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kosmo kid on Loos Tales.

B

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
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22,813
Location
Big Muddy valley
The past two days I have been in Bassett, NE, at the Nebraska Ranch Expo, and it was there that I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Brock Moreland. Brock is 18 years old and his parents, Steve and Carol, ranch near Merriman, NE. Brock just graduated from high school. He plans to attend college and return home to run the ranch. Did you know the average age of the American farmer is two years older than the average aged person in a St. Petersburg retirement community? So many of the young people growing up on farms or ranches wonder if the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence.

The problem is they leave and after a few years discover that the lifestyle in a place with paved roads and sewers systems isn't what they had hoped for. The problem then becomes "the fence" holds them in instead of allowing them to follow their true passion and go home. Brock Moreland joined me on Loos Tales this week discussing that very issue. Click here to listen
 
Be careful....Soapy gets all funky when you identify him outloud here on Ranchers!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
In the last month we've had two young guys from our area decieded to come home to eventually take over the home place,Greg and I were really happy to hear these real great young men were going to do this.The average age here would be nearing 50. I hate to see whats going to happen if more don't deciede its the life they can manage,I also understand the reasoning behind not doing it...its a great life but the money and work leaves a young guy scared.


Good for Kosmo for getting the message out there :!:
 
Or maybe the parents who want to retire have kids who don't want to ranch, but the ones who's children do want to ranch have parents who won't retire..... Seems to be the way around here anyway.
 
Mrs.Greg said:
In the last month we've had two young guys from our area decieded to come home to eventually take over the home place,Greg and I were really happy to hear these real great young men were going to do this.The average age here would be nearing 50. I hate to see whats going to happen if more don't deciede its the life they can manage,I also understand the reasoning behind not doing it...its a great life but the money and work leaves a young guy scared.


Good for Kosmo for getting the message out there :!:
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Whats Money :wink:
 
Thanks Big Muddy for posting this about a fine young man, Brock Moreland.

His Dad would have been too bashful to toot his son's horn, but this was important for others to hear.

This is why I am proud of Soapy, Peach, Kos and the outfit they run.
 
Badlands said:
Maybe one reason the kids don't come back and the average age keeps increasing is because Ma and Pa won't get out of the way?

Badlands
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:???: Maybe,but we're only 48 and not ready to retire as aren't alot of others our age,but I know alot of parents would for sure help thier adult children start the takeover process....sounds to me like you have a bit of sour grapes.
 
Talked to Kosmo, yesterday..... And what a very humble young man... You won't find any better!!!!! He had so much to say that he wished he would of said instead.......... Hind sight is twenty/twenty and he is to be commended on a job well done..... I couldn't ask for a better representitive.......... Way to go Kosmo!!!!!!!!!
 
You should be proud of your son soapweed! I pray one of my children will be interested in agriculture. Brock has it right when he says he intends to get an education first. Ranching is big business and many good places have floundered with the second or third generation at the helm. Not only do kids need the business smarts, they need a profession or trade to fall back on if times get tough. Post secondary education also gets people to think outside the box and prepares them to make decisions that can create prosperity through innovation.
 
You should be proud of your son soapweed! I pray one of my children will be interested in agriculture. Brock has it right when he says he intends to get an education first. Ranching is big business and many good places have floundered with the second or third generation at the helm. Not only do kids need the business smarts, they need a profession or trade to fall back on if times get tough. Post secondary education also gets people to think outside the box and prepares them to make decisions that can create prosperity through innovation.

Elwapo
Im not trying to get anyone fired up here but i totally disagree. I went to college for a semester and it was not worth a penny of my money. The most important thing i believe at college was to meet good friends that you will stay in contact for rest of your life. Today it is all about networking and who you know. Im 19 years old, I grew up through all of high school calving out 100 cows all by myself while i was in school. Throw in 40 heifers in there and it was a full time job by itself. I learned the real lessons in life and many business qualities while most kids were out partying or what not. I cant agree one bit with what our education system does. They put us through all of us through high school taking classes that will never help. Yes, i know its supposed to round us into a better person, but i believe high schools need more business classes that teach kids to handle money and what not. Along with colleges, i believe they teach the concept but does nothing for a lot of people. People can be very smart but it doesnt matter one bit unless your able to apply it to the real world. Not many people can apply it to the real world. Yes there are a few ideas that i would pick up on in college but in these last 6 months of working on the farm and figuring things out by myself, i believe i have learned more in these 6 months then in my 4 years of high school and semester at college. Back before i came back to the farm i was arranging my scedule for the next semester with my advisor. I got into an argument with him a little bit. I mentioned i was thinking about coming back to the farm and he didnt like that idea. He told me that of the people that go broke farming, 99% know how to produce the product and 1% know the business skills. Yes i believe in that, but it still comes down to networking and social skills. Yes i know everybodys situation is different. Some need college to make them mature and grow up. And i also believe its like weaning a calf in the fall, a kid should get away from the farm or parents for awhile and be on his or her own. If any of you are wondering that i failed out of college. No, not close at all. I know this is bad to say but i had an animal science class 2 times a week, so 36 times the semester. I went a total of 5 times and 4 of those times were for tests. I ended up getting an A in the class while many kids had problems in it. I would love to get on an education board someday and throw some ideas past other people. Like i said, im not trying to fire anybody up i just wanted to explain that an education is not the right fit for everybody. People look at me and think less of me for quitting college and coming back to the farm but i know deep inside ive learned many more lessons and it was a true fit for me. And let me tell you, this spring with all the blizzards the flooding around here, and all the horrible calving weather, it was a good test for me. Let me hear what some of you other guys have to say too.
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I think you and Peach Blossom should be rightfully proud, Soapweed.

I think it is real important that Kosmo has a willingness to look at things and wonder if they could have been a little better. It shows a real willingness to make oneself a better person. That is a very admirable quality.

tlakota,

You are too young to be able to fully interpret why things happen the way they do. Even someone 2 or 3 times your age will sometimes have difficulty getting a grasp on why things happen the way they do. One semester does not qualify for post-secondary education. You are still to close to the experience to look back on it without your personal prejudice about having it "your way". In your first semester from a ranch, it is normal that the animal science classes are not particularly challenging. It is sad, but true, that those classes are "weeder" classes for Animal Science, and core classes for students from other curriculum. They weeded you out, whether you got and "A" or an "F". It just shows you were prepared for the lowest level classes, not that you know it all. Mine weren't difficult until I got far enough to have to work for someone else's ideals, rather than mine. In other words, they got tough when you got far enough to have to swallow the pill and take the classes that "don't really apply". I'm positive you missed out on some things by skipping classes. Do you realize you spend about $60/hr on that education then didn't show up to take the benefit? Is that the mark of a wise businessman? No wonder you didn't get your money's worth! Our education system may not be all it could be, but there are hundreds of thousands of foreign students coming here for education, not the other way around. I did the same thing you did, but I did go back after cooling my heels. I got my money's worth the second time. My experience on the ranch then was most useful--when I began to learn how to use it, leveraging what I knew from experience against what the concepts were. I left when I was 20 and went back when I was 22. I can guarantee you, I learned more from them than I taught them! :wink:



Badlands
 
tlakota
Do you have enough money to buy the ranch yet? If you don't, get to work earning it. There are way to many kids that went back home only to feel like a hired man after 10 years. Worse yet they think that it is their birth right to have the keys to the ranch handed to them, and for some that is what they get. But siblings and the tax man have to also be considered. Education gives perspective and insight.
 
Badlands I can agree with you on a lot of that
The thing i want to point out is, that every situation is different for a lot of kids. I know for a fact that school was the right option for some of my friends, not me. Last summer i was sitting in orientation and the leaders of it went off on about 500 kids that with a 2 year degree, they will make $500,000 more over their lifetime then not going to school at all. Those students that graduate with a 4 year degree will make 1 million more over there lifetime compared to just a high school graduate. I didnt have the balls to say anything in front of everybody, i just let the leaders tell all the kids that it is SO important to have a degree. So this is wont came to my mind when they were rambling on. Say i have my $40,000 that my education will cost over 4 years. I can guarantee that if i took that $40,000 and invested it starting at 18 years old, even at a fair interest rate of 8%. It would by far exceed that million dollars over my lifetime. The american belief is that you have to go to college and get a good education to make a good living. There is nothing more wrong then that. The most successful people in this world were dropouts or didnt go to college. Im sure most of you agree that building a net worth and assets is mainly about networking and social skils. Ive read many rich dad poor dad books and those really get a guy jacked up. I know im young and alot of adults tell me that im young and know everything (them being sarcastic). I have a very open mind and i know i would regret some parts of coming back early from college. But I know for a fact that their will be fewer regrets of coming back early at the farm. I know im missing out on things in college and concepts that i could apply back here. With the animal science class i was talking about, yes im sure it was pretty simple, i will admit. You mentioned i dont understand the system and many people 2 or 3 times my age dont understand it. Thats true. I had one teacher throughout all my professors and tteachers that actually i believe had an idea what was going on. He knew the system wasnt right but couldnt really change it. He challenged us to think outside of the box and taught us some of the basics about money. Like i said, education systems need more classes teaching kids about money and how it works. Most kids and even most adults are flat out irresponsible with money. The average american family is $20,000 in credit card debt. I believe it would help if in the education system we got younger high school kids to grasp some of the concepts of money and how it works and maybe that could help some of this problem but most werent ever taught a thing about money. But my maint point is the choice of not going to college and going to college differs greatly amongst the individual. Its not near essential to get an education to make a good living.
 

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