In the March 22 issue of The Shawano Leader there was an interesting front-page story entitled, “Promoting food production requires public ‘agvocacy.’” It went on to say that there is a new buzz-word to define advocacy for farmers and other agriculture producers called “agvocacy.”
I condone that buzz-word completely. Synonyms for the word “advocacy” include support, encouragement, backing, promotion and activism, to name a few. These words combined with agriculture take on a whole new velocity and meaning.
There are many outside of the agricultural community who value and respect dairy farmers and food growers. The article I referred to summarized a conference that encouraged farm women to spread agriculture news. I would have loved to attend that conference and actually even had jotted it down on my calendar, but a last-minute obligation came up and I couldn’t attend.
Throughout the years, I’ve written a farm column in which I’ve tried to promote agriculture, to give the nonfarm public a glimpse of life on a dairy farm, with all its joys and challenges. Sometimes my articles are full of fluff, sometimes completely off the topic of farming, like the military retirement piece a couple of weeks ago. Oh, that was an amazing night, filled with wonder and awe and everyone was all dressed up! But I digress …
The other day, I had the pleasure of attending Rural Life Day 2014 at St. Edward Parish in Mackville. This event was held to support the agricultural community. Heartwarming to me was the fact that the day acknowledged and appreciated the Source of all blessings. This statement included in the bulletin set the tone for the entire affair: “Stewardship is a way of life, both new and familiar to people who work the land. Farmers and all who live in the country and those who espouse rural values, recognize that God is the origin of all life, the Giver of everything that we have and are, and the source of our freedom and giftedness. The only proper response is prayer, service and sharing.”
The day began with an amazing service that concluded with the blessing of the seeds to be planted in the spring, blessing the machinery used to work the land and plant the seeds, and even blessing the animals that were gathered there outside and being raised for food. After prayers offered, humbly kneeling before the Lord, for safety for the farmers, rain and sun in due season and a bountiful harvest, we proceeded to the basement to enjoy a delicious dinner complete with homemade apple pie.
Bill Jartz, co-anchor at Action 2 News, was the featured speaker. With energy and enthusiasm and much laughter, he delivered an address called, “Living the Good Life.” He appreciated the hard work and dedication it takes to succeed in the dairy industry, as he grew up on a small family-owned dairy farm in Clintonville and knew what it took to get a day’s work done. His personal experience taught him a strong work ethic, laying the foundation to pursue many endeavors. He married a gal from Milwaukee that thought milk came from the Sentry Food store, and he implied that afternoon, that he had educated her in a hurry! He concluded his enthusiastic talk with Paul Harvey’s heartwarming video, “So God Made a Farmer.”
Dairy farmers and food growers appreciate being acknowledged, but even if we are not given a second glance, we, on a daily basis, take care of business. There’s a profound satisfaction being good stewards of the land and caring for our livestock with the constant mantra, “If we take care of the animals, they will take care of us.”
I’m filled with dismay when I hear of a news report stating alleged animal cruelty on a farm, discovered by hidden cameras. Countless times, we are called upon to conduct many types of procedures on a farm, dealing with thousand-pound animals that depend on us for every aspect of life.
One time one of our cows gave birth to a calf, stood and appeared to be fine. As my husband was milking, he noticed she had laid down and, attempting to get up, could not when my husband wanted to milk her. After determining she had come down with a case of milkfever, we immediately intravenously administered two bottles of calcium.
Usually a dose of calcium gets them up quickly. Not this time. Eventually, we had to call the rendering service to remove her from our farm. She had done nothing wrong, delivered a healthy, strong calf and just went down. While she was awaiting her fate, I offered her a wafer of hay. Turning her head toward me she softly mooed, as if to say, “Thank you for your kindness, Kay.”
Unexpected tears sprung in my eyes. I know I must harden my heart when it comes to matters like this, but it’s always difficult. I relay this to you to stress the fact that we raise our animals with the utmost attention to every detail affecting them, tending to them accordingly and it’s in our interest to do so to the best of our ability.
Thank you to those who appreciate our efforts, those who help educate others in the matter of how our food is produced and how our animals are tended to, for being ambassadors and advocates of agriculture. Farming is not only our profession, it is our livelihood, and as we work our farm, we thank God, for His Hand is in everything.
(“God’s blessings inside the city, God’s blessing in the country, God’s blessing on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks. God’s blessing on your basket and bread bowl; God’s blessing in your coming in, God’s blessing in your going out.” Deuteronomy 28:1-6, The Message Bible)
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