Massey & Ferguson

I’ve been putting off this post for 2 reasons.

1: It’s summer time on the farm.

….

Did you read that right? It’s summer on the farm.

Honestly, summer is bru-tal! There’s buildings to muck out, there’s the garden to tend to (weeding, reseeding, planting, mulching, fertilizing, picking bugs, harvesting, it’s exhausting), there’s baby animals to tend to, mother animals to properly nourish, and there is always the looming winter, that is coming too fast, to prepare for.

Time is something that is very scarce come summer. I look forward to dirty fingernails and the commotion of it all in January, but when it’s actually here – well I’m tired.

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2: I don’t know squat about cattle. Not a dang thing. It eats grass, it poops. End of my knowledge.

But here we are, on the farm, with 2 heifers. I still can’t believe it either. In the evenings, before the mosquitos become unbearable, we sit out in the field (usually on the tractor bucket because farm) and just stare at them. Heads down, tails swishing as they make their way here and there pulling up grass and weeds. We keep pushing our pastures further and further out letting the goats (and now heifers) graze this totally unworked land. It’s amazing to see. The growth coming up in their previous pastures has been amazing. The goats pull the weeds and taller vegetation, the heifers graze the grass and clover right down, all animals fertilize the earth as they go along, and bam! Holy moly pasture, batman.

Gorgeous. Nature at work is gorgeous.

I truly believe you can’t farm without emotion. You have to be able to look out over those fields and sigh the biggest most grateful sigh there ever was in all the land. You have to look at those heifers with love, care for the tender chickens, rotate the baby bunnies in their nest so all get a chance at milk, and appreciate the work goats do….even though they are the most annoying animal on the planet.

So with no further ado, allow me to introduce Massy and Ferguson.

Clearly, Dan named them. I was a little apprehensive at first, but my Instagram followers all voted for the names, and they’re just plum stuck now. Massey, the holstein, is friendly, loves ear scratches, treats, and being told she’s a pretty girl. Ferguson, the jersey, bucks and runs if you so much as look at her funny. She’s sassy, independent, the leader of the duo, and darn silly in her own way. While Massey tends to just plod along, Ferguson is agile and light on her feet. She reminds me of a giant goat in the way she throws her head and runs.

Summer on the farm. Now complete with cattle. Pinch me.

Amen.

April

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