How to Get Where You Want to Be...One Step At a Time

At the beginning of every year, most people are making their New Year's resolutions and big list of goals for the year.  We are not your typical goal setters around here.  There really isn't a particular reason, it's just not something that we do.  It really is kind of out of character for me, because I am constantly writing to-do lists.  

We do think and talk a lot about what we would like to accomplish each year, but we just don't write it down, post in on the refrigerator or check things off the list.  We just go about our lives.  I know this will make some people gasp in horror.  So much of our life is scheduled by outside forces that it works better for us to have a general direction and then work toward that direction one step at a time as our life permits.  Some would say that we would get so much more accomplished if we had a plan layed out before us.  Maybe some day when I have more energy.

​However, having said all of that.....

We do have times in our lives that we feel like we are spinning our wheels and flailing our arms.  

One of the best things that my mom told me when we bought our house was to take lots of pictures.  When we feel like all is hopeless and we haven't accomplished anything, we just look back at those pictures and realize that we have really come a long way.  

​Just so you know...this pictures is of my dad and little brother.  They were helping build fence so that we could let the horse out of the barn.  They weren't very amused at the time...but we still laugh about the mess they made.
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• New lighting in the barn - after much thought and cost-consciousness, we decided to just put up florescent lights with the plastic sleeves over the bulbs to prevent glass from falling if the bulb were to break.  It is nothing high-tech or very expensive, but we are amazed at the difference.  We only installed 2 lights, just so we could see if we liked them.  We have had them up for about 3 months, and so far, we are very pleased.  We will probably add a few more lights down the road.  

• Add gate in barn for better ventilation - As you can see in the picture above, we have completed this.  It was very nice to have the extra stall this summer while we were trying to get Six feeling better.
• Calve 7 healthy calves  - we only had 4 calves this year.  We sold two bred cows, had one calf die at about a week old and one was a breech and didn't survive.  We made some mistakes this year, but we are using the difficulties as learning experiences and moving on to a better 2016.
• Repair bunk feeders in the barn - didn't happen
• Buy another mineral feeder - we did look at several different models and even looked at several homemade options, but we never pulled the trigger on anything.

• Add lime to the hay field - we did not add lime, but we did add an alternative fertilizer.  We applied this late in the fall, but we did see the field instantly green up.  We are anxious to see the results next year.  We will probably add more applications this year and we are looking into a different form of this fertilizer that we can spread ourselves.  Because the cost was so low, we were even able to apply to the field that we bale over on Tucker Rd.  
• Bale more hay - this was NOT a good year for hay.  We had a very wet year and we didn't even get first cutting done until the end of July.  We did not get a second cutting on most of our fields.  We were fortunate to get enough hay for us this winter and some extra as a buffer, but we did not have enough to sell.

• Increase Miniature Herefords show participation in this area - this is an ongoing commitment.  We are continually thankful to the Ohio Cattlemen's Association for adding a Miniature class at the BEST shows this year.  We did not expect that to happen in 2015.  We do not have very good participation, so the future of the class is still up in the air.  Daniel is also working very hard on another project in this area.  We just got confirmation that it is a go, but we are still working on ironing out all of the details.  Stay tuned for a big announcement soon.

Don't forget to tag @MidwestShowdown in your post of this weekend's festivities! #COUNTDOWNtotheSHOWDOWN

A photo posted by Midwest Showdown (@midwestshowdown) on Jan 7, 2016 at 9:40am PST

• Continue to show in the BEST program - like I said above, we are so thankful to have our own class.  We will continue to show in this incredible program.  Midwest Showdown here we come!

• Attend the Ohio Beef Expo - won Grand Champion Bull and Reserve Grand Champion Heifer.  Still the highlight of our year!

• ​Attend the Knox County Fair - It was really hot, but we had a great time as usual.
• Attend NAMHA Fall Classic - this show was cancelled due to low participation.  In 2015, the NAMHA also disbanded and joined ranks with the MHBA.  

• Go to Louisville - we made it to Louisville this year.  I don't think we have worked so hard for anything in our lives.  It was an incredible challenge, a ton of work, we gave it our all and put it all on the table.  It was an experience that we will never forget.  
  

Last year didn't end up being too bad of a year.  We have a lot we would like to accomplish in 2016, but one of our biggest goals is to slow down and really be able to enjoy each thing that we do.  The one thing that I am most excited for in 2016 is that Daniel promised that we would go on a real vacation (without cows or bows).  Unfortunately, we are only a few days into 2016 and I can already tell that he is trying to fill up some of the calendar space that we just emptied.  He is a hard man to contain, but at least he has fun doing it all.  

Fifteen years ago this month, we found this farm.  We have changed courses in this farming journey several times.  I think that is one of the great things about farming.  While many things stay the same, we are constantly changing and learning.  We have a broad vision and some day we will get there...one step at a time.