Winter's Last Hurrah

With the end of February and the turning of the calendar, we all have that 

hope and realization that spring is just around the corner.

However, March seldom gives up those last winter weather days.

As I faced the north wind and blowing snow this morning, I

was pretty sure that Winter was shouting its last hurrah and 

probably having a good laugh!

Fluctuating temperatures like we have experienced this month

are very stressful for the calves and often bring illness

such as pneumonia and scours. 

Providing  blankets to keep them warm, providing

warm milk twice daily, bedding the hutches with straw 

 or shavings and monitoring each calf  closely is 

 our everyday farmer job.

These jonquil blooms earlier this week

were just a little bit early for real spring

                               

                                  but they did confirm the hope and promise of  spring is real!

                                                                      

Impact of Women in Agriculture

During Women's History Month, I often think about the

impact of   women working in agriculture. 

My late mother-in-law definitely made an impact

on my life and provided a great appreciation for living

down on the dairy farm.

The barn you see behind this row of calves was the

milking barn on our farm during World War II.

Ryan's mother, Bonnah Lyn, milked cows every day while 

waiting on Bill, my father-in-law, to return

from Japan. 

Bonnah Lyn kept the home fires burning as 

she worked beside her father everyday caring for

livestock and helping with the apple orchard.

 Bonnah, in her own stubborn way, was progressive.

She never liked change but she was always 

striving to improve the farming operation.

In the early fifties after moving down the 

road from where she was born,

this barn provided a larger area for milking,

 hay storage and a shelter for other livestock.

Raising chickens was added for diversification.

One of her greatest accomplishments in her view was 

raising a son. In her words," the best crop I ever grew."

I fully understand and agree with her  as I work with her

 son and grandsons everyday down on the dairy farm.

                                    May we never forget the sacrifices made by those before

                                    us to make a  better life for the next generation. 

                                     Women's History Month reminds me that  our

                                           challenge  is to continue that tradition!

Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

Sunday was truly a snow day--

it snowed all day long. It has been 

 a very long time since we have experienced a snow day

 and like  many of our friends and neighbors,

it seemed a welcome change in our daily lives that 

have been impacted by all the changes brought to us during this pandemic.

 A snow is much more welcome

than freezing rain or inches of ice that can be hazardous

to the cows walking  and  for the farmers  trying to care for them.

It's always our daily job to make sure that the cows and

calves have plenty of feed and water to meet their 

nutritional needs. Colder temperatures with a blanket of

snow made the day's work even more important 

to make sure plenty of calories were provided for 

the stress of increased cold weather conditions.

Most of the calves were eager to drink their warm milk 

                                            but   a few needed a little coaxing to enter out into 

                                              their first   experience  with  six inches of snow.

                                       

                                I'm thankful for the refreshed feeling brought with  this first

                                 snow of the season, for the magical landscape created by snow,

                                              and the reminder of how God blesses us

with the beauty provided in nature  down on the dairy farm.

Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

It's June Dairy Month!

Hope you have been eating all the dairy foods you can!

We appreciate all the ways you and your families 

support us.

Down on the dairy farm, the calves celebrate

everyday with milk in the morning and evening.

Just like us humans, calves and cows must have

good nutritious food for growth and development.

Grain, a mixture of sweet corn that is pelleted,  

is added to their diet gradually to meet their nutritional needs.

Providing good nutrition and monitoring the growth and 

development of our calves is how we insure that we will

have healthy cows to produce milk.

As you can see, between the lines of barbwire, 

these beauties in the pasture will soon be

having calves and entering the milking herd.

Growing the milking herd is approximately a three

year project of love and dedication.

I'm thankful that even in tough times we can  

celebrate all that we love and care for each day.

We are blessed.

Happy June Dairy Month!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

I've been to Baker Elementary for many different volunteer programs but

this time I was a speaker for Career Day.

Actually, I found out, I was the first farmer that had ever come to 

their Career Day event. Needless to say, I felt pretty special.

It's not every student that is invited back to where their school career began!

I'm thankful for modern technology that allowed me to 

carry our farm from classroom to classroom on a power point

showing  what we do everyday

 to care for our animals and the land we call home

and produce the milk they enjoy everyday at school or home.

                                       Many thanks to our dedicated teachers and counselors
                                      providing experiences like Career Day for every student.
                                       

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

It was  a date with the farmer...

the Sunday afternoon crop check.

Our date time was spent driving 

to different fields that are growing the crops 

our dairy cows will be enjoying this fall and winter.

With so little rain in the days after planting the crops,

we were happy to see this field of healthy hay-grazer 

that will be baled and wrapped in a few short weeks.

As Ryan walked through the middle of the field checking 

for bugs that might be grazing on the crop,

 my thoughts turned to the unique life we lead.

It's not  everyone  that  goes on a bug finding date!

                                             
                                             I'm thankful for the rain that we have received
                                                in the last two weeks to save our crops and
                                         for the farmer with unwavering faith and optimism.
                                             

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Spring harvest of our wheat crop down on the dairy farm  started this week.

It's a process dependent on timing and weather from start to finish.

You want to cut when there's no chance for rain so it can 

have a little drying time after cutting and it stays dry until it is 

chopped,

hauled from the field to the silo,

and packed  into the pit silo.

                                       I'm thankful for the great weather we've had this week
                                       and for the good wheat crop that our  dairy cows will enjoy
                                                                   through the summer.

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Harvesting any crop can be challenging  but it seemed totally unfair 

with six or seven loads of silage  left in the field that we had a mechanical 

failure that caused a halt to finishing the job.  

Of course the entire chopper head had to be dismantled to 

find the one broken bolt that created all the problems. 

It was definitely a day of celebration when all the parts were 

back on the chopper and it made it's return journey to the field.

I'm thankful for the working relationship between brothers 

and father to keep the wheels rolling everyday down on the dairy farm.

                            I know just what Paul Harvey meant when he wrote that poem
                                                          "So God Made a Farmer."

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Harvesting any crop can be challenging  but it seemed totally unfair 

with six or seven loads of silage  left in the field that we had a mechanical 

failure that caused a halt to finishing the job.  

Of course the entire chopper head had to be dismantled to 

find the one broken bolt that created all the problems. 

It was definitely a day of celebration when all the parts were 

back on the chopper and it made it's return journey to the field.

I'm thankful for the working relationship between brothers 

and father to keep the wheels rolling everyday down on the dairy farm.

                               I know just what Paul Harvey meant when he wrote that poem
                                                          "So God Made a Farmer."

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

     National Ag Day celebrates the fact that American agriculture is doing more and doing it better.

 I love this picture of my mother-in-law, Bonnah Lyn.  It's a reminder to me of how hard she worked, the sacrifices she made for her family and family farm, and how technology has changed the efficiency of food production.
    I'm thankful for  our agricultural heritage and for the third generation farmer she raised just for me!

Back Porch Makeover

If the back porch of our old farmhouse could talk, I know it would have a lot of stories to tell. My mother-in-law  was born and raised in this house and  told me a few of those childhood stories of how they would eat on the porch in the summer before the days of air-conditioning or used it for  overflow dining  when company came to visit.
 
Today the back porch of our 92 year old  farm house is not only the walk through to inside the house, it's also the storage place for items that Farmer-Husband   might need occasionally  but must keep it on the back porch  to be sure it's handy, a dozen  raincoats for four people, and an assortment of boots and shoes for every occasion and event on the dairy farm.

The planned porch  make-over  happened this week. My Mother and I marked our calendars for this special project--she's my partner in crime on projects like this! It's not that it's such a big space but the fact that there was so much stuff to move and so much dirt to clean out before we could start the project!

Here's how  the steps of the project went:

• First step was to  wait till Farmer-Husband left town for three days. This  first step allowed me to move everything with out listening to any complaining about moving the stuff that might be used.
• Second step was moving everything out to another space which actually required  a move of more of Farmer-Husband's stuff without his permission. Good reason for step number one.
• Third step was back-breaking , knee bruising scrubbing to prepare for the woodwork and floor  painting.
• Fourth Step was to paint and allow plenty of drying time and keep the porch off limits for an extra day for drying.

 

 

 The back porch is now  clean , shiny and clutter free!

 I'm still hearing a little grumbling from the Farmer-Husband about where I've moved  his stuff, but it's worth it when I look at   the improvement to our old farmhouse from the back porch makeover!

May's Farm Fun

For the last seven or eight years, the Benton County Farm Bureau Women's Committee has sponsored an elementary school  program in May  titled "Farm Expo". With the help of  volunteers from Arkansas Farm Bureau and the Arkansas Beef Council, we're able to provide hands-on fun with  information about Arkansas agriculture and how farmers provide safe food while protecting the environment.

 

Friday morning we shared Farm Expo with Bonnie Grimes Elementary third graders.

 

Students learned about...

cotton,

 

food safety,

 

poultry,

water,

 

chicks,

 

soil,

rice,

 

dairy,

                                                                                and beef.

                                         I'm sure the students had as much fun as the volunteers!

Dairymom's Duck Tape Tool

How many ways can you use Duck Tape? I'm pretty sure the number is limitless if you have any imagination! Sponsors of the Arkansas Women Bloggers Conference gave us a treasure bag full of useful and fun products. I was so excited to see that one of those treasures was a new roll of black and white zebra stripe Duck Tape. A farmer can never have too  much Duck Tape and baling wire for those unexpected emergencies!

Actually, Duck Tape is a tool I use every day raising baby calves. As soon as we bring a new calf to the calf raising area, we place it in an individual hutch. Each hutch is marked with a number as part of my record keeping system. After years of trying to keep wooden boards painted and updates with numbers, I decided to try using Duck Tape and a permanent marker for writing numbers. It works perfectly!

 With so many colors of Duck Tape to choose from, it was a hard decision but it seemed obvious that the girls (heifers) should have Funky Flamingo pink and the boys(bulls) would have Island Lime  green.Girls are always pretty in pink--and these calves are no exception!

I haven't decided how I will use my zebra stripe Duck Tape, but I'm sure it will be something useful and fun and it will stay in my dairymom tool box!

Farmer's Favorite Game

Just a few days ago, it rained! Even though it rained only a quarter of an inch on our farm, it was a needed positive reminder that --It Can Rain!  As you can tell, it doesn't take a lot to get us excited when we're in the middle of a severe drought. Although that little bit of rain was just enough to settle the dust, it did give us the courage to play in the dirt and replant a field of sorghum that hopefully will receive another bit of rain to grow feed for our dairy cows.

Drought hasn't changed my role as the bring-it-to-me assistant when planting or other field work is happening on the farm. As I approached the field this afternoon with an extra bag of seed and the air pump for the planter's low tire, all I could see was a cloud of dust. It was the farmer playing in the dirt!

Just as the seed was poured into the planter and the tire aired up, we looked up to see a cloud of dust and the beef cattle jogging across the field. Someone forgot to close the gate  (and it wasn't me)!

 Luckily for us, they were going for the grain that had just been put in the feed bunks and  on to the pond for a cool drink. It made my assistant job much easier to just shut the gate!

Then it was back to the farmer's favorite game---

playing in the dirt and planting a crop!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

We purchased this piece of spray equipment two years ago. With the mechanical help of one of Ryan's childhood friends, last week we used it to spray liquid fertilizer on this field of haygrazer. As I looked across the field watching these friends working together, I felt very blessed and thankful to live and work in a community of lifelong farmer friends.

Beat the Heat

As much as I would like to sit around in the cool air conditioned house and eat ice cream during July, that is simply not a realistic plan when you live on a dairy farm. Facing triple digit temperatures for the next few days and through out the rest of the summer,I decided it would be a good time to read up on ways to prevent heat related illness. Anyone who works outside such as farmers, construction workers, or pool lifeguards, should be cautious as the temperatures rise. The information also pointed out that some people are at greater risk for heat related illness such as: infants and young children,people aged 65 or older, people who have a mental illness and those who are physically ill, especially with heart disease or high blood pressure. Steps to prevent heat stress while working include:

--wear light-colored,loose-fitting,breathable clothing such as cotton.

--gradually build up to heavy work

--schedule heavy work during the coolest parts of day

--take more breaks in extreme heat and humidity; take breaks in the shade or a cool area when

possible

--drink water frequently; drink enough water that you never become thirsty

--avoid drinks with caffeine,alcohol,and large amounts of sugar

--be aware that protective clothing or personal protective equipment may increase the risk of

heat stress; monitor your physical condition and that of coworkers

As I go out to feed calves or work in the garden, I'll be wearing my farmer hat and sunglasses and drinking plenty of water and milk throughout the day. What preventive steps will you take to prevent heat related illness?

A Tribute to the American Farmer

Tucked away in a collection of newspaper clippings and personal memorabilia of my mother-in law's personal keepsakes was this poem about the American farmer. We celebrate the bounty of food in America because of the farmers across our nation. I do not know who wrote this piece but I do know it was clipped from some type of farm magazine. I am sharing this today as a tribute to all farmers and farm families that are working so hard everyday and embracing the challenges to provide food,fiber, and fuel for our citizens.

A Tribute to the American Farmer

I am only a farmer. I know the sun better than anyone. And the soil. And the wind. And the rain. I am the man who works with them. Who lives with them. Who loves them. And who sometimes fears them.

I am only a farmer. I am the sower of seeds. I am the tender of stock. I am the reaper of harvest. I am sweat. And tears. And pride.

I am only a farmer. I am the man the feeds the young. And the old. The weak. And the strong. I am the black earth of Spring. The green hills of Summer. The harvest gold of Autumn. And the cold white stillness of winter.

I am only a farmer. I am warm memories of the past. The steely reality of the present. And a hopeful dream of the future. I am an optimist. A thinker. A watcher. And a doer.

I am only a farmer. I live in a complex world. Made of simple things. And they are my source of joy. And hope. And comfort. I have walked the morning fogs. I have paused for the Summer song of the meadowlark. And I have savored the breeze off freshly cut hay. I have paused, remembering, by the stream I knew as a boy. I have felt the power of a thousand storms. And rejoiced in the fresh world left in their wake.

I am only a farmer. I am an accountant. Chemist. And doctor. I am midwife.And mechanic. I am seller. Trader. And buyer. I am husband. Helper. And partner to my wife. I am father. Friend. Comforter. And teacher to my children.

I am only a farmer. Not a man of riches. But a man of great wealth. I have learned to treasure life. And all things living. To respect their maker. And my own. I am humbled by the earth's bounty. And awed by endless rebirth. I am facinated by the marvelous intricacies of my world. And enriched by their beauty.

I am only a farmer. If a man can be truly free, then I truly am. The day. The week. The month. They have been entrusted to me. They are mine to spend. They are mine to invest. They are mine to use wisely. It is a solitary profession I have chosen. Or,perhaps, that I have been chosen for. A profession where there are no certainties. Where no guarantees are granted. No promises granted. No promises given. No excuses taken. I have but one man to answer to. One man to depend upon. One man to confide in. And in the quiet of the years,I have come to know him well.

I am only a farmer. In perserverance and creativity. And courage.

I am only a farmer. I am confidence. And ingenuity. And intelligence.

I am only a farmer. A seeker of excellence...And I will endure.