Passion & Purpose

Passion. I have a great passion for everything dairy.  Passion was a word that I only started to understand when I was a 16 year old dairy ambassador and even at 32, I still don’t understand passion in its fullest form but I live passionately every day of my life.  The past year has been a challenge that I never saw coming and I definitely didn’t know if I could and how I would handle it (someday when I am strong enough I may blog about it).  The challenge shook me to my core and made me truly reflect on what I am passionate and how I can make sure that I am living that passion every day.  I grew up on a farm, I lived on a farm and in a heartbeat I would trade my best day of work for my worst day of farming.  Even though some days where emotionally heart breaking, physically exhausting and mentally difficult, I will farm again, I have to farm.  Farming is my passion.

I get tears in my eyes thinking about all that love about farming.  I love the joy of growing food, raising animals for food and watching people grow in their jobs, when they truly “get” the importance of feeding the world.  I love watching things grow!   I believe farming is one of few occupations which allows a deep connection to nature and God.  Farmers are constantly at the mercy of Mother Nature and they are persistently praying.  They pray for rain, sun, cows, calves, pigs, sheep, chickens…and most of all they pray for their families.  Most truly passionate farmers are also so selfless that they hardly ever pray for themselves. 

There is so much pride in producing food for the world.  At the grocery store I am so encouraged by the images of families buying dairy products or enjoying a dairy treat.  I am often thanking them for consuming our foods.  Dairy is such a healthy and filling food.  It’s safe, nutritious, and wholesome…and at the end of the day I am more than willing to eat and drink what comes off of my farm.  There is a lot of joy that comes with knowing that.  What I do as a farmer matters to those who consume my products, and in turn those who consume my products matter to me.  A dairyman I know, often said, “I want to be able to produce a product that a single parent household can afford to purchase and is an important part of a healthy diet”, I completely agree. 

I get excited when I meet a farmer that is also excited about farming and I try to encourage farmers who are feeling beaten down by their profession and calling. Farming is not for the weak, it is for the strong, but it is for those who are strong in their passion and dedication for agriculture.  Very few will know the pure joy of delivering a live calf, when it should’ve been dead.  Few will know the beauty of a sunrise in the morning on a day you will be making hay.  Few will know the sense of pride when you have a cow on your dairy who has lived to 12+ years old.  Few will enjoy sharing with someone with no connection to agriculture at all the passion and compassion that we have for what we do every day.  I love everything about dairying and farming.  It might sound completely nuts, but I love even the worst day on the farm, because at least I am still doing what I love, what I am passionate about.  Dairy farming is what brings tears to my eyes and a purpose and passion to my life.  These are my God given skills, and I intend on using them. 

 

Inspired by Youth

It was another busy weekend at the farm. Besides the usual milking and feeding chores we have been trying to haul out some manure to the fields when the soil is frozen and solid or where we have dry hills. The top soil is drying nicely and it looks that we may be planting corn on time this year, with little risk of snow. The flood waters are disappearing as quickly as they appeared...but in places, especially near the Minnesota River, the flooding is still very present. I saw some awful sights of flooding while driving north this Saturday.

I had the honor of judging a local dairy princess contest on Saturday afternoon. I didn't know what to expect, as this was the 1st time that I actually judged a contest. Don't get me wrong, I think I was qualified to judge, I was a "butter head" in 2002, I have been a county princess coordinator for 3 years, and I have been actively involved in the dairy industry since birth ;) I have just never been on the other side of the table. It was a HARD job to judge those candidates. Each of them had such great skills and talents, each different and valuable. Some were great speakers, others were so genuine, and others were extremely knowledgeable. But ALL of them had passion and dedication for the dairy industry. Their positive attitudes were so contagious! Even though judging them was hard work, I left filled with pride in the princess program and the great connections it makes on behalf of dairy farmers.

These 4 talented women also gave me reinforcement that this blog has value, that giving tours to school aged kids has value and that each positive connection that I make as a dairy producer will hopefully help a consumer make the right choice at supper or dinner time.....I hope they choose dairy. Dairy foods supply so many valuable nutrients that the average consumer doesn't get enough of during the day....so have you had your 3 servings today???? If not...make sure you start Monday out with a glass of cold milk and a cup of yogurt! Thanks!

Labor Day Celebrations!

As you venture off to your Labor Day celebrations tomorrow, we at Orange Patch Dairy will begin the process we know and love as "Corn Silage Season". Yes, it is time, the corn is dried down enough to be chopped, hauled home, and packed into large 250 foot plastic bags. These bags will store enough feed for all of our cows, heifers, and calves for the coming year. Corn silage is the primary feed in our cow rations, as it makes up about 35% of the total diet (50 pounds per cow each day). We will be making about 2200-2400 ton of corn silage this year, and we hope to finish it by the weekend (5 days start to finish). Therefore I might not be blogging in the coming days but I hope to be gathering some great pictures and video from the farm to show and tell about silage season. But I do have some thoughts on Labor Day I wanted to share....

Dairy farming is a hard labor filled job, but ask any dairy farmer and they would tell you how much they love their jobs. It's a dairy farmer's passion and drive for what they do that helps them through tough years like this year. It is their love of their job, cows, and nature that helps to get them through each day and forces them to wake up each morning only to repeat it over again. Right now we aren't getting paid to milk cows, but in fact we are paying an admission fee to go to work each day. How would you feel if your boss was standing at the door each morning collecting a fee to enter and do your job? It wouldn't feel too good, but for a dairy farmer, there are so many other "gifts" of the job to make it worth while. I wake up each morning looking forward to the next baby calf, the next gain in milk production, a pretty sunrise, fresh cut hay, the next new surprise. It's honestly fun to know that even if the the daily tasks are the same, the days are still filled with a variety of surprises, some better than others. My father, who also dairy farms, often stated "Well I am at least doing this for exercise"...referencing milking cows during low milk prices. I have been doing dairy farming for exercise for a few months now, but I am still not complaining. So as you enjoy your Labor Day, honoring that we all have the ability to work, please think about the people responsible for the food on your table....the farmers, the employees, the processors....they all work hard to ensure that you have safe, wholesome foods for you and your families. It a labor of love....so please make sure that we are not working in vain and enjoy all the great dairy products, meats, vegetables and fruits that you can.

Happy Labor Day!