Sorry to be the one to tell you, but your buddy that is milking 3000 head and growing crops on 4000 acres is on the USDA tit big time. Check the EWG Farm Subsidy Database. You may have to dig a little in case there are separate corporations under his control but it is there to be found. Check the county for all names and entities getting government tittie.
He works 7 days a week, 10-12 hrs a day. Operating within the system and its rules. He didn’t create the game, just playing it.
You wouldn’t last a day in his shoes.
That may not be true, I keep the same schedule. Ain't no way I'm getting tied to a dairy, poultry, or hog farm though. Or hiring a bunch of Mexicans even though I like Mexicans and have some in the family. I saw my own trees, fix my own fence, work my own cows, and use my own money except the little bit of USDA tit I suck on every now and then. Check him out, he's hitting the government welfare.
