I tried my hand at farming this week. Surprisingly, I had never been on a real working farm before. A colleague of mine knew someone, who knew someone, whose parents have a family farm in southern Wisconsin (near the Illinois and Iowa borders). A few weeks ago, I gave Steve and Nancy a random call and introduced myself. I asked if I could stop by and help them out on the farm. They said it sounded like a good idea and they would be happy to show me around.
Nicer people you could not find! We had a great lunch when I arrived with slow cooked beef, mashed potatoes, squash, gravy, corn and a relish tray (all either grown or raised on the farm). I told them that it felt like a Thanksgiving meal! I had a great time visiting with them and learning about all the hard work that goes into farming. Their farm has been in Nancy's family since 1890, spanning four generations so far. It has been passed on from daughter to daughter to daughter. There must be something in the water here. Great Grandpa only had daughters, as did Grandpa and Dad, Nancy also had two girls and now she and Steve are proud grandparents to a lovely granddaughter (you didn't think it would be a boy, did you?).
Steve was going to let me ride the Combine machine and harvest some corn. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and it rained all week. Sadly, there was a huge hail storm a week ago in Lafayette county that destroyed many acres of corn, soy beans, pumpkins, etc. I couldn't believe the damage that hail can do. The crops were shredded up, homes with most of their paint ripped off, windows shattered... it was eye opening. Thank God, Steve and Nancy had hail insurance (I didn't even know there was such a thing).
Steve and Nancy showed me their farm, complete with Holsteins, acres and acres of corn and soy bean, etc. I also got a tour of the local grain elevators (huge!), two dairy farms and other local attractions in Lafayette County. They mentioned that there were no stop lights in the entire county (God's Country indeed). The first dairy farm we visited had about 200 cows with each getting milked three times a day. I was surprised how much they had in those udders. It was udderly amazing!! 150 pounds a day (or 50 pounds a go) for the big ones. I was able to milk some cows the old fashioned way and one cow with the new high tech method. It was quite efficient. I found out that life on the dairy farm includes some really long hours! They milk the cows 24/7 and 365 days a year. Three shifts a day per person which includes long nightime shifts. I had to drive 5 hours round trip for my farming adventure, but it was well worth it!! Great, great people that I plan on staying in contact with. They even invited my entire family back to visit next year and you can bet on it ... we will take them up on their offer! I am looking forward to doing it all over again with the kids next time! Thanks again Steve and Nancy!!
Pictures above: Corn harvesting, grain elevator, severely damaged corn (from hail), the male cow "The Vindicator" ... cool name and their dog's name is Bullet. The video is of me getting my milk on!
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