A “high-dollar hobby” is how Jody Kiser describes his second job raising cattle and the hay to feed them. Adrian Certain plants 750 acres of row crops, which he describes as his “golf.” And despite the long hours Robert Cloninger puts in as a cattle farmer, he says it “beats watching TV.”
All three work full time for the City of Gastonia. Spending every night and weekend farming is a labor of love, not a sure way of making a living. Or even a profit. According to the most recent census by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United States has more than 2 million farmers, but more than half of them say it’s not their primary occupation. Kiser, Certain and Cloninger are among those 1 million part-time farmers who also work a full-time job for steady income, health insurance and retirement benefits.
Jody Kiser: ‘It takes a lot of work to make a little money’
Kiser has been a lineman for Gastonia's Electric Division since 1995. Seven days a week, his day starts at 5 a.m. with a check of his 70 head of Black Angus beef cattle. He owns 52 acres between Bessemer City and Cherryville, and he maintains a total of 300 acres of pastureland and hayfields. Monday through Friday, he works his day job, then heads back to the farm to cut and bale hay, mend pasture fences, vaccinate calves and tinker with cantankerous farm equipment – often wrapping up after 10 p.m. He also spends every weekend farming.
“You have to enjoy it,” the Gaston County native says. “You can’t do it unless you enjoy it.” Kiser and his two sons, aged 18 and 25, spend hot summer Sunday afternoons cutting hay. “I like mowing hay,” Kiser says. He typically bales 400 large round bales each year, mostly for his own livestock but also to sell.
Kiser says just the fertilizer for his hay crop costs $8,000 a year. “I just throw my money on the ground,” he jokes.
His cows give birth each year and he sells the calves at auction, making $700 to $800 a piece. “But then you have to turn around and spend $3,000 on a piece of equipment,” Kiser says. “It takes a lot of work to make a little money.” And during drought years, Kiser has to buy hay from as far away as Tennessee, wiping out any profit from selling his livestock.
Kiser’s father had a few cattle, hogs and chickens, but not 70 head of cattle like Kiser. And Kiser doubts that his sons will take up farming, even part time. His older son is an electrical engineer and both sons would rather spend their spare time playing Legion baseball.
For now, Kiser expects to keep farming because he enjoys it. “I like always having something to do,” he says.
Robert Cloninger: Holy Cow and ‘It’s a beautiful thing’
Cloninger comes from a long line of farmers. He lives north of Gastonia on Cloninger Road, where his great-grandfather farmed and many extended family members follow in the tradition. When Cloninger graduated from college in 2005, he bought his first cow. He still owns her. When asked if the cow has a name, he chuckles. After some cajoling, he finally reveals her name: Holy Cow.
Cloninger has had as many as 40 cattle, but that kept him too busy. Now he has 20 “mama cows” on 50 acres of hay and pastureland. By day, he is the City’s stormwater utility administrator. During an additional 30 hours a week, he raises cattle on his farm. The breed is a Gelbvieh-Angus cross, which he says is larger and meatier than traditional Angus.
He plays midwife when 18 to 20 calves are born each year, and he sells them at auction. “I do it for pleasure,” Cloninger says of farming. “Watching the calves being born, grow, run around the pasture. It brings me enjoyment.”
Cloninger says farming keeps him focused on what really matters. “You feel closer to life and the circle of life,” he says. “It’s not just the cows. It’s the grass that keeps the cows alive. The water and sun that keeps the grass alive. When you stop and think about it, it’s a beautiful thing.”
But farming is also a lot of work and responsibility. Cloninger, who is single, says his father helps him out. In the end, it’s not about getting rich. “If you want to make a million dollars on cattle, start with $2 million,” he says with a laugh.
Adrian Certain: ‘Helping to feed society’
Electric Field Technician Adrian Certain has farmed since 2004. He currently has 400 acres of soybeans and 350 acres of corn off Dallas-Cherryville 
Highway. In the cooler months, he grows winter wheat. His 20-year old daughter cares for nine laying hens, the closest thing the Certain family has to livestock.
Certain grew up in a farm family and says he “loves watching stuff grow.” He inherited some of the land from his grandmother and leases the rest, currently farming a total of 750 acres of row crops.
During the spring planting season and the fall harvest, Certain says he spends 40 to 50 hours a week in the fields, in addition to his job with Gastonia Electric. His father and neighbors often help during the busiest times.
But even during the growing season, his crops need attention. Certain has to apply herbicides, fungicides and pesticides, and he has to inspect his fields.
Certain’s ability to make money on farming depends on things beyond his control. “It’s frustrating at times, like when it doesn’t rain or prices are low,” he says. Commodity prices have been down this summer because of the nation’s large 2017 soybean harvest and increasing worldwide tension over trade and tariffs.
But the ups and downs of farming are not enough to make him quit. “It’s nice to think I’m helping to feed society,” Certain says. “I really love this.”