A Farmer and His Cows

I can almost guarantee you that every dairy farm wife or mom will tell you the same thing “My husband will always put another woman or women before me.”

Your jaws are probably dropping right now, but it’s the truth. My husband has 100+ other ladies he has to care for each and every day – that’s right they are our cows and heifers (a girl cow that hasn’t had a baby yet.)

I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s always easy to see him do that, but it gives me so much pride to see his dedication to the animals, the farm and our way of life. So what do I mean he puts those ladies before me?

Our cows get milked twice a day at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. They also need to be fed once a day, cared for (breeding, hoof trimming, health checks, etc) throughout the day and don’t forget the cute little babies! We feed them twice a day as well. (Wow that looks a lot smaller when you put it into sentence form – ha!)

This means that Christmas morning we don’t open our presents until the cows are milked, fed, have clean bedding and whatever else they need. Those ladies are the first priorities.

Or it could mean when your in-laws come to town for just 48 hours and you have 3 new baby calves in one night (that’s a lot for our size of farm) and you have to spend most of your time taking care of those newborn babies instead of with your family.

Why? Because farmers, just like my husband and the rest of my family, are dedicated to keeping their animals healthy and content. It’s part of the way farmers are hardwired, but it’s also doing what’s best for the animals and our bottom line as a business. Healthier animals are more productive.

So next time you drink a glass of cold milk or eat a hamburger, remember that farmers out there are caring for these animals and doing what is best for them 24/7/365.