We begin with the end…

“Begin with the end in mind” is a famous motivational quote (Step 2 of the 7 Steps of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey) and something that farmers instinctively do each year.  Harvest time is the end we have in mind… and we are in the midst of that exciting time of year (except we received a nice rain last night that has kept them out

The first cornfield we harvested this fall.

Mike & Chad talking about the soybean harvest.

of the field today).  Several years ago, I asked my father-in-law if it was good that it was raining (it was early September and I didn’t know if they wanted it to rain or not) and he told me, “it’s always a good time for rain”.   Rain may stall us in our current quest, but someday we’ll want the moisture provided by each rain.  And… we can’t control it anyway – might as well be happy about it!  So – back to harvest.  Harvest is a very busy time of year – a lot to do in a short period of time.  Patience is still an important virtue at harvest time.  You know… plant the seed, give it water and sun, watch it grow… then you can harvest.  Close… but you can’t harvest until it’s absolutely ready to be harvested.   We test the moisture levels in the corn kernels to see if it’s dry enough to harvest.  If it’s not… we have to pay to have it dried.  We’d prefer it to dry in the field before we harvest it.  So that’s where we’re at right now… checking to see which fields have corn that’s ready to go.  Thankfully we are done harvesting soybeans – they were ready first this year.

I should mention that although the title of the blog is cattle & kids rock… we also love crops!