My wife and I milk 80 cows and farm 275 acres in central Wisconsin with help from our three sons, who are 15 to 18 years old. Our oldest son is a senior in high school and plans to attend a four-year college next fall. Within four years, all three of our sons will be in college. I don’t think my wife and I can hold down the fort until one of them is done with college and decides he wants to farm. It is also highly likely that all three of them will decide to pursue an off-farm career after graduation and may not want to return to the farm, even though we have a successful and profitable operation.

My wife and I are talking about selling the cattle and starting to crop farm next spring. If one of the boys decides he wants to farm after college, then it will be up to him to determine if he wants to milk cows here and farm. Some of my family and friends think we are making the decision not to farm for our sons if we sell our cows next spring. Please advise.

Tom Kestell: Decisions, decisions! Life is full of them, and many times there are no easy answers to complex questions. Now is the time to have early-stage conversations with your sons about their futures. What will they study in college? What careers will this prepare them for? Do they enjoy the agriculture-related lifestyle? The world is becoming a very high-tech-dominated place to navigate. Will their education help to prepare them for a future for the new and challenging workplace? At a young age, I think it is very difficult to know all the opportunities that can be pursued if one is properly educated for the world of the future.

That said, there will continue to be opportunity in farming or dairy farming if one or more of your sons have the desire and passion to do so. Whether the cows are still on the farm or not will have little to do with if and how your sons decide to spend their lives. It might even free them up to think “outside the box” and look at alternative farming pursuits, or maybe to come back to the farm and pick up where you left off.

Cows are a liquid asset and are bought and sold every day. The greatest asset you can pass on to your sons is knowledge on how to successfully farm and the desire to do so. Talk about what future you and your sons envision. Then, share your dreams, plans and aspirations as a family, because you will all grow and benefit from the interaction.

Sam Miller: First, congratulations on owning and operating a successful farm. Because of this success, you have many options available, including continuing to operate a dairy or transitioning to crop farming. You and your wife should make the best decision for you and allow your sons to chart their own best course. If that is going to college and then exploring a career of interest to them, so be it. If they want to farm in the future, it sounds like you and your wife would be open to that as well. It is too soon to expect any of your sons to know whether they want to farm in the next five to 10 years.

If you decide to sell the cows and start crop farming, visit with your accountant to understand the tax implications of selling the cows and related dairy equipment. There is likely to be a sizable capital gain or ordinary income subject to taxes from this type of sale. In addition, if you stop milking, there is likely to be a deterioration of your milking facility and equipment should one of your sons want to restart the dairy in a few years.

In my opinion, the best thing you can do for your sons is give the ability to succeed in their own way, and provide encouragement and support as they grow into young men.

Katie Wantoch: I appreciate that you and your wife have been discussing your future and that of the farm business. Keep exploring what farm enterprise works best for you both now and in the future. While you have potential successors, your sons haven’t had the opportunity to explore all the options that are available to them, both on and off the farm. I support your decision to allow them to seek out their desires and generate their own future goals.

I would encourage you and your wife to define your farm’s objectives and goals if you decide to sell your cows and transition to a cropping enterprise. Be sure to include your sons in these discussions, if they are interested. Keeping them involved will let them see what type of opportunity they may have in the farm business. By keeping the door open, you aren’t discouraging them but allowing them time to discover their own future. Do what you believe is best for your farm and family, and try to forget about what others might think.

Will son decide to farm?

I am 73 years old, and I farm in southeastern Wisconsin with my son who helps me part time. He has a full-time job but takes vacation during spring and fall to help me plant and harvest our crops. I pay him $20 an hour. We farm 700 acres — about half of which I own — and grow corn and soybeans. I have no debt. Things are going well, but I am concerned what will happen five years from now when I am 78. Right now, I still do a majority of the work, and I make most of the decisions. But five years from now, I will probably be slowing down, and I don’t see my son picking up the slack. He is busy with his family and his job.

My question is, am I better off selling my farm when I feel I am too old to farm or renting it to a neighbor? I would love for my son to take over the farm. I would help him buy it and I would help him farm it while I can. I’ve tried to talk to my son, but he doesn’t seem very interested. What are your thoughts?

Tom Kestell: It is great that your son helps you plant and harvest when he has time. There is an old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” There is a reason for this — the horse knows what’s best for him, and maybe your son does, too. It is one thing to “help out” but an entirely different thing to take on the day-to-day challenges that go with farming. What you see as a natural extension of your life’s work, your son probably sees as a distraction to his family life and his life goals.

One of the most difficult decisions to make is when to hang up your work clothes. Tom Brady just unretired because he felt he still had more to offer his profession of football. Many times, it is not about money, but rather what gets you up in the morning and what satisfies your inner soul and spirit. These are personal decisions that someone else cannot and should not dictate to you. However, everyone at our shared age should talk to a competent financial adviser about how to best proceed with the many ways to protect and enhance your senior years and the estate you want to pass on to your heirs. Look at both the short- and long-term ramifications to the decisions that must be made. We are all terminal, but your legacy does not have to be.

Sam Miller: You are starting in a great place with no debt and a sizeable land base. You mention a son but no other children; if there are other children, you will need to think about them if you are interested in having your son take over the farm. From your comments, it sounds like your son is interested in providing labor but not taking over the farm. If that is the case, it might make the most sense for you to rent out the land when you are ready to slow down so you can avoid the big capital gain tax if you were to sell the land. At your passing, the land will transfer as outlined in your will. If that is to your son, he will get a step-up in basis and, if he is not interested in farming, could sell it and avoid a capital gain. He could also rent it out for income, or he may then decide to farm.

Bottom line, if your son is not interested in taking over now, you should make the best decision for you as to how long you would like to farm. The best thing you can do is to have the conversations with your son and other family members to make the best decision.

Katie Wantoch: You have worked hard over the years to operate a successful farm business and are ready to consider the future. Nearly all farms aspire to pass the farm on to future generations, but many fail to make adequate plans to do so. A viable farm transition and succession plan is not completed overnight, with constant changes in laws and tax regulations.

Another challenge is that succession requires communication between family members about topics that many find difficult to discuss. You desire the farm business to continue, but does your son? Is he assisting you with planting and harvesting as an employee or as the next generation and owner? An employee contributes labor, but a future partner wants to know more about the operation. Has your son expressed an interest in making decisions, such as seed selection, commodity marketing, etc.? Is he involved with planting and harvest decisions, machinery repair and replacement, and other bigger decisions? You may be able to answer these questions already.

You have tried to talk to your son, but I suggest you have a direct and meaningful conversation soon. You need to know his intentions so that you can plan for the future of your farm business — whether that is a transition to him or looking at other options.

Agrivision panel: Tom Kestell, dairy farmer, Sheboygan County, Wis; Sam Miller, managing director, group head of agricultural banking, BMO Harris Bank; and Katie Wantoch, statewide University of Wisconsin Extension farm management outreach specialist/professor of practice. If you have questions you would like the panel to answer, send them to: Wisconsin Agriculturist, P.O. Box 236, Brandon, WI 53919; or email [email protected].