We are finally officially into fall with a first hard frost and the arrival of “daylight savings time”. I think it is silly that the time changes and I know all of the show animals at the house dislike it as well. They don’t understand they have to wait an extra hour to eat and they get pretty vocal about thinking they are going to miss a meal.
My favorite saying about daylight savings time is attributed to a Native American proverb, “Only a white man would believe that cutting off the top of a blanket and sewing it to the bottom makes it longer”.
One of the myths about daylight savings time is that it is for the farmers. I don’t know one farmer that thinks it is a good idea for it to get dark earlier. In fact, most farmers I know would prefer a few more hours of daylight in the evening. I know for me, I get up in the morning and I will work outside until it is completely dark. Being completely dark at 6pm makes no sense because then I am headed inside and forced to do domestic housework.
I also don’t like getting home when it is almost dark and not being able to get eyes on all the animals either. The show calves have a barn with lights, so we are able to see them. But when we are fall calving, it is sometimes hard to get all of the cattle checked after dark or found for that matter. We do have a few favorite cows and show heifers and they are always up close to the show barn so we can watch them. Not because we are worried, but just because we can’t wait to see that new calf.
We don’t have a large herd of cattle, but they are registered so they do get some extra attention from time to time. Who am I kidding, they always get extra attention!
My husband has a work schedule that does allow him to get home a few hours before dark and he does a great job at making sure things get done before it is pitch black out. It is good to have a teammate on the farm and be able to divide the chores when one of us is still at work or out of town. I can drive the tractor if he’s gone, and he can feed the show calves when I am out of town. (Only because I have a giant dry erase board with the mathematical equations of what each animal eats daily.)
Speaking of being really dark, we recently had a burst of geomagnetic storms that brought the northern lights to most of our area. For anyone that has social media, most of the news outlets and many people were posting some amazing photos. I didn’t get the best views and I had to walk halfway down the driveway in my PJs to see barely anything. I know when I took a photo with my phone, I was finally able to see some of it that way.
When we had the chance to see them about a year and half ago, they were clearly visible without the use of your camera phone and WOW did they put on a show! Hopefully everyone was able to see them or enjoy some photos on social media this time around. I guess that would be the only good thing about being dark so early is that we are able to see some of the amazing light show the earth puts on. Other than that, we are not ‘saving’ any daylight!
Debbie Elder is a native of Ottawa County, Okla. and lives on her farm in Webster County, Mo. To contact Debbie, call 1-866-532-1960 or by email at [email protected].
