This New Year’s, I want to encourage you all to take time for yourself. It doesn’t have to be running, although I will say a daily walk or run is excellent at clearing your mind. Go out with a friend once a month. Go to a movie by yourself and eat all of the popcorn.

Winter is a tough time of year regardless of how you milk your cows. Things freeze. Snow, ice and cold are here. Things take longer than they should. Winter was tough when we milked in our parlor, but making the switch to robots meant completely relearning winter.

My husband, Eric, and I have officially been owners of the farm for almost three months. We finished our corn silage recently, which made our first summer of harvesting our own crops complete. This means we have survived busy summer weekends, crazy weeks, finding a babysitter and everything else that comes along with farming in a summer.

As a family we have been thinking about our farm transfer for over five years. We have talked about it. We have changed it. We have lost sleep over it. We have made plans. And more plans. And then a few more.

A couple of months ago, I had an amazing opportunity. On a beautiful February morning I got up early and headed to Ford Field. For those of you unfamiliar with what Ford Field is, it is where the Detroit Lions play. What was unique about this event is: It was a dairy event. I was attending the Fuel Up To Play 60 Rally for School Health.

I am an avid podcast listener. I listen to podcasts on all subjects ranging from agriculture to true crime to politics to science and everything in between. On one of my agricultural podcasts this week, they started mentioning the farm bill. Two senators were discussing how it is time to start putting our plans together.

Come on, spring! I type that with a great deal of gusto, but honestly, it seems selfish to say. Michigan has had a great winter. We only had short stretches of really cold weather.

My parents always pushed us to be lifelong learners. We watched my dad reading industry magazines. We saw my parents going to meetings about all different business, agriculture and dairy topics. That instilled in my siblings and me that we should always be learning.

One day in late July, our neighbor’s field started on fire. He was baling wheat straw, and it has been an extremely dry year in Michigan. A tiny spark started almost an entire field on fire, and it almost burned down a house and barn next to the field.

In Michigan, summer is well on its way. We are actually just finishing out a week in the 80s, which isn't very common for early summer. With summer comes heat abatement concerns. So often we are concerned with the cows, but calves should also be a concern during the summer.