Today I have a new – found respect for my husband all farmers in general. It’s not that I haven’t always respected farmers, as many of you know, I married one, I grew up with one, and both of my grandfathers were farmers. I married into farmers with both my father in law and brother in law also being farmers. Farming has been in my blood for as long as I can remember (even if I wasn’t a very good participant).
Farmers are hard workers. They typically get up early, work hard all day, and go to bed late. The hours suck. It’s a 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365 day a year job. With no paid holidays. Animals don’t care if it’s Christmas, they still need fed. Crops don’t care if it’s hot, they still need watered when there hasn’t been any rain. And it’s one of the very few jobs that I know where you are spending next year’s income a year before you get it, so you better have a good standing relationship with your banker.
You may remember the Super Bowl commercial from 2014 for Dodge Ram with Paul Harvey’s story about “Farmer”. Harvey describes what it takes to be a farmer with the famous line repeating throughout the commercial “so God made a farmer.”
That commercial makes me cry my eyes out every time I see it because it describes not only my husband, but also my dad, father in law, and brother in law. It’s my life. The good, the wonderful, the bad, and the ugly.
Let me tell you about yesterday…
It started out as a typical day. I got up with the kids, got them on the bus to school (except for Ari) and got ready for the day. Jason, Ari, and I loaded up in the pickup and set off to checked and water the cows. Luckily there had been no more babies overnight so it was time to go take care of the 2 babies we already had in the barn warming up from the frigid day before.
Both of these babies started off life in a not so happy way. The first one is a dark chocolate brown baby (which is unusual because almost all of our calves are black) and was born in a pile of snow in the cornstalks and when Jason found it, the poor baby was laying very awkwardly with her head doubled back, basically wanting to die. We were happy to see her get up yesterday morning, tail wagging as she chugged her bottle of milk down like a child who was given birthday cake and ice cream, eager and happy.
The other baby had been kicked while 2 mother cows fought over her, both thinking she was their baby. (Cows can be really be dumb when it comes to calves, they know babies by scent, not looks). So she was sore and much smaller than the first one we had in the barn. She is a dark, coal black and she was a little harder to get to eat but she also drank her bottle so Jason was happy with the progress.
We left them under the heat lamps and thought we’d be able to get them back to their mommas later that afternoon.
The rest of the day was spent running back and forth meeting bankers trying to finalize everything so we can build our home, checking cattle again and picking up the kids from school.
After school I had Boy Scouts with Blake so Jason took Maddie with him to try to get the 2 baby calves back to their mothers. Three hours later, they still were having trouble. In those three hours they had to build fence, sort off the cows, haul them to my brother in laws to pen them up, and try to get them to take their babies that had been in the barn. They had a horrible time trying to get the babies back to their mothers, and neither mother wanted to take the baby back. (Luckily in the mean time, my brother and sister in law and father in law also helped so they were grateful for that).
From 8:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. we had our weekly date night and then it was back to the calves while the babysitter was still home with the kids. We bottle fed the one and the other was too weak to drink a bottle so Jason had to “tube it” which is never a fun thing to do for farmers. My heart was breaking as I watched him gently lift up the 80 pound calf and help it eat, knowing that there was a good chance that tomorrow it might not be alive. The disappointment of having a calf so healthy in the morning, to the point it was licking us and rubbing it’s head against our legs like a dog to almost lifeless laying on the ground is heartbreaking. But he does it all the time. That’s part of his job.
After both babies had full tummies, he still needed to feed a different pen of cattle so we drove over to do that. I watched him talk to the yearlings as he climbed in the tractor, fire it up and they all ran to get a bite to eat, happy to see he hadn’t forgotten them. Normally these girls get fed around 5:00 but with all the chaos with the 2 cows and calves they had to wait.
We got home at 11:30 last night from chores. My husband ran the entire day, trying to make a living, and save 2 calves. For those of you who might be questioning his sanity, a newborn calf right now costs about $800 to replace. Each time one dies, that is a not only a large chunk of money that the farm lost, but when you put that much time into an animal, it becomes much more than an animal.
I laid in bed last night thanking God for making my farmer. Farming is never easy but it’s what I know and what Jason knows. It’s what we love, even on the days that are hard, sad, tiring, and frustrating. It’s our life. Thank you God, for my Farmer.
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Great story, Jenny! How are the calves doing now?
Actually this morning we got them both to eat from their mommy’s (with a little coaxing). Our little sick baby was standing…we were both surprided and happy! Hopefully in a few days they’ll be ready to go back with the rest of the herd. 🙂
Awww…poor babies! I hope they get better!
Farming is hard work and is becoming a lost skill. I admire hard working families.
I am grateful God makes farmers 🙂 I bet most people don’t understand how much work goes into the food that we eat. We just go to the store and buy it and that’s as much thought that goes into it. I used to think that way too. Your life must be so exhausting and yet so rewarding. Keep us updated on the babies 🙂