The Helpers

 

"Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

Fred Rogers

As we've completed our final cattle roundups and the associated tasks this fall, I've thought of the helpers more than once.

Even though farming and ranching may seem a solitary job, there are many others who quietly help get the jobs done. 

Sometimes, they are the people on your payroll, though we haven't had that for a couple of years now. 

They may be neighbors who help out with cattle drives or finish a wheat field when your combine breaks down. 

Dr. Bruce Figger preg-checking our cow herd, November 16, 2021

It may be the veterinarian who helps keep your herd healthy. 

Dr. Bruce, giving vaccinations, November 16, 2021

It may be the semi truck driver who, year after year, hauls your calves to the sale barn.

Darrell Harner with Harner Trucking, Sylvia - November 10, 2021

 

It's a bonus that he knew your parents, so you can stand around and reminisce while the air builds up ...

... then deliver the load safely to the sale barn.

It's the sale barn personnel and the auctioneer who get your cattle sold for the best price possible.

Pratt Livestock Sale, November 11, 2021 - selling our feeder calves (born during the winter of 2021)

It's the co-op employees who fufill so many tasks all year - from applying fertilizer, to delivering fuel, to weighing trucks to dumping trucks in the elevator (and so many more jobs).

And, of course, it's the family members who do whatever job needs doing at whatever time it needs to be done - sometimes in the shadows.

 - and who sometimes dodge "organic matter" from the business end of the cow while keeping good records.

This just scratches the surface. There are so many people and organizations that have made a difference in our lives and livelihoods throughout the years - from parts counter guys who know your name to the seed dealers. The list goes on and on.

Even though we are saying goodbye to some of the day-to-day work, there will still be "helpers" and partnerships. That's the nature of living in a rural community.

The end of an era - waving goodbye to our feeder calves.

I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world.

-- Fred Rogers

 

We are thankful.

A Buzzard Circles: Cue the Harvest Saga

A buzzard was circling the combine when I went by yesterday afternoon. It wasn't there for the combine, but it might as well have been.

The buzzard was dining on the big, well-fed raccoon who had been eating an all-you-can-eat wheat buffet inside our combine. When Randy started the combine up to move to our remaining 275 acres of wheat, the coon went through the machine, tearing up the radiator and assorted other parts.

The buzzard didn't come for the combine. But Straub's International did. If you are one of those people who thinks raccoons are cute, you are welcome to pay our repair bill!

It was just another part of the Wheat Harvest 2016 saga. We started June 15. Yes, way back then, it looked so promising. And, the wheat we cut early was well above average. Then it began raining. We think it's rained seven times since June 20. We had a hiatus from July 2 through July 11 because the ground was just too soggy.

Thankfully, our neighbor, Gary, rescued us yet again. He had already planned to help us cut to finish up. Now, his machine will harvest our remaining crop. Randy got a quick lesson in transitioning from red to green, and he's been driving the borrowed combine. It has 4-wheel drive, so it has been helpful on the still muddy ground.

I'm glad I took photos of harvest earlier. The photos of beautiful wheat are long gone. From the road, there are so many weeds coming through that you can hardly tell we're cutting wheat. The straw spreader looks more like a lawn mower tossing mulch as it chews through grass.

Photo taken June 15, 2016

But we are thankful to again be cutting. We got a sprinkle of rain overnight. Now, if the rain can just stay away for a couple of days: Fingers crossed!

Who would have thought I'd have to juggle getting set up for the Stafford County Fair with running meals to the field? As superintendent of 4-H foods and nutrition, I'm setting up this afternoon. Judging begins bright and early Wednesday morning. In our current situation, I'm thankful that our active 4-H days are over and we aren't trying to get livestock and a dozen other projects ready to go while still trying to finish up harvest.

I hope that we'll be able to say we're done with harvest sometime before the fair is over.  If all goes well and the "creek don't rise," we should be done sometime on Wednesday.

"If all goes well ..." I don't think I'll count on that.

We are ready to put Wheat Harvest 2016 in the rearview mirror.

Cut for a Cure

Salina Journal Photo, used with permission: Clarence Patmon and the pink Cut for a Cure header.

It’s not every day you see a pink corn header on a Case combine. But during this upcoming fall harvest season, that pink header will be Cutting for a Cure in Central Kansas. A few weeks ago, Clarence Patmon, who is a shop foreman at Pihl Repair and Farms near Falun, was servicing equipment in preparation for fall harvest. And he had an idea. He wanted to give farmers a chance to help fight cancer through donating part of their corn crop. But he wasn’t sure how to get it done. He approached one of his boss’ wives, Karla Pihl, who has done seven Susan G. Komen Walks for the Cure all across the country. And Cut for a Cure was born.

In Cut for a Cure, farmers will donate a strip of corn - the width of the header - to the cause. Clarence and Karla had other help, too. Besides farmers, Karla and Clarence have gotten help from all of the Pihl Repair and Farms family, staff and managers. They’ve gotten area support as well. Curtis Barnes of Anderson Body Shop in Lindsborg donated the paint and painting of the header. The mission hits close to home for him, since his mother-in-law Shirley Bloomquist is a cancer survivor, who hopes to ride along with Clarence Patmon during the pink header harvest.

From the ground, Kelly Pihl quides Clarence Patmon as he connects a combine to the Cut for a Cure corn header. Salina Journal photo, used with permission

Justin Kinderknecht, owner of JustIn-Sane Graphics, of Salina, donated the vinyl lettering spelling out Cut for the Cure on the front of the header. Straub International in Salina donated parts to refurbish the corn header.

Karla Pihl, Salina Journal photo

When I talked to Karla on the phone last week, she said the project has gone from idea to pink combine header in just 3 weeks. Right now, five farmers between Lindsborg and Salina have committed to leaving strips of corn in their fields to be harvested by the pink combine header. Karla plans to follow up with other farm families where she’s left messages, and she fully expects more farmers to participate. This year, the grain will be taken to the Mid-Kansas Co-op elevator in Lindsborg.  The grain will be sold to help patients at the Tammy Walker Cancer Center, in Salina, and the Pink Fund at Lindsborg Community Hospital. The money will be used to help patients pay for expenses not covered by medical insurance, such as fuel for driving to medical appointments, meals, hotel stays and purchase of wigs.

 

While she’s been working on breast cancer awareness through the Susan G. Komen Walks for several years, Karla is excited that this money will stay in Central Kansas to help area families. Ironically, she says, just as news of the Cut for the Cure was getting out in the area, her husband’s cousin received a chemotherapy treatment for cancer this week at the Tammy Walker Cancer Center. Karla’s sister-in-law, Sue Pihl, of Assaria, has also fought cancer and is part of Karla’s continued commitment to helping fight the disease.

This year, Cut for a Cure plans to have the pink header working in the McPherson and Saline County vicinity exclusively. But Karla believes the idea could grow in coming years – either with their own Cut for the Cure header or if other farmers and farm communities take on the challenge and build the program in their own areas. 

In conjunction with the Cut for a Cure fundraiser, Karson Pihl, the 9-year-old son of Karla and her husband, Kendall,  has decided to collect full ears of corn to sell as squirrel food. The squirrel food will sell for $7 for a bag of eight to 12, or $15 with a squirrel corn feeder. Karson's grandfather, Don Pihl, is heading the feeder construction.

Clarence and the Pihls will participate in an annual Cancer fundraiser in Lindsborg next month. The Battle of the Buses is September 13 in downtown Lindsborg. Traditionally, a big mammogram bus and a pink fire truck have taken center stage during the fundraiser, which benefits the Pink Fund at the Lindsborg Community Hospital. This year, a big pink corn header will be there, too.

It just goes to show you how one little idea can grow in a place like Central Kansas. 

NOTE:  Thanks to Tim Unruh of The Salina Journal for telling this story first. He also generously shared his photos when I asked. I read the story in the paper online and then followed up by calling Karla myself.