Responding appropriately to agricultural emergencies requires a specialized skill set. Evidence suggests the more exposure emergency responders have to agricultural situations, the more comfortable they will become when dealing with safety issues in those environments.

Since my father passed away, I have spent time thinking about heritage and what I am leaving as a legacy for my children. I am not talking about worldly goods. I am referring to memories and things of value. I know it is fun to take out a treasured heirloom and think about the past.

Everyone loves a bargain. No surprise there, but there can be many unpleasant surprises when purchasing equipment at auction. Being “surprised” by your recent barn find is never the object of the buyer’s affection, so let’s take a few minutes to talk about some common ways to reduce the stress or increase the success rate of bidding on that “new to you” piece of equipment.

Balancing work and family life is difficult for anyone, but it can be especially challenging for those who live and work with their family. On a dairy farm, it is easy to get caught up in the pressures of the day-to-day tasks coupled with the other stresses farming can bring and forget about the roles that matter most in our lives.

It was a beautiful, warm, late-summer afternoon, and I was enjoying every minute of it. I was busy baling a heavy third crop of alfalfa hay off of my upper-marsh hay field. I was baling hay with my old 276 New Holland hay baler I had bought used 24 years before from John, who was the implement dealer in my hometown.

My parents packed their bags and came to visit me on what they termed their “once-in-a-lifetime trip.” Being farmers, their opportunity to travel locally was limited, let alone to Europe. When I asked them what they wanted to see, they simply replied it didn’t matter – it was up to me to decide.

I know I’m not the only one who has ever waited, waited and waited for a return phone call from a parts dealer, repair person, salesperson or loan officer. Seriously, how do some of these people even stay in business? They always tell me, “I’ll get back with you later today,” or “We should be out there tomorrow.”

Stony Brook Farms in Amsterdam, New York, has a closed Holstein herd of 525 mature cows, 470 of which are milked three times per day – 9 a.m., 5 p.m. and 1 a.m. – in a double-10 parallel parlor. Although the parlor could readily be expanded to a double-14, this dairy farm has been operating at maximum capacity for four years and is not interested in milking more cows.

According to neurology studies, the average human only thinks about seven to nine things at a time. Indeed, there are only a handful of things kicking around in that brain of yours and mine.

Have you ever been embarrassed by your good dog? Me either. I’ve got a good dog. An Australian shepherd with one blue eye, and I believe he loves me. I believe I love him. He’ll go with me anywhere.