Acres, not hours

Storm clouds rolled in around 6 o’clock and just as I was unplugging my computer to get on the tractor, I knew it would be a race for time.

I checked my clock to make sure the time was right.

This summer I’ve become quite familiar with the “sky going dark at six” look so I shrugged, accepting it was a battle I was about to lose. There was thunder and lightning, blinding rain and wind, everything you would need for a good excuse to curl up on the couch with your favorite book (or if you’re me, a hammock overlooking the pastures, but that’s another post for another time).

I dashed for cover, proud that I got a few tasks done before the lightning threw a wrench in my routine. I stood and watched it wash away all the signs of the day.

Now here’s the part where I want to make myself clear: I like rain. I would go as far as to say I love it. I like to write about it, how it’s metaphorically used in songs, I like to watch it and I definitely like what it means for cattlemen. I’m just saying that it sometimes messes with a girl’s plans.

So with cattle standing in pastures, and rain falling down all around me, I paused. I ran to my truck, drove through the puddles and just as I was pulling onto the road, I had to stop. A cattle hauler was pulling in. I let him go, admiring the freshly-cleaned trailer glistening in the light of dusk. There was another one, too. Already backed up and ready to load.

And that’s when I thought about this quote I read yesterday.

So simple, perhaps even a bit warm and fuzzy, but I share it with you, nonetheless. Because as it rained and as they loaded, I thought it was a perfect fit.

Because sometimes it rains, sometimes the market drops, sometimes the prices of our inputs seem almost unbearable. But through it all, we don’t waiver. There is no clocking out, no time for rain delays. Through the good and the bad, the new challenges and the ones we’ve learned to live with, it’s worth it.

In the cattle world, the show must go on, but I bet we would all agree that it’s a good view from the front row.

So, to those who work in acres, not hours, we say thank you.

Laura

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