I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. I guess, in all honesty, it’s my attempt to begin to get a grasp on so many of the complexities life has to offer. While I wish I could say that I have made a vow to reduce time on social media, often this reading occurs at the end of a long day when I find myself on my phone searching for … something.

I was unloading the dishwasher a few days ago and paused to ponder my husband’s coffee cup. It stuck out like a sore thumb among the other dishes, all scratched and dented, looking like something that belonged in the scrap metal pile rather than the kitchen counter.

No matter how hard I try to think of topics that are strictly farm related, I always sit down and seemingly pour my heart out to the blank page about something that comes out sounding more like a Sunday sermon than a dairy farmer’s blog post.

A while back the light bulb burned out in our master closet. It is one of those big fluorescent fixtures that puts out an obnoxious amount of light for its size. Like most dairy farmers, we were too busy (or tired) to make the time to go to the store to buy a bulb.

My daughter received a book when she was born titled Click, Clack, Moo. Maybe some of you are familiar with it. In the book the cows have developed a most clever form of communication in which they send typewritten notes to “Farmer Brown,” demanding certain amenities such as heated blankets. When they don’t receive the items requested, they lock themselves in the barn and go on strike. I wonder what the cows on our farm would request if they could type? What would yours want?

I pulled up to the dairy and parked in my usual spot. I got out and fumbled around as I put my 7-week-old into the stroller. My husband was combining soybeans in the field next to the barn, so we began to stroll around as we watched the cloud of dust rolling behind the machine with the most beautiful orange sky in the background.

Have you ever picked up the phone to call a consultant and upon asking your question and hearing the answer you feel like the dumbest person on the face of the earth? Well, for those of you who have not yet had the experience, let me shed some light on the feeling.

I was sitting in a room full of dairy farmers recently, fidgeting in my dress slacks as the meeting was about to begin. There was lots of chatter about who was from what area, how many cows each of us milked and of course the weather.

It was a sunny morning, and I was already running behind. I pushed back a bit of frustration as I hastily put on my boots to head to the dairy. It was one of those days winter doesn’t spoil you with too often – sunny and 50ºF – making it destined to be a great day, no matter what, in my book.

Oh, fresh cows, why are you so hard to figure out? One of the things we have constantly battled is learning the best way to use all of the numbers from the robotic system to manage fresh cows optimally.