Discounts offered by input suppliers offer an opportunity to manage farm costs. Seed pricing can be difficult to evaluate; a producer must weigh early pay discounts, volume discounts and base prices.

Most of the hay produced in the Southeast for feeding livestock is packaged as large, round bales. During the winter, hay becomes a valuable commodity to provide nutrients to livestock.

Many farm families have wrestled with this issue. Complicating it more is much of the farm’s value is tied up in the land, livestock and equipment. Often there is very little cash, life insurance or retirement plans to use for balancing it out. If the farm is split, will there still be enough critical mass to survive?