Generations that came before Me



Doing calf chores on my family's farm.

I had the pleasure of milking cows with my dad last night.  I took advantage of the situation and asked him about his memories of his dad and grandfather.  He started sharing stories from the past. The stories that are so awesome that you hope you can remember them forever.  While dad was talking about his family, I asked him what his grandfather, my great grandfather, would think about the happenings at the farm (new parlor being constructed).  My dad smiled with a big grin, “I think he would be proud.  I think he would say to me, ‘That’a boy! Way to go!’” I smiled.  I know dad would be right but what I didn’t expect was the reason dad thought his grandfather would be proud.  My dad smiled again, “Your great grandfather would be proud because we are still working and milking cows, in fact almost 130 cows in the original barn that he built when he started farming here years ago.”  It was the idea that we were still using something that my great grandfather built and that through the generations has become a legacy of farming for my niece and nephew.  I couldn’t help but smile and be proud also.  It has been such a blessing to be the collection of the generations that came before me: the ideas and dreams that they had, the hard work that they did, and everything that they strived for.  If it wasn’t for certain decisions at a certain times by these ancestors, I might not be who I am today doing what I am doing.

A path was laid out for me before I was born, this I know and I have complete faith in.  A perfect example of this path is when my father was a graduate from high school.  My grandfather asked him what he wanted to do with this farming career, there was no doubt my dad was coming home to farm it was just a matter of what was he going to raise and grow.  My grandfather had a variety of crops: corn, soybeans, oats, wheat, alfalfa and he even grew peas for the local canning factory.  My grandfather also raised dairy cows, beef steers, hogs and in his younger years, horses.  When my dad was a senior in high school my grandfather was moving towards having only pigs and beef cattle.  He had built a hog barn and he was breeding his Holstein milking cows to Herefords, starting his beef herd and transitioning out of dairy.  When my dad was faced with the question of what he was going to raise, he couldn’t get himself to have a farm without dairy cows.  My dad and my grandfather went on a shopping trip for Holstein heifers which resulted in a replenishing of the dairy herd as well as breeding all of the dairy cows back to Holstein bulls.  If dad had not made the choice to have dairy cows on our farm, my siblings and I would not have had the opportunities that we had growing up.  Sure, we would have had beef cows and pigs, as well as crops, but there is something special about dairy cows, something special in all of our hearts.  Without dairy I would have never had the opportunity to show cows for 4-H or be a finalist for Princess Kay and have my head carved in butter at the Minnesota State Fair.  Perhaps I wouldn’t have gone to college for dairy production, had the opportunity to operate a family farm or work in a career where I am able to help other dairy farmers.  Based on that single choice that my dad made, because he wasn’t ready to have a farm without dairy cows, I am who I am.  I am the collections of all the generations that came before me and that is just cool!  It’s this very reason that I enjoying spending a little time asking my dad these questions and learning more about those who came before me.  I have so much to learn from them. 

Advent and the Year of Mercy

In the holiday spirit I thought I would post a blog about what I truly believe the holidays are about, and conveniently it also works to post about the celebration of the Year of Mercy.  Pope Francis celebrated the start of the Year of Mercy yesterday, a perfect platform for the holidays to discuss what Christmas is really about.  Advent is a time of renewal and preparation; it is a time for growth, but when you combine it with the Year of Mercy it truly amplifies the opportunity for growth.  So what is mercy all about and why should we care?  Mercy is more than forgiveness and thankfulness, it is putting grace into action.  So what are some things that we can all do in this season of advent to help perpetuate mercy?

As a child growing up I remember the importance of going to the sacrament of reconciliation during advent.  This was part of the process of getting ready for the coming of Christ at Christmas, but I would challenge you to go one step further.  Have we asked for forgiveness from those we have wronged?  Have we asked for forgiveness for the pain we have caused others?  Have we given forgiveness to those who have wronged us, even though they have never asked for forgiveness?  It is a very humbling experience to go to those that you have wronged and ask for forgiveness, especially when you know you don’t deserve it, but it is also completely liberating.  Even if we never receive forgiveness from those we have caused pain, just the action of coming to them and asking for forgiveness alone can free us from the suffering that comes with sin.  Mercy takes forgiveness one step beyond the confessional.  How often we hear stories of people who have been called to forgive those who have murdered, raped, threatened, assaulted, or harassed?  Somehow these special people find strength in the vulnerability of forgiveness to do the unthinkable, to forgive those that don’t deserve forgiveness.  These inspirational people go on to live life liberated from that suffering.  Are there people in your life that you need to forgive that don’t deserve forgiveness?  Who are we to decide who deserves forgiveness and who doesn’t?  This is where real mercy comes into play, forgive those who don’t deserve it, love those who are unlovable, be Christ in our world.

Perhaps forgiveness at this level is too big of a step, then start small.  Donate money, toys, food or clothes to a local charity to help them during this holiday rush.  How about taking the time to visit with an elderly neighbor that doesn’t have a family during the holidays to visit them?  Have you taken some time to visit with coworkers or employees outside of work, and shown them appreciation for all that they do?   Have you considered making a meal for a family that just welcomed a new baby?  I’m sure a little bit of relief would be gladly appreciated, or even a free night of babysitting so friends can have a special date night.  Have you taken the time to be kind and show appreciation to your spouse and children?  When was the last time you talked to a good friend and just listened to them talk about their joys and stresses?  What about the family member that lives far from home, when was the last time you talked to them?  During the busyness of the holidays, I really encourage you to stop and take a little inventory.  Where can we show mercy to others, to be kind, to be love?  Where can you make life better for someone else, because it is in giving of ourselves that we become truly blessed!  Happy Advent to everyone!

Thanksgiving Wisdom: Finding Gratitude

As we move into the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, I pray that everyone who reads this is able to truly find gratitude and thankfulness in their lives.  Maybe it is a consequence of growing older or maybe it is just the realization that there is more to life than “stuff” and “things” but with each passing year I find myself increasing my sense of gratitude for all that I have been blessed with.  It isn’t the “stuff” or the “things” that I am grateful for, it is the opportunities and the relationships that God has blessed me with.  Even in the hardest days or in the simplest moments, there are moments of gratitude.  I started a gratitude journal a couple years ago when I was going through a hard and painful time in my life.  At the end of each day I would write down at least 3 things that I was grateful for during that day.   I have continued this journal and write almost every night.  I was recently at a women’s conference where one of the keynote speakers, Laura Daniels of Heartwood Farm, spoke about the importance of keeping a gratitude journal, especially to keep us grounded in our crazy hectic lives.  How right Laura was!  That gratitude journal helps me focus on the joys in my life rather than dwelling on the sorrows as well as an increasing sense of happiness for life itself.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving and gratitude I would like to share some of those gratitude moments for the Thanksgiving Holiday:

·       I am so grateful to live in a country where we have dedicated servicemen and women who sacrifice their lives for my freedoms; I will forever be grateful for their service, God bless them all!

·       I am grateful to live in a country where I am free to practice the religion of my choosing; a freedom a hope to never take for granted by continuing to develop my faith in God.

·       I am so grateful for a government that while it is dysfunctional at times, does provide leadership and democracy for our nation when so many other countries live in oppression.

·       I am grateful to have family and friends that are near and dear to me; that have been there for me in my darkest days and shared in my brightest joys.  These people are irreplaceable and I know God has blessed me with them for a reason.

·       I am grateful for a career in agriculture which allows me to work with some of the best people in the world, those who would give you the shirt off their backs and invite you to supper.  Farmers are some of the most humble, honest, and caring people and I pray for all of them. 

·       I am grateful to be me, with all of the wisdom and knowledge that I have acquired in my few short years and I pray that I have the ability to be open to whatever may come my way in the years to come.  I pray that I will be open to new opportunities, have the courage to take risks and the strength to pursue my dreams with love.

·       I am grateful to have grown up on a dairy farm where I was taught values and morals that have helped me to be the best person that I can be, caring about my community and environment.  I am truly grateful for all of the times this farm offered me the opportunity to show love to people, to animals and to the land.

My father shared some precious wisdom growing up.  On Thanksgiving, many years ago, we worked as a family to get milking and chores done as quickly as possible so we could enjoy a huge family meal, made by my mother, with my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.  After a few hours we had to leave our company and return to the barn for milking and chores, which we also did as a family.   As we walked out to the dairy barn I will always remember the words my father said: “I am thankful to be able to go to the barn and do chores at the end of Thanksgiving Day!  How else can you work off all of those calories and still have room for another piece of pie?”  I sure do love my father!  Thanksgiving Blessings to All!

Disappointed in Subway; Caving into Fear

Subway announced today that it will serve meat without antibiotics in its restaurants.  As a loyal Subway customer, this crushes me.  Here's a little secret: all meat is antibiotic free.  I feel very passionately that Subway made a rushed choice that fed into fear tactics from radical minority groups rather than searching for the facts about the farmers that raise their food.  Moving to antibiotic free is nothing more than a marketing ploy to raise prices and draw consumers through the door under false pretenses.  Ask farmers about what they are doing on their farms and you will quickly learn how ridiculous these claims of antibiotic abuse are.  Advocate Ryan Goodman does an excellent job in his blog to give resources and information to better tackle this topic but I really feel that I need to share my personal experience about this issue as well as a snap shot into the possible outcomes of fully removing antibiotics from farmers' toolboxes.

I have been blessed with experience in several facets of animal agriculture.  First as the daughter of a dairy and pork producer.  Yes my dad raised milk cows (sold milk and beef) as well as raised pigs.  I learned at a very early age that prevention was the key to disease control.  My dad worked hard to make sure his animals were in clean environments, under minimal stress, and vaccinated.  Antibiotics were a measure of last resort when animals became ill.  In fact, I seldom remember dad using medication in the feeds for our pigs.  Even today my dad will try several other methods of health care before using antibiotics.  Antibiotics are expensive, especially when prevention is the best choice.  Even 25+ years ago my dad was worried about antibiotics in the food supply.  I remember him dumping milk from cows that were treated and holding pigs back from sale until they were healthy.  You see, farmers have an intense pride in the animals that they raise, they only want the best for their consumers and their families (yes we ate meat from the animals on our farm). 

In college I worked on the campus swine research farm.  During my 3 years we did many experiments for graduate and PhD students involving feed medication and using organic or natural options to help pigs stay healthy.  The take home message from those experiments was that antibiotics will always be a method of last resort for farmers.  They are expensive and they need to be carefully used with the strict advisement of a veterinarian.  The natural and organic additives, such as oregano and garlic did yield some positive results as well, which helped open my eyes to the fact that we can learn much from our organic farmer friends.  There are other alternatives to help improve animal well being, and sometimes it is as simple as a good environment and good care. 

After graduation I worked at a local feedmill which sold feed to livestock farms ranging in size and scale, raising everything: sheep, beef, dairy, swine, goats, chickens, turkeys, and even llamas.   At that time we were beginning to see the start of increased regulations for feed additive antibiotics (2005-2009).  I remember the paperwork required to give feed grade antibiotics to a group of pigs or cattle.  The veterinarian needed to sign off on the medication with the reason it was being given.  At the mill we needed to keep samples of all feed manufactured and equipment used to mix and make treated feed needed to be flushed clean before being used to make untreated feed.  Every day we did a detailed inventory of all medication at our mill, documenting how much was used, when it was delivered, what truck delivered it, and where it was delivered to.  Every year the list of medications that we could use became shorter and shorter, as the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) removed them.  Each year farmers lost tools in their tool boxes.  Feed additive antibiotics needed to be removed from the feed weeks and sometimes months before animals could be sold for meat.  Why would these farmers use feed grade antibiotics?  The answer is easy when you have an illness going through a population of animals.  It becomes easier to treat the whole herd via feed rather than stick each animal with a needle every day, and it's definitely easier than watching the animals die needlessly.  Truth be told, our organic farmers also used antibiotics, but that was the method of last resort, and obviously those animals were sold in non-organic markets.  But when it comes to humane animal care, even organic producers know that they might need to treat an animal, for the animal's best interests.

Finally, as a dairy farmer I have first hand experience every day working with dairy cows whose milk is sold and the occasional cow is sold to be beef.  All milk is antibiotic free.  Do you know what happens if we treat a cow with antibiotics?  We dump that milk for days, sometimes weeks; if it's not perfect we pitch it!  The cow's milk never reaches the tank until she has been tested for antibiotics.  We take antibiotics so seriously on dairies that we test every tank, tanker, and silo of milk.  Yes, we do sell cows for meat and guess what?  We take our meat sales just as seriously.  We usually go above and beyond the regulations to make sure our cows are antibiotic free when sold for meat.  Often we keep cows up to 3 months past their last treatment of antibiotics, first to ensure they are in good health, secondly to make sure they produce high quality beef and thirdly to ensure for a fact they are free of antibiotics.  We are terrified of getting caught selling a positive cow, so much so that we test urine on cows (antibiotics can be detected just like a drug test at work!).  Food safety is on the forefront of our goals. 

Antibiotics are a tool on our farms, but a tool to help ill animals heal and recover.  Prevention has always been a priority for farmers, but to remove antibiotics from our arsenals would put us in a very difficult position.  As consumers continue to buy into the fear, I am very concerned livestock producers will lose a tool and be forced to watch animals die from simple illnesses which a couple days on antibiotics could have saved.  Livestock farmers don't take dead animals lightly.  I can confess to crying on numerous occasions when I lost a cow or calf.  We take our jobs very seriously.  Please, get the facts from farmers before buying into the fear.  It's in everyone's best interests to keep diversified tools to help farmers achieve the best practices possible for their animals.  Meat has always been antibiotic free, and it always will be. 

Removing "I can't" from my Vocabulary

A friend of mine were catching up this week and it was cause for reflection.  As I was discussing the accolades of my job this week I had a "pinch me" moment where I couldn't hardly believe what I have been involved in.  When I was hired, my job was specifically as a specialist to help advise dairy farmers in area of milk quality (making milk even better than it already is and improving cow comfort).  What changed recently was that I found myself working more as a team player.  Instead of doing the usual parlor visits and farm evaluations I am now assisting in construction and all that comes with the start and completion of construction.  My dairy farming background and team player attitude makes me willing to jump in when needed.  Some days I am just a helper or a grunt woman, other days I have been the site manager with a group of co-workers.  Today I was an advisor, providing my expertise on important layout decisions for 2 different projects.  Yesterday I was a welder, but I have never welded until this week.  We have worked hard to install plumbing, in floor heating, parlor structures, mount posts, install fencing, and building structure for pouring concrete.

I turned a personal "I can't" into a "I can". In fact I have turned several "I can't"s into "I can and I will".  A little over a year ago I made a personal promise to myself to start eliminating "I can't" from my vocabulary.  Wow what a change that made in my life!  I have been a fairly confident woman for most of my life but there are so many moments when I froze because of fear and walked away from a possible great opportunity.  Fear is crippling.  Fear steals your joy.  Fear is a wall to hide behind, preventing yourself from being vulnerable.  It was during this time of reflection this week that I realized how much my life had changed both personally and professionally.  I have always operated with a commitment to do my best no matter what.  I have strived for excellence and fallen far from the goal.  But in so much of life it is better to have tried and failed than never tried at all.    I have a new found passion for life and all that I have been able to experience.  Have you tried to eliminate "I can't" from your vocabulary?  I dare you to give it a try!  The only thing standing between you and a new goal or skill is yourself.  Try a new skill, set a higher goal, explore new ideas.  Get out there and live life without "I can't"!  Stare fear in the face and let the walls come down!

Some of structure we welded to pour concrete for the parlor.