It is calving season on the ranch. And it is more stressful than joyous if you ask me. Sure the babies are cute when they actually hit the ground and after when they are up running around, it's true. But calving all these heifers may turn me completely grey. More grey than my teenagers. I would like to say it's fun and rewarding - and maybe I will in April. Right now, it is just stressful and insane and I am not even the one doing the middle of the night checks.
Between hubby and our son, they are doing most of the work. Other than the bottle bunters, that's my job in the morning and our daughter's in the evening. We have had a tremendous amount of bad luck it seems, from 3 feet of snow needing to be plowed in order to create a pen to calve in, our first cow to calve dying, pulling 2 out of 3 calves to foxes dining on a cow while she was down to misbehaving dogs to calling hubby home from work 2 weekends in a row now to help us pull a baby.
It's not all bad, I am sure there are some highlights. Let me think. Ummmmmmmmm. Ok, ok. There was that time... Nope... Ummmmmmmm. Yeah, what about...? Nope. Truthfully there is some good with the bad. We had a set of twins out of a heifer unassisted. That was a nice treat. Then there were those 2 other cows that calved unassisted. That was a bonus.
Farming/Ranching isn't for the faint of heart. It is hard. It is emotionally hard, mentally hard and physically hard. The weather doesn't cooperate, at least not this year. Although with all this snow and cold, scours shouldn't be an issue. Ranching is never having a moment that you sit still and think, wow, there is nothing to do around here. It is missing out on vacations because it is calving season or haying season or hauling hay season or feeding season. It is worrying about whether babies are going to live or die. It is worrying about where the cheque for feed is going to come from.
It is a lot of other things though as well. It is pulling together as a family and making things happen. It is working together to ensure a safe delivery of a baby like we did this morning. It is sitting down at dinner exhausted, but feeling great because you got all the chores done in record time. It is a dad and a daughter who barely speak to each other spending 5 hours doing chores and trying to get cows in that are calving. There are positives. Every day there are positives. But it is not easy. Anyone who thinks farmers have it easy because of the odd subsidy or severe weather monetary "bailout" has not spent any time on a farm.
I would highly encourage everyone to get to know a local farmer and rancher. Find out where your food comes from. Educate yourself. And understand the people that are behind the food. The people that put passion before themselves on the priority list. The ones who give up having vacations because the timing is never right and you may need the money to buy new equipment. The ones who work off the farm and on it to try to ensure ends are closer to meeting. We don't need pity, but we would love more people to understand that it isn't an easy way to make a living. It is a lifestyle choice and there is pride in knowing you are doing something to feed the population.
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