Recently at our church men’s bible study, our discussion circled around the topic of complacency. With a group of ranchers all sitting at the table, there were some interesting analogies that were brought up. Complacency and laziness are closely related. Neither is an admirable trait to really have. Laziness is the unwillingness to work, whereas complacency is a smug attitude over one’s own achievements. The two can get mixed up from time to time, especially when we feel like we don’t need to keep growing and improving ourselves.
We are currently facing crisis here in rural America. For years, kids have been told that the only way to be successful is to go to college and get a job off the farm. The number of family farms shrinks more and more with each passing year, and the age of the American farmer and rancher only gets older and older. We’ve become complacent when it comes to replacing the current generation of producers. Our country has been food secure for so long that we have forgotten what it is like to do without. Instead of making plans for the next generation to take the reins, we tell them there is nothing for them and they need to move on. Access into production agriculture is extremely difficult. Young farmers and ranchers that are just starting out need access to capital, to land, equipment and many other things that make an operation successful. It’s not about giving young producers a hand out, but rather a hand up.
Time and again I have seen generational ranches come to an end when there is no one to take them over and continue to run them. They are put on the market and either split up and sold to neighbors, or they sell for prices so high that only those that own professional sports teams can afford to buy them. It is past time to start encouraging kids to get into production agriculture. Older generations looking to retire should look to creating succession plans with aspiring producers that want to make a living off the land for themselves. Young producers should seek the wisdom and advice of the older generation and blend that advice with their own ideas to create successful operations.
What does all of this have to do with complacency and laziness? Complacency is the attitude that comes about when you look out and see all the work that you have done and stand there patting yourself on the back. If you aren’t continually maintaining and improving a place, time will take away all your progress. Along with that, if there isn’t a coming generation willing to work daily to make operations profitable and sustainable, they’ll become like dust in the wind.
Complacency and laziness are a lot like sorting cattle a horseback in a sorting alley. That horse might be one of the best cutting horses out there, but he starts letting calves by because he won’t move his feet quick enough. A tap of the spur or a swat of a split rein across the rump usually corrects this behavior in short order. I think the same can be said for those of us in the ag world. Young producers need to step up and take charge when they are called to, older producers need to help them when they are able but be willing to let change happen.
That’s all for this time, don’t let complacency and laziness get a foothold in your life. Keep tabs on your side of the barbed wire and God Bless.