North Dakota Ranchin' Mama

I don’t know if anyone else’s husband why you need a bag full of snack and things to entertain the kids with when I just have to give him a ride to the field?  I can’t be the only one who likes to be prepared for worst!  Well today was a good example of why I prepare and pack everything except the kitchen sink on even the shortest excursion.  We started soybean harvest on Saturday.  My mother-in-law watched our girls yesterday so I could drive grain cart and my son was with me for awhile, in the combine for awhile, and then in the truck for awhile.  I truly love driving grain cart, my favorite thing to do on the crop side of the farm!

Fast Forward to today after naptime and Dave comes home to grab a bite to eat and take Graysen.  Leightyn throws a fit about wanting to go with daddy so we compromise and I tell her that I will take her to go ride in the combine with Papa Greg.  She loves riding in the combine so she packs her bag with 2 dolls, 2 blankets(they can’t share), a bottle, a book, and then I put some snacks and juice in there.  Tristyn comes out with her baby so I get her a bag to pack her baby, a blanket, a book, and of course some snacks as well.  I also grab the diaper bag which has more snack, diapers, baby wipes, the essentials when you have 3 children 4 and under.  I take Leightyn out to the combine about 7 miles from our house.  I over packed for a short trip my husband would say.  However, you also never know when you are going to get called for a parts run so always be prepared.  I drop Leightyn off with Papa and start to drive away and it is my husband. “I thought you would stay and drive grain cart so I can unload a truck.”  This was never in a discussion that I had with him so very puzzling.  I said I can do that, I do love driving grain cart.  Luckily we have a tractor with a buddy seat and a seat belt that works!  I take Tristyn, her bag she packed, the diaper bag, and my water cup into the grain cart tractor.  I am now prepared for an afternoon of driving grain cart with a 1 year old!  Darling, that is why I pack everything including a kitchen sick for a quick 10 minute trip!

I like to be prepared for anything it goes back to growing up on a dairy and beef operation.  I remember going out to the pasture to check on the cows.  It was always a Sunday afternoon family outing!  My personal favorite day of the week, I loved going out to the pasture (still do).  Before we left to go to the pasture it was a checklist of things we may need a fencing tool, bucket of staples/insulators, fence stretcher (all of that was just in case a wire was down), a 22 (gophers are everywhere!), a bucket of feed(treats for the cows), salt blocks, and of course a pop or water for us.  Our pasture wasn’t 1/2 mile from the farmyard.  I was brought up to be prepared!  If you don’t know what size wrench you need take every size with you!

We got rained out this morning during wheat harvest.  The guys stayed up late last night and worked hard to get as much done as possible.  They did a pretty good job and put a big dent in the wheat.  We are getting close to being done with wheat and we are done with canola!! Graysen got to be out with Dave yesterday riding in the trucks and helping dry grain!  The whole family even got to go for a little truck ride.  Leightyn and Graysen have both spent some time riding in the combine with papa.

Besides harvest, we have had a busy week.  Graysen had preschool orientation on Tuesday morning.  He is excited to go to school and make new friends!  I had some meetings about Ribfest that Michigan Community Club is hosting in September!  Last weekend I went back to Medina to help my mom and grandpa work their cows for fall.  My sister-in-law took the kids to Bismarck for the weekend so we could get everything done!

National happenings!  There are a lot of things going on nationally right now.  We have 2 natural disasters going on right now.  Hurricane Harvey has hit Texas and Louisiana.  Houston, TX and surrounding areas have gotten hit the hardest.  People’s livelihoods are disrupted and in some cases destroyed.  Livestock producers are trying to find all of their cattle and horses.  They are hoping they are all alive but they are also realistic about the devastation of the flooding waters and what that means to the livestock.  The livestock can only swim for so long before exhaustion sets in and unfortunately that means lost lives.  There has been lots of volunteers that have gone down with boats to help people and animals out of the dangerous situations.  Another disaster going on right now is in our neighboring state and that is the wildfires occurring in Montana.  Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota have been in a drought this summer.  Montana has had over 600,000 acres burn and wildfires are still burning.  The fires have not only caused problems with getting people and cattle out but the producers don’t have hay or pasture for the misplaced cattle.  They also don’t know where all the cattle are because they take off and try to find a way to escape the flame.  Once an area is burned the damage can be accessed with dead livestock, damaged fences, buildings, and whatever else is in the path.  The wind and dry conditions have been devastating for our fellow farmers and livestock producers.  We keep Montana and Texas in our prayers.

It is tough to understand the blood, sweat, and tears that go into production agriculture if you don’t grow up with it or are directly involved.  We have cropland and cows and some years are tougher than others but we continue because it is our passion and livelihood.  We are proud of what we do and are blessed we are able to raise our kids to know the value of hard work and self-motivation.  We have tough decisions that need to be made on a daily basis and some are decisions that need to be made on the spot and they are not always easy decisions.  There are a lot of factors that are considered before decisions can be made.  Producers in the drought stricken areas are making some tough decisions right now.  They are trying to decide if the right decision is to down size their cattle herds or have hay shipped in from other areas of the state and out of state.  Their decisions are not easy because they don’t know what the weather will be like next year.  Is the rain going to come for the pastures and hay ground next year?  Or do they downsize so they don’t have to buy as much hay or sell out all together because it is so expensive to get hay?  But these cows are all home raised and they know their dispositions and some are their kids’ show cows and heifers?  How do you make that decision unless you are forced too?  And then there is the bank factor if you have loans from them and then they try to help guide the producer but they also don’t always know what to do?  It comes down to the producers making those tough decisions and then having to live with the decisions everyday.

 

I am Karissa Daws from Michigan, ND.  I want to welcome everyone to my blog.  I am married to a wonderful man, David Daws!  He is my rock.  We have 3 children, Graysen is 4 years old, Leightyn is 2 years old, and Tristyn is 1 year old.  We own 100 head of Registered Red Angus mama cows as well as raise crops.  The crops that we mostly raise is wheat, corn, canola, and soybeans.  We also have alfalfa, corn silage, and sorghum/sedan grass for the cows.  We raise red angus seedstock, we sell a selection of heifers and bulls every year!

I know I will be asked why I started a blog!  I have several reasons that I wanted to start a blog.  The biggest reason is for my kids.  I want to be able to have their memories down in some way!  I will share their stories, stories from my childhood as well as stories from my parent’s and grandparents.  I also want this blog to be educational.  I want everyone who reads my blog to know the blood, sweat, and tears that go into what we do.  We have decisions that need to be made everyday and some of those decisions need to be made on the spot no matter how difficult it may be.  I want to share our triumphs and challenges!

A little introduction to my kids, they all love the farm and cows.  They love going out to the pastures to check on the babies(which aren’t really babies anymore).  We just started our harvesting season last week with wheat and canola.  The kids love riding in the combines, grain cart tractor, and trucks!  We also love all kinds of bugs.  We found Monarch caterpillars on milkweed the beginning of August and took care of them until they became a chrysalis and hatched into a beautiful butterfly.  All of the kids really enjoyed watching the changes throughout that caterpillars life.

My husband and I feel very lucky to be able to raise our children on a farm/ranch.  I grew up on dairy farm and have had cows my entire life and wouldn’t trade it for the world.  My husband’s family had registered black angus cattle until about 1998 and then they sold out and focused on the farming!  When Dave and I decided to get married, we also decided that we were going to get cows on the farm again and I really like Red Angus so that is the breed we went with.  We do have a handful of Registered Black Angus cows as well.  Stay tuned for more about what goes on with day to day activities, our kids, and a little history insight of our families!

I know everyone leads very busy lives so I am very humbled that you stopped in and read what I had say!  Thank You!