I remember a commercial back when I first married into
farming. It had a big buffoon of a guy in overalls with a piece of weed in his
mouth busting through the kitchen screen door to get his dinner. I hated it.
They portrayed us as simpletons.
Times changed and Farmers gained some more respect.
It seems though recently Farmers are getting the short end
of the stick again. Time and time again I am reading and watching reports about
the atrocities in large farms. Or, bad milk, bad meat, bad eggs. . . you name
it. Farmers don’t know how to house their animals, feed them or grow the proper
food. Farmers are poisoning the land, water supply and causing tumors to grow
rampant in rats which mean people full of tumors will follow! Many statements
you read and probably many more in the media are false.
Never has there been a time in my life that I have had to
defend our livelihood and our lives. And, quite frankly it hurts. It’s hurtful to hear such lies
about what you work so hard at. So many people are jumping on bandwagons that
are rolling down the wrong street and right over the people who are feeding
them.
Let’s take an example near and dear to my heart.
“Factory Farms” are awful and harmful to our environment.
I own a CAFO – Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation
otherwise labeled Factory Farm. And I would guess many have a terrible
disgusting visual of what that looks like. Dirty, swayed back cows, half
starved, covered in poop, being beaten and mistreated.
I get real riled up when I hear that. The reason we are CAFO
is because of size. We just barely qualify for being a large CAFO – 700+ mature
dairy cattle qualifies as a CAFO. We milk between 700 and 750. The other qualifications
are confining the animals for 45 days in any 2 month period and no grass or other
vegetation in the confinement area during the normal growing season.
We protect our cows inside buildings all year. In the winter
the sides are down to keep the cows warm, dry and away from the winter blast.
During warmer months the side walls are up and there is cross ventilation. This
along with several huge fans keep the cows cool and out of the sun and rain in
the summer.
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| There's always one in the bunch that wants to be different. |
They have access to clean water and food. Each cow has their
own bed made up with a rubber mattress and covered with shavings. The beds and
walk ways are cleaned three times a day. The girls are free to roam around with
each other and visit if they prefer. We have them grouped so we can feed specific diets. We have
a dietician that develops the recipe for each group.
Our cows wear ankle bracelets that transmit all kinds of
wonderful information when they walk into the parlor to be milked. We can see
how many steps she took (which is helpful when determining heat cycles or
sickness). We see what parlor stall she was in, when and how much milk she
produced each time. Their udders are washed off when they come in and then have
a protective dip on the way out.
We have pedicures scheduled for the girls when they need them.
They all get luxurious foot baths a few times a week to help prevent illness.
If one gets sick she is separated out of the herd and put in
our hospital pen where we can watch her closely and treat her if necessary. If
she needs medication she is milked in a separate parlor and the milk is dumped.
She cannot join the other girls until she is well and the time period for
separation for that particular drug has passed.
The milking side needs about 8 men and 24 hours a day to
keep it running smoothly and correctly.
We average 4 -5 calves born each day and have 2 employees
that are dedicated to that.
We farm about 1200 acres to grow the feed for our girls
Last year we farmed about 800 acres of corn and 400 acres of
hay.
My sons and Farmer can spend 16 hour days, day after day
planting, and harvesting to get the job done. I also help with the hay
production when needed. There’s nothing like having the sun in your dirt
covered face and the wind tangling hay, dust and dirt in your hair. I’ve seen the
boys wear hankies around their faces and goggles to keep from choking on the
dry hay and dust. The amount of dirt that is collected on all the bodies could
be a nice garden plot for a small family.
You don't know cold until you've tried to feed calves in the winter, thaw out water pipes or shovel snow off the roof of a barn.
My guys come in tired, beaten up and worn out.
Three of them have back issues – bulging and ruptured disks.
Many an occasion has been missed at the last minute due to a
breakdown or cows on the loose. We’ve missed events because we knew rain was
coming and we had to get the crop in before it hit. We’ve gone around the clock
trying to beat Mother Nature.
Farming is the only business I know of that buys its
supplies at retail and sells its end product at wholesale. Last year was a
great year for milk prices. Right now, the prices have dropped about 30 percent. Could
you survive if your take home pay was cut by 30 percent?
So, when I hear about all the things we are doing “wrong”
and all the things we are doing that puts people’s health at risk, it hurts.
Here are just a few facts to inform you of the improvements
from farmers and ranchers:
About 72 percent of the calcium in the U.S.
food supply comes from dairy foods.
To meet this demand for dairy, there are
more than 60,000 dairy farms across the country.
Today’s farmers produce 262 percent
more food with 2 percent fewer inputs (labor, seeds, feed, fertilizer, etc.),
compared with 1950.
Careful stewardship by farmers has
spurred a nearly 50 percent decline in erosion of cropland by wind and water
since 1982.
Conservation tillage, a way of
farming that reduces erosion (soil loss) on cropland while using less energy,
has grown from 17 percent of acreage in 1982 to 63 percent today. At the same
time, total land used for crops declined by 15 percent (70 million acres).
Farmers have enrolled a total of 31
million acres in the Conservation Resource Program to protect the environment
and provide a habitat for wildlife. Since its inception in 1985, the program
has helped reduce soil erosion by 622 million tons and restored more than 2
million acres of wetlands.
Farmers, ranchers and other
landowners have installed more than 2 million miles of conservation buffers under
farm bill initiatives. Buffers improve soil, air and water quality; enhance
wildlife habitat and create scenic landscapes.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of
trees are planted on farmland.
Our food prices are some of the most
affordable and abundant in the world. For a quick comparison, American’s food
cost makes up about 6.7 percent of our incomes. In comparison, Japan was 14
percent; China was 21.3 percent; and India a staggering 51 percent. How’s that
for affordable food. –source: Fastline.com.
Source: The Lancet, The Economist – Global annual deaths
from malnutrition* is 3,100,000. Deaths from genetically modified foods is 0.
*among children 5 and under, 2013
1 acre of corn removes 8 tons of
harmful greenhouse gas.
In 1960, a farmer could feed 26 people. Today
a farmer feeds 155 people.
As a Farmer it feels like we are a little black and blue
from misconceptions in media and extremists groups.
I would ask you – when you put your clothes on this morning
did the fact that a farmer was responsible for some of it (cotton) ever come to
mind? When you ate your breakfast, lunch, dinner and/or snacks did you picture
a farmer providing that?
I really don’t want sympathy. I’m proud to be one of the
many great people who have a mission to feed the world.
It just would be nice if we weren’t slammed at every turn of
the page from people who have a full belly while criticizing the source.
