STEDMAN – After 16 years in the commercial dairy farm business, Paul Spas was fed up.
''I was doing everything right, doing it the way you were supposed to,'' he said. ''And it seemed like I was giving all my money I was working so hard for either to the feed mill or to the veterinary. I just was tired of beating my head against the wall.''
To complicate matters, a fire consumed his barn – rebuilding put him so far in debt that he needed to take up a second job at Cummins Engine.
Eventually, the burden of trying to maintain the daily life of a dairy farmer while trying to keep his head above water financially was too much for Spas to face. He leased his farm to a young man who wanted to get started in the business.
''He wanted to get into farming and I wanted to get out,'' Spas said. ''So I leased the farm to him and sold the cows to him.''
He knew full-well that would be just a temporary solution, however – the young man wasn't going to lease the farm forever. So Spas began researching what he would do when the farmland was his to use again – and all signs continually pointed in one direction.
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