Fall decorations

Can it truly be the end of another growing season? It seems like just last month Austin was explaining his tillage and planting experiment on the back 40 as we walked through fields of reduced tillage, examining the progress of the emerging plants. Now the crops are in the bins and it is time to start sorting through the numbers to determine if goals were met. In other words, did it make money?

Sometimes we can get lost in the numbers and lose our focus on the real value of the numbers. The highest yields do not necessarily equate to the largest profit. Just like the highest bulk tank average does not always equal the largest return on investment. How much do those last extra bushels or pounds of milk really cost in the larger picture? I’m really excited to hear how Austin’s numbers worked out with his “green planting” project where he direct seeded corn in an alfalfa field.

The dry conditions have made for a rapid harvest season this year. With such warm temperatures, low humidity and dry southerly winds, the corn moisture has been dropping faster than the New Year’s Eve ball in New York City. We jumped from corn silage to soybeans to high-moisture corn to dry corn harvest in a matter of days. My privacy fence surrounding the house disappeared through the snout of the combine in a few quick rounds. I forgot how busy our road is with feed trucks, livestock trailers and cars whizzing by in a hurry to get somewhere else.

While many people got out of town for the Minnesota Educators Association weekend, Mark and I settled for a Sunday country drive catching the last glimpse of fall colors. The scarlet sumac along the roadways framed the blazing orange sugar maple and vibrant yellow aspen trees tucked in a wooded area of red oak trees. It was stunning as the sunlight danced off the waving leaves. The strong fall winds have tried their best to displace the beautiful view, but there were still areas of dazzling colors.

The natural decorations sure outshine the Halloween decorations in many yards. Giant skeletons stand guard over the driveway. Inflated purple monsters stretch out their hands in the hope of grabbing an unsuspecting intruder. Ghosts dangle from low branches, fluttering in the wind. I’m amazed at the lengths some people go to decorate for the season. I’m lucky if I have a few pumpkins lining the steps up to the house.

I started thinking about Halloween decorations as I tried to sweep away the cobwebs collecting more dust than flies in the back corners of the barn. As some people purposefully put cobwebs up, I’m tearing them down. I have never seen so many large, fat spiders come to life as I disturbed their hibernation.

I’m trying to remove as many cobwebs as possible before we wash the barn for the year. The spiders have created these magnificent designs to withstand high winds and pelting rain, including the water pressure from a power washer. I am amazed at how much brighter the back of the barn appears once the cobwebs have been cleared. It also helps when the lights are working back there, too. Otherwise, it is like a deep, dark, creepy tunnel lined with tails waiting to swat at unsuspecting visitors. Barn version of a haunted house?

The record-warm temperatures are extending our fall season and hopefully shortening our winter season. The last few years it has felt like channel surfing through the seasons, jumping between summer and winter with only a brief click through fall.

It was only four years ago this week when we hosted our “Faith in Your Future Sale” where we sold all the milking cows and winter springers. We had over nine inches of snow the days before the sale. It was the earliest snowfall on record.

The barn is now full. The 2-year-olds are now 6. The barn is older, the machinery is wearing down and so are the farmers’ bodies. Future decisions and changes are staring us down like the front side of a double barrel shotgun. Once the dust of the harvest season settles and the fall decorations have been put away, it will be time to plan for next year and the next chapter of life on the farm.

As their four children pursue dairy careers off the family farm, Natalie and Mark Schmitt started an adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota.