National Ag Day

Hey Everyone,

In this post I would like to talk about 'National Ag Day' that took place earlier this week on March 21st. I think it is great there is a day specifically set aside for Agriculture. I just wish that it was 'National Ag Week' because I think that is what all of the farmers, ranchers and other agriculturists in our nation deserve. It would take that long, if not longer, to recognize all of the things that agriculture has an impact on in our daily lives.

Something that I don't think a lot of people realize is that you would not eat that juicy burger (or anything for that fact), have your fancy leather shoes or comfy, soft cotton shirt if it weren't for AGRICULTURE. Farmers and ranchers put their literal blood, sweat and tears into their work so those things can be put in front of YOU.

Let's think about back before we really had grocery stores when there was a mercantile, but they were miles away, so it was just easier to grow your own crop and raise your own livestock. How much more do you think that they appreciated their meals? How much more did they appreciate their clothes? Their shoes? Everything they owned? Well more than likely they appreciated it a whole heck of a lot more than most of us do now. And that is because everything is constantly at our fingertips. I can walk into the grocery store right now and buy milk and meat in all of about 10 minutes without even thinking about the farm or ranch that the two items I just bought came from. I wish that there was a way to get in direct contact with the people that provide us with these every day necessities and personally say, "Thank you." Because they deserve a heartfelt thanks for all of the hard work they put in every day to put the food we all need in the stores.

The work of farmers and ranchers most of the time goes unnoticed. It is thankless work. Long days. Long nights. No vacations or holidays. No pats on the back from 'their boss' because they usually are their own boss. They see all aspects of their business from beginning to end. They worry about finances just like any of us do. But usually on a larger scale because most farmers and ranchers get paid once a year. Can you imagine going from your weekly, bi-weekly or monthly paychecks to ONCE A YEAR? That would be nerve-wracking.

But just as farmers and ranchers have done for centuries now, they keep pressing forward. They work hard to keep up with the fast-growing technological world; all the while still trying to keep true to their roots and how it was done for hundreds of years.

I am sure most of you have heard Paul Harvey's "So God made a farmer" speech. But below I will paste the entire thing. It is amazing and I think it brings a sense of past tense attitude and a future hope for the agriculturists of our nation.

"And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker"

-- so God made a Farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board"

-- so God made a Farmer.

"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild; somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies, then tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it"

-- so God made a Farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt, and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps; who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, and then pain’n from tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours"

-- so God made a Farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds, and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place

-- so God made a Farmer.

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark."

It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners; somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church; somebody who would bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says that he wants to spend his life "doing what dad does"

-- so God made a Farmer."

Harvey put it so eloquently, but also truthfully, the highs and lows and the rise and fall of being a farmer or rancher. This life is a life that isn't for the faint of heart. You see the circle of life within a span of 1 day. You deal with shortage of feed and the stress of where to look next. You watch crop die because of an early freeze. But after all of that, one day you will see the sun break through the clouds, it begins to warm up, calves begin to be born and you watch it all happen again. It's a life that is rewarding but also frustrating, giving but always taking.

I hope after reading this you will thank a farmer or rancher for their hard work and for putting food on your table. I hope I've been able to sufficiently give my thanks for the never-ending, back-breaking, unforgiving work that you, the farmer and rancher, do for me and my family.