I would suspect that most people generally think of college basketball when they hear the term “March Madness”, but it is also a good way to describe a few things connected to agriculture this time of year.

Winter is finally giving way to Springtime (at least in the Southeast)and the weather, though unpredictable and sometimes severe, is generally improving. This means we’re really ratcheting up the activity on the farm as we begin to fertilize our pastures and cropland and prepare our fields for the summer crops that will soon be planted. As our spring forages resume their growth we’ll be constantly rotating our cows around through different grazing paddocks. And if we didn’t have enough to keep us busy this March, we have several heifers that are due to have their first calf and we are also breeding a sizeable group of heifers as well.

There is also a lot of madness happening in Washington, DC. Many of the issues both our elected officials and bureaucrats are wrangling with have a direct impact on agriculture, so I encourage everyone to follow the debate and let your members of Congress know what certain decisions would mean for you and your family.

So whether I’m herding cows from one end of my farm to another, trying to fertilize a field in between thunderstorms, or placing a call to Capitol Hill, it’s sure to be a wild month. If you call me on the phone and I sound a little out of breath or flustered when I answer, don’t worry…I've probably just been dealing with a little bit of “March Madness”.

Why do farmers farm? Why do ranchers ranch? Well its not for the money, none of us are getting rich, we do not do it for fame or fortune. So why do we chose a profession that pays poorly, is one of the most dangerous and has long hours. There are many reasons but this calving season has magnified one of them for me.

Each day Dad and I catch, tag and vaccinate each calf as they are born. This takes anywhere from one to three or four hours each day and I grow to appreciate this time together more and more each day. I guess appreciation of your parents is something that most of us grow into, something that comes with age, experience and growth.

Like most teens I did not appreciate my parents nearly as much as I should have. Oh we had a pretty good relationship, but I did not give them the credit I should have. I did not appreciate the wisdom they tried to impart on me. Thankfully I had the opportunity to move back to the family farm and spend time with them.

It made me appreciate the ability I have to spend time with family. Growing up, we ate meals as a family, both parents were very active in my life and Grandma and Grandpa were right down the road. Farm families are blessed because they spend that time as a family and that is one of the main reasons Jennifer and I chose to come home to the farm.

Each day Dad and I bump through the pasture looking for new calves and we discuss the farm, family, faith and other issues. That is when I am sure I picked the right profession. I suspect that I am no different than most other children involved in the family farm and I guess that is why so many of us chose to come back to the farm. Most of the farms in this great nation are centered on the family from the smallest to the largest corporation and that is what is at the heart of our agriculture.

One of my jobs on the farm is to feed the baby calves in the evenings (my mother-in-law feeds them in the morning). Tonight as I fed the calves, I was thinking about how glad I am that it is almost spring. While it’s nice to have the weather imposed break on fieldwork, the winter weather in Minnesota starts to wear on a person this time of the year.

In my opinion, feeding the baby calves is one of the most important jobs on the farm. Those calves are the future of our farm. When they are older, they will be bred to have a calf, and then she will become a member of our milking herd. The better care we give them as calves means they will be better cows in the future. The job of caring for the baby calves becomes harder as the weather gets colder.

During the summer, we use a hose to water all of the calves. This doesn’t work in the winter, so tonight I hauled about 50 gallons of water using 5 gallon buckets. That’s not including the milk that I also hauled with buckets. Another job that is critical to our calves health in winter is making sure they have enough bedding to stay warm. We had quite a few new calves born this winter. Thankfully we have two calf warmers. They are poly domed enclosures that are equipped with a heater that gently blows warm air on the calf to keep them warm and dry them off before we move them to the calf barn.

So, I am glad for the warmer weather, it makes my job of caring for the calves easier. I can’t wait to pull the hose out of storage.