I am sure that by July I will be praying for rain but right now that is hard to imagine.  We have received 18 inches of rain up until last week.  This is very high for our area and since most of it has already caused major flooding.  The Current River reached an all time high when it crested two weeks ago.  Though the river had receded the ground continues to be saturated.  The storms that came through the last two days have dumped another 12 inches of rain on top of this water saturated ground.

For the second time in a month we have had a major amount of fencing washed away.  Yet, we are thankful to have missed some of the devastation left by the tornados associated with this last storm system.  Damage to emerging pasture is getting critical and we have had to put animals into some sacrifice areas to protect the main pastures.  These are paddocks that contain our least productive grass density.  The animal impact upon the sodden ground will leave them appearing to have been disked with a plow.  After the animals are rotated to grassy pastures we will come behind them and sow new grass.  In the long run they will actually be improved, but in the short time they take a beating.

Currently, we have planned for working one group of yearlings this week to separate by size and prepare for spring grazing rotation of range pasture.  Our pens are also soaked and even rubber boots will make for difficult moving as the mud comes half way between the knee and ankle.

We share our farm with an abundance of wildlife and we feel blessed to do so.  This includes whitetail deer, elk, Eastern wild turkey, beavers, ground hogs, red tail hawks, the occasional eagle, coyotes, fox, raccoon, etc.   We consider these animals a wonderful natural resource and we are passionate about their conservation.  The balance of co-habitation simply works.  With ourselves as stewards we see our role as managers of all the resources; the cattle, ourselves, and the wildlife.

Viewing and photographing these wild species is truly my greatest hobby and an endeavor that I just can’t seem to find enough time to explore.  Yet, it always seems that my greatest encounters with wildlife occur when I do not have a camera in hand.  One such encounter was yesterday.

While walking along one of my typical trails I came upon a group of elk.  They were out on the edge of the woods at the interface where the pasture meets woods.  A large bull elk was acting strangely.  He was walking imbalanced and stumbling.  My first though was that a poacher had snuck into the area and shot him.  Standing very still I stood and watched, unsure of what I could possibly do to help him if he had been shot.  As I watched he began turning from side to side trying to lick his back.  He then began to turn in circles like a small dog chasing his tail.  All of a sudden he ran and came to a quick stop like a quarter horse going through a reigning routine.  When he put on the brakes to stop both antlers fell off onto the ground on each side of his body.  I had been lucky enough to actually see an elk shed his antlers!  It was a remarkable sight. 

Huge storms moved through our area dumping about 12 inches of rain in about a 30 hr period and leaving in their aftermath flooding.  Southern Missouri is feeling the beginning twinges of spring and we frankly expect the rain, and the occasional river or creek out of its bank.  It comes with the region.  Yet, what happened over the last couple of days goes beyond the normal.  We have experienced what some old timers are calling the flooding of the decade or even a quarter century.  Lives have been lost, homes destroyed or flooded and schools closed everywhere. 

We have always been proud to have our farm located on the Current River (actually 3 miles distant) it is one of Missouri’s Scenic Waterways and its crystal clear waters are truly a delight for fishing and sporting.  Yet when the region receives a deluge of this magnitude it sure causes heightened awareness of the fierce power of nature.  Beautiful streams become torrents of muddy, violent, raging water that push everything in its path downstream in crashing rage.  

We are all safe for which I am thankful and we slept in a warm dry house, some in the area were not so lucky.  Yet, we are not without our destruction.  Large amounts of fence are gone and some pastures this morning had cattle grazing in a lake.  Pastures beside creeks have lost calves, swept downstream.  It will take days to help the momma cows and calves match back up and determine the loss.

In the midst of a crisis it is always gives you pause when certain sights imprint an image on your mind.  While surveying the damage and wading knee deep water where about a half a mile of fence had been washed away I happened upon a calf.  The calf was curled up in that oh-so-sweet manner on top of a clump of debris.  I assume patiently waiting for momma to return.  It was the picture of peace.  Tranquility when all around you the world rages. 

There cannot be any prettier color in the world than green, to a grassfarmer that is!  As the dull colors of winter give way to the signs of spring we delight to see the event we call the “green up”.  When our range pastures start the turn to green we feel a new birth, a re-creation of a new growing year.

This early spring we have had lots of moisture.  In fact, we are wet.  My husband is a pilot and was flying in a couple of weeks ago and called to ask the condition of our grass strip.  I told him, “You better land elsewhere unless you have equipped the plane with pontoons since you have been gone.” 

Rain is one of those vital parts of growing good grass.  As a farmer, talking weather is not just a pastime it is part of your soul.  Our Missouri soil is partial to erosion and when saturated makes driving on pasture like driving on ice.  We forbid anyone from driving off the farm roads unless in an absolute emergency. 

Animal impact can change a field to mud in 12 hours.  Yet, when not left to further abuse and properly rested it also seems to go a long way to bringing out and restoring native grasses.  Managing for wet conditions is as important as managing for drought yet can be a tool to improve pasture if used correctly. 

Living on a farm has afforded our six kids ample opportunity to participate in raising animals.  It is a chore and a pleasure I would love to give to each child whether from a farm or the city. 

The life lessons to be learned are important as a kid takes on the full responsibility of a creature being totally dependent on him or her.  We have rehabilitated wildlife, always maintained a large variety of pets, raised orphans and produced animals for 4-H in addition to our family farm production of raising grass-fed beef.

It happens every so often that we will have a calf orphaned or otherwise victim of circumstances that require being raised on a bottle.  It usually falls to the youngest of the children to take on the chore of bottle-feeding.  What always begins as pleasure and fun gives way to the realization of real work.

Such is the case with a calf being raised this year by our 8 year-old daughter, Katie Grace.  She has never had the responsibility before and begged to be allowed to be the one to do the feeding.  Previously, she had always looked upon the job as pure fun when she had helped her brothers with the duty. 

We had dinner with our dear neighbor.  Adrian is our neighbor who adjoins us on the west.  Over the years he has become part of our family.  The cause of the celebration was his eigty-third birthday.  Howevert, he explains that he is going to start over at 80 and go backwards.

Adrian’s roots in the small area known as Poynor, Missouri run long and deep.  In fact he was born and grew up on an old house on our farm that we use as storage shed.  We once started to tear it down thinking it beyond repair and useless.  Adrian came over one day and stood beside the weathered house with a rusty tin roof looking at it a bit sadly. 

Upon seeing him leaning up against the bulldozer I went over to speak.  He grinned and yet had a somewhat sad look.  He said, “You know, I was born in that house and grew up there, it has a lot of memories for me.  It kind of amazing to see how old it looks, guess it’s kind of like me.”

There are places in the world to which we return in body or spirit whenever we need rest, renewal and enlightenment.  It is there that we are able to set down our burdens and find rest; it is there that we can drink deeply from a fountain of strength, and it is there that I personally can hear and see God more clearly.

My touchstone is a wild and rugged 200 acres of woods located on our family farm.  These woods are cut with numerous trails large enough for a 4-wheeler or to walk, but not big enough for a truck.  It is on these wood trails that I have the privilege of running in the mornings.  I know the exercise does my body good, but it is the attitude change that works the miracle.

It is where I find the greatest amount of peace, joy, contentment, hope, wonder.  It is why I consider it a priviledge to live on a family farm.

Every spring we are privileged to experience the unique joy of calving season.  I say privileged because I do not know of any greater rejuvenation of soul and spirit than seeing a newborn calf lying on the pasture and it’s mother doling out affection as she licks it clean.  Seeing a calf rise for the first time on wobbly legs and instinctively find it’s way to that first vital meal of mother’s milk. Or standing in warm spring sunshine witnessing the pure entertainment of calves frolicking with ch other in the warm spring sunshine.  Not a person on earth could help but smile at their fresh antics.  It makes you feel that all in the world is as it should be and it is good.

 Yet, into this idyllic picture there is the occasional blemish that causes you alarm.  There might be that calf that presents in mal-position and causes dystocia (difficulty in delivery) requiring prompt intervention to save the calf.  We carefully select our breeding animals for calving ease and this is rare.

We always keep a couple of milk cows on the farm.  These are usually Jersey since I guess that is my favorite breed.

Our milk cows are more or less like pets and of course have special names.  Over the years we have had Elsie, Sour Cream, Jasmine, and currently have Buttermilk.  Buttermilk calved yesterday and it is always a special treat when one of these cows becomes fresh.

First of all Jersey milk is especially rich and generally has lots of good colostrum.  We allow the new calf to take all the colostrum for the first 24 hours and then milk her for the remaining 4-5 days to take any additional colostrum to freeze.  Of course, the calf continues to nurse its mother during this time.

Part of what it means to live on a farm has to do with your neighbors.  Our neighbors’ homes are actually several miles separated from our home and rather than feeling distant it seems to actually bind us closer.  Our rural neighbors provide us a rich resource from which we learn, share in trials, share in triumphs, at times share in contentions, and always share in humor.

When we first bought our farm it came with an experienced farm hand named Grady who we kept in our employ.  It was a good size place and a bit run down.

With the oldest of our boys only being 10, we figured we would need some help for a time.   Grady has been a jewel as a rich source of experience, stories, and good humored help in the most exasperating of situations.  He looks the part of a true cowboy.  Picture the old “Gabby Hayes” and you know the way Grady looks. 

The temperatures dipped low last night and this morning we were greeted with frost.  The predawn was crystal clear with a sky dotted with lingering stars and a sliver of moon still showing on the western horizon.  Warm and comfy in the nook where we drink our morning coffee my mind was on the heifers that are calving.

We dressed early and with the eastern sky only beginning to show a faint transition to the pinkish-orange of a late fall sunrise we left the house.  First time heifers are not always the best mothers.  It seems that though they have lots of instinct they are short on experience.  It takes them longer to know what to do to take care of that newborn calf.

Any calves born last night or at dawn when the temperature drops to it lowest could be in danger of hypothermia if that new mother does not clean it off and stimulate it to get it up and nurse.

Grady rides our range most mornings especially when any of our calves are due to calve.  This chore often falls to him mostly because he really enjoys it and partly because he is so good at detecting problems almost before they happen.

Grady is one of those gifted people who has a sixth sense about animals.  Often he has amazed us with how quietly and gently he can get most animals to move wherever he needs for them to go.  They seem to trust him and he seems to know just how to be in the right place at the right time. 

This morning instead of seeing Grady come into the office to give us a report on what he had seen, Cody, his grandson came in.  He explained that Grady wanted us to come outside to see what he had.

Mark and I went out to find Grady standing there holding a huge red tail hawk. It was such a picture!

Grady in his old cowboy hat that looks like it was born on his head and weathered there for the last 50 years.  He sported his annual wintertime full beard in snowy white and wore an ancient oilskin duster.  On his hands were his leather work-gloves.  Tucked under one-arm and securing both talons in a gloved hand he held a very alert bird.

I have always explained what we do is to raise grass.  We then use cattle to harvest that crop.  The key to using forages optimally is to rotationally graze these forages.  Under rotational grazing the livestock is allowed to graze only one portion of the pasture at a time, allowing the rest of the pasture to “rest”.  To accomplish this the open pasture is subdivided into smaller pastures (called grazing paddocks) and the cattle are moved from one paddock to another.  Moving the cattle allows the resting paddocks to renew resources, deepen the forage root base, support and increase the vigor of the forage species, encourage the growth of native grasses, and naturally eliminate parasite and pathogen problems.

At our farm, Rain Crow Ranch, we have 22 paddocks of approximately 120 ac. each. These large paddocks are used for rotating and grazing our mamma cows with their calves and for the weanlings of 400-800 lbs.  After this time the cattle to be finished are placed on finishing pasture for the last 120-180 days where the paddocks are of the best forage available, smaller and rotated more frequently.

We often have said that what we do is raise grass.  I love grass and of course green is my favorite color.  My favorite lesson to teach my kids in science is the wonder of photosynthesis and how grass makes it’s own food from the energy of the sun storing that food and releasing oxygen.  It is a natural cycle to use cows to harvest our crop of grass.  It is just the way it was intended to be.  When you go with the flow of the life cycle then every phase seems to benefit.  Grassfarmers produce grass and in so doing sustain the environment as we nurture the crop and harvest it with our green machines (grass-fed cattle).  Enough philosophizing…

As we have stepped up our efforts of finishing cattle on grass we have had to increase our efforts to assure having a quality chain of forage throughout all seasons.  The hardest time for us in southern Missouri is the middle of summer.  Dry hill country with a cool season grass base of fescue makes for low quality forages in the summer months.  This time is actually harder for us than the winters that are relatively mild and conducive to wheat grass.