The Bad Asses of Farming

“People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real bad asses”  Brene Brown, Rising Strong.   I love this quote.  I just finished this book and I love it!  This quote has got me thinking about all the bas asses I know, especially right now in farming. 

Milk prices are low, crop prices are low, and farmers are facing difficult financial times, yet again.  Seems like we “just” went through a rough patch not that long ago, basically every 3 years.  Traditionally, farmers have generations of history proving their stoic personalities.  During the Great Depression, the Farming Crisis of the 1980’s, every drought or flood, and every time the prices come down there are proud stories about how farmers tightened their boot straps once again and made it through.  As a group, farmers will be proud of how they made it through times like this, but I think they’re missing a key part of their successes.  What about the suffering and failure?  I see it happening more often, but maybe not enough: farmers being honest with themselves and others about how difficult times like now can be.  I’m not even talking about the financial woes or making the hard decisions about what is getting cut out of the budget.  I am referring to the emotional, physical, psychological, and mental stress that happens to these farm families during times like this.  I don’t think enough of us are honest about what other issues come from this intense stress and anxiety.  But to the bad asses that are honest, God bless you! 

I am blessed to have groups of great farming friends where we have a safe place to talk about the stress.  It is in these safe places that the real bad asses of farming are born.  Here, farmers, male and female alike, share their stories about how they worry.   Will they have enough money to take care of their families?  Will they have enough money to pay their employees fairly? Which employees will they have to lay-off in order to keep afloat and how will those employees’ families handle that?  Can they handle the financial stress of another expensive repair bill on a critical piece of equipment (tractor, mixer, etc.)?  How far will they fall behind on their farm payments?  They are forced to work harder and longer: who will suffer more their spouse or their children?  Can they find time to take care of themselves?  How will they find time to stay active or eat health meals?  Can they even talk to their non-farm friends about how they feel right now?  Will we continue to have a place to sell our milk and crops to?  What if consumers ask more from me and I can’t afford to make those changes? Can I pass my farm onto my sons or daughters, and if I can do I even want to?

These are heavy topics, with real and intense emotions.  Low prices are so much more than financial issues.  Low prices are just the start of a lot real problems that farm families face.  To the bad asses I know right now that are digging deep and being honest about how they feel: YOU ROCK!  God bless you for sharing your struggles and fears with us, with the consumer, and with yourselves.  You are showing so much courage in your vulnerability!  To those of you too scared to talk about it, please find a trusted friend or peer that you can vent to.  It is not healthy to keep this stuff in.  Be a bad ass and talk about your struggles and fears.  We might not be able to fix our pricing issues just yet, but we can at least know we don’t have to wade through these murky waters alone.  Stand tall! I’m cheering for you!    

An Occupation of Faith

Spring time rains are here!  We’ve been pretty dry here in Southern Minnesota, so much so that they put us in a “Moderate Drought” category.  Last week strong winds were blowing top soil everywhere, but this morning I awoke to the gentle sounds of rain drops hitting my window pane.  Praise be to God!  I know there are lots of happy farmers, because their prayers are being answered.  Weather is something no farmer has control over and they are at complete mercy to it.  Because of this, I believe in order to farm you have to have a deep sense of a higher calling or a higher power.  Farming is an occupation of faith. 

So often farmers place their hope and trust in something bigger than themselves.  Farmers have faith; it is a requirement.  They have faith that there is a plan, that God will provide, that if they do their best on Earth to be care takers of the land, water and animals, that they will be rewarded.  Sometimes though, life doesn’t as planned.  Sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate.  Sometimes the cards that farmers get dealt make no sense.  But at the end of the day, farmers are resilient, they know their calling, and they have faith that they will be able to try again; they keep trying again. “Maybe we’ll get it right next time or next season.”

In my heart, I am a farmer, I have faith.  I know my calling in life and I trust in God’s plan.  I am so blessed to have grown up on a farm, to have first-hand knowledge and experience in God’s glory.  I have seen my parents struggle through difficult times in farming history, wondering if we would have money to feed our family or pay the bills, but they never lost faith.  They have been great examples of resilience and the important of dedication and passion.  But when you boil everything that they went through to keep on farming, it came down to having faith, and I have faith in God’s plan for me and my farming future!

Celebrating National Ag Day!

We sincerely hope that you take some time today to celebrate National Ag Day!  Please join us in celebrating the agriculture industry that makes our country great and our food choices so rich and bountiful! 

How wonderful it is that we can go to the grocery store, and for a mininum percent of our wages, be able to purchase so many different types of fruits, vegetables, grains, meats and of course dairy foods! 

How wonderful is it that we are so blessed in our country to have choices as to how our food is raised, produced and cared for!

How great is it that we can purchase our foods knowing that 97% of all farms in our country are family owned and operated.  Families that also feed their own children what they raise!

How awesome is it that we can purchase food at the grocery store and know that it was inspected, tested and checked for quality before it even reached the shelves!

How amazing is it that our farmers each have a choice as to how they raise and produce food, but they know that those choices need to be made for the generations of farmers yet to come!

How awesome is it that we have the use of technology, which is abling farmers to use their resources of land and water even more wisely when they grow food!

How great is it to know that farmers, such as ourselves and many others, are still willing to work tirelessly to care for livestock in all weather conditions, raising healthy animals with the utmost respect for them!

How generous are our farmers, to often be the leaders in our communities and organizations in feeding the poor and starving of our own country and others!

How GREAT is Agriculture???  You ate today, right??? Help us celebrate an industry which helps feed the world!  http://dairygood.org/

So Why's your farm called Orange Patch Dairy???

After writing this blog since 2009, I realized I have never posted about why we call our farm "Orange Patch Dairy"...interesting, since that's a really good story....so here we go....

My husband Jon, who I have had the good fortune of knowing my ENTIRE life (yeah we've known each other since we were toddlers!) shares my passion and love of dairy cows and farming.  In addition to his love of dairying, he also loves his orange colored tractors (Allis Chalmers, Agco Allis, Agco, etc) and his sliver combines (Gleaners).  When we married, I not only married  him, but his vast collection of orange and silver toys, magazines, caps, advertisements, catalogs, parts, and clothing.  He's been literally obsessed with orange since birth.  You see, his Grandpa has been farming with orange since the day he started farming, and that's impressive since he was raised on a green farm (John Deere).  Jon's Dad continued that legacy with the purchase of a couple more orange tractors, making our farm the home to 12 very special and very used orange machines.  There is also a silver combine in the machine shed!  Farmers in the neighborhood, who chose to drive green or red tractors, often joked about the "pumpkin patch" down the road, with all of the orange (pumpkin) tractors.  My in laws ignored their jokes, they drove dependable tractors that just happened to be different than everyone else.

So when Jon was just starting FFA in high school, and needed to have a name for his herd of dairy cows, the choice seemed perfectly clear for him: Orange Patch Dairy, and the name just stuck.  Because you see, our farm is not home to a Pumpkin Patch, but home to 12 orange tractors, although gaining in years, still loved and care for each day.  So our farm name highlights the fact that we chose to be different, unique and special.....and why not!?!  Someone has to be a trend setter ;) 

So there you go....why we are called Orange Patch Dairy

Kids Ask, I Tell, Part 3...final installment!

I saved my favorite question for last!

5. Girls can't drive tractors?!?!  Can they?!?!? (as I was jumping up onto our AC 6080 to pull our hay ride to the calf farm)

Haha! This one made me laugh, I get it every year!  There's always one little boy or girl who has grown up with the notion that only men are farmers, that they should be wearing bibs and flannel, and walk around with a piece of straw in their mouths, but guess what?!?!?  Women can drive those darn tractors too!  I have many friends (females) that are hard working farmers.  They no longer fall under the discription of "farm wife", staying in the house, making meals, tending the gardens, and feeding the calves.  Farm women for the past few decades have been moving out of the kitchens and gardens and into the offices of large dairies, the parlors, the fields, and yes, even the tractor cabs.  It's empowering to see women taking charge of their family businesses and making decisions.  So, yes...Girls can drive tractors too!

This is going to busy weekend, so if I am not around much, I apologize, we are prepping to get cutting alfalfa and we are also working so that Jon can do his hobby (playing drums in a local rock band!).  I hope to have pictures and video of both to share!

Small Farms vs. Large Farms~Labor & Family Time

Often times I hear people talking about small farms vs. large farms, or family farms vs. corporate farms. I think it is funny that people think that there is a distinction between the two.  In fact 99% of all farms are family owned.  In the dairy indsutry a small farm is categorized as any farm with "less than 300 milking cows".  Imagine that!  Everyone of the farms in our county is a "small farm", but I would bet that if you drive by our farm or others you might think to yourselves that we operate a "large farm".  I also find it interesting that large farms are thought of as having poor management, unhealthy animals and bad milk, but I know so MANY large farms with a high standard of excellence.  But I should get back to my main point.....labor issues and family time on a "small farm".

Jonathan and I operate a "family farm" that is "small", and ALL of our labor is family labor.  We currently have no employees, but hire neighbors to help us on the weekends when they don't have to go to work, when we have a wedding or want some time off.  This puts us in a tight spot when something happens during the week, which was what I was thinking about tonight as I hosed down the milking parlor.  I wished that we had an employee or 2 tonight.  This past Saturday, Jon's grandfather from Southeast Minnesota passed away, and the funeral was planned for Tuesday.  We would have both liked to attend the funeral, but since we are the ONLY employees at our farm and those cows need to be fed and milked each day, I volunteered to stay home and "man the fort".  I am in charge of milking for tonight and tomorrow morning as well as heifer chores and feeding calves.  I am comfortable with working solo, but it's nice to have Jon around to help.  We have an awesome neighbor that is coming over to feed the cows for me~I am not a big fan of mixing TMR in the mud.  If we had a larger farm we would have employee that would be trained and dependable.  They would have been able to fill in for me in my absence.  Other times during the year, we would be able to have time off for other family events as well.  Often times, families decide to milk more cows so they can afford to hire employees or in some case install robots to milk their cows.  But in either instance, its about making sure that the care of the cows comes first, so the care of the family can be increased. 

I can honestly say that I am looking forward to have an employee or 2....making them part of our "dairy farming family".

Celebrating Ag Week!

This week we celebrate National Ag Week and Ag Day! This week focuses on celebrating the great industry in our nation that supplies us an affordable and safe food supply. If you had a meal today, you should probably thank the farmers that made it possible. Everyone from the corn and soybean growers, cow milkers, beef ranchers, fruit and vegetable producers, pork farmers, and poultry farmers had a hand in making your dinner, supper, lunch and breakfast a wholesome, nutritious and safe meal.

At Orange Patch Dairy we focus on making safe, wholesome products everyday. We eat and share those products (cheese and milk) with others. I know that I am truly grateful for the great farmers that we have had in the past. Farmers like my grandfathers and my husband's grandfathers who worked tirelessly starting their farmsteads, to be handed onto the next generations. I am also thankful for the next generation of farmers who are starting now. The times and seasons that a young starting farm face right now are sometimes unimaginable to the generations of past. As young farmers, we have faced some of the worst years in agriculture, only in the past 5 years. Our drive and determination to continue in the great occupation that our grandparents did helps us to push on to better times and greater success. I am truly thankful for my fellow young farmers-thank you for your strength, determination, inspiration, and support! I know that if we can make it through these hard times, the years that come will be all the more fruitful for ourselves and for all people who eat.

Happy Ag Week-Thank a Farmer!!!!