The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
11-20-2015 Column
It was one of those days when you just had to keep pushing forward despite what was going on around you. It seemed the only thing that went right was everything going wrong. When you started tallying up the events of the day, it could have been one of those “bad” days, but in the end it wasn’t.
The mood of the day is sometimes determined by events in the barn. This day was off to a rocky start and spiraling downward, quickly. Mark had been up a couple of times during the night to check on a cow who was close to calving. He kept climbing out of bed to slip on a pair coveralls as he trudged across the yard to go check on her again and again. When his alarm finally signaled it was time to get moving for milking, Mark took one last peek on her. Still nothing was happening. Slowly everyone started trickling into the barn and slipping into their morning routines. Cows were being milked, calves were being fed, managers were being swept up and fresh feed put in front of the cows. Everyone was so busy with another day, no one remembered to check on the cow. Of course when no one was paying any attention to her, she decided it was the perfect time to calve. And with the luck we have been having lately, she had a dead heifer calf. Heifer calves are so rare on our farm lately that a new heifer calf is like finding a 1,000 carat diamond, precious and rare. Here we were, all busy in the barn that morning but no one paused long enough to slip over to the loafing shed to check on the springing cow.
At this point there is nothing you can do to change the outcome. Dead is dead. Stomping around in frustration or being grouchy and grumpy won’t change the facts. You just can’t dwell on it and you keep on pushing through the day.
The loss of the heifer calf would be enough to make any day a “bad” day, but this was only the beginning of “one of those days”. The nice fall weather was pushing us to keep moving with urgent projects in between the daily routine of our farm’s rhythm.
The cable fence surrounding our big heifer lot needed some major fixing. A couple of pipes had rusted loose and were being supported upright by the connecting cables. Al ran the jack hammer trying to bust up the cement surrounding the broken pipes. It was a long, slow job trying to find the right angle to break apart the solid piece of concrete. At one time he had both points jammed in the concrete. Slowly he and Mark were able to wiggle one free using the bobcat bucket and rescue the other.
While Al busted concrete, Mark and I were preparing to cement in the new pipes. Since the pipes were surrounding the heifer lot, we had to think of some very clever ways to keep the cattle out of the wet cement. We didn’t need them leaving their hoof marks behind for eternity like a Hollywood movie star’s hand prints. We pulled empty kicker wagons in front of the replaced pipes and strung baling twine in the wide gaps to keep the heifers out.
The heifers weren’t too interested in watching what we were doing. They were more interested in checking out the tractor and manure spreader parked in the lot. Before we started our repair job, we cleaned up the slop around the yard. Just as we were about to haul the manure out of the lot, we noticed the front tire of the tractor was flat and the bead was broken. I made a quick run to town to get it fixed right away. Thankfully the tire repair shop doesn’t mind too much when I show up in barn clothes with a very dirty tire. When I tried to put the repaired tire back on the hub, I realized the jack was maxed out. The jack was able to lift the front end of the tractor high enough to get the flat tire off, but couldn’t lift it any higher to put a full tire back on. We grabbed the bobcat and lifted the axle just high enough to finish the repair job. Two hours later we broke the bead on a bobcat tire and had another downed piece of equipment.
Since the tractor tire was fixed, I figured I would move the tractor and spreader out of the lot. I backed up a bit and then started to pull ahead. CRUNCH! I know I didn’t hit the corner of the shed, but I knew I hit something. I climbed out of the tractor and found shattered pieces of green plastic around the rear tire. Where did that come from? I walked around the front and nothing was missing. The fenders were all complete. What did I run over and where did it come from? Apparently the curious heifers stuck their noses in back end of the tractor and released the filter vent cover. It fell under the rear tire and I ran over it! Turns out it is an expensive part to replace.
If our repairs jobs weren’t enough going on for the day, we had scheduled two weeks earlier to have the creamery come out to butcher some meat for us. I’ve been without meat (beef) in the freezer for almost two months. I do not make a good vegetarian! We didn’t have any fat animals in the lot, so I started looking around to buy some beef. Just when I thought I had lined up a fat butcher heifer to buy, we suddenly found some critters to butcher. An older bred heifer was no longer pregnant. She was fat enough to fill the freezer. Then we found three young bulls to butcher…a mean bull, a blind bull and a non-breeder. Now that the freezer if full, we’re crossing our fingers we don’t have any cows go down.
You would think after all of these events going on in the few hours between morning and evening milking, the mood would be miserable. Under most circumstances it probably would be but a bible verse kept rolling through my mind throughout the day. “Find joy in all trials.” Despite all the problems, break downs and disappointments in the day, finding joy was very simple. No frozen fingers! We were doing all these jobs in November with just t-shirts on. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. You couldn’t help having a happy attitude as we completed all our extra jobs for the day.
Despite what may seem to be a “bad” day, search for the hidden joy in a shared smile with a spouse over an IV bottle. A jewel toned sunset to close out the day on a stunning note. Or even something as simple as no frozen fingers.
As we set the table for Thanksgiving, set a mood of gratitude and joy for all the simple moments found in “bad” days.
-----------------------------
As their four children pursue dairy careers off the farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota. (Natalie grew up in Stronghurst, the daughter of Becky and the late Larry Dowell.)
-----------------------------