First Time Farmer Tips

Hi,

I want to share with everyone some tips that I learned in the beginning years of being on the farm. Most of these are common sense, but as some of you know, I have plenty of book sense, but not much common sense. I grew up on the Southside of the city and had a normal, happy upbringing. Then I met a man, fell in love, and we moved to the country. I will fill you in on some funny stories later about meeting the man I would eventually marry. For now, I think it might be more important to tell you about my early farm mistakes so as to hopefully save someone else from the embarrassing mistakes I have made.

FARM TIPS

1. 
   
   Never run a water hose over an electric fence. You might be SHOCKED at what you discover.


2. 
   
   If you have an electric fence and can't tell if it's on or not, don't touch the box that hooks it all together. Again, it might be a shocking experience.


3. 
   
   If you like to go to the State Fair and like to look at the farm animals and you see a one uttered cow, chances are it's not a cow it's a bull. I made this mistake once and I thought it to be the strangest thing for a cow to only have one utter. I called my husband and told him about the cow I was looking at and he then said "I hope you didn't try to milk it, because it's a bull".


4. 
   
   We have a lot of chickens here and when we first moved to the farm I would go out and collect the eggs from the hen house. Well, this one particular day I was heading out to do just that and I saw two chickens in a horrible fight. I thought they were going to kill each other. Luckily our Farm Vet didn't live far, so I gave her a call. She rushed right over. After standing there laughing out of control, she handed me a bill for $75 and proceeded to tell me they were not fighting, they were mating. Again, not my brightest moment.


5. 
   
   We also have goats on the farm. We had a goat that had given birth a few months earlier and I was watching them play together. I thought it was so cute the way they would put thier heads together and push. I wondered what would happen if I got in there and did that. Would the baby goat play with me as well? So, I bent down on my knees and put my head in line with the baby goat. It only took a minute. This little goat with little bitty horns starting to come through the top of it's head reared up on it's hind legs and BAM, hit me right on top of the head. As I pulled my weak and confused body from the ground, my husband was pulling in the drive. I was hoping to keep this between me and the goat, but my husband has seen the whole thing. This I will never live down.


6. 
   
   One last tip for now. There is City Miracle Grow and Country Miacle Grow. In the city you can go to the store and buy it by the bag. In the country you go out to the barn and shovel up as much as you need. This I learned from my mother-in-law one day. She said we needed to go and get some Miracle Grow. I dressed and was ready to go up town. We got in the truck and went up the hill to the barn. I asked her what we were doing and she said "getting some Miracle Grow" and then proceeded to hand me a shovel.

I hope these tips have given you some insight on farm life. Not what a girl from the Southside of the city would ever expect. Until next time. Be careful out there.