I wasn’t raised in this life of farming & cows. I didn’t choose it so to speak as much as it chose me. This is not something I dreamed of doing as a child but now I cannot dream of doing anything else. It is easy for folks to sit on the sidelines, on the outside looking in to form views and opinions. That is just human nature. Farming is however something that you can never truly understand until you have felt it. It is something you have to physically and mentally experience it. You have to feel every emotion when a new life is brought into the world and every painful emotion when a life fades away. As consumers, you cannot truly understand what farmers do, how they do it or why until you have walked a mile in their barn boots. How do I know this? I was “just a consumer” not too long ago. I wanted consumers to feel farming over a year ago and I still want consumers to feel farming today.
I want consumers to feel the feeling and sense of urgency when a cow is sick. The feeling of not knowing what is wrong or how to fix it.
I want consumers to feel the feeling when you are unable to reach your veterinarian by phone and you need his help.
I want consumers to feel the feeling as you rush to the veterinarian office and rush home in hopes to reach your cow in time.
I want consumers to feel the feeling I feel when my husband says you shouldn’t be here right now, she is not doing good but you stay anyway.
I want consumers to feel that helpless feeling you get when this girl who was born and raised on your farm needs your help and you do not know how to help her.
I want consumers to feel every emotion you feel when you see your farmer running to get tools to tear apart the stalls in the barn to help her sit up, to give her the room she needs and to help her be as comfortable as possible.
I want consumers to feel the feeling of standing over her, holding a bottle of calcium as it is attached to an I.V. praying she will pull through.
I want consumers to feel that glimmer of hope when you feel her ears warm up giving you hope she is on the mend.
I want consumers to feel the feeling of their finger tips going numb due to the temperatures in which you are working in but you keep pushing forward because you value the life of a cow.
I want consumers to feel the feeling as you watch your farmer rub her head, give her loves and tell her she needs to pull through.
I want consumers to feel the feeling of holding the head of a Holstein cow in your lap with tears rolling down your cheeks monitoring her every move.
I want consumers to feel that complete sense of helplessness.
I want consumers to feel that feeling as you whisper in her ear a simple “thank you” knowing her life is almost over.
I want consumers to feel the feeling your farmer does when he finds that she has passed.
I want consumers to feel the feeling he feels when he has to tell his wife she died despite their best efforts.
I want consumers to feel the stinging of your finger tips as the warm shower water hits your skin as you scrub off blood and cow manure.
I want consumers to feel what it is like to cry uncontrollably in the shower after reviewing your milk check the same night you lost one of your girls.
I want consumers to feel every single emotion that we feel. I want them to feel the feeling you get when a new life is brought into the world. I want them to feel their heart-break when an animal you loved and cared for the past five and a half years takes her last breath.
Some say that I care too much, “it’s just a cow”. Many others say that because I am a dairy farmer I do not care at all. I say that not a single person knows just how much I care or what I feel until they have walked a mile in my barn boots.
Krista Stauffer
Latest posts by Krista Stauffer (see all)
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- The Importance of Nutrient Management Plans for Washington State Dairy Farms - April 17, 2024
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Krista you have done it again, only this time instead of tearing up it was full fledged water works. I, like you, was not raised a farmer. In fact if someone would have told me it would be my life I would have thought they were crazy. Even when my husband decided to start farming in 2009, I thought he was crazy and actually I wasn’t totally bitten by the “bug” until, just shy of a year ago, I jokingly mentioned putting a calf hut in our back yard. A week later I had 2 huts and my first bottle calf. Now, 18 weaned calves, 3 still on the bottle, and 3 heartbreaking losses later I wouldn’t want life any other way! So, thank you for showing others what is truly given by farmers and their wives 🙂
Too funny. It is amazing what we do that we say we would never do in order to care for our girls. 😉
I love seeing and reading about farmers and dairy
Tears. All of the tears.
I’m a rural gone urban girl now, but I still feel all these things. Thank you for sharing. I hope everyone can hear/read a story like this.
Thank you!