55 Years and Counting From The Tractor Seat

By Bill Whitman 

 I have a friend who introduced me to the phrase, “vision decision.” His point at the time and I imagine it applies all the time: a farmer can plan all he or she wants but each day begins with the unknown.

The last several years, who hasn’t dealt with the weather being as unreliable as anything we’ve seen in decades. I am fortunate to have a weather service that allows me to “chat” with a meteorologist to get real time information rather than the typical canned forecasts that we have gotten in the past. (I’ll connect you with that service if you email me at the address below). I don’t know how many times I have cut hay with a clear four days predicted only to have the forecast to change a day later. The cost can be significant and often is with forage. So daily, we make a “vision decision.”

Personally, I can’t remember very many days when everything worked out or went the way I planned it. Equipment breaks down and then you’re subject to parts availability, and with the new “just in time inventory” system, rarely are parts available until at least the next day. Another “vision decision” with what you can be expected to adapt.

Farmers and ranchers find themselves having to deal with numerous, un-planned issues every day. On any given day when you’re dealing with Mother Earth and Mother Nature, you can depend on one thing for sure, things will happen that are beyond your control. Welcoming rain can leave trees down on fences. If you’re feeding livestock, waterlines break, water heaters fail, and fences are a constant work in progress. If you’re expecting a fuel delivery, things happen. If you’re harvesting and you have electrical problems at the bin site, harvest schedules change.

American farmers and ranchers have become the best managers in the world based on how they assess the situations they deal with on the move every day. One of the advantages most farmers and ranchers have is that they have experience in mechanics, plumbing, as an electrician or a carpenter, any one of many jobs that people make a career out of. Often performing any combination of these trades several times a day. How capable you are at handling these jobs often determines how the day progresses.

Nevertheless, in order to succeed in this great industry we call agriculture, we must be ever willing to alter our days in order to meet the daily challenges we inevitably face. Add to this, another “vision decision” we get to make is how we market our crops and livestock. This year will no doubt challenge our marketing skills as grain folks try to mitigate their losses and livestock people face the challenge of how to deal with the extra dollars an unprecedented cattle market has presented. What we do know for sure is that neither will last. History has taught us over and over that we will find ourselves in a feast or famine situation. How we respond will affect the future of our farms and ranches.

IndianaAg@bluemarble.net