Dairy farming can sometimes feel like a merry-go-round. There are times when things are going well. The cows are comfortable and milking at their full potential. You’ve got a great crew operating at exceptional efficiency. The only thing higher than the morale is the milk price.

The landscape of dairy operations and the dairy industry as a whole are much different today than they were even a few decades ago. Operations are becoming larger, and multiple farms are being consolidated into one.

There’s nothing any of us want more in this world than to take care of our family. To give them opportunities we never had. So we work and build something, a business, in which the rewards may not be reaped during our lifetime but can hopefully be an opportunity for the next generations.

As a farmer, chances are you’ve had the conversation of Social Security with your accountant, attorney or financial adviser, both during the early years of your business and today as you get closer to qualifying for benefits. Within the industry, there are times that there can be significant deductions, leading to years in which losses are recognized or carried forward.

In previous articles, we explored the possibility of needing long-term care and the way the large population of aging baby boomers may change the landscape of Medicaid and the nursing industry. Today, let’s take a look at three basic techniques to protect from nursing care: legal planning, self-pay out of pocket or insuring.

Maybe you’ve gotten to the point that you’ve read so many articles, been to so many seminars and heard so many different viewpoints about transition planning that you have “paralysis by analysis.”

As we’ve explored some concepts and dynamics of farm transitions over the past few months, we can start to take a deeper dive into some of the pros and cons of potential directions taken.

Farming. It’s a term that can mean different things to different families. To some, it is a way of life and a family business, the glue that brings multiple generations of a family together as a unit. To others, it may be the reason families push each other away.

It seems to be all the hype today. There are as many seminars as there are questions, each bringing a perspective on ways to transition the family business from one generation to the next. Many individuals don’t know who to turn to or even where to begin. There are just too many things to consider.