A mom, her boys, too many cows and lots of farming
For our first date, Derek and I met at a sandwich shop in downtown McPherson. I had walked over from work and Derek had just pulled into town after being on the road all morning. When I asked him what he had been doing he responded that he had been delivering bulls to the cows … Continue reading Making Babies (Calves, of course)
During the winter months we have a lot of mouths to feed on the farm. More than 500 to be exact. That makes dinner a big deal and important part of the farmer hub's day. We put a lot of time and attention into the feed for our cattle because, just as in humans, proper … Continue reading The Dish on Dinner Time
Calving season at Sawyer Land & Cattle is often a lesson in genetics. While most of our new babies are black or black with white on its face, we occasionally get a surprise, or a calf that makes you question who the dad is. Like humans, cattle have dominate and recessive traits that determine hide … Continue reading Who’s Your Daddy? (Farm Style)
So if you haven't been following along, please allow me to summarize our winter thus far: cold, mud, snow, repeat. Not kidding. It's been one of the coldest, wettest - and therefore muddiest - winters we've had and because we raise cattle, the farmer hubs is outside everyday checking our mother and baby cows. He … Continue reading What Does the Farmer Wear?
Sometimes talking about farming means talking about the weather. Because at the end of the day, a successful crop is dependent on plenty of sunshine, productive rains and consistent cycles of warm and cool temps. When a local reporter texted earlier this week to see if we want to talk about how happy we … Continue reading Mud, Mud Go Away
As a working mother of two boys who is married to a farmer with an 80-plus-hour-a-week job, I am instantly drawn to the articles or Ted Talks that promises to deliver the secrete to work-life balance. I'm always searching for it, wondering if I've made it and then, sadly, realizing I may never find it. … Continue reading Work-Life Balance, Farm Style
Yesterday the farmer hubs and I attended a bull sale in South-Central Nebraska. The hubs lives for these days. The sale catalogs for ranches start arriving around the first of the year and he’s like a kid digging through the Target toy catalogue before Christmas - making lists, comparing animals and deciding exactly what he … Continue reading Sale Day: Buying Bulls and Investing In Our Future
Keeping our cows and calves safe and healthy in the cold and snow It's snowing AGAIN here at Sawyer Land & Cattle in Central Kansas. It's been years since we've dealt with this much snow in one winter, but Mother Nature has decided that we need to live like Canadians (no insult to those north … Continue reading The Winter That Won’t End
We love our male (bull) calves but too many males can be a problem. Therefore, we limit the number of bulls through castration and create males without the ability to reproduce, aka steers.
To say it's a bad time to be a farmer would be an understatement the size of the grain piles dotting the Kansas landscape. During the past few years farming has become a losing proposition. Grain prices are down, international rhetoric and negotiations have killed export opportunities and a drought has made it nearly impossible … Continue reading Taking Care of our Farmers
