While I would still say, “Don’t believe everything you see on the internet,” know that there is at least one place you can turn to, and that’s Ask AgProud.

It’s a new season in the Coyne household – new teachers, new bus route, new friends and a soon-to-be new sibling. As we weather all the changes this fall is bringing us, I’m brought back to the summer months of slower mornings and carefree afternoons, and also of lessons in responsibility and accountability.

The spirit of silage season remains, and I see it every year in the way dairy farm families and neighbors come together – just like we did on our farm when I was a kid. Silage chopping has always been more than just a week of hard work, it’s a community effort and the foundation for high-quality feed that keeps our cows fed year-round.

It’s that time of year when the aroma of fresh-cut haylage lingers a little while longer in the air, plumes of dust billow along the side of the dirt roads as tractors and wagons run back and forth from the fields to the farm, and children are parading to the edges of a cornfield to see if it’s “knee-high by the Fourth of July.”

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve thought having four legs might be an advantage over two. My husband and I are expecting our first child in August, and I can’t help but feel a little jealous of the dairy cows I know and love. 

For me, acts of service have always been one of the main ways I show my friends and family I care. It makes me happy to make their lives easier. However, I often struggle to receive it from others. I don’t like feeling vulnerable. I never saw this as an issue until recently, when it was pointed out that in refusing to allow my friends and family to help me when I needed it, I was also denying them the joy of helping me. Not being willing to accept help can also feel isolating.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), otherwise known as bird flu, has recently impacted dairy herds in certain regions. While this isn’t the typical scenario dairy producers are accustomed to, it offers us an important opportunity to revisit the fundamental care principles we extend to our cattle – principles not so different from what we seek when we’re down with the flu ourselves.