have difficult births are usually culled.

Can Confirm this. Most of the time birthing is watching and going "Aww that's gross."

How's lubbock?

It's a fun place to visit.

How much for your mineral rights?

You don't want them. The land has been in the family since the 40's and 50's. It's been checked for everything. Oil, gold, silver, dead bodies, and anything else you can think of. I'm still a poor dirt farmer if that tells you how the searches went.

Fair enough. Who picks cotton these days...machine or man?

Machine: http://imgur.com/BFkuJJe

Love it! Question: how do you plan on scaling sales if you're "still a poor dirt farmer"? What moves are you making to go from "dirt poor" to "dirt middle-class"...

edit: spelling...

Really, we're not dirt poor. We do alright. The poor dirt farmer is kind of a joke between people here. Because when it doesn't rain you're farming dirt. As far as selling the crop goes, we're at the mercy of the market. Cotton this year and last year at terrible low prices. We contract farm a few 100 acres, but that's a financial risk for us. No rain, no cotton, means losing lots of money.

So how do you expand? Do you have to buy more land? Or at this point...are you at the mercy of the market?

Expansion for us could come in a few ways. Easiest way would to find more land to buy. However, there's an entire community of guys who also farm and open land is highly competitive. We're also at about capacity for what we can handle. We could install more irrigation, but that comes at a high price. Irrigated cotton makes more profit over a 10 year average, but it requires more money and you have to have the water to support it. Farming isn't a traditional style business where expansion is a must. For us, we found a point where ourlives our comfortable and we're not consistently working 100 hour weeks.

What's your stance on people hunting pigs on your property? We used to troll the dirt roads south of Lubbock all night and would usually get a couple dozen.

We felt like the farmers wouldn't mind since we were killing pigs, but weren't driving across fields.

edit: there weren't any fences

That's usually fine with me. However, I like to know ahead of time. Because I don't want my cows shot.

Do haboobs cause problems for your crops much?

Depends on the age of the plant. Less than 6in? Dead. Between 6in and before the first flower appears? Maybe survives alright. After first flower? Probably survives, but reduced yield.

Yes, cotton has flowers. Typically purple or white for the varieties we grow. Sometimes yellow.

Next question - what the frenchtoast are "haboobs"?

Giant dust storms. They're so massive they literally blackout the sun. 50-70mph winds. Scary times. Looks like the end times when they come through.

That sounds pretty rough. We had one come through lubbock and it totalled my wife's jeep... Kinda. The back glass was blown out, the truck was filled with dust and the paint was wrecked, so insurance said "fuck that."

I've been caught in some big dust storms that weren't technically haboobs and that sucks big time. Strip that paint off a car in a hurry.

Do you get subsidies for cotton? Can't cotton be grown elsewhere (eg Egypt) for cheaper?

I don't know that we get subsidies for cotton in the way most people think of them. After the last Farm Bill came about its kind of screwed everything up. We have a price floor protection and some beneficial loan terms. It is cheaper to grow it other places India, China, Brazil and most of South America have become bigger producers. Also most "Egyptian Cotton" isn't grown in Egypt.

What are your neighbours like?

Few and far between. Retired game warden and his wife are my closest. They live 1/2 mile or so as the crow flies.

What do you do in your free time for entertainment? I presume FarmVille as a gaming past-time is not a tantalizing option?

Currently, I'm playing Fallout 4. I read a ton. Hunt. Sometimes I drive around farms and drink beer while "checking" on the cows and cotton. Make sure everything's there.

is there anything you'd like to change in your current life?

I wish I had better internet or cows that didn't escape at 1745 every Friday. It's like they know I'm trying to get the weekend off.

This is kinda cool to see on reddit...I come from west Texas. Paternal grandfather and multiple uncles and father worked in a cotton gin out there. Maternal grandparents own/run a 4300 acre horse and cattle ranch.

The drought REALLY hurt a lot of the ranching business for my grandparents--did you guys have to downsize the number of cattle? If not, how did you maintain day-to-day without losing/having to sell off livestock?

We did have to downsize we used to run about 150-200 head. We've been rebuilding and have gotten back up to 100 or so.

What is the most costly water wise, farming or the cattle?

Farming for sure. Most years the water we collect in our stock tank ponds is enough.

What do you order from Rudy's? Rosa's?

I can't remember the last time I ate at either place.

What's the dating and social life like as a farmer? My uncle runs a 150 head cattle farm in a rural area of Virginia and I love visiting and helping out where I can but I'm not sure if I could ever adjust long-term to driving 20 miles to the nearest grocery store or even further for some interaction with people my age.

I'm not OP, but there's a dating website called FarmersOnly.com that is heavily advertised on small-market/rural-area television channels, if that gives you any indication. It makes a lot of sense because, as you mentioned, it's not a lifestyle that suits everyone, and is by definition somewhat isolated geographically.

If my father is any example, the social life isn't such a limiting factor. Everyone knows everybody, and if you need a hand doing something, somebody will be there to offer it, unless you are an unmitigated asshole to your neighbors.

I think the biggest challenge is that it's not easy getting to that point if you didn't grow up/have family in the area. My dad has 60 years of banked up goodwill and friendship that reaches to ranching and farming and roping and leather-working communities all across the nation. It doesn't hurt that he's the fourth generation of family in the area. To a certain extent, that goodwill would apply to me, had I decided to follow in his footsteps.

ETA: 20 miles to a grocery store? That's practically the suburbs. ;)

Our town has its own grocery store, which doubles as a hardware and landscaping store. Well, dating is different you know EVERYONE. Graduating class of 23 people. I found my SO while away at school and we've been together for quite a while now.

Hails from India. A good friend of mine lives in Texas. Where's the best steak you've had in Texas?

Espuela Land and Cattle in Dickens, TX. Local pro-tip Order the 12oz steak there, it's the same size as their 18oz steak and its 3 bucks less.

I always like Paducah better than Dickens. Dickens is like 3 blocks long. Only ever ate at the Ponderosa.

Man, TC Ponderosa is wonderful.

Once the cotton is removed there are large amounts of stems and shells left. What do farmers do with these biproducts? I'm an Environmental Science graduate student at West Texas A&M and wanted to see if it is usable as organic matter for brine contaminated soil remediation.

I cut 'em down and plow the into the ground and hope after 10 years they finally start to break down. So yeah you could probably have all the stalks and burrs you want.

Do they help your soil recovery? Or are they more of a nuecience to farmers?

Nuisance. We actually built a plow with the intention of removing them. Sole purpose for that thing. Doesn't work a lick.

"Lejeune68" - former Marine?

Grandfather was.

Is 'corporate' farming becoming a thing in the US? In Oz agriculture is seen as a pretty hot investment so we're starting to see farms purchased by companies and then run by managers. This has been around since farming began of course, but it's really accelerating in Oz.

Starting to see more and more of it. We've had some seed companies speak to us.

Late to the party but, hey there fellow West Texan. Even though the rain has been better this year (well in my area it seemed to be), but going by the field across from me (non irrigated) which doesn't seem to have as good a crop as I've seen I have to ask this. What exactly does it take to yield a profitable cotton crop and on average what is the profit per module?

Profit per module is hard to calculate. Because the grade of the cotton from farm to farm varies. But generally ours probably have a loan value of $2000 to $3000. Let's say we grew exactly 1 bale per acre. 10 bales in a module(this is pretty close) ours range from 10-12. To plant 10 acres the seed alone costs ~$400. $.05 for fertilizers and herbicides per pound, $.07 to harvest it per pound. Not counting labor, equipment, fuel, repairs, or anything else. So cotton sells at $.60 per pound minus the $.12 per pound and everything else. Looking at $1000-$1500 profit per module.

I think I've been to your town. Are there so many goatheads that it's impossible to walk barefoot, ride a bike, or walk your dog without having them destroy that which contacts the ground?

Correct! We spray the yards every year to prevent those, but man you can always tell when you miss a spot.

Where do you live? Anywhere near Pecos or Balmorhea?

4 hours from Pecos. Give or take. Haven't been there in a long while.

When's the last time you took a vacation?

In 14 days. And in July me and the SO went to Puerto Rico for 5 days.

This sounds like Dell City. I once stopped for gas in Dell city on a long road trip, got nothing but funny looks from all the locals, ended up pulling over and sleeping in the back of my truck.

Where do all the young people in these towns go?

They move away. Seriously. They leave.

Hey I hope your still answering. While in university I wrote a paper on how American Cotton subsidies are unfairly manipulating the price of cotton on the world market, thus hurting central african farmers.

what is your opinion on this?

Send me a link or your paper and I'll read it, but I won't open my mouth solely to insert my boot in it.

Do you plan on passing this to your kids?

Gotta have some first. If they want it. You can't just farm because someone tells you to. You've got to love it. You'll never be a rich man. I love working outdoors, even when it's 100F, and I love that everyday is different from the last one. You may do the same things year after year, but you do it differently every time. Because every year and every field is different.

I appreciate your answer. Some farmers I've met say they pass it so it could be a tradition/generation thing. Was your family planning on that?

Yeah. I think so. They never made it a "YOU HAVE TO FARM!" Thing. But I think they both wanted me to do it.

I'm so glad this is an AMA. My gpa owns about 4k acres of farm land in TN (cotton, soybean and 100 head of cattle) and it has been in the family for generations. (It's been split several times between brothers originally over 50k+) My question is how have you dealt with the inheritance issues? like if kids feel entitled to the land but don't work it (and want to sell it) grandkids work it, but aren't as experienced with the money side of things. You may not have had this problem... But I'd thought I'd ask your family's take on it.

We have a city kid and a farm kid in our family. City kid will get cash equivalent to the land and equipment I'll take over.

How many rows can you handle when you hoe weeds? Or do weeds even exist anymore?

I can take 4 rows at a time. Weeds are still an issue. I probably spent the second half of June, July, and August hoe-ing and spot spraying weeds. Luckily, we were one of the cleaner farmers in our area. Maybe a weed or two every few rows. Where some people are completely overgrown.

Thank you for taking time to answer these questions. My AP U.S. History class has been discussing the cotton industry during the 1800's and I would actually love to present them with your answer.

How high is the demand for the cotton nowadays? Is the labor as excruciating as details we have read in class before?

Thank you for your time!

The demand for cotton is actually lower now than it has been in recent history. At least for American Cotton. Later today I can give you a rundown of the labor involved and let you compare and contrast.

Do you use roudup ready seed? My father in law farms cotton out in Gail and I think he has actually been moving away from it. Seems a shame that the seeds go to waste at the gin- but I guess the cows like it.

We do. But here shortly everyone will be moving away from it. As weeds have become round up resistant. I think in the next few years most everyone will transition to dicamba cotton.

How long has the farm been in your family?

The oldest deed I've seen is from 1952. Grandfather moved here after WWII with one hand, his wife, and a car.

Intruiging... Moved from where?

Forth Worth Area.

If hemp were legal in Texas, would you start growing?

Someone asked this. See that for details.

TL:DR No, costs too much to change over.

My dad's got 64 acres roundabouts of Greenville and Wolfe City, do you have any advice for what to do with it?

Sometimes i fantasize about building a shack for myself there and raising livestock, and people have suggested growing hemp, but I'd greatly appreciate your opinion.

Before you do anything. Get a soil survey or sample done. And if you're going to buy a tractor for 64 acres I recommend a smaller versatile one. We have a John Deere 110 Backhoe that has hay fork, pallet fork, and other accessories for the back end that is absolutely handy.

Do you use a specific type of rotational crop every few seasons to recondition your land? Also, are there any types of experimental crops that you are using or wanting to dabble in?

Grain sorghum has been our go to for a while. Because after its harvested it leaves behind parts of the plant that can be plowed under and return nutrients back to the soil.

My fraternity bother had a grandmother who was a cotton farmer.

He was a complete idiot who drank and did drugs and bought a new truck each year because he was living off the trust fund or what ever cotton money he got from his family.

How will you prevent your kids and family from living a trust fund lifestyle and actually work?

Probably the same way my parents did. Riding around with my Dad and seeing how hard he worked and how much effort he put in to provide for us. Unfortunately, that entitlement has a way of seeping into farming families. A little luck never hurt anyone.

Do you own any bad ass heelers? Love acd's

Nah. I've got this dude though. http://imgur.com/NH5vrIx

What do you look for when hiring farm hands? Is there a technical expertise required?

Nope. It's a bonus. But generally be willing to work long hours, there's no overtime pay, but it's all the hours you want! Be ready to get dirty and hot sweaty freeze a little. Do you enjoy working outdoors? Do you mind if your feet get wet? And can you work through small cuts scratches scrapes bruises and other small things?

Sounds good. The reason I wondered is because a lot of jobs these days have an increasing need for certification and official qualification. I would actually love to try it out, being a miserable cubicle worker in one of the largest cities in the world..

There used to be a website where you can work for someone for a period of time like an exchange program. It was an organic something something something.

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms?

Actually, that's an interesting point as well - how do you recruit farm hands? Do you just advertise it as a normal job? Is there an interview or anything of the sort?

There's an interview. It's usually "you got a social security card?"

What kind of cotton seed have you and do you use? What is your experience with the different kinds of seeds?

We've used a range from Fibermax, Deltapine, Stoneville, Americot. Deltapine grows tall and fast. Fibermax is generally the best bet for us in this part of the country.

What kind of education did you have to get to get where are you? We have a farm in South America, and given that they're like 100 years behind the US, they're just now learning it's a good idea to send a kid to college to learn more about farming and agricultural.

I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering. My Dad has his degree in Agriculture. But we contract a consultant who has a degree in Organic Chemistry and Botany.

Guessing you were stationed in lejeune also based on your user name? Yutts!!! Haha

I coulda guessed you were a Marine by your username too...

My grandpa was stationed there for a long time.

Do you mean West, Texas? Or West Texas?

I live in Crosbyton, Texas.

I don't know if you are still answering questions... I was wondering if you have any sort of cooperative between farmers where you can borrow machines? Did you visit other farms in other states, and how is the mentality (or management) out there different from where you live? Is there any supervision from agronomists or engineers regarding the management of your lands and cattle?

Thank you and have a nice day!

Nah, not a lot of sharing machines going on. People will borrow a plow here and there, but it's kind of bad form to borrow a machine. I've visited a few farms other places and it's a little different, but pretty much the same principles.

We don't have a supervisor. We have a consultant that we can bounce ideas and ask questions. 90% of the time we make the decisions on our own. And the seed companies (Fibermax, Deltapine) give out information on what the varieties need. Plus a lot of the time you work with the same stuff over and over so you get a sense of how it works.

Do you do crop rotation? In this case, what is the best combination with cotton?

(FYI I study agronomy (but in Canada) so that's why my questions are oddly specific and I am oddly ignorant).

We do a rotation. We often rotate with milo(grain sorghum) and we do a 1/3 rotation. So every year at least 1/3 of our farmed land is something other than cotton. I don't know if it's the best choice, but we're geared for it and it's what we do.