Northern Farmer

The day before Easter and just got done barbecuing up some of our beef! First time this year and not the last by a long shot! That sure was great having some real beef barbecued up right over charcoal! Of coarse I was starting to shiver outside for a bit, it ain’t exactly summer weather here, but I just had the itch to start the grill this afternoon while I was working. That done, oh and some pecan pie for a kicker and I’m satisfied!

Things are moving along here, got the cowherd back on the corn stubble field this afternoon, save some feed. The ground is firm enough to support them out there now and it makes me feel good seeing the herd out there eating instead of staring at me wondering when I’ll make a move to feed them. If they so desire they can have calves out there too, no problem with me. The bigger the area the better. An old vet told me a long time ago that “the solution to pollution is dilution”. That’s why I decided years ago to switch from the “normal” late winter/early spring calving that the “experts” recommend to late spring/early summer calving. And the benefits are huge! No more scours, no more pneumonia. No more thousands of dollars leaving the pocket for drugs for them little fellers. In fact for three years in a row my vet bill for calving has been zero! Not bad, especially when you figure the size of the herd. Makes a person wonder about other things that go against the grain of the modern farm experts.

But you ever want to get into a heated conversation you just put me against some beef guy from around here that calves in January and February. I have nothing against anyone doing that, but I wish they’d leave me alone with trying to display how much better their calving time is compared to ours. Now, I just let em say what they want, I don’t ever want to try and argue with anyone, especially someone calving a beef herd in January in Minnesota cause I figure they’d never learn anyhow. If they figure they’re money and calves ahead, well, whatever! Of course sometimes its fun when you hear the truth from some other family member of their families moaning and groaning about the terrible losses again and again. “Lost 50% again this January” they say. Old Tom just says “too bad, bullfrog luck I guess”, but year after year I wait and see if they switch to calving in nice warm weather on nice fresh grass and sunshine killing almost every germ around. But alas, the next winter when its 20 or 30 below they’re doing it all over again.

I had better get off that subject, no sense in making myself look like a braggart or something. Was at the Fleet store a few days ago buying a few supplies for spring field work. Love them stores. A place where a farmer is welcomed and respected. Plus the supplies are cheaper than at the big named co-ops around the area here. Another plus, they don’t pay dividends so I don’t have to worry about claiming them on income tax. I’ll just take cheaper prices and I figure the Fleet store can pay their own taxes and leave me out of it all.

Tomorrow, Easter, is a full slate. The main thing is church in the morning till whenever it decides to stop. Having a special thing going on there tomorrow with some folks coming up from the Twin Cities doing some sort of Passion drama. They say it gets pretty realistic so this could be interesting especially when you figure in the size of our church building, which ain’t big at all. Just an old traditional small country church building with the main word being “small”. So every seat is like a ringside seat, (you can tell by my terminology that I used to be an “All Star Wrestling” fan. Between that and rodeo there ain’t no other sports worth a lick! That’s another story all together though. Anyway, it should be very interesting tomorrow with all the Easter activities at our little country church!

Easter might be kinda the hump day too around here and after that things should really pick up on the farm. With calving starting any moment, fields firming up. Lots to do, lots. And through it all I just gotta praise the Lord! And spread that praise beyond me! Rural ministry, kind of exciting really. In the few spare moments that I have on this old computer I have been looking up allot of stuff concerning rural ministry. In fact rural ministry has been in this house for 18 years with the publication called the Christian Ranchman, from Fort Worth, Texas, arriving once a month since 1991. I don’t get excited by most modern ministry publications and such, only this one has ever connected with this old country boy as he raises those beefers out here. I understand allot of the folks that write in that publication. It looks to me that things will gradually settle in that direction around here as far as any ministry is concerned. I’m like a fish out of water with most other ministry things. My preacher boots will probably have manure on them, not a beautiful shine. There’s allot of folks out in the countryside that never go to church so the Biblical way as far as I can see it is to bring the Gospel to them. I ain’t all to worried about getting them into a church building cause I can’t find that in the Bible. It says to GO! Plus another advantage with this kinda ministry is that all a fellers ministry clothes can be bought at the co-op or at the local Fleet store. Wrangler pants and shirts for work or ministry, some tough slip on work boots. Western hat or farmer cap, yup I’m comfortable like this! Ministry vehicle is a 3/4 ton flat bed Chevy pickup. Complete with about every tool laying on the floor a person could imagine, rifle behind the seat, and fencing supplies on the back bed.

Might not be what a person in the city or suburbs figures as Christianity but that ain’t my concern. This is the life I love and couldn’t ask for much more!

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Northern Farmer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.