I started listening to a podcast called “The Heart of Rural America” by Amanda Radke and in it she talks a lot about how to truly get American’s to understand what it is really like in Rural America and what those that are working hard every single day are doing, is to tell our story straight from the source. The more I got to thinking about it the more I realized just how important it is for us to spend the time telling our story instead of letting someone else that isn’t out in the fields and doesn’t know our heart tell our story.
I had gotten out of the habit of writing but I think that more than ever it is important for me to get back at it!
I’m not going to sugar coat it. While I think that those in American Agriculture are tough, they power through and even if they aren’t making a lot of money they stick in it because we LOVE what we do. It’s so much more than just a job. However, the age of those feeding America is getting older and smaller and the amount of those people is dwindling.
We are faced with so many more obstacles that are quite frankly terrifying. Personally we were looking forward to maybe coming out ahead in the cattle market. With feed cost going up over the years and the drought we have seen the number of cattle decline in the United States. This should mean that prices would go up but we have not seen the price increase we were expecting. The packers are making even more and the United States is importing more beef that every before. While as a consumer that doesn’t know better you might think this is a good thing for your bottom dollar and while it might make your Steak from the grocery story cost less the quality goes down and the high standards for sustainability, animal welfare, and quality control that is highly regulated in the states is not the same standard that those imports are held to.
That is just one of the issues that faces those in agriculture. Here are just a few of the issues that I hope to dig into more through out the year. The release of Wolves, in Colorado. While it might seem like a great idea how would you like to have a shark turned loose in your neighborhood pool? Not only is this a scary thing for producers wanting to protect their livestock, they are also worried about the safety of their pets, children and themselves. Increased regulations on fertilizers and pesticides, while Farmers and Ranchers work hard to make a profit on their yields therefore only using what they need, your average suburban homeowner can do whatever to make sure their lawn is green and plant whatever species of weeds (what they call flowers) that spread seeds throughout the region. Horse slaughter being banned and then the fight to close the boarders to horse transportation. We are super blessed with a high horse market at the moment but we have to have a place to go with horses that are not suitable for anything. We can not have them classified as livestock and not be able to treat them as such. And I think a big one is having people that do not have any actual knowledge about animal husbandry that are making laws and regulations on how we take care of our animals.
While I know that a lot of these subjects can be uncomfortable, I think that it is time that we start having these conversations. We have gone from a society where a majority of the population was involved with Agriculture to a time where 1% is responsible for feeding a growing population with less resources.
When I’m at home its hard to believe that people don’t understand how much farmers and ranchers care about the land, their animals and one another because it’s what I see everyday. I see neighbors pulling out of their warm homes early in the morning to go feed stock and make sure they have access to water. It common to call a neighbor when I need help doctoring a calf so that it can grow to be healthy and happy no matter the day or time. I see the neighbors cutting hay for another neighbor when their has been a death in the family. I am so lucky to get to see my Facebook feed full of friends that have cute calves in the house and truck warming up (Let me tell you it sounds a lot more fun in theory than reality, they poop and pee EVERYWHERE. It is truly done out of love.) I see my friends and neighbors working every single day to take care of their animals or crops and I see them logging ALOT more than 8 hours a day. I see my friends and neighbors praying that the rain will come, will stop long enough to get a crop harvest, over the health of their animals and that they will be able to keep the lifestyle alive. I get to see neighbors explaining to one another how to take soil samples, discuss the best way to utilize their land and water. I see them show one another thier new equipment, tools and even apps to better manage and take care of their land and animals.
But when I take a look back I realize that is not the picture that most people are getting to see. While I do sort of enjoy “Green Acres” it makes the farmers and ranchers look pretty simple minded and that couldn’t be further from the truth. The amount of technology and the wisdom that farmers and ranchers have is huge and continually growing. While “Yellowstone” is a huge hit and it has brought up some points that those in agriculture face, it really doesn’t portray ranchers in a good light. Most of us simply do not live a very fancy life in mansions and we most definitely are not killing and beating up everyone we don’t get along with. Most importantly we are definitely not the monsters that some activist groups try and make us out to be. We are the biggest care takers of the land and animals.
So I hope that you decide to follow along with my blog. I will try and get at least one post in a month and were gonna talk about the uncomfortable things but we will also talk about some warm and fuzzies.
And Until next time remember to support American Farmers and Ranchers! They are great people that are working hard to feed America, safely, sustainably and with animal welfare at the forefront (Trust me most of the ranchers I know have visited the vet hundreds of times more than they have gone to the doctor.)
Ranch Wife Ramblings 