Feed Bunk, thats refreshing to see a son staying on,but not the norm anymore (at least in our area).
It's not glamorous anymore to be a farmer,and the kids these days are more interested in "easy money". I know as I have 2 boys,one entering college next yr,and one finishing his 1st yr. I see farm kids going into the medical field,getting teaching degrees,becoming coaches,etc...As my boys grew up their "farm kid" friends were playing nitendo,swiming at the pool,at summer camps, as their dads where busy in the fields. Their kids drive the nicest cars and pickups,are best dressed,and go to the best colleges. In a sense they are the most "preppie" kids in school. Somewhere here is where I think part of the problem lies.
In our area the small farms are almost gone. The big farms just keep getting bigger. Maybe as some of these older generation farmers where so busy building their empires,they didn't take the time to "pass it on". And the sons of the small farms seen their fathers struggle to stay afloat,and wanted no part of it. Two of the biggest farmers in our area did have their college boys come back to run the empires. It was handed to them on a silver platter. Although they do have the good business skills to manage,the hands on skills have been lost. Dealers have to go out and setup equipment for them,shoot our salesman have to setup their planters all the time. These kids drive around in $50K pickups with cellphones attatched to their ears,as their hired hands are doing the work. Not saying this is wrong,just the norm now. They don't need the "hands on" skills anymore. They just need to know who to call or hire that does.
So, in a sense that does make the labor too expensive to mod things in the shop,as it takes skilled labor to do so. It isn't free labor anymore doing it yourself during the winter months or rainy spells. This will make the service side of farming more and more expensive,as there are fewer and fewer of us with the skills. Eventually if you want that type of work done,it'll cost ya.
Now don't get me wrong young farmers out there. I know it's not all like this,just a trend I see as farming is turning into big business. Times have changed....