Farmers don’t get snow days or overtime.
With all the snow and bad weather many businesses and
schools are closing the doors and staying home where it is nice and warm.
Other professions that deal with the weather are putting in
long hours and will get over-time pay.
Farmers get neither – days off or overtime pay.
In fact, if the price of milk went up with the effort it
took to produce it, you wouldn’t be able to afford milk this month.
The cold, bitter temperatures are freezing everything that
has a drop of moisture.
Our biggest issue has been with frozen manure. It clogs up,
stops up and messes up alleys, pumps, machinery and life in general. My poor
guys are freezing their fingers off while trying to take apart, fix and
reassemble.
The cows need more food to help them stay warm. The extra
food gives them the needed energy to keep warm.
Cows that are due to give birth are watched closely. As soon
as the calf arrives it is moved under heat lamps and coats are secured. Even
though all of this is inside barns, it is still cold, beyond cold.
Farmer has been plowing snow non-stop. He plows the
driveways so the tractors can get from building to building. And, then he plows
the county road so our workers and the milkman can make it in. Then, he starts
the process all over again because the wind refills his efforts.
If that wasn’t enough it is forcing
its way into buildings and bringing snow with it.
Our barns are pretty secure and have side walls and
curtains. Yet, we have piles of snow on some of the outside walls where the
driving snow has found a way in. The poor BEBs are covered in the white dust
along with their comfy beds.
A day or two of this is not good. A few days are bad. A week
fighting the elements is miserable. We are now moving into the exhausted,
grumpy, and “barely able to fight your way back into the layers of clothing”
stage.
Everything is harder when fighting the uncontrollable.
The winds are supposed to kick up later today, 25 – 30 mph.
Like I said before, if the price of milk reflected the
effort to produce the milk, no one would be able to afford it.
Enjoy that bowl of cereal, glass of chocolate milk, hunk of
cheese and yummy ice cream. It is worth far more than you know.
