1st Quarter Finish Line

...is fast approaching.  Do you realize that 1/4 of 2015 is nearly over?  It still feels like we've just begun!

How are those new year's resolutions holding up?  Just asking....you know God gives you a new start each day.  If you lacked a little bit this first quarter, you can start over today. Now. 

It is rainy today. The kids are quietly going about their schoolwork, the littles playing contently.  Its a good time to look back and see where we're at...are we on track?  Are we going in the right direction?

Personally, I set a goal of running 500 miles this year.  That equates to 41.6 miles per month.  January was half over when I decided on this, so I started behind as it was.  Currently I'm at 113.3...meaning I would have to put in another 9.7 this week.  This is going to be challenging during calving season, and you know what? I might not make it....but I'm going to give it my best.  Isn't that all God requires?

I've also been working on being more "available" to the kids.  This means I stop and help them more, instead of saying "in a minute" or "after I (do this)."  Stopping and helping them first, actually helps me get more done. Imagine that.

We're not as far as I would have liked in school.  It looks like we will be doing school until the end of May.  When I think about the time we took off, for different reasons, I see that it was not wasted.  We made the right choice to include those other learning or serving opportunities.  I have listened intently to the children...their reading skills, their knowledge level...and I'm trying to relax a tad.  They are learning, a lot more than I realize. Its going to be okay!

From the big picture point of view, the farm is doing well.  With dwindling milk prices and a huge tax bill, we buckled down and have been careful with our spending, and still have some left for April (win!) before we ship milk again.  The price of beef is still high, so we look forward to selling bull calves this year.  We're doing as much prep for calving and planting season as we can, and our team members have been a great help in this.  We look forward to reaping the benefits of the improvements that we made last year, including the new cow lane (which has not been used yet) and the new calf pens.  Being able to put calves into groups more promptly is going to be a huge help.  Rick also reminds me that we will have more help this Spring than last.  The outlook is good.

We have had some major challenges however.  One of our main tractors went in to get a clutch replaced.  One of the parts they need is not available anywhere in the U.S.  It is in Japan, and they will not get it until late May.  This is crippling for us-we are currently renting a friend's tractor, but spring will come and they will need it.  Please pray that we either come up the part quickly, or an idea to fix the one that is broken for the time being.  We need use of the tractor. 

Our tractor waits at the dealership....in pieces.

We are also on the horizon of making some changes this fall.  On paper the plan cash flows well and is good for the farm and our family, but it will stretch us a bit as managers and take us a step out of the comfort zone we're in now.  However, the business will not grow if we don't ever take any risks.  One promenate business owner that we know well, said yesterday on Family Life Radio that when most people look back to the 30-40yr age range, they wished they had "taken more risks and spent more time with the kids."  So it will be, then.  Please pray for continued guidance and direction.

If you have been following us on facebook, you have shared with us the joy of new life on the farm.  We have had 3 new lambs born from the ewes that Rick bought last year.  What fun!  The boys have also bought their calves for 4-H, and now have them home and are taking good care of them.  We don't pay for the input costs of their projects, and since they have a couple years' under their belts, they were able to pay for the calves with their own money (win!) and not take a loan from Mom.  Yes, we are getting somewhere!  Slow and steady wins the race.  While 4-H has more to offer than the money, it is an integral part.  Our boys enjoy 4-H for many reasons other than the money, but we are teaching them to not let their projects/hobbies financially drain them.

I encourage you to take a minute and reflect on the last quarter.  Are you where you thought you would be?  Do you need to make a change of direction?  Spring is a time of new life and beginnings, it is not too late!  Happy Spring!

Twice a Day, However You May...

Through the years we have tried many different milking schedules.  Cows, at the very least, need to be milked twice daily.  Some farmers milk their cows three times per day, very few have tried four, and often some seasonal producers will back down to once per day right before dry off.

There is research that has shown that cows need to be milked every 8-12 hours;  no sooner than 8 hours from the last milking, but no longer than 12 hours after the previous milking.

Growing up most of the time we milked twice per day, early morning and afternoon.  For a little while we milked three times per day.  During that time I was in the 8th grade I did the afternoon milking.  Once, for a little while, my parents tried milking five times every two days.  So on day one, there would be two milkings, and on day two there would be three.  That was a scheduling nightmare!

After college, when I worked full time for my parents, I convinced them to try a 10am and 10pm milking schedule.  At the time, I was doing both milkings each day with exception to my weekend off.  One of my selling points was that Mom and Dad would only have eight milkings per month on this schedule (four milkings for two weekends that I was off).  They gave me the go-ahead. For a week.  Then they gave me the "stop".  Mom said Dad was too tired.  Too tired?  He wasn't even milking! Turns out, he was in such a habit of getting up very early, that he still did. Then, he stayed up at night in the house until he seen that I had chores done and had gone home.  I reminded him that I was an adult now, he didn't have to wait up for me....guess some habits are hard to change!

On our farm, we started with the 10 & 10 schedule.  We really liked it.  We got more sleep, sleeping from midnight or so until 8am....or later.  We weren't milking during the hottest part of the day, the cows are grazing at dawn & dusk, and the hay got done, given that we didn't have to stop in the middle of the afternoon to milk.  On Sunday morning we would just start early enough to get to church on time.

It is a bit more difficult to find hired help to milk that schedule, so we eventually went back to a more traditional 5am and 4pm.  As our home school evolved, I also needed the morning for school with the kids.  After baby #3, we went to a 3:30am and 3:30 pm.  This fit the baby's 3 hour feeding schedule at 3am, 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, and finally midnight.  We had to juggle things around as we didn't have any hired help that year. Or sleep.

No matter how we try to schedule it, there is still only 24 hours in a day.  The key is finding the right one for your life right now. Problems do not arise until we become so stuck in our ways that we are not willing to change or try something else. Farmers tend to get stuck in a rut, with the reasoning of "that's the way we've always done it".

Around here, we do our best to schedule the farm around the family. Why? Because that's the way we've always done it.

I'm attempting to include a short video with some clips from the milking parlor.   If you think of a great song for this clip, let me know!  Summer 2012-