Monday, April 22, 2013

Earth Day- Farm Fun and Working - Protecting Mother Earth



















The top picture is of Alan and Ashley leading a cow and bull to the pasture.  Yes, that is the cow's calf learning young how to walk with us.

The bottom picture is of Alan sitting on one of his old show heifers.  We were waiting on Mike to get a shot from the house for her and Alan said, "Hey, watch this!"  As a mom that phrase usually makes me cringe.  She moved under the tree at first as if to try and push him off.  Then she just stood there until I made him get off of her.

Our family has always walked the cows from farm to farm instead of using a trailer.  All of our walk except about .2 miles is through our own pastures.  The.2 miles that is not pasture is gravel road.  Those that live on this gravel road have become accustomed to us doing this.  As we were walking them this weekend, we remembered a fond memory that we had during one of this trips.  The kids had gotten home early and we were moving cows up the road when their bus driver, the late Donna Werner, had to stop at the top of the hill and wait for us to get the cows off of the road.  Instead of getting frustrated because she had to wait, she told the students to come look at what an old fashioned cattle drive looks like.  This memory was very bittersweet for us.  She was a very dear friend and just recently lost her battle with cancer.  Due to the fact that we have always walked them, I never gave it a second thought until one our friends asked how come we didn't use a trailer.  I explained to him that we have always done it this way and that it saves fuel and time.  We would have to make multiple trips especially since the calves are so small.  It is actually quicker to walk them than to load the trailer.  So we are saving our time, money and natural resources with just this one choice we make.  We used to do because we did not have a trailer and now we do to help protect our farm and do a little part to help Mother Earth.

There are other things that we do to help Mother Earth, but this is one thing that we did without thinking about it.  Please take a couple of minutes and think of something you do without thinking that is good for Mother Earth.  Please leave what you do in a comment below.  The more we consciously think of things to do, the better it is for all of us.

Until next time, remember.......Beef, It's What's for Dinner!

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