Here where we live, we are experiencing a drought. Before we farmed, I NEVER thought about droughts – except to complain about temp… But now that we farm, and farm grass, especially, this is a much talked about subject.

In the Spring, the pastures grow really fast. Since the cows can’t eat it all before it goes to seed, we harvest/store the overabundance as first-cutting hay.

When there is NORMAL rainfall, the fields get watered & continue growing, the cows get rotationally grazed through the pastures, and this continues until December-ish.

However…when there is a drought, there is a good chance that the fields WON’T grow back quick enough for the cattle to keep full tummies. Such is the case for us, right now. 😦

Here’s the tricky part – while waiting for pastures to grow, the cattle need to be “somewhere”. And if that “somewhere” is a normal grazing field, they will keep eating the grasses to the ground & could permanently hurt the regrowth of the field. 😦

Soooo, alternate plans need to be made.

Since feeding anything other than grass (fresh or dried) is not an option for us, we need to begin placing the herds in “sacrifice fields” and supplement their feed with our hay…yes, IN JUNE!!!

Yikes. Kinda scary if we forget the Lord is walking alongside us. BUT PRAISE GOD, HE IS HERE! 🙂

Father, as animals talk to us with disdain because they want something we can’t give them right now… As our dairy cows milk less because their feed isn’t optimal… As we scramble to fill pickups because of lower milk volumes… as we prepare to walk the long distances to use sacrifice fields on the outskirts in June… as we weed gardens in heat & humidity on hard soil… As we water these gardens for hours with watering cans & hoses… As we freeze in the air-conditioning because it’s too miserable to not have it on… Could You snap our minds back to You by sending us a bird to see soaring in the sky? May that bird remind us of Matthew 6:26 – Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Fix our focus back to Yours, Lord. May we be thankful our animals have voices and that we have ears to hear… May we not take for granted every drop of milk we receive… May we be efficient schedulers as we bottle each day… May we be thankful for legs that can walk far distances and for having extra fields that can fill the purpose of protecting our best grasses… May we be thankful we even have gardens to weed & plentiful underground springs to supply water to our farm… May we give thanks for the abundance of clothing we have for all temps… Your Peace is such a blessing, Lord – may it completely envelop us as we wade through this drought. Amen