Why are farmers usually happy, smiling, and waving hi from whatever they are driving when they meet you? Several reasons: the first is that when they get up in the morning, they make a very important decision either to be happy or not (this goes for everyone); if you decide to be happy, then the day is a lot more enjoyable. The farm animals can tell if you are fun to be with or not. The dog likes to be petted, the cat likes to rub up against you, the sow likes to get her back scratched, cows like to get their head scratched and if you carry peppermints in your pocket, that cow that got the peppermint will never forget you.
Everyone likes to live in a nice neighbourhood where everyone keeps the grass cut and keeps their old equipment either in the shed or at least out of sight behind the barn. Now that there is much less pasturing of animals than in grandpa’s time, most farmers clean up the old fence rows and ditches, so everything looks cleaner. If manure piles are kept behind the barn or over the hill so they cannot be seen, then they seem to smell less. Some farmers now turn their dry manure piles over a couple times to compost them, which changes the nitrogen in the manure into a more stable form which smells less (and that smell is nitrogen escaping into the air which costs the farmer money to replace with chemical nitrogen). Liquid manure smells the strongest when stirred up or spread on the field.
In an attempt to become carbon neutral, farmers are trying to stabilize the nitrogen portion by stirring the liquid manure pits and incorporating chopped straw and air into the liquid a few days before spreading. By working the manure into the soil as soon as possible after spreading, less nitrogen escapes into the air with the smell. Since the manufacturing of some chemical fertilizer uses a lot of energy and gas and a lot of fuel to truck it to the farms, farmers now use more soil and manure testing to get the right amount of manure onto the fields that need it the most.
If you have had to follow a farmer moving a large piece of equipment that you just couldn’t pass, then you can appreciate farmers who move those wide, slow machines at noon time when most people are eating instead of traveling on the road (an old neighbour farmer taught me that many years ago). Farmers don’t like wasting time driving on roadways, but they have to get from field to field sometimes.
When farmers are moving on the road from one location to another in the winter, it only takes a minute to stop and push back the big snowbank (that you can’t see past when you back out of your driveway) with the loader. If your home is close to a farm, the farmer might get you a bucket of topsoil-compost mix for your garden or flowers a lot faster and at lower cost than if you went to the garden center. If your neighbour farmer knows when your daughter is getting married, or you are planning a party, that farmer could easily spread manure or work up that dusty field next to you a few days before or after the party.
Neighbours like to know why you are doing things on the farm. Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question, only a stupid answer. They may not know that you don’t plow anymore because the millions of miniature creatures in the soil that decompose crop residue, and help turn the little soil particles into useful food for the plants, live at different depths of the soil with different amounts of available oxygen. If the farmer plowed the soil, the homes for those microscopic animals would be disrupted just like if your town was bombed.
Farmers now use zero or minimum tillage so as not to disturb the microscopic animal’s homes and lives. Our non-farming neighbours also wonder why farmers cut their hay three or four time a year because their grandfather only cut the hay once. They may not realize that the nutritive value of the hay can drop from 22 per cent protein if cut before flowering to 12 per cent protein after all the flowers on the hay are visible. The disability also drops drastically and then much more concentrated purchased feed is required.
Today, farmers plant hay varieties that regrow faster after being cut. Neighbours also like to know why today many dairy farmers keep their milk cows inside all summer when grandpa always pastured his cows from spring until fall. Although those cows look very peaceful out on grass, those new barns are controlled for temperature and the cow’s total mixed ration feed is computer balanced for a dozen different minerals, 14 essential amino acids, proteins, sugars, carbohydrates, and fibres that digest at different times to not only supply the needs of that high producing milk cow, but also the needs of the billions of bacteria in the cows digestive system that break down the fibre and other feeds that the cow eats. When those bacteria finish their lifespan, they die and turn into a form of meat meal which provides half of the protein and energy requirements of the cow.
Many newer barns have rubber mats on the floor and rubber beds to lie on for added cow comfort. Some barns even have timed water sprinklers to cool the cows on hot days, and motorized cow brushes so cows can get brushed when they want to. Most farms would gladly accept those fall leaves instead of sending them to a garbage dump. We have several neighbours who throw their leaves on our corn fields after the corn is harvested. Those leaves break down into compost for next year’s crop. An increasing variety of farm-fresh products are becoming available at farmers’ markets or roadside stands where you can ask how those products are grown and how chemical-free they are. Remember, our neighbours are our friends, and without our friends our lives would not be much fun. Good neighbours are priceless.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
