It’s a threat every dairy producer is familiar with. One so familiar it doesn’t have much meaning after the 4 millionth time it rolls off your tongue. Usually, this phrase is brought to life by a particular animal that doesn’t want to cooperate, broken-down equipment or employees whose work ethic is less than efficient.
I can’t tell you how many times my dad walked in our kitchen after a hard day at the barn and said, “I’m selling the cows.”
In one ear and out the other, until the fateful day when he was actually serious about it.
I’ll spare you all the dramatic details, but basically I threw a tantrum that would make a 3-year-old proud.
See, our family bought the cows when I was 5. I didn’t grow up snuggling with bottle calves or hanging on the end of the family pet’s halter. Frankly, they scared me for about the next five years of my life. I had to learn to love those cows – and believe me, it did not come easily. It took a few trips to the county fair, some blue ribbons, a million afternoons feeding calves and a showmanship heifer that had more patience than a nun to get me to fall in love with cows.
When I fell, I fell pretty dang hard, straight into the lifestyle so many of you love.
Those cows took me on a path to new places, new friends, new events and teams – and eventually to college and here, Progressive Dairy.
You can imagine the pain I felt when I realized what it actually meant to sell those cows that had given me so much. My parents took a grade herd and transformed it into a 100% registered Holstein show cattle business. We’d put our heart and soul into those animals; I couldn’t comprehend my dad wanting to get rid of them. But hey, cattle prices were up and we had the opportunity to downsize while milk prices made it possible. Change is inevitable, and my family is blessed enough to have kept about 30 head of our favorite show cows and the majority of our youngstock. So, we didn’t really sell all of our cows and life hasn’t done a complete 360 (I say this as an adult moved away from home, so let me know if I’m wrong, family), but it was uncomfortable to venture into this unknown territory. But a wise man known as The Duke once said: “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” (John Wayne).
I feel a little overwhelmed writing in this column because I’m the ripe old age of 21 and feel like I have absolutely no life experience/wisdom to bestow upon you all, as opposed to my colleagues (who are awesome by the way; I continue to learn so much from each of them). However, in my 21 years of life and most recently this year I have graduated college, married my best friend, started my career and watched my family sell (a few of) our cows. Through this I’ve learned that change is one constant in this life, and you’re going to be saddling up a lot because life is a wild ride – and man is it scary.
(Using this space to formally introduce myself: Hi, I’m Matti. I’m a registered Holstein fanatic, sports fan, lover of the mountains, good books, tacos and the gospel. I’m so excited to be part of the PD family and looking forward to learning alongside all of you.)
