From the Barns: Respect for others

After writing this article for nearly 20 years I am deeply humbled by the folks that are always coming up to me and commenting that they have read my latest work. Even more so, when I absentmindedly forget to write a piece like last month and I get a number of calls and texts from folks making sure I’m OK.

I’m happy to report we are doing well here on the Black Gold Ranch and I am going to claim momentary senility as my excuse for missing my last deadline. As I approach the midway point of my sixth decade — I can hardly say the number out load — there’s only so much unused gray matter left in my head and once in a while stuff just escapes. I apologize to my faithful readers and thank you for your concern.

On a very personal note, I also want to thank folks for their heartfelt notes on sympathy on the untimely passing of my sister, Teresa. Teresa had complications from some surgery and struggled for over a month to pull through, but the Lord decided it was time for her to come home. Teresa, in addition to raising her family and tending to her husband, Tony, had two jobs outside the home, one as a secretary when she first got out of college and then for 37 years she was the official bookkeeper — and unofficial greeter — at the Kewanee Farm King store. Many Farm King patrons knew her as Mrs. Farm King because she was always there and would come out of her office to greet and/or hassle folks coming and going out of the store. She loved that job and will be missed by us all.

When you’ve been in this ranching and farming game as long as Linda and I you build a network of folks you just like to do business with because they do it right and have earned our respect and continued support. Occasionally, I hope to highlight these outfits in a segment entitled “In My World, According To Steve.” This month I’m highlighting the earlier mentioned Farm King Store that’s headquartered in Macomb and has stores scattered all over western Illinois and Iowa.

I can’t tell you if they have the best prices or greatest selection, but the Severs family that owns the outfit gets an A+ for how they treat their people. Granted, they had known my sister for 37 years, but what moved me the most was that they posted a handwritten note on the door of their store that said the store would be closing early so their people could pay their respects to a friend and fellow employee that had passed away and then the owners showed up at both the visitation and the funeral. In corporate America a bouquet of flowers and a memorial check usually is sufficient. A several-hour commitment of time and travel is not the norm. That’s the kind of stuff I like to see “In My World.”

Meanwhile back at the ranch, we have been blessed with a tremendous growing season. Our old strip mine soil is not very good and we struggle mightily when it gets wet at planting so we get late really easy. Late planting is stressful if it turns off hot, but great temperatures and weekly rainfall fix a lot of sins and we have had both. The hay crops have been bountiful and the wheat harvest went smoothly. We have planted both corn and forage sorghum after the wheat and it looks great.

The feed market looks to keep edging upward and that will be critical to maintain profitability with the higher prices we’ve experienced with feed. The corn market loses a dollar in a month so the new crop, while still high, will give us some relief. We’ve been feeding some damaged wheat to help defray the corn price and that’s helping for the time-being. We picked a few cool days and got a few bunches of calves worked for the first time and hope to get that project finished up before the crew heads back to school.

While we are discussing vaccinating our calves and cows for that matter, I can’t help but draw the comparison of vaccinating the human population for COVID 19. In talking with some learned folks in the veterinary profession, with 40-plus years of experience in building herd immunity in our cattle and hog populations, getting a handle on this COVID deal is simple — vaccinate everybody, period. It would be downright hypocritical for me to think otherwise.

We spend thousands and thousands of dollars every year on vaccine and would never even think of not giving every animal in our care a full regimen of vaccine at least annually. Only when you add in misinformation, politics and the internet does it get complicated. Our veterinarians have a far superior understanding of how to handle this coronavirus threat than any of the human doctors because they’ve been doing it for decades, not months.

When I was a kid we all lined up in the gym and got vaccinated for polio and smallpox. No big deal and we don’t give those things a passing thought anymore. How about measles, mumps, chickenpox and who knows what else every school kid is required to be vaccinated for before they can attend school? This COVID thing is no different unless we let it be. It is serious and has cost us countless lives and untold heartache.

There have been plenty of mistakes made on how to handle this thing, but we are human after all. The only man to never make a mistake died on a cross in the Mideast 2,000 years ago. We need to look to him for guidance and start pulling together and get this pandemic thing behind us.