Well, I applied at the community college in Lincoln, well, actually I'll have to go to the campus in Beatrice on the other side of Lincoln... they offer agriculture there... been looking at the program and what all they offer, and also looking at the University of Nebraska in case I want to do a 4 year degree...
But... from what I saw at UNL, I might as well spend the extra time at the community college to do a couple of focuses and leave it at that... because I want to do crops and livestock. And when you get to UNL, you choose one focus, or have to do a double major... at the community college, your core classes cover the Agribusiness aspect, at least the basics that you need to know. Then I'd have 57 hours in crops and 57 hours in livestock...
Another option is to do the diversified Ag focus, which covers Agribusiness, Livestock, Crops, and Mechanics, and then go on to the University to get a degree in whichever I preferred I guess.
But... thinking it'd be a heck of a lot cheaper to just take whatever courses I need/want at the community college even if I spend 4 years there lol
Hm... decisions, decisions...
Guess the first step is getting accepted... lol
Thinking I must be insane... choosing this career... lol It is a ton of hard work... but... I love it... I think I'd prefer the livestock focus... but thought I'd like the education on crops... and if I did crops and livestock on a farm... I could always contract someone to do the crops like my roommate does, and I could focus on the animals...
At least I'll have tons of help with my schoolwork... between my roommate who knows plenty about crops and our friend who knows more about livestock... lol
Well, it's 2am... and I need to be up by around 9 to have time to get things done around here before my neighbor picks me up at noon to go out to our friend's house... so... guess I should try to get some sleep...
Hi Lisa, Good luck with your school adventure! It can be exciting to begin to invest in your future career! I was wondering, what is the outlook for small farms in America? It seems like everything I always hear in the media is not good news for the little guys. A friend of mine has recently expressed an interest in studying agriculture too. Ever since he started helping a friend of his out with the care of her organic farm, he's become so passionate about the possiblity of making it his life too. I'd like to see smaller farms with more ethical treatment of animals and the land flourish! Take care, Laura
Laura, Actually, I don't think the outlook is too good here for small farms at least in this area... just from what I hear from my roommate... I don't know a whole lot about it... We're on a small farm, 24 acres, and everybody wants our land for commercial development. My roommate was looking at acreage a few years ago, and there was plenty of it in this area, but now, looking for a place we could possibly move to... there's nothing. We'll find 8 acre lots going for well over $200k, and that's not enough to have it zoned as Agriculture, you need 20 acres for Ag here. There's 40 acres for sale not far from here, we called about it, and they're asking $12,500/acre, and said they're selling it for commercial property... half a mil for it... my roommate had his land way underpriced, he was guessing he should ask about 150k for it, 24 acres right on the highway. Anyway,, yeah, it seems that they're trying to buy out the small farms around here for commercial development... which is why someone told me I ought to go into Agribusiness, more money in it, to run larger farms... I don't know... Seems right now is the time for small farms to sell. In Iowa, farmland is going for $5000/acre and up.
I dunno... I've never been so concerned about money... more concerned about doing something I enjoy... although of course ya gotta have money to live... really on our farm, there's very little income, considering since my roommate contracts someone to do the crops, it's split either 50/50 or 60/40 depending on who buys the seeds... And the crops are our only farm income. The chickens are pets. My roommate makes ends meet with the fact that he's on disability, and he owns 60% of his friend's vet clinic and they give him money when he needs it, and we buy and sell stuff at auctions and do yard sales and such.
