Dirty Jobs
Sometimes farming feels like Facebook, you report the good and put on a happy, clean image of yourself. Sometimes we show pictures of grass but don’t show the cow pie hiding in the weeds. This month was full of dirty jobs that we sometimes don’t talk about.
To help with better drainage in one of our dry lots we dug out, hauled out and had our local construction crew pour a slab. Miss M. thinks it is the best play place and pea eating spot in the world. It stayed quite clean with cows being on pasture and felt like a fresh start to the upcoming fall calving season.
Steve hauled corn cobs in from our local ethanol plant to bed the cattle shed. With the help of the JR, Miss M. and the Z. boys (our neighbors & owners of one of our cattle lots) we sorted and hauled some of the fall cow herd that are closest to calving. Miss M. enjoys going out most mornings in her pjs to visit them and check for new babies.
Not only are some farm jobs dirty but they are hot. It seems like the hottest days are when the hay is ready to bale. This usually means that cool mornings or nights are set aside for putting small squares up in the barn loft. Grateful to have the hay we need at home to make it through the winter and next year’s spring calving season.
We often talk about cutting hay and feeding cattle but we don’t usually talk about what happens as a result of all of that feeding. Manure hauling happens less often in the summer with market cattle relaxing in the dry lots and cows out on pasture.
With crops still standing in the field, we store our black gold until we start chopping corn silage in a few weeks.
Grandpa R. helped out by bringing the old blue Ford truck full of more fresh cobs but “needed” Miss M.’s help to unload. The cattle are always curious and like to play in the pile while the skid steer spreads out their fresh new bed.
This summer we chose to raise chickens again but it was the first time we have done the butchering on our farm. Our farming friends came to help with their crew, AKA their awesome kids, which made the work much lighter. We are so grateful for our farming friends, their skilled hands and willing hearts.
Empty coops means another pen to clean. My heart was filled when I was shoveling away and Miss. M. grabbed the taller shovel, walked in the coop saying “help, help”. I reassured her that this job was a little too dirty for her but she insisted to get a few scoops in.
It was a busy month and shows no signs of slowing.
P.S. We always have extra shovels :)