King Chad's farming circus
Today we finished beans on one farm and moved to the last field. When Dad and I were pulling the bean head over, we met another truck pulling a similar, but larger, Case IH head. We wondered who that was, as I'm about the only guy around that has a Case IH combine.
When we left the field to go get the truck, we noticed that a Case IH combine had pulled up to the head and trailer, which was parked across the road from target field (someone else's property, by the way). I thought it was odd, because the bean field across the road was being farmed by the local BTO who we'll refer to King Chad. King Chad has run John Deere equipment exclusively, as I've heard one of his investors also owns a few JD dealerships.
When we came back with the truck, the circus had arrived. A JD 9760 had pulled in and was hooking on to a 635 bean head (35'). The Case IH combine was unloading into a Kinze 1050 cart with floater tires, which was being pulled by a JD 8530, duals all around. A Peterbilt semi and grain trailer was parked on one side of the road, and a Chevy pickup pulling an enclosed trailer (support parts/tools?) was parked on the other side, such that going by them required some manuevering.
So, we went over to the other farm to get our tractor/grain cart and my combine. When I arrived on the scene again, the 8530/Kinze was unloading into the semi. Dust was rolling out like an Iraqi storm. The beans must have been cut down near (or in) the ditches that were conveniently sprayed out by the JD 4920 and 4720 sprayers King Chad has. The field in question was for years a pasture, and probably should still be, but some investors want too much cash rent for it to run cows, and therefore King Chad is about the only one who can afford it (or, really, his investors who he's in debt to so far they can't cut him loose).
So, the grain cart operator got done unloading the dust beans into the semi and attempted to back the cart up to the driveway. He nearly put it in the ditch. I signaled to him that he could pull up to the driveway into the field across the road (once you've tresspassed, why not do it again?), but he finally got the cart backed up and into the field.
So, am I just spouting sour grapes because he can run new equipment and farm 10's of thousands of acres? No. I don't want to be harvesting corn into March, as he's done on occasion. I don't need the headache of millions of dollars of debt. I don't want to be HR for a dozen or so guys. I don't want the trouble. There's more to life than farming, fortunately.
When we left the field to go get the truck, we noticed that a Case IH combine had pulled up to the head and trailer, which was parked across the road from target field (someone else's property, by the way). I thought it was odd, because the bean field across the road was being farmed by the local BTO who we'll refer to King Chad. King Chad has run John Deere equipment exclusively, as I've heard one of his investors also owns a few JD dealerships.
When we came back with the truck, the circus had arrived. A JD 9760 had pulled in and was hooking on to a 635 bean head (35'). The Case IH combine was unloading into a Kinze 1050 cart with floater tires, which was being pulled by a JD 8530, duals all around. A Peterbilt semi and grain trailer was parked on one side of the road, and a Chevy pickup pulling an enclosed trailer (support parts/tools?) was parked on the other side, such that going by them required some manuevering.
So, we went over to the other farm to get our tractor/grain cart and my combine. When I arrived on the scene again, the 8530/Kinze was unloading into the semi. Dust was rolling out like an Iraqi storm. The beans must have been cut down near (or in) the ditches that were conveniently sprayed out by the JD 4920 and 4720 sprayers King Chad has. The field in question was for years a pasture, and probably should still be, but some investors want too much cash rent for it to run cows, and therefore King Chad is about the only one who can afford it (or, really, his investors who he's in debt to so far they can't cut him loose).
So, the grain cart operator got done unloading the dust beans into the semi and attempted to back the cart up to the driveway. He nearly put it in the ditch. I signaled to him that he could pull up to the driveway into the field across the road (once you've tresspassed, why not do it again?), but he finally got the cart backed up and into the field.
So, am I just spouting sour grapes because he can run new equipment and farm 10's of thousands of acres? No. I don't want to be harvesting corn into March, as he's done on occasion. I don't need the headache of millions of dollars of debt. I don't want to be HR for a dozen or so guys. I don't want the trouble. There's more to life than farming, fortunately.
posted by bgunzy at 11/09/2007 07:13:00 PM
7 Comments:
he,he, that makes me laugh as I'm in the midst of paying guys Conservation Security Program payments - some of which are the "King Chad" in our area and some are the small farm family. Thanks for adding to my day!
Its my job to pay both guys but I, as a veterinarians wife, tend to appreciate the small livestock farmers who farm the crop land and seed down the other stuff a little more.
Do you think CSP will EVER get fully funded, Tamara? I'm still waiting for it here. EQIP is the closest thing we have, and our county NRCS is doing a pretty good job at providing some incentives to use it.
I wouldn't figure a King Chad would have anything to do with CSP - too much hassle.
There are a couple of those guys around here. I know one banker has said that one of them is into the bank for so much money they can't do anything else but loan him more to keep the operation going. I couldn't live with millions of debt hanging over me.
On the other hand it would be nice to trade for a new 40,000 pickup every other year or so. One of the guys just brought home a brand new turbodiesel 1 ton. Seen him driving it the other day.
you know, it seems everyone has something to say about king chad and his investors. I have yet to find what the big deal is. Even the small family farmer has investors. I know this for a fact, their vehicles always seem to parked at a bank somewhere in the community. I dont remember most of the banks in this area getting where they are by only making personal loans.
This is funny.....Well you don't have much longer to wait and there will be another farmer in the neighborhood with all red equipment. They will be farming there next year. Even though they haven't moved there permenent yet they stiil have had there run ins with King Chad....LOL....This shall get interesting.....
The crooks that took over king chad r bn investigated for crop ins fraud supposily their corn n wayne co only made 18 bushel n 2010
Who are King Chads investors?
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