Thanks Ursa, Now What?

Today, I am going to ask you to use your imagination.  Do a little daydreaming with me it you will, please?

Imagine, you have this awesome job.  The one you have always wanted, BUT there is a small drawback.  You only get paid once a year when you have completed all the tasks.  You still have to pay all your rent, groceries, utilities, OH and HEALTH INSURANCE is on you, too.

Now imagine, you are less than two months from pay day and something happens out of your control.  Something that could affect your paycheck drastically, but maybe not.  You may get 50 percent of the pay promised, or all, but you need to wait two weeks to find out.  How would the stress level in your household be?  What backup plans/funds do you have in place to take care of your family until the next paycheck comes along?

Friends, this is what the wheat farmers in Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado and the Panhandle of Oklahoma are dealing with.  Their wheat crop was so, so close to providing a paycheck for them and BOOM! the winter storm comes from out of nowhere on April 29th and Poof! there may or may not be a wheat check this year.

Many agronomists are saying it will take up to two weeks to see if the cold weather really affected the wheat or not.  Remember, we drove through the area shortly after the roads were cleared.  It was ugly. 

SEVENTY MILE PER HOUR WINDS had laid electric poles on the ground.  Can you imagine what it did to a thin spindly wheat stem?  Acres upon acres of wheat was laying flat on the ground.  One person I talked to who had walked into many fields said the wheat was almost always broken off or severely bent.  It is hard to believe that any of the plants will stand up again.

And then there were the TEMPERATURES. Once wheat has headed out (the wheat head has emerged from the stalk), temperatures below 28* for more than a few hours is detrimental...as in the head or parts of it do not produce grain.  Some of these fields were under snow and ice for more than a few days.

So, these farmers have paid the rent on the farm ground that they farm, if they don't own it.  If they do own the land, they have paid their property taxes.  They have been paying their family bills AS WELL AS the seed, fuel and fertilizer for the wheat crop.

Now the "experts" are telling them it will take two weeks to decide if they wheat crop is really lost or not.  Now, that may not seem like much to you, but what if the wheat crop is lost and they can put it up for hay?  Hay that would be much higher quality NOW than if it matures further.  What if they want to plant corn?  Corn that would be better served to be in the ground now, so that it can mature properly before the hot, dry weather of August sets in.

Sure crop insurance will help, but do you know how crop insurance works?  Your crop insurance coverage is a percentage of the last TEN YEARS crop history.  You get to select the percentage level of coverage.  Let's remember as my friend Nebraska Wheatie tells us that Western Kansas has been in drought conditions for the last SIX years and just got out recently.  The last six wheat crops haven't exactly been busting the seams on the grain bins.

Our friends in the path of Winter Storm Ursa need a lot of prayers. Prayers for speedy answers.  Prayers for the weather to cooperate better than it did last weekend.  Prayers for their mental health.  I have shared about farmers and mental health issues before and right now, these guys are in a tough situation.

If I know one thing about farmers, it is that they are resilient.  They know how to roll with the punches that Mother Nature gives them.  They know how to squeeze household living expenses out of nothing and then seem to find a way to put another crop in for next year. 

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the farmers going through these tough times.  We know that things will work themselves out somehow.  My thoughts are also with the custom harvesters who depend on having a wheat crop for their paychecks.  Everything is totally out of their control until they pull into a field.  I asked Nebraska Wheatie to share some of her thoughts on what is going through her mind this week and she is concerned...yet, hopeful.  Just like the Ranchers who dug out and continued on after the South Dakota early fall blizzard, and those that have recovered from the Anderson Creek and Starbuck Fires, they will continue on....it won't be easy, but they will continue to produce food for those that forget they even exist in the flyover states.

If you live in the areas affected and are willing to share about your story or pictures, please contact me.  I would love to help others understand what you are going through. We have lived through a terrible situation like this and I understand it is not easy.  The National Media said election night, that they had neglected the Midwest, but we see that they have already forgotten us again.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

The Ugly Side of a Beautiful Blizzard

Last week our family traveled to Lamar, Colorado for the wedding of a close friend.  When we left home, we knew there was a chance of snow, but we were not fully prepared for what we witnessed.  I think it is safe to say that few of us from Southeast Kansas thought the weather was going to be as bad as it turned out last Saturday.  Like I said, we were there for a wedding and the first pictures are a few I took before the wedding in Lamar.

After the wedding we headed to the reception in the small town of Two Buttes south of Lamar.  As we drove the snow got heavier and when we turned east it was evident that the snow was blowing and drifting.

We left the reception approximately 45 minutes before the state closed the roads for the night which left many of our friends including the bride and groom to spend the night in a WPA built building, with no electricity.  They actually spent almost 24 hours in the old high school gym before the roads were cleared.

My brother kindly overlaid a map and marked the site of the reception.  His thoughts were that you couldn't have picked a worse location for a reception during that storm.

We have had fun telling the stories of people sleeping with a tablecloth for a blanket and telling stories of how much alcohol it took to keep them all warm and happy and bragging that they had a 24 hour wedding reception, but there is a heartbreaking side to the story. 

We saw cows huddled next to the south fences all along the road to Two Buttes.  They had walked away from the storm until they hit the fence.  Some of our non-farm friends even commented about them.  My farmer said, "They won't leave that spot all night.  They won't walk into that wind."  Little did we know at the time that some of those cows probably would never leave that spot alive.  The snow was so wet and heavy that it buried cows and calves alive and/or suffocated them.  They were also wet from rain that fell until the wind turned cold and the snow began to fall.

A special thanks to Sheri Scimeca Thompson of Sharp Shots by Sheri for allowing me

to share some of the overnight photos.

It was a beautiful snow, but the wind was harsh and the storm's aftermath is nothing short of ugly.  If you know someone who lives in the Two Buttes, Springfield, or Walsh and are missing cattle please let them know about the Facebook page where you can list missing cattle and their brands or found cattle are also listed.  I am hearing stories of cattle who walked over snow drifts over fences and were found as far away as 10 miles!

The cattle killed and lost is only one side of the losses due to the storm.  I will share more as I gather more information. Here is more information from a local news station on the devastation.

Here are some more pictures sent to me from Lalane McClure of Hugoton, KS.

P.S. This isn't the post I had planned for this week, but it is the story that needs to be told and from what my friends are telling me it is another story in the heartland that the National Media is ignoring.

Heartache in South Dakota

I have been trying to wrap my head around what happened in South Dakota last week.  The blizzard crippled an entire area, but the aftermath of what my fellow ranchers found after the snow stopped and winds subsided is nothing short of something out of a horror film.

I have heard losses of 20-50% of many herds.  To put that in perspective for you that do not farm or ranch:  That blizzard just cut those ranching families paychecks by 20-50% next year and it will take years for them to build back the herds they had.  The pay cut won't be over next year or the year after that.  Sadly, it will take years.

Not only did it cut their paychecks, but I am guessing it left a lot of fences wrecked that will have to be rebuilt before the cattle that are still alive can return.

We went through a few nasty snow storms over the years.  What the news won't show, is that many of the animals that did survive are suffering now.  Pneumonia, scratched eyes from the blowing snow, and muscles and joints that are stiff from being braced against the cold winds are just a few things that I am sure they are dealing with...that is IF they can find them.

I won't even start to describe what the ranchers and their families are going through.  I will let someone from South Dakota explain how they are feeling and my rancher friend Robyn on The Ranch Wife Chronicles.

Going to pasture after pasture finding dead cattle would bother even the coldest hearted person, but ranchers aren't cold hearted.  These are the people that have spent a lifetime of winters tending to their stock and putting them before themselves on Christmas Day.  These sheep and cows are not just animals they are a piece of the rancher themselves.

My friend Krista said it best on Stauffer Dairy's blog,
"farmers do not take vacations.

Farming is a 24/7 all year long job.

Farming is a commitment like no other.

Farming is our choice...

Farming is our life...

Farming is not for the faint of heart..."

 I pray that the next headline we read is NOT how many could not handle the stress and heartache and committed suicide.  If you do not know the warning signs, please read about the Mental Health Issues in Agriculture written by a mental health professional that is also a farmer's wife.  

If you would like to help the ranchers in the affected area, please Donate to the Rancher Relief Fund.  Thanks to the government shutdown, they don't know if they will get any help from the government or what they need to document their losses.

My heart and prayers goes out to the families struggling to make sense of everything that happened to them.  Let's be clear this was a FALL blizzard.  In the middle of winter, these cows would have been better prepared after growing thicker hair coats in the fall and increasing weight.  Cows are also brought closer to home in the winter, closer to winter feed, closer to people who can help them.  Many times cows are moved 10-20 miles from the ranch headquarters to summer grass.

If you aren't able to make a monetary contribution, please keep them in your prayers or at least send positive thoughts their way.  Post an encouraging note on one of the many Facebook pages or blogs by South Dakota Ranchers.  Anything to give them a bright spot in a dismal day will be appreciated, whether acknowledged or not.

Peace be with the ranch families of South Dakota,
A Kansas Farm Mom