Over the past few weeks, we’ve asked you: What is it that you can’t farm without? We love all the answers we’ve received by mail, email, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! Sometimes it’s not the biggest or most expensive thing that makes your farm tick — we learned that sometimes it’s the little things that makes your job easier. Like a Schwebel’s plastic bread sack. So enjoy all the responses, and if it triggers your own thoughts, feel free to share them with us, and we’ll add them to our online story!
… Schwebel’s plastic bread bags. Barbara Gill said her three Arabian mares are given bread daily as a treat. Whenever the horses are needed to come in, all she has to do is shake the bread bag and they come running.
— Barbara Gill, Berlin Center, Ohio
… 6-inch crescent wrench
— Joe Lipps, Cortland, Ohio
… my Kubota.
— Carrie Miller
… postage stamps.
— Mary McConnell, Volant, Pennsylvania
… my father. Shaunee said he has supported her in everything she wanted to do on the farm, in 4-H and now in college.
— Shaunee Cyrus, Freeport, Ohio
… my golf club. Donovan is 81 and the golf club allows him to stay in the skidsteer.
— Donovan Winn, Salem, Ohio
… my 1941 Farmall model “M” tractor. Chris Freeman inherited the tractor from his grandfather and it has remained his favorite, and most reliable, tractor.
— Chris Freeman, Chagrin Falls, Ohio
… my horses.
— Aden Wengerd, Fredericktown, Ohio
… my Australian Shepherd.
— John Rowe, Mechanicstown, Ohio
… a hammer and an adjustable end wrench.
— Dr. Gregory P. Martin, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
… profit.
— Simon Abbott, Australia
… my father-in-law (Dave Cox). Kory said he is a beginning farmer and his father-in-law has allowed him to use his equipment and has given him advice.
— Kory Jones, Evan City, Pennsylvania
… my smartphone.
— Eamon Sheehan
… water. Marianne De Shazo has a small goat dairy in Idaho. She said water is getting harder to get. She said the former owners of the land are holding water shares hostage, and she is considering getting a windmill and solar panels.
— Marianne De Shazo, Idaho
… skidsteer loader — it’s like a diesel-powered Swiss army knife.
— Bill Whitehill, Toronto, Ohio
… my weather app, Wunder Weather.
— George Hartzell, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania
From our post on Instagram:
Kolby Tullis says, “Definitely duct tape!”, to which, Genna Pellin, of Racewood Farm in Warren, Ohio, said, “I was going to say duct tape! But I’ll say work gloves!”
Kristy Mozes, of Greenville, Pennsylvania, joked, “My husband should say ‘his wife!’”
And the folks at Yellow House Cheese, in Seville, Ohio, said “My Border Collie.”
Devon Shaw responded, ‘My 84-year-old grandfather. He’s got a wealth of ag knowledge.”
Tiffany from Still Meadow Acre, in Wooster, Ohio, wrote, “My husband and I joke that our little mini farm is held together with zip ties!”
And Dan McKarns jokes (maybe or maybe not!), “A forgiving banker!”
