We got rained out this morning during wheat harvest. The guys stayed up late last night and worked hard to get as much done as possible. They did a pretty good job and put a big dent in the wheat. We are getting close to being done with wheat and we are done with canola!! Graysen got to be out with Dave yesterday riding in the trucks and helping dry grain! The whole family even got to go for a little truck ride. Leightyn and Graysen have both spent some time riding in the combine with papa.
Besides harvest, we have had a busy week. Graysen had preschool orientation on Tuesday morning. He is excited to go to school and make new friends! I had some meetings about Ribfest that Michigan Community Club is hosting in September! Last weekend I went back to Medina to help my mom and grandpa work their cows for fall. My sister-in-law took the kids to Bismarck for the weekend so we could get everything done!
National happenings! There are a lot of things going on nationally right now. We have 2 natural disasters going on right now. Hurricane Harvey has hit Texas and Louisiana. Houston, TX and surrounding areas have gotten hit the hardest. People’s livelihoods are disrupted and in some cases destroyed. Livestock producers are trying to find all of their cattle and horses. They are hoping they are all alive but they are also realistic about the devastation of the flooding waters and what that means to the livestock. The livestock can only swim for so long before exhaustion sets in and unfortunately that means lost lives. There has been lots of volunteers that have gone down with boats to help people and animals out of the dangerous situations. Another disaster going on right now is in our neighboring state and that is the wildfires occurring in Montana. Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota have been in a drought this summer. Montana has had over 600,000 acres burn and wildfires are still burning. The fires have not only caused problems with getting people and cattle out but the producers don’t have hay or pasture for the misplaced cattle. They also don’t know where all the cattle are because they take off and try to find a way to escape the flame. Once an area is burned the damage can be accessed with dead livestock, damaged fences, buildings, and whatever else is in the path. The wind and dry conditions have been devastating for our fellow farmers and livestock producers. We keep Montana and Texas in our prayers.
It is tough to understand the blood, sweat, and tears that go into production agriculture if you don’t grow up with it or are directly involved. We have cropland and cows and some years are tougher than others but we continue because it is our passion and livelihood. We are proud of what we do and are blessed we are able to raise our kids to know the value of hard work and self-motivation. We have tough decisions that need to be made on a daily basis and some are decisions that need to be made on the spot and they are not always easy decisions. There are a lot of factors that are considered before decisions can be made. Producers in the drought stricken areas are making some tough decisions right now. They are trying to decide if the right decision is to down size their cattle herds or have hay shipped in from other areas of the state and out of state. Their decisions are not easy because they don’t know what the weather will be like next year. Is the rain going to come for the pastures and hay ground next year? Or do they downsize so they don’t have to buy as much hay or sell out all together because it is so expensive to get hay? But these cows are all home raised and they know their dispositions and some are their kids’ show cows and heifers? How do you make that decision unless you are forced too? And then there is the bank factor if you have loans from them and then they try to help guide the producer but they also don’t always know what to do? It comes down to the producers making those tough decisions and then having to live with the decisions everyday.
North Dakota Ranchin' Mama 