Retired Farmer

Saturday we met Rodger, a retired, 80 something-year-old farmer and his son Dan an hour northwest of Milwaukee.  Rodger is the brother-in-law of a good friend of Dave and mine.  Our friend joined us as well so the five of us had a leisurely lunch at the only restaurant in the small town where Rodger now lives.

Heritage

Rodger’s great grandfather came to Wisconsin and homesteaded in this same area in the 1850’s as a young immigrant from northeast Germany in a region that switched from Poland to Germany and back again in the 19th century.  Rodger remembers his grandfather recounting how some church buildings switched from Catholic (under Poland) to Lutheran (under Germany).  Eventually, they owned the farm upon which Rodger’s grandfather, father, he and Dan were all born.  When he was 70, Rodger sold the farm and moved to a house in the the town where we met him. His crib was still in the attic of the house at that time. The farm has since been purchased to be turned into an industrial park.

Rodger recounted the hard work of farming.  As a high school students he really wanted to play football (and says with a smile that he knows he would have been NFL caliber) except that “My dad talked me out of it. Strongly.” because there was too much to be done calving and milking in the fall.  “Play baseball or basketball in the winter or spring.” his father offered.  Each morning throughout his childhood Rodger woke, milked the cows, took a shower, shovelled down breakfast and scurried off to school.  When he got home in the afternoon, he milked the cows again.  At first they milked by hand.  Later they had milking machines and could then support a few more cows -- from 20 up to about 30.  Dan also remembers milking the cows, although by then it was more automated.  The whole operation was run by the family without hired employees.

Rodger describes how the the large “corporate” dairies today are using migrant labor. Dave asks, “Are the the workers undocumented?”  “I don’t know, not necessarily.” responds Rodger.

From Cows to Hogs

At some point Rodger sold his cows and purchased pigs.  With cows he liked the daily cash flow of selling milk. But prices had sunk.  With pigs he could produce piglets and sell them as well as the hogs and the daily work was a little less. “I could make a living.” he stated.  But then later he decided to move from hogs to cash crops: mainly corn and soy.  “So I waited until the price of hogs was good and I sold them all.”

 “You timed it well?” I asked.

“I did alright.”

The Environment

Rodger and Dan are both very concerned about the environment.  When we talk about the Foxconn project in Racine, Rodger’s one and only concern is the waiving of the environmental protection standards by the State.  Even after lunch he returns to this topic with Dave.  “Will you look into the environmental regulation waiving with the Foxconn project when you are down in Racine?” he asks.  We discuss the disposal of the waste from the pigs and cows.  “We’d spread it across our fields using a bladed mechanism to turn it down into the soil.”  When we raised the question of farms with larger herds and fewer fields he paused: “I guess UW-Madison should, maybe they do, provide guidelines for how much can be spread over how much land.”

Dan and Rodger share a concern that small farms get environmental regulations enforced upon them whereas the big farms can avoid them.  Little guy can’t even fill in a little wet land on his own property.  Our impression is that the regulations are maybe okay, in general, but enforcing them unevenly is wrong.

Hunting and Guns and Sports

Rodger and Dan both have shotguns (no handguns or rifles).  They say that they like to hunt.  Although they both had amusing stories to tell about liking to hunt but not no much actually killing the deer.  Rodger quips: “the deer never seem to be worried.”  One day, however, Rodger was up in a blind on his property when he saw a buck a ways off.  He decided he’d shoot only if it “turned broadside.”  And sure enough it did.  So he shot. And by God the deer fell.  Rodger was very excited and proud.  He went to the house to get the trailer to take to pick up the deer when he met his wife.  She was distraught that he’d killed the deer.  And Rodger ended up “in tough shape” with the conflicted feelings of pride and guilt.

I love going out early and watching the squirrels.  Dan adds that he hunts a little.  “I like being out there when the weather is nice.” and “I got a few deer.”  “But it’s also about the camaraderie.”

We asked him about guns and security.  “Frankly I’d almost rather be shot by a thief with a gun than shoot them.  But if the same person was threatening my family I would definitely shoot.”  

Our friend then asked him, “Do you know where your gun is in your house?”  

Rodger responded sheepishly “I know it is somewhere.  Probably in the basement.”

“Do you belong to the NRA?” I ask.  

“No” both Rodger and Dan respond.  

“Why not?” I press.  

“Maybe the better question is: Why for?” Rodger responds.  “They sometimes telemarket me.”  They then the two men share how they are bothered by how the NRA never gives an inch.  Dan believes there should be a reasonable place to stop pushing their agenda.

We ask about the 2nd Amendment: “What do you feel about ‘the right to bear arms’ to protect yourself?”  Dan refers to Germany which the Nazi’s controlled after they took away citizens’ guns.  

“Of course we wouldn’t be able to fight the US military,” he concedes, “but we don’t want history to repeat itself.”

Then we turn to protecting yourself.  I ask if they think anyone in our restaurant has a gun.  Rodger doubts it.  “Do you feel more safe knowing that someone may have a gun?” I ask.  “I really don’t think about it,” concedes Rodger.  “But a bad guy may hesitate if he didn’t know if someone might have a gun.”  The conversation then turns to one between Rodger and Dan and our friend who lives in Milwaukee. Some of his friends worry about the violence in Milwaukee and do not feel safe going there.  Rodger ask our friend: “...do you feel safe?”

Rodger is a VERY enthusiastic Packers fan.  And he likes the Brewers and the Cubs (who were his team before the Brewers joined the major league.)  As we are leaving, he returns to the divided politics.  “At least we are all Packers fans together.” he concludes hopefully.

Politics

When we first meet Rodger one of his first comments in response to our describing why were were on a “Listening Tour” were about how the politics keep changing.  “It’s bad.” “Politicians don’t compromise.  They just vilify the other.”  “And it starts at the top.” “Here in [our town] we have our conflicts as well.”

When I asked about politics, Rodger goes way back to his father’s perspective on Hoover, who was a republican and was a “good guy,” to explain that they are republicans but also supported some Democrats over the years.  “My father liked Truman.”

“I wish they’d just stick with the issues, not worry about the party.” He tells the story about Reagan and Tip O'Neill “going upstairs to have a scotch.  They could talk about stuff.  They would work on it.  Now they don’t know how to do that.  I don’t like that.”  My brother always brings up that I voted for Jimmy Carter.  Even though I consider myself more of a Republican I voted for Jimmy Carter and I would have voted for Kennedy.” (But then it turns out he voted for Nixon.)  “I would have voted for Kennedy if he would have lived.”

Were you surprised when Trump was elected?  “Yes.”  “I voted for him but I wasn’t crazy about Trump.”

Religion

“It is very important.  My parents and grandparents thought it was very important. Although that was the church we went to it didn’t mean other churches weren’t okay.”  I thought it was a bible teaching church.  We don’t make up any rules or philosophy. Follow what the bible says.” Rodger and Dan confirm they both attend church every Sunday.

We ask whose responsibility is it to take care of the poor people: “Is that the government's responsibility?”  Rodger responds, “It is certainly individual's’ responsibility.  That is what our food pantry does.  In a land where we have so much food...why should anyone go hungry?”

What role does the government have? Dan: “The bible talks about individuals, not the government.”

But Rodger concedes that “if it don’t all get done then they want to blame the government.”

Dan answers, “It’s one thing to have a safety net for people who can’t take care of themselves.  But the frustration comes with people who don’t help themselves.”  He continues by explaining that it’s okay to support people who are trying to get a job and can’t.  But it's not okay to help people who are capable and not trying.

We press on: “Is healthcare a right?”  Rodger shakes his head: “I don’t know the answer on that healthcare.  It’s just gotten so expensive.”  Dan explains he has a high deductible plan through his employer.  When asked he doesn’t know his premium but says it is a $5000 deductible.  Rodger asks surprised: “$5000?”  He says again: “I don’t know, that healthcare is a bugger!”

Dan offers: “I think if you had smart people sit down they could figure out how.  Take the attorneys out of it.”

Out of Wisconsin

We talk about Rodger’s trips outside of Wisconsin.  He made a trip with his second wife to San Francisco.  They took Amtrak and spent a week there with our friend.  He remembers it fondly.  On the second trip mentioned in Hawaii, Rodger offered to pick up the bill for the a dinner for four at a nice restaurant.  Our friend recalls, “When the bill came Rodger looked at it.  It was $290 or something like that.  He said ‘Oh my gosh I never spent that much for a meal!’”  Rodger adds,  “I ain’t seen nothing like that in [this town].”  “I wanted to pay for the meal, not buy the restaurant!” (For the record, I picked up our tab for 5 at the restaurant and it came to $46.93 including drinks and a dessert.)

As we are wrapping up Roger asks, “Have I helped you with anything?” Then aside to our friend, “They’re going to go home and say that they talked to this old farmer.” Everyone chuckles.

-- Peter