We are down to the wire and I am trying to fit in everything I had on my list of 30 Days of Thanks when I started the month out. I didn’t follow the list to a T so therefore I didn’t get around to some things and switched things up a bit. But I did discover as I looked it over tonight that there is one major thing I forgot to be thankful for and that is our FARM!
If you’ve been following the blog you may know that my husband, Clayton, and I own and operate a Jersey dairy farm with 200 cows and 160 heifers. Day to day Clayton and I care for the cows, and farm over 500 acres of crops with a handful of employees. We own the land and buildings along with Clayton’s grandparents.
I thanked the cows, our employees, and our land but I never truly thanked our farm as a whole. So today I am doing just that as the farm we own and operate is the livelihood for our family.
Along with the cows, employees and land, comes a lot of important components. I’ll list most of these out for you:
- the barns that keep the animals warm and dry in the winter and cool during the summer months;
- the parlor that allows us to milk the cows;
- the pasture that the cows can graze on during the spring, summer and fall;
- the tractors and machinery that allows us to plant and harvest the crops;
- the tractors and mixer wagon that allows us to feed the animals each day;
- the skidloaders that allow us to clean the barn;
- the Kubota that makes it easier for me to feed calves;
- the water, water pump and water heater that allows our cows and calves to drink, and allows for proper cleaning of the parlor, bulk tank and calf bottles;
- and the list can go on and on.
Clayton and I are each blessed to have been raised on farms and to have the farm life as our background and for that we are forever grateful. Our farms have made us who we are and will shape our own daughters life as well.
I am thankful to be able to go out our back door and know that our the views, the land, the barn, the animals, and the equipment all belong to our farm and hopefully always will. A farm is more than just each of these individual components and together they complete the picture.
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