Family Farm Friday #41: Snow Day

"It's an industry that gives a huge boost to the state's economy, but it stays true to its roots by the sheer nature of the dedicated families who live, work and breathe farming and ranching." ~Susan Combs

Last week, it seemed like everyone in the world got a snow day besides me. Schools were closed. Courts were closed. Other law firms were closed. But I had to be in the office. But you know what? I wasn't the only one.....because you know who never gets a snow day? Farmers and ranchers.

I remember being a kid and sort of dreading snow days that cancelled school. For city kids, they meant a chance to sleep in, watch tv, maybe go sledding.....but for a farm kid, it was a different story. It meant doing chores and breaking ice and feeding cows and checking on ewes or cows that might be lambing. And when that was all over, it was time to start the evening chores all over again. Snow days were sometimes worse than school days.

The reason that agriculture doesn't get snow days is that the animals don't care if the weather is bad. They still need to eat. If it's time to calve or lamb, they lay down and have that baby, right there in the cold. And farmers and ranchers are right in the thick of things, making sure all goes smoothly.

At our house, we calve and lamb during the winter--December through March or so. That means that babies being born in the cold is a pretty common occurrance. Most of the time, we can keep everything on the right track by putting lambs in stalls with a heat lamp, or moving cows into the corrals where they can get up under the sheds.

But sometimes, they need a little extra help to get going. When that happens, we usually wind up with a calf or a lamb in the middle of the living room floor, wrapped in a blanket, laying on the heater vent, with someone running a blow dryer all over its cold little body. Once they get warmed up and going again, they go back out with their mama and they all live happily ever after.

(This would be Little Brother about 15 years ago!)

Last week at my house, it got so cold that my parents let the dogs inside.....which NEVER happens. I honestly think this was his first time in the house, so he was taking it all in!

So think about those farmers and ranchers who are outside in the cold taking care of their animals the next time you get to sleep in on a snow day. And think about those farmers and ranchers when you hear animal rights groups spouting off about how agriculture mistreats them. I think that I know a little hereford heifer (well, now a hereford cow) who might disagree with that.