I don’t know how the weather has been in your neck of the woods this fall, but here we have been spoiled with sunny days and temperatures in the sixties and seventies. This week is a different story. We are experiencing a little thing known as an arctic blast, with daily highs in the teens and wind-chills well below zero. I see quite a few folks complaining about the abrupt change in weather, and as much as I would like to join them in a chorus of complaint or stay inside sipping coffee all day, we raise cattle, and therefore the show must go on.
Blustery Move
This week we have been busy preparing to preg our cows. Preg day, which will take place on Thursday, is when we vaccinate the cows and check for pregnancy, confirming whether or not the bulls did their job during breeding season. The sudden, and extreme, change in weather is an absolute inconvenience, but it really does no good to complain about it. Preg day will take place rain, shine, sleet, or snow. So, we put on our big girl (or boy) long johns, Carhartts or chaps, scotch caps or ear flaps, wild rags, Bogs or tapederos, and winter gloves – and go to work.
Raising beef cattle, or any type of livestock for that matter, is a three-hundred-sixty-five days a year type of job. It isn’t just in preparation for big processing days that we buck up and work in the weather. We go out every. single. day. Don’t get me wrong, some days (like today, yesterday, and the day before) I have to give myself a pretty good pep talk to take that first step outside – you know, the one that takes your breath away. However, once I’m out there it really isn’t that bad. As crazy as it sounds, I actually enjoy working in the cold winter months more than in the heat of the summer.
“Attitude is the difference between an adventure and an ordeal.”
– Robert Lipkin (a.k.a Bob Bitchin)
I came across this quote yesterday while sipping coffee and thawing out after moving cattle in the blowing snow and sub-zero windchill. It really sums up how I felt about my chores yesterday. Actually it sums up how I feel about a lot of things. I’m not going to lie to you and say I have a great attitude all of the time, however I am very aware that a bad attitude helps nothing.
So, which will you have today – an adventure or an ordeal?
Hello! I’m Terryn – the wife, mother, food safety enthusiast, Stormy Kromer fanatic who has slightly (okay, a lot) random tendencies, dabbles in photography, and shares (maybe a little too much) here at FFB.