Bob Bosold mentioned on the radio how this new year came in with moderate temperatures. His words immediately conjured images of piglets in my mind.
The reason for my reaction is the memories of my youth in that place called Veefkind — our family’s home farm. As was the case with many Wisconsin dairy farms in days of yore, our farm also housed chickens and a few brood sows.
Perhaps it didn’t happen nearly as much as I remember, but each New Years day of my youth seemed to bring the farrowing of a sow, which was highlighted by sub-zero temperatures and sometimes some whipping wind and snow mixed in for good measure. The farrowing pens’ heat-lamps often weren’t enough to overcome the cold piercing ever pin-hole crack in the old pig-barn, so the best thing to do was to get the youngest piglets into the warmth of our old farm’s house when they weren’t busy nursing.
Just to assure that my memory served me correctly, I took up maintaining a few of my own brood sows throughout my adult life. And, while it wasn’t always on Jan. 1, it seemed that every blizzard or sub-zero day ended with a sow farrowing.
Such is life on a farm.
In some of today’s news, when the new Phase 1 U.S.-China Trade agreement kicks in, agricultural products such as soybean and corn won’t be the only beneficiaries. The Chinese have also agreed to buy more crude oil, semiconductors, natural gas, consumer goods, U.S. cars, ethanol and tourism services. That deal is expected to be signed Jan. 15 at the White House.
The Farm Journal has just completed an agricultural labor survey across the
country. And the main take away from that survey is that farmers are paying their hired help more than ever before. Non-management workers are averaging $14.15 an hour across the country with hired management workers get almost $18.40 an hour. The survey included almos t2,200 farms,
including 160 dairy producers. But the survey also shows only about 20 percent of farm employers offer health insurance but almost 45 percent of hired workers are given paid time off.
It’s time to start the selection process for Wisconsin’s 73rd Alice in Dairyland. Now through Feb. 3, the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is taking applications from women across the state who would like to be considered for that position. The job pays $45,000 a year and includes holiday, vacation, sick leave and the use of a vehicle. Applicants must be female Wisconsin residents who are at least 21 years old. The new Alice in Dairyland will be chosen during the finals weekend May 14-16 in Walworth County.
It’s also time to start thinking about the 2020 World Cheese Championships sponsored every 2 years by the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association. Cheesemakers can begin registering their entries online for the competition March 3-5 at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison. In 2018, more than 3,400 cheeses were entered from 26 different countries. This year’s show will include 132 separate classes — more
than ever before. Cheese can be entered through Jan. 31 for the
competition that began in 1957.
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