Start of Spring

You know it is spring when you see the tractors rolling on the road and in the fields. The cows are being moved to their pasture for the summer and they are starting to lose their winter coats. I went strolling around the farm today to take in some of this springness.

Our tractors have been rolling right along with those of our neighbors. My husband has been working long hours this last week in an effort to take full advantage of the dry weather. Last year we had only a short window of weather that allowed us to plant. Unfortuantely, he had to haul manure that week and thus we didn't get all our acres planted until June. Entirely too late. This year God has been good to us. We already have one farm planted (60 acres of corn), even though we still had to harvest about 20 acres of corn there, and the manure is hauled here at home. Hopefully we will be done planting early this next week. As my husband says, "that is the goal, anyway." If he meets his goal, this will be the earliest he has been finished planting since we got married six years ago. Perhaps more than any other profession weather is a major player in getting your work done.

Here is a picture of the calves we have out on pasture so far. You might notice that there is lush green grass right behind them. They, however, prefer to lay in the dirt. Much like kids I guess.

Caring

I was reading a newspaper article yesterday about the poultry industry, which I know very little about but feel a certain kinship to as they are in the business of animal agriculture too. It reminded me of things in the dairy industry that are under close scutiny right now, like tail-docking and de-horning. Tail-docking is where part of the cow's tail is removed to promote cleanliness and safety for the cow and those who work with her. De-horning is the removal of the cow's horns also done for the safety of all the cows and those who work with them.


More troubling to me than whether these practices are continued is the idea that farmers don't care about their animals. This is not true. Farmers do care about their animals. I have heard many tell about "tearing up" when they had to put their favorite cow down or sell her for slaughter. They grow attached. They care. Most farmers do their best to care for the animals on their farms in the best way possible. This looks different on every farm, but healthy, content cows are what we strive for. In a purely economical sense, uncomfortable cows don't produce as much milk so why would we want to make them uncomfortable? Not to mention that caring for them to the best of our ability is just the right thing to do.

We do our best to make sure that our cows are healthy and comfortable. All the people in dairy I have met do the same. Most are not like the video exposes we see on the news, but are honest, hardworking farmers trying to provide their family with a quality life and their customers with a quality product.