The Tapestry of Kansas: Celebrating Kansas Day

Randy and the calving pen in 2010

Earlier this month, we sold the last bit of farming equipment. Though most of our farm equipment and supplies went on the auction block during our sale last August, Randy held onto the calving pen. 

It was at our house, rather than the farm headquarters. He decided to wait to sell it until it was calving season. That time came in mid-January. I put it on Facebook, and we had seven inquiries about it before we went to bed that night. The first one to call was the lucky owner of the new-to-them calving pen.

2020, milking a cow using the breakaway gate, so that we could feed her baby

The calving pen was located in the calving shed we erected in 2016 after the barn we had been using succumbed to gravity. Until I read the old blog post, I had forgotten, but we bought the pen in 2010 from another farmer who was retiring from the cattle business. Originally, it went in the barn. At the time, I wrote that some wives get little blue boxes from Tiffany's for Christmas presents. I got a calving pen.

Here's part of what I wrote:

Maybe you were like me and were initially thinking that the calving pen might have been a gift more suited to Randy. That's OK. I thought it, too. But then I got to thinking: Maybe this big metal box does say love. I remembered last February when Randy was at a meeting, and we had a heifer in trouble. My attempts to get the vet on the phone went unanswered. Jake (our farm employee at the time), a helpful neighbor and I finally got the calf delivered. But a nice calving pen, complete with head gate, would sure have made it easier. A pen with lots of different gates and openings would make it safer for the people and the animals.

From Kim's County Line, December 20, 2010

That blog post turned out to be prophetic. The calving pen with its breakaway gate helped reluctant mothers and their new babies bond. The head gate helped contain mothers who needed some extra help when Mother Nature wasn't yielding a baby calf in a timely manner. (Click HERE for a photo essay of a birth using the calving pen.) Being able to use it saved several babies. The shed provided shelter for mamas and their new babies on particularly brutal winter nights.

 

And, I must admit, I was a little misty-eyed, thinking about it leaving the farmyard. 

But, on the other hand, it will serve another farm family in a similar way. Just like we benefited from buying someone else's equipment, they - and their cow-calf herd - will benefit from the purchase they made from us, too.  

We will celebrate Kansas Day on Sunday, January 29. It will be Kansas' 162nd birthday. Kansas became the 34th state of the union in 1861. My Moore ancestors came to Kansas in 1876, 15 years after Kansas became a state. My Neelly ancestors were a little later, in 1898. I'm sure all of them would be amazed at the changes in Kansas, and especially, in farming. 

I'm thankful that both sides of my family saw beauty and opportunity here. (Click on the links to read more about how the Moores and the Neellys came to Kansas.) Randy, who is a fifth-generation farmer in his family, still owns a pasture that's been in his family since 1900.

This is an undated photo of Randy's Grandpa, Clarence Fritzemeier, with a bull. The back of the photo has written (in Randy's Grandma Ava's handwriting): "He looks like he knew he was going to be sold."

As we near the Kansas Day celebration, I thought again about that calving pen. It was used by our friend, Joe. Then it came to our farm, and now it will serve another farm family in Central Kansas.

Those threads of connection are woven throughout Kansas history and Kansas agriculture. Even back in 1861, the livestock industry was an important aspect of the state's agricultural economy. The state ranked third in the nation in cattle population by 1890, a position it held for several decades. Mixed farming (grain-livestock) has always been the predominant form of agriculture on Kansas family farms, including both the Fritzemeier and Moore agricultural legacies.

Thousands of head of cattle were shipped on trains from rail heads in Kansas to packing plants in Kansas City, Chicago, and other cities to the east.  

A photo I took in 2011 during the Kansas Cattle Drive to commemorate Kansas' 150th birthday

Between 1867 and 1885, towns like Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Newton, Caldwell, and Dodge City became famous for their place in the cattle industry.

Photo from the Kansas State Historical Society, dated between 1891 and 1912

With the closing of the open range, Kansas cattlemen began to place greater emphasis on the breeding of better stock.  Shorthorns and Herefords were popular in the 1890s, according to the Kansas State Historical Society. Herefords are still part of the genetics on our County Line farm, along with Angus.

Generation to generation - the legacy of Kansas and of Kansas agriculture continues. And Kansas farmers are a strong thread in the tapestry of our state.

Let no one say the past is dead. 

The past is all around us and within.

Oodgeroo Noonucal, Aboriginal poet

Happy Birthday, Kansas!

Kinley, Kansas Day, 2019. I shared my Kansas books and sunflower cookies with her first grade class.

If you want to celebrate with special Kansas Day cookies, here's a LINK to the recipe.

The Bucket and Other Legacies

Maybe no one else can see the value and legacy in a beat up old Tupperware container. And just like that old container, we can sometimes be a little "worse for wear" in dealing with plummeting commodity prices on one side but rising equipment and input costs on the other side.

This old Tupperware container was part of our inheritance. Really. It's been used to hold the pulling chains and disinfectant since I've been part of the family, nearly 36 years now. I don't know how long it was used prior to that.

It used to be stored in my in-laws' mudroom, but it now makes its home in my basement or back porch, depending upon the season. I'm sure when Marie bought that Tupperware long ago, it was never intended for use in a barn or calving shed. In fact, according to the label, it was part of the Millionaire Line. Man, if only THAT had come true! After a quick perusal at the Tupperware website, I have concluded they don't make it anymore. Maybe I could suggest a whole new marketing campaign for cow/calf producer products. On second thought, no. Somebody somewhere would protest that the plastic isn't "GMO-free" or "local" or some other buzzword.

Just last week, Randy used it as a bucket when he milked out a heifer so he could hand feed its calf. 

I've done a fair amount of thinking about the bucket since calving started again. The bucket itself is certainly nothing remarkable. In its former life, it was probably used for beverages, since it has a pour spout. Since it still has a working lid, it's handy for keeping disinfectant in the container when we use it for the pulling chains or for disinfecting the scalpel when our bull calves become steers.

It could be replaced. It probably should be replaced, since I doubt the scratched and stained plastic container is impenetrable by germ-free standards.

However, the dingy old Tupperware is more than the sum of its parts. It's kind of a passing-of-the-torch symbol - a hold-it-in-your-hands representation of Randy's and my places in the fifth-generation of our respective farm families.

I wish I had a photo of Melvin and Randy using the bucket together. I know it happened, but I wasn't recording every moment in blogland back then. For seven years of our marriage, I was driving back and forth to Hutchinson as a reporter and editor at The Hutchinson News.

Randy's grandpa Clarence with one of their bulls.

While that off-the-farm work helped pay the farm bills, it didn't give me the opportunity to play an active role on the farm. During part of the that time, I was commuting with infant - then toddler - daughter, Jill. After Brent was born, I "retired" from the full-time newspaper job, but I was raising two young children and doing some freelance writing work and later working at the school. So I didn't always make it out to watch a calf being pulled. I took more photos of the kids than I did of the farm. And that's OK. That's the ebb and flow of life. Different seasons often bring alternate perspectives.




But in this season of life, I've used the same reporting and photography skills in a new way. And while I didn't begin the blog to garner attention, it's always nice to be recognized

Last week, I was notified that I had received a "Golden Tractor Award" from Lawnstarter.com. Here's the email I got:

First of all, we’re huge fans of Kim's County Line, which has been chosen by LawnStarter’s editorial team to receive our 2016 Golden Tractor Award! Congratulations!

The Golden Tractor Award celebrates the Top Farming & Agriculture Blogs on the internet. We spent countless hours scouring the web in search of the blogs that deserve recognition.

We judged your blog based on criteria such as:

• How well-written and informative the 2016 content was
• How engaging it was (social shares, comments, aesthetics)
• Popularity (pageviews, “popular posts” lists, etc.)

We hope that you enjoy our list of winners and encourage you to show off your Golden Tractor Award on your website (along with other awards that we’re sure your blog has received).

You can read our article announcing the winners here.

 https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/annual-surveys/top-50-farming-and-agriculture-blogs/

Randy and his first 4-H calf.

In this era of "fake news" and "alternate facts," I think it's important for people in the ag community to tell our own stories. Nobody can tell it like the people who live it, even though fast food restaurants and advertising companies are glad to share their thoughts about the evils of modern agriculture. 

But, just like that old bucket, we persevere - one day at a time.

From Human Baby to Bovine Babies

I went from this baby in the morning ...

... to these babies in the afternoon. Let's just say I was tired at the end of it all!

Springtime means it's time to "work" baby calves. That may sound like we're sending them off to collect a paycheck. But it really means that we are doing the work by sorting, hauling and doctoring the baby calves.

When Jill and Brent were infants, I took them to well-child checks at the pediatrician. They were different than the last-minute appointments we made for ear infections and other ailments. Well-child checks were designed for the pediatrician to evaluate their health status and give any recommended vaccinations.

Our baby calves undergo a similar process each spring. For this appointment, Randy fulfills the role of "physician's assistant." He certainly doesn't have the education of a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. We do use a veterinarian for many of our cattle herd's health needs. But this is a task that Randy does, with help from Jake and me.

The process starts by gathering the mama cows and the calves. The method varies, depending on the location. To work the calves at Peace Creek, we use 4-wheelers to drive the cows and calves a half mile to the corrals and working chute. (We haven't done that this year yet.)

But, for the other three locations, we gather the cows and calves into a corral and then sort the babies from the mamas. As I've said before, I skip trying to photograph this process. I need my hands free while trying to send mamas back to the corral and keep the babies from following along.

 

The babies seemed more curious about me than concerned about the fact that their personal milk machines were separated by a fence. The mamas, on the other hand, vocally protested their separation from their offspring.

The mamas end up with that "first-day-of-kindergarten" feeling being separated from their babies.

"Hey, Bessie, I know they went into the barn." Oh wait! I think I hear them around the corner."

But, just like at the end of the kindergarten session for we human Mommies, the babies will be back with their mamas soon enough - right after their "doctor's appointments."

The babies go, one at at time, down a lane and into a calf cradle - a miniature squeeze chute. Jake gets the unenviable job of pushing the calves down the lane and is sometimes rewarded with a swift kick for his efforts.

The first order of business is giving each calf a number tag and notch in its left ear. This year, the numbers all start with "5" to indicate the baby was born during the 201"5" calving season.

Then, the baby calf and his friends got Tic-Tac-sized growth implants in their ears. Ralgrow is a hormone that stimulates the pituitary gland and helps the calf grow.

The $1 implant will bring a $3 return. Randy believes it's a matter of using the technology available to more efficiently grow food for consumers. And, yes, we eat the meat that we produce here on the farm and share it with our children and grandchildren.

We give each calf two injections. One is Ultrabac 7, an immunization to prevent blackleg. The other is Bovi-Shield Gold 5, which prevents viral diseases in cattle. People often question the reasons for giving immunizations to animals that will eventually enter the food chain. But these injections are like giving immunizations to our own children. It helps keep the calves healthy, and healthy cattle provide a good source of protein in the human diet.

The bull calves also become steers during their time in the chute. (The following series of three photos was taken another day, but they were better quality than the ones I took this year, so I'm using them instead.)
Randy makes an incision in the sac.
He pulls the testicles through the incision.
And then he cuts the cords, adding a squirt of iodine for germ control.

With all the steps done,  No. 529 rejoins his fellow "class"mates - none the worse for wear.

After all the calves were through the chute, we loaded them back in the trailer for the short trip back to their mamas. (If you look closely, you can see our "model," No. 529, in this photo. It was completely by chance.)

The mamas were all standing at the gate, anxiously waiting for their babies.

Out they come!

 

Then the sniffing and bawling commences to find the right baby.

Cue the music, "Reunited, and it feels so good!"
We sent them back to a nearby pasture to await their transport to greener summer pastures in May.

We'll have more babies to work another day.

And this Grandma was ready for a day off!