Sometimes in farming and in life the most unexpected things happen. Such is what happened here this last summer. We had emptied our high-moisture corn silo since it was in really bad condition and needed rebuilding. I had planned ahead for that and stored some dry, shelled corn down the road at my friend’s grain elevator. That way I could get some corn back home to feed to my cattle when I needed it.

On a nice blue sunny day, we set up our roller mill with a tractor on it, behind our sheds. Then we put an empty gravity box under the spout, and I took another empty gravity box down to Dean’s to get a load of shelled corn home. Once home, we ran the corn through the mill to break up the kernels so our cattle could eat it. It went really well. Although, running dry shelled corn through a roller mill creates a tremendous dust storm.

Once we had the load done, we took the box with the rolled corn and put it in the shed. Then we put another empty box under the mill’s spout and I went to get another load from Dean’s. I was just finishing rolling the second load when I saw two firefighters standing behind me.

I quickly shut the mill and tractor down to see what was up. I was shocked to see them here and the fire truck parked just behind them. They quickly apologized for interrupting my work and said I could go back to it.

I asked them, “What’s up?”

They responded, “We got a number of phone calls from people on the highway out here reporting a fire here.”

With all the dust my mill was putting up in the air, people mistook it for smoke and thought I had a big fire.

The firemen apologized again and said that this was the first time they were called to something like this. I told them it was all right.

I went on to say, “I would much rather have you come and not need you than to have you not come and need you.”

They smiled and laughed, and then left along with the other fire truck that had come. They, along with us, were happy they didn’t have a big fire to fight here.  

I have called them twice myself over the many years I’ve farmed here, and they have been quick to respond. What can I say? We are greatly blessed to have our local firefighters, first responders and police officers who serve us so well. They are great public servants, and we have the utmost respect for them. They are a blessing from God and should be honored and respected by all.