Season of Waiting

We (and our members) have been enduring a season of waiting, of low production for the dairy herd for the last several weeks. It’s so frustrating, but as always, we are completely transparent with our members on the state of affairs over here. We’re able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, with two cows likely calving this week, we’ll be over the hump. We had purchased some new-to-us cows this last spring that weren’t exactly bred to fit into our breeding program calendar, but going forward they will be. Still, the slump is frustrating and compounded by the frigid winter temps. Why can’t cows be more like machines?

As we muddle through begrudgingly, doing all of the work for 3/4 of the production, I received a reply from Emily (a member) that brought me right back down to Earth. After reading my most recent ‘Production Update’ message, she thought to reply this, ‘❤️ less production in winter is normal, healthy, and preserves the life force. We are thankful.’

Let’s ruminate on that for a moment- pun intended.

If you’ve followed this blog for very long, you likely know that we are Christians, and being so, we believe that what we do here on the ranch is exactly what God had intended for us. It’s our vocation and more than that, we are willing participants in His plan, His creation, & His redemption. We are trustees, assigned at creation to care for the good things he made- land, livestock and all the rest.

We strive to understand what is good for what he designed, and we can honor His design by cooperating with a season of waiting.

We know it’s good for the cows to have a couple months off from being milked before they give birth, so we make sure we honor them with that time. We know that they need shelter, feed, and fresh water available at all times, so we provide those things.

We know that it’s normal for their production to drop when the outside temperatures do in the winter, so we don’t push them to produce more during that time, even though there are methods of doing so. Their bodies need that rest, a Sabbath from warm season production. Even though we miss the days of overflowing, bright yellow, CLA-rich spring butter, it will taste all the better after a long winter of less.

Its not just the cows that benefit from a winter Sabbath. Our chickens also enjoy a break from high production during the cold months. We believe this break is good for them, so we don’t inundate them with artificial heat and light to force production. They’re enjoying just foraging around the barnyard, and we find an occasional egg frozen, cracked and laying in the bedding. In the spring, we’ll enjoy a surplus of eggs with dark orange yolks from happy chickens hunting and pecking in the new grass, and they’ll taste like heaven!

Humans should learn to embrace these seasons of waiting too. I think God knew that it would be good for us to wait for some things. Think of the months a mother waits for the arrival of her child, the longer nights in winter that are perfect for extended rest, the time it takes to grow the perfect tomato, the way God slowly reveals himself to us through years of life experiences. There is beauty in the waiting.

What if there was no waiting? A couple decides they would like to have a child, and BAM, the next day the stork drops off a bouncing baby boy. They’d hardly have time to wrap their minds around it, to prepare, to learn about what they need, to hear the little thump thump of the new little heart together. Or how about if God were to reveal Himself to us all at once? I think that a revelation like that would literally blow our minds, plus there would be no opportunity for us to seek him, or to choose him freely.

We wait through these farm & life seasons, because we know what awaits on the other side, but sometimes we forget that the reward would not be as sweet (or deserved) without the wait. I don’t know if there’s a better place to learn the humility of not rushing God’s plan, than on a farm. Catastrophe always awaits when you push livestock and people beyond what they were designed to do.

There is beauty and reward at the end of the waiting, sometimes we just need to be reminded.