I believe the experience he will get in just working through the Summer will be extremely beneficial. I don't really want him to sit at home all Summer. going to work will hopefully keep him out of trouble

Talk to a feed store.

I kinda kidding in my post but I understand he wants to farm. Unless he’s got access to a lot of land and money advise him to do the next best thing. Go into the Ag business. It’s what I did. You still are hands on with farmers every day and emotionally you are as involved as they are. We’re always gonna grow food. The Ag business will always be here. May not always be glitz and glamor but we always survive

I’d be sending that boy to football camps

I don't necessarily mean he's gonna own a farm. More like he's gonna be a farm hand or do something in the farming industry. But for now he wants to do some work on a farm for the experience and the opportunity to learn. I did tell him there's 3 jobs that will always be needed, Farmers, Doctors and Grave diggers. And considering I can't afford to send him to Medical school and he didn't like the idea of digging graves, farming was the best option... 😀

I can put him in touch with plenty of guys if he wants to go to work.

Get him a summer job on a farm.
At the end of the summer ask him if he still feels the same way.

With more and more land being setup as recreational land he may want to look at being a wildlife biologist. It has a lot of the same work and science just in a different direction and you get to work outside. There are people on here that can give you a better job description.

Try a chicken farm. They all say there is money to be made in them anymore, but they always live higher on the hog than cattle farmers. My brother normally hires someone like him acouple days a week for a period of time for repairing fences, running a tractor in hayfields or help to work. cows. The Eva area should have a few folks that could put him to work on a farm. Its rare that I get over that way but there used to be a sawdust operation that hauled to the chicken farms. Might check with them for some leads.

If there are any horse farms around I am sure they could put him to work. My girlfriend has friends that operate a smaller horse farm and the times we have gone down there for her to ride horses I somehow got put on maintenance duty. The amount of manual labor involved with horses is way more than I ever expected. Some of their neighboring farms always have some high school kids working on them. If there is one of those around that could be a good back up option if he can’t find any ag farms to get on with. Long days of manual labor will definitely be a good character development exercise for him. Good luck to him.

Dang as big as he is have him workout and get stronger and faster this summer and he will be able to go to college wherever he wants to and possibly have a nice career playing football.

Y’all quick discouraging him before he when starts. Let him decide himself if it’s something he wants to do or not through experience. Who’s going to feed my fat butt in the future if we keep discouraging our kids to stay away from farming, I don’t tell my son “don’t be a ditch digger”. I hand him a shovel and let him make up his own mind. It’s pretty self explanatory but he’s got to learn if he likes it or not.
257 thanks for at least offering some contacts. Big fella might turn out to be a great farm manager, mechanic, gps guidance systems tech, drone recon, field data analyst or something tied to the Ag industry. Don’t push him away with negativity.
Too bad your not closer to the Blackbelt. Good, honest, reliable workers are in great demand.

I worked from about 14 for friends of my grandfather on their farms rebuilding fences, cleaning fence rows, weed eating, hauling hay, cleaning out stalls, fixing roofs, cleaning equipment, pressure washing you name it. Basically what ever I was ask and made good doing it and learned a lot. I have a half brother who is now a freshman in college who started helping me when he turned 16 doing the same thing. Surely there is someone who knows a hobby farmer who needs some manual labor that can put him to work? I would ask the elderly gentlemen at church, go to the local co-op and post a sign high schooler looking for work. As much as people complain about not being able to find good help if he will show up put in an honest days work word will spread and he will have more than he can do.

As a last resort tell him to knock on the doors of some of the elderly widow women at church or in the community and see if they need anything, oil checked in car, weed eating, car washed, sticks picked up, gutters cleaned, faucets changed even If he has to volunteer and do some of it for free. If he finds a couple of the right ones they will put him to work, pay him and make sure he is looked after and best of all tell their friends at the beauty shop and before long he will be as busy as he wants to be and should be able to work his way into a farm hand job.

I'm sure that Matt can hook you up with someone. Most farmers are always looking for some young eager help.

The world needs bouncers too

I sent him a PM. He can't drive "Legally" so I or his mom can drop him off on my way to work.

it’s more a bit of harsh reality behind the negative statements, more than true negativity. all previous statements of either being from a few thousand plus family farm or marrying into one is fairly gospel truth. working in ag and being THE farmer are two entirely different things now days, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because growing up on a small farm is/was a most ideal lifestyle, as a child raised as farm labor...work ethic is not taught, it is instilled out of necessity, and that carried over to sports, life, adversity, etc.
my wife often asks if I miss farming and that’s a much more intricately complex question than it seems on the surface...absolutely yes every day, but not the wildly uncontrollable side that ultimately haunts most farmers...Dad never slept a lot (even on vacation), until he finally quit farming (row crop and catfish). Still works every day, at 83, selling oil to farmers...but sleeps MUCH sounder at nigh, God love him!!!

I am a full time farmer myself. I always worked on farms for people when I was younger. I went to college and got a poultry science degree and worked for Pilgrims Pride for several years. I bought some cattle and hay equipment in 2007. In 2013 I planted 85 acres of corn, that was my first crop. In 2014 I planted 285 acres of crops and decided that between my crops and cattle that I could make it full time so I quit my job. God has really blessed me over the last six years and this year I am planting almost 1300 acres of crops. It is tough sometimes with the rain, too much or not enough and commodity prices being low, but if you can make a living doing something you enjoy life is so much more enjoyable.

I doubt many farmers would let your son run a planter, sprayer or combine and not being able to drive will limit what he can do as well. I would try to find a poultry farmer that has some cattle. He could help with the chickens and work in hay. I will pm you my number, feel free to text or call if you have any questions I might could help with.

He can make some money doing hay during summer with some equipment...need decent equipment tho I know we spend close to 15k a year just for someone to bale...gonna change this year tho I'm doing it