I’m Still Here
April 2nd, 2008 by Jim VContrary to what a neighbor thinks, I am still around and actively working with our livestock. One of our nearest neighbors told a friend from church that I was never around and that my wife was doing all of the chores. He hinted that there might be problems in the family – which is entirely untrue. When I and my family heard this, we all had to scratch our heads. My children thought this was very funny. Their mother doesn’t help with chores. She has plenty to do managing the household, helping the children with their school work, making meals, handling all the milk that we bring into the house, washing all the gallon jars that we use for milk, and making cheese and butter.
We had to do some thinking to even figure out how the neighbor would come to his conclusions. His conclusions are probably based on a number of things that have occurred over the last year. I did work long hours at my off-farm job through a large portion of the year, but in spite of this I am probably out working on the farm as much or more than previous years. All of my young adult children are either out of the house or busy with school work and others things. Much of the work that they did in the past has shifted to me and the younger two children - a 9 year old boy and a 12 year old daughter. My 12 year old daughter has grown a lot in the past year and is now almost as tall as her older sister. I suspect that the neighbor is mistaking my 12 year old daughter for her mother. In addition we have shifted chores around among family members so that everyone has tasks that they prefer and are capable of. In the process of shifting jobs, my 12 year old daughter ends up spending more time outside rather than in the barn – making it more likely that the neighbor sees her doing chores. Instead I am in the barn more, making it less likely that he will see me. Through all of this I have decided that making conclusions about another family’s dynamics are dangerous without complete information.
A lot of things have happened since I last posted on this blog. Through the drought this summer, I snatched up any hay that I found available. All of my hay (small squares) was purchased for around $80-$100 a ton. Since the summer, prices have since increased significantly. I was able to get enough hay for the winter, but the quality was not always what I would like. So all winter we have been sorting through hay, avoiding the moldy hay and trying to make sure we don’t use up the top quality hay all at once. This winter we lost one 13 year old cow that a commercial diary culled because they could not get her bred. We have milked her for 4 years, getting between 2 and 3 gallons a day from her without feeding grain. We are pleased with the four productive years that she gave us. The past few months the learning curve has continued. This year I have learned the hard way that moldy hay can bring on mastitis and the last three days I have gotten less sleep than I like since I have been up checking a Jersey cow with milk fever. It looks like she has finally gotten back to normal after having the vet give her multiple bottles of calcium. Her calf is a very calm heifer. Out of three calves that this cow has had, they have been all heifers and overall we have been having a large percentage of heifer calves. Today I told my oldest son that God is building him a dairy herd, one calf at a time. At this rate we will soon not have enough pasture for our small herd of cows, and will either need to sell some heifers or find more pasture.
We are looking forward to spring and green grass. Monday we had a snowstorm and this morning it was 17 degrees with snow on the ground. The snow might actually melt in the next couple of days, and then we will be back to mud season. But green grass will come since our God has promised that seed time and harvest time will not fail to come.
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
Hi Jim, I was wondering where ya got to. Ya should be ashamed of yourself makin your wife and kids do all the work 8 - ). When that 13 year old cow died, what did you do with it? Is 4 years of milk without gettin a cow freshened the norm? Is your son still with Joel Saletin? Have not heard from him either.
Take care and God bless ya all.
Guy
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Guy,
Yeah, I guess I should be ashamed of giving my kids an opportunity to work their muscles and get some fresh air :-). My kids and I joked with my wife that she needed to come help with chores just to prove the neighbor correct, but she declined.
What did we do with the cow that died ….. ? Last January I realized how thin she was getting so I quit milking her, but she continued to get thinner. We debated butchering her, but I and my daughter decided that she was so thin that it wasn’t worth it. When she was down, I debated whether I should call someone that takes downer cows or whether I should just let her die. I decided to let her die on her own and not put her through being dragged around by someone that buys downer cows. It costs to have the renderer come, so once she died, I opted to turn her into dog/cat/chicken food - something that isn’t to hard given the colder temperatures. I don’t know how many cows would milk for fours years straight without having a calf, but I have heard of others doing this. My guess is that a significant percentage of dairy cows could be milked this long. My oldest son is learning to make cheese at a farm about an hour drive from Polyface. I think he has been spending just about every Sunday with the Salatins. He finishes working on the farm making cheese next January, so he is working on figuring out the next steps.
Hope it is warming up your way. God Bless you and your family.
Jim V
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Jim, I’d sure like to hear about your son’s experience making cheese. Here in Wisconsin the state acts like making cheese and butter is similar to making dynamite or something. The state requires all sorts of schooling and apprentice time for anyone that wants to try on farm processing, mostly I think they are working to protect the big processors from competition!
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Yes, I learned the hard way to never make assumptions about what I THINK is going on, with friends and neighbors. All it takes is one REAL embarrassing mistake, and I can assure you, you’ll keep your questions, and opinions to one self. I try to find out subtly, thru the grapevine, long before I make any conclusions. By the way, Jim, I am pretty sure i am making an accurate prediction that your wife probably doesn’t mind being mistaken for a younger women. Most women don’t. I don’t know however how your daughter feels about being mistaken for her mother. You know how it is. When they are young, they want Mom and Dad around. When they are about to become teenagers, well, you can’t find them. . . . . . in fact, they won’t even claim you sometimes! Heh
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Brent,
I just talked with Nathan and he said he would try to write a post about his cheese making. I think that Virginia’s regulations are pretty “sticky”, but according to Nathan the dairy inspector isn’t around much… I think you have it dead right that the regulations are mostly to protect the big processors from competition. That plus there seems to be a move to get rid of small farmers. A friend was telling me that a neighbor of his started selling raw milk, enabling him to start making money for the first time in 30 years.
Jim V
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Mark,
You are right that my wife doesn’t mind being mistaken for a younger woman. My daughter, though, was astonished to think that she could be mistaken for her mother. She doesn’t completely realize how much she has grown up and we had to go to great lengths to get her to understand how she could be mistaken for her mother. The neighbor’s conclusion is so foreign to what is actually happening that we will probably joke about it for years. When I go out to do chores the rest of the family will comment that its been so long since I did chores that I had better go out and help.
Jim V