Why We Switched to Fall Calving BY ELLY STREMSTERFER
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hange is hard. I am a creature of habit and thrive on routine. I love nothing more than getting my Erin Condren Life Planner and putting in all the expected due dates of our cows, goats and Jack Russells. I look back at the previous year to see when we AI’d our heifers and cattle, when we turned the buck in with the Does and then transfer them into the upcoming year…in pencil. With a big question mark two weeks prior to the turn in date. This gives me a buffer window to have a ‘meeting’ with husband to decide the plans moving forward. Just a few weeks ago, Wade and I were sitting down trying to figure out what to do with the goats. We were on the fence to be honest. We were burned out and just plain tired, I think. Our children are still young, but active. Sydney is 10 and going into 5th grade this fall. Jackson is 8 and going into 2nd grade this fall. Last year Sydney started talking about showing Cattle Pigs and Goats this year in her 1st year of 4-H. We told her we could but there will not be any spring/ summer sports as all of time we had available would have to be put toward working with her show critters. She was ok with that and this spring she has grown into quite a worker, and we don’t think she has regretted making that decision. As a family, we all had been pitching in helping with all the chores, all the washing and blowing, walking, and setting up. That decision on what to do with the goats ultimately rolled right on into another big decision on simplifying our small livestock operation. Like most couples, Wade and I are opposites. I decide at the time the problem is presented to me. No reason to sit and mull it over for days upon end, which is what he does. It drives me insane, but that is why God put us together, to balance us out, to work together as a team and keep each other
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Ag Mag THEAGMAG.ORG
At the Jefferson County Cattlemen’s Banquet. Pictured is Elly Stremsterfer, and her husband Wade with Trent Loos.
in check. So, the week before fair in big bold letters was “Ask Wade when we are turning the buck in”, showed up in my calendar. He still hadn’t made up his mind…. Imagine that. We talked about it briefly and selling all the goats came up as an option. From both of us. Even with all the changes the whole world has had over the last fifteen months, the agriculture industry has remained just as busy, if not busier. We typically kid the first two weeks of December and then again in the month of March. We had been calving in the spring as well, but over the last few years moved a few of our cows to fall for one reason or another. But the goats, yeesh.
