TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - Ya haul 16 tons of manure and whatta ya get? Many of us have pleasant memories of farm life, but few of us fondly recall one particular chore that involved animals: manure hauling. Obviously, manure can be looked at as an expected byproduct of livestock as well as free fertilizer, but that doesn’t mean any of us had to like the job of cleaning it up and disposing of it.
Read MoreTALES FROM THE BACK 40 -With the holiday season upon us as this blog entry is posted, I reflected on memories from that season and what we used to do on our farm. Regardless of the day, chores still had to be completed morning and night: animals had to be fed, manure had to be hauled, and other routines of life continued, although we made a few adjustments on the holidays themselves.
Read MoreALES FROM THE BACK 40 - As I write this month’s Back 40 blog installment, the first big winter storm has hit Wisconsin. Thankfully, here in the north central part of the state, we only got a little snow mixed with some sleet and ice pellets, which made for challenging driving, but not anything too bad. Our friends to the north received several inches of the white stuff. On the farm, snowfall made for additional chores as we had to clear several hundred yards of roadway…
Read MoreTALES FROM THE BACK 40 - Growing up on a 400-acre farm in the rolling hills of southwestern Wisconsin provided me with a fertile field for my memories. I was born in 1966 in Boscobel, Wisconsin, and lived on our farm on Hwy. 61 between Boscobel and Fennimore. From an early age, I was fascinated with the equipment on our farm. My parents say that among my first words was “ba-to” (for “tractor”). They put me in my baby seat and stored me in an unoccupied calf pen in our barn while they milked cows.
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