By Kirk Arnold, NODPA Co-President
This early grazing season and planting season has to be the most challenging one I have experienced thus far in my dairy farming career. The constant rain and flooding has made our pastures and laneways muddy and full of overgrown grass and weeds. The farm has less than 1/3 of our planned acres of corn planted and no seedings in the ground; and it's not looking good to get anything more in the ground in a reasonable amount of time. This all leads to making tough decisions again and again, when none of the options are appealing and there are no easy decisions to be made, as all the options are imperfect and involve less than ideal outcomes.
The thing I've found that helps me get through these difficult times the most is talking and commiserating with other farmers, whether they are organic or conventional, dairy, crop, or vegetable farmers, or custom harvesters (they might have it even tougher than us). We all know what each other is going through and we're all in it together. Just knowing that we're all doing the best we can with the hand the weather has dealt us and that sometimes okay is good enough and that perfect is just not in the cards. The added sense of community and friendship just talking with others going through a difficult season together really seems to help me feel better about the current situation. It's also always nice to have others to talk about plan B's and C's with, and this surely is a year of backup plans.... One plan B for us has been grazing our heifers on grass that is over my head in small 2-3 days paddocks. It has been working better than expected. I guess challenges can always present opportunities to try new methods to deal with whatever the current situation requires.
Posted: to Industry News on Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Updated: Sun, Jul 13, 2025
