Perserverance Pays Off

Skyler finishing up on a cross-country run.

I went to a high school track meet the other day to watch our grandson, Skyler Young, participate. While watching him I was reminded of a story I had read last fall in a church newspaper. I did some web surfing to get more information on this story because I thought it would interest some of you.

            It seems that for quite a few years Australia was host to a 543.7 mile (875 kilometer) ultra-marathon endurance race. This race started in Sydney and ended in Melbourne and took five days to complete and usually only attempted by world-class athletes who have trained specially for this race.

            In 1983, 61-year-old Cliff Young showed up at the start of the race, dressed in overalls and work boots. Cliff picked up his race number and joined the others at the starting line. Many people told him he was crazy and that there was no way he would finish the race to which he replied, “Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d always catch them. I believe I can run this race.”

            In order to complete the race in 5 days it was understood that the competitors would run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining 6 hours.  However, Cliff claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping.  He didn’t run like the trained athletes did, his gait was actually an odd shuffle. Each night he came closer to those in the lead, and by the final night Cliff was in the lead. He was the first to cross the finish line setting a new course record.

After the race Cliff told reporters that he just pretended he was searching for sheep and trying to outrun a storm. When he was awarded the $10,000 for winning the race, he was surprised. He wasn’t aware there was a prize for winning.

            Cliff entered the same race a year later and came in seventh. Having a displaced hip during the race did not stop him from finishing, though it did slow him down.        

            Today the “Young shuffle” is used by many of the ultra-marathon runners because it is considered more energy-efficient. And during this Sydney to Melbourne race, the competitors no longer sleep. (http:www.elitefeet.com/the-legend-of-cliff-young)

            Cliff Young suffered a stroke in 2000 after competing in a race that he was unable to finish. He passed away November 2, 2003 at the age of 81. Until the time he had the stroke he participated in a number of races.

            Here was a farmer/rancher who persevered: he didn’t back down when people said he couldn’t accomplish what he set out to do; he didn’t worry about not having clothes that matched everyone else; he paced himself according to what he knew he could do; and he won.

Isn’t that what farming and ranching is all about? Farmers may not be involved in well advertised races, but they do race against time, weather, and the markets. A wet spring like this one may slow them down some, but as soon as they are able, they are out in the fields getting the soil ready and the seeds planted. And the usual attire is overalls and boots.  Yes, they continue to move forward, maybe only with a shuffle, and quite often with a lack of sleep. During the busy times it is not unusual for many farmers to become sleep deprived.  But they persevere, and by doing so they too win the race.  And the prize at the end of the race often is the good feeling of knowing a job has been accomplished.

MOTHER'S DAY

 Published in the Intermountain Farm and Ranch, May 6, 2011

       Mother’s Day is probably my least favorite day of the year. I have never felt that I was a good mother, and hate listening to all the accolades paid to mother’s that are wonderful, knowing I don’t measure up. Don’t get me wrong, I love my children and would do anything for them, but I don’t feel that I set a very good example for them to follow. A few years ago we had a special incident on Mother’s Day that made me realize the love that animal mothers have for their young. That incident has caused me to view Mother’s Day differently.



A newborn calf with it's mom.



Moving the cattle to spring/summer range is not always easy. The upper pasture we take them to is twenty miles from where they have spent the winter. We used to trail them up, but have found it is less labor intensive to haul them in trucks. The cows and calves need to be separated, as we take the cows in one trailer, the calves in another. Making sure the pairs get there the same day is the goal. And usually we meet that goal. Boyd has a little red book where he keeps the record of the numbers of the ear/brisket tags for all cows and calves. As the animals are loaded onto the trailers, that book is checked.

A couple of years ago we ran into a problem. When the last load of cows was dropped off at the upper pasture, we noticed one cow from an earlier load standing by the gate, calling for her calf. That in itself is not unusual because the calves and cows have to find each other after they are unloaded. Checking around, everything else seemed to be okay: fences up; gates shut; feed and water available. 

However, here in the valley we heard a calf bellering all night long for his mother. That is a sad sound. The next morning we were sure a mistake had been made as there was also one cow that had a full udder and she was adding to the noise level. Taking his little red book out, Boyd walked through the remaining cows. Sure enough, we had a cow and calf that didn’t belong to each other. 

            That was a Sunday morning, Mother’s Day at that. Deciding to take the mismatched cow and calf to the upper pasture after church, we commenced to do what needed to be done and attended our meeting. As we approached home after church, there was a cow walking on the road toward us. And she wasn’t just meandering, stopping to eat grass, etc. She was walking as though she had a strong incentive to get to her goal. Turning into our lane just ahead of our car, she went straight to the gate leading into the pasture. Just standing there mooing, her calf came running from the back pasture. All it took for us to do was open a gate for cow and calf to be reunited. Who said that cows or for that manner any animal, don’t love their little ones, that they don’t have feelings and emotions. We certainly watched the display of love that morning.

After we ate dinner we loaded the cow and calf plus the other cow whose calf was at the ranch, into the stock trailer to take them to the summer pasture. When we arrived, there by the loading chute was a calf crying for its mother. And its mother started answering its cries before we had turned the pickup off.  They were all unloaded and off went a happy mom with her little one beside her, and a happy reunion for the other cow and calf.

            And to think this happened on Mother’s Day, a day that we honor our mothers and all they have done for us.  Has your mother walked twenty miles all night to find you?

The Therapeutic Value of Dirt

THE THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF DIRT

Published April 22, 2011 in Intermountain Farm and Ranch 

            Getting one’s hands dirty is so much a part of the farming culture that I just take it for granted.  You don’t accomplish much on the farm or ranch without dirt getting on your hands, under your fingernails, and on your clothes. I will admit that because of the dirt I don’t have the beautiful fingernails that my urban sisters have. 

My kids always played in the dirt.  They had their trucks and tractors, and farmed their little farms just like their dad farmed his big one. Sometimes they would come in for a meal as dirty as their dad did. When the kids were young, I had a verse on my fridge that read:

No matter how much I scrub and clean,

No matter what good plans I start the day with,

My kids always look like the kind of kids,

I wouldn’t want my kids to play with.

I often hear young mother’s say to their children as they go out to play – “don’t get your hands dirty,” or “stay away from that pile of dirt.”  Isn’t that taking away the fun of playing outside?  My father-in-law once said to me, “There’s nothing wrong with good clean dirt.”  I believe that!

            I can remember making mud pies as a child.  We would stir the mud and water and form the pies.  Then we would put dandelions, grass, even bugs on the top to decorate them, and bake them in the sunlight, (probably one of the first uses of solar energy).  I guess they were more like mud cakes.  I think we even tried to eat them a time or two. The only time Mother got upset with us for playing in the dirt would be on a Saturday afternoon after she had washed and put up our hair for Sunday.  Then if we went out into the dust, and especially if we played house and swept the dirt floor in our make believe house causing the dust to fly everywhere and into our clean hair, she would get upset.  Other than that we were allowed to wallow in the dirt.  Oh what fun!

            The other day I went to a meeting.  When I returned home I was frustrated at how little was accomplished.  It seemed like everyone just visited about things that didn’t pertain to the business we were there to accomplish.  It frustrated me as I had things at home that  needed to be done. By the time I got home I was “chomping at the bit,” so to speak.  So I changed my clothes and went out to work in the strawberry patch.  Kneeling in the dirt, feeling the warmth coming through my jeans was comforting. Digging, weeding, transplanting, feeling the dirt run through my hands, all those things had a healing affect on my mind.  It didn’t take long for me to calm down and put things in perspective. 

            Perhaps when we work in the dirt, we can look at life more realistically.  Simple things become real and precious.  The challenges in life don’t seem as big. The hectic pace we travel disappears as a feeling of calmness takes over.  Why worry about things we can’t control?   Why worry about what did or didn’t get accomplished at a meeting?  Why let a so-called wasted afternoon spoil the rest of the day for me? 

            Maybe we all need our own personal sand pile to play in at least once a day where we can sit and let the sand infiltrate into our shoes, our socks, even our underwear.  We could make sand castles, pretending we were at the beach.  We could throw the sand in the air and laugh as it gets in our hair, eyes, and ears.  You know, that might be as beneficial as sitting in a psychiatrist’s office and a quick shower will wash away all the bad effects of it.  Inexpensive therapeutic therapy!       

MENDING WALLS

Published in the Intermountain Farm and Ranch April 15, 2011. 

            In 1914 American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963) wrote the poem “Mending Walls.” In this poem he talks about fixing a stone fence with his neighbor, each being on his own side of the fence. Twice he used the phrase: “Good fences make good neighbors.”

            As cattlemen, we know how true that is! Cattle roaming free can cause a multitude of problems:

• If they happen onto Conservation Reserve Plan acres, the owner of the land can be fined, whether he is the owner of the cattle or not. 
• If cattle wander and graze on alfalfa fields when the plants are in certain stages, they can bloat.
• They can cause considerable damage to wheat and barley fields.
• Pasture ground can be over-grazed by trespassing animals.

            Mending fences is part of working with cattle, part of having land, and part of being a good neighbor. There are many ways for the fences to become broken, torn down, and ruined. The blame can be placed on wild animals (especially elk and moose). Hunters and people on snowmobiles or four wheelers will sometimes cut fence wire to get easier access to areas of interest. Other factors that wear out fences are weather, age of the fence, and just plain wear and tear. It doesn’t matter what or who caused the broken fences, they have to be mended.

            Spring time, before the cattle are moved to summer pasture, is a busy fence mending period. It seems that when cattle are moved from pasture to pasture, they walk the fence of the new area. If there is a weak or broken spot on the fence, it will be found almost immediately and the cows will wander through and into areas where they are not supposed to be. Therefore, it is a wise rancher who checks fences before moving cattle into a new pasture.

            Fencing is hard work, especially if the fence is on a hillside. We use our John Deere Gator to get us in close proximity to most of our fences. But there are still some areas where we have to walk the line. When in those areas we like to work in pairs because of the equipment needed: the bucket of nails, staples; hammer; wire stretcher; a chain saw to cut limbs off trees, and sometimes the entire tree has fallen over the fence; and a bottle of water.

            When the spring fence mending is done, that doesn’t mean that the fencing is finished for the year. Older poles can rot below the surface of the ground, thus weakening the fence, or the wind will blow a tree over a fence. A cow will spot that weakness and with a little push the fence can go down. So the fences have to be ridden all the time there are cows in the pastures.

            A lot of our fences are within the perimeter of our own land, but there are some which border neighbors. It is good but not always possible if the owners of both sides of the fence can work together in making repairs. One’s goal is to keep the cattle in, the other’s goal is to keep the cattle out.

            I like to go out fencing with the men. It isn’t easy work but it is a job that when finished, you can see you have accomplished something.  Often wild animals can be observed; the spots where the deer, elk and moose work to get their antlers off can be seen. It is actually a quiet job other than the sounds of the hammer and sometimes the chain saw.

            Mending fences is a constant job and a challenge. But when fences are maintained, or fixed as soon as a problem is found, neighbor’s friendships are also maintained or fixed as soon as a problem comes to light.

Yes, I agree with Robert Frost. “Good fences make good neighbors!”        

           

           

A Time to Sow

Tulips blooming in spring

      Published in Intermountain Farm and Ranch on April 1, 2011     

 Spring is really a time of hope, of working on the goals that were decided on during the cold winter months when the ground was frozen and unworkable. Time spent in front of the fireplace, or in the kitchen over a hot bowl of soup and rolls fresh from the oven is planning time. Pencil and paper or maybe just conversation, but goals are set forth. Should we increase the cattle herd? That new hay sounds promising. What about our irrigation system? Then as the snow starts to melt, the corrals become muddy, robins dare to return, those goals gradually become workable – step by step.

            Spring brings forth optimism. Our thoughts are positive as we enjoy warm spring days after a cold white winter. Surely things will mature and produce. We already talk of the harvest, of what needs to be done and what can be done.  But there is a lightness of spirit in the talk. The outlook for the availability of water for irrigation is good. We haven’t faced the hot summer days, threatening our crops with devastating hail, or drought.  We are looking at a new set of guidelines in the spring. Everything, yes everything, will be okay!

It is good to see the tractors out in the field, the land being readied for spring planting. As the first soil is turned, there is a rejoicing of the spirit as the new beginning starts to unfold.  The smell of the soil as it is worked for the first time brings a feeling of hope, a feeling of rightness, a feeling of thankfulness of having a job to do and being able to do that job. Seeds are sown and the ground is watched daily for the green sprouts to immerge from the brown soil. It’s a birth of the plants, the birth of dreams. 

            The new crop of calves play tag out in the pasture while the mama’s peacefully graze and watch their offspring. I see baby lambs in a friend’s pasture that are also enjoying the warmer spring weather. Oh life is good when the trees start to sprout green leaves, when the rhubarb peaks its head out to see if it is safe to come forth from its winter sleep. You can’t help being optimistic when you are greeted each day with the song of the meadow lark.

            There will always be challenges. The price of fuel and fertilizer has risen this year to the point above raised eyebrows. How do we continue farming when the expense is more than the income? Yes, there are good prices for cattle and grain right now but will those markets last until harvest when we have some produce to sell? The fence lines at the ranch need to be evaluated as to what repairs need to be done before we move the cattle to their summer pastures. Is there winter-kill damage on the winter wheat? Even with these challenges to be faced, there is a feeling of anticipation as we load the pickup with fencing material, or hook the disk on the plow.

Farming is probably one of the biggest gambles that anyone ever worked with. I have often suggested to Boyd that we take our farm/ranch operating money to Jackpot in the spring. We would then know in a few hours whether we had made a profit or not. But what would we do with the rest of the spring, summer and fall? It’s probably best that we spend those months working and wondering if we will make money, or if we will have a crop to harvest.

Even with busy work schedules, we seem to have the time to become excited over the grass turning green, the daffodils daring to bloom when the nights are still cold, the buds on the trees and bushes. Yes, life is good on the farm. We love it and appreciate the opportunity that we have of being part of that life! 

Baling Twine and Duct Tape

                                           Jean, Sydney, and Boyd splinting the calves feet
                                                 and ankles with boards and Duct tape.

(Published in Intermountain Farm and Ranch on Friday, March 18, 2011)

            The hay baler has to be considered one of the great inventions of all times; not necessarily for the activity of baling hay but for the availability of the baling twine.  Baling twine is to a farmer what aspirin is to a doctor: twine it together and call the mechanic in the morning. However, because the twine works so well, the proverbial “in the morning” never seems to arrive.

            Uses of this fixing medium are as numerous as farmers. Whenever the call “get me some baling twine” is heard the correct assumption can be that something is broken or loose or torn. Broken gates are fixed with it, fences are linked together with it, the shed is full of tools hung up with it, doors to pickups and trucks are tied shut with it and the tailgate of the pickup is secured with it.

            Twine is used for shoe laces, belts, halters on horses, ropes to lead calves and tie up dogs, tying a cowboy’s hat on during a wind storm, line to hang the clothes on, tying the tops of boots so snow doesn’t get down in them, etc. This is one way in which farmers recycle.

            Twine even works in the house. Not long ago our toilet broke – it wouldn’t flush. I remember this same thing happened about 18 months earlier and our oldest son, Doug, fixed it. Taking off the lid I assessed the new problem. There was a piece of water-rotted baling twine holding the two broken pieces of hardware together. This time I went to the hardware store and purchased the correct part. It will be interesting to see if the purchased part will outlast the twine. My bet goes on the store-bought part and also on the fact that the men will never be convinced that twine can be out-done. 

            Another piece of mending material is duct tape. The other day while reading a book, which I do a lot of, I came across the following information about duct tape:

There is a saying in every organization of the world, either military or civilian, that if something doesn’t move when it should, use WD-40, and if it moves when it shouldn’t, use duct tape. Originally designed during the Second World War to keep gun magazines and ammunition boxes watertight in jungle conditions, duct tape has since become the must have item for each and every mission. It was even used to fix a fender on the Apollo 17 Lunar Rover when it was broken on the moon, as well as making the circular CO2 scrubbers “fit” square holes to save the lives of the crew of the stricken Apollo 13. (Taken from Cross Fire by Dick Francis and Felix Francis.)

            We have found that duct tape can be used in places that baling twine can’t. For instance, the other day we had to splint all four legs on a new calf. It was trying to walk on the first joint of its legs with its hoofs bend under. Our son, Derrald, cut some small pieces of wood to use as splints. Then we wrapped the duct tape around the splints and legs. It didn’t take many hours for those splints to work and the calf was up walking normal on all four hoofs.

            Duct tape has been used to fix canvas on our birthing sheds, patch holes in the grain combine, and reattach a mirror on the pickup. Out driving around I’ve noticed it’s used to keep broken car windows in place and hold a fender onto a car.

            Why, with duct tape and baling twine, mechanics probably are losing a lot of business. And they probably have to use a lot of chemical to get the adhesive off from the cars and farm machinery that duct tape has been stuck to.

            Needless to say, farmers would be in a world of hurt without twine and duct tape. Wish I had invented one of those.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

Beautiful sunrise, even with Daylight Saving Time

            Published March 4, 2011 in Intermountain Farm and Ranch

              Daylight Saving Time is almost upon us once again. “They” say young children have a hard time adjusting to this time change and I say they are not the only ones with adjustment problems. I’ve done some research, trying to find out who I can blame for this biannual disruption in my life. 

            There are a lot of stories about how, why and when this all started. One is that is was introduced to help the farmers have more time to do their work. Well, farmers work according to the light available, not according to the clock. A change in time doesn’t make a difference to agriculture. A poll conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation indicated the reason Americans liked Daylight Saving Time is that they enjoyed the recreational opportunities offered by long summer evenings.

The idea of Daylight Saving Time was conceived by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 when he was in Paris as an American delegate. Some friends of Franklin, who had invented a new kind of oil lamp, applauded this conception. However, nothing was done about this until 1907 when a London builder by the name of William Willett wrote a pamphlet “Waste of Daylight”, proposing that clocks be advanced 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and moved back the same amount of time on four Sundays in September. About a year after Willett began lobbying for Daylight Saving Time, it attracted the attention of those in authority. In 1908 Robert Pearce – later Sir Robert Pearce – introduced a bill in the House of Commons making it mandatory to adjust the clocks. Though introduced in Parliament several times, this bill met with ridicule and opposition, especially from farming interests.

            Daylight Saving Time was instituted in the United States during World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. During World War II, the federal government again required the states to observe the time change. Between the wars and after World War II, states and communities chose whether or not to observe Daylight Saving Time, causing much confusion. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the length of Daylight Saving Time.

            A 1975 study done by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) showed that because there was less electricity used for lighting and appliances Daylight Saving Time trimmed electricity usage by a small but significant amount,. The rational behind this study showed a direct relationship between energy used in the demand for electricity for lighting homes and the times when people went to bed at night and got up in the morning. Although a 1976 report by the National Bureau of Standards disputed the 1975 DOT study, and found that Daylight Saving Time-related energy savings were insignificant, the DOT study continued to influence decisions about Daylight Saving Time. Actually, determining energy savings from Daylight Saving time is difficult and based on a variety of factors. It’s possible that little or no energy is saved by this change of time.

            Not all areas observe Daylight Saving Time. Arizona (except some Indian Reservations), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa have chosen not to.  European nations have been taking advantages of the time change for decades. Iceland observes year-round Daylight Saving Time. And Antarctica, where there is no daylight in the winter and months of 24-hour daylight in the summer, still have many of their research stations observe Daylight Saving Time to synchronize with the supply stations in Chile or New Zealand.

            But it really doesn’t matter if we switch to Daylight Savings Time or not: the cows need to be fed whether the clock says 2:30 or 3:30; the crops need to be planted  and irrigated, no matter what time the sun comes up or goes down; and the voles don’t seem to be affected much. I personally would like to see Daylight Saving time either completed abolished or moved to a permanent, year-round time. Then the young children and I wouldn’t have to go through this miserable process of adjustment twice a year!