Many Different hats

Its been a while since I last posted (lots of work, and now a full week of school) has kept me away from lots of my electronic news sites. But one thing that caught me off guard last Friday (Jan. 28) was some of my friends commenting how I was wearing a different hat. For some people a different hat is a common occurrence, but since I have worn the same hat for the last 3.5 years,

 

its like a beacon that some people (who have told me) use as find me on the sidewalks around campus.  Up until recently (around last August) that was the main hat that I wore in a non-work situations.  

Now I'm up to a total of 6 hats for campus wear.  I bring this up, cause it reminds me of a YouTube video that I saw a few weeks ago talking about how (the people in the video) are "just farmers" and the different things that they do to maintain their livelihood.  If you watch the video, you can see the many different hats that  those that are devoted to agriculture get to wear, even sometimes on a daily basis.

Of course, I feel like I need to say about the different hats that I wear back on the family farm.  One of the hats that I'm the only one to wear is the Tech support for the farm, It was only recently (2008) that we even had a computer in the barn for data entry, and tracking, now it is an indispensable tool that we use to keep and eye on all of the gals, and if something doesn't work on the computer, I get the call.  

The next in line is Relief Feed Manager (sometimes 1100 head takes a couple of people to take care of).  Those 1100 head is only those gals that get a TMR of some sort, my dad does the majority of the feeding, and I do the supplement work, like cutting the plastic on the silage piles, facing down the silage for the day (usually around 5 am is when I like to face), and move the hay bales/get hay bales for the day, or two.  On the weekends, there is also preventive maintenance for the feeding equipment.  When my dad is unable to feed (illness, vacation, or other farm duties) then I fill in, and feed...and frankly, I enjoy feeding, and an not afraid to    step in the equipment cause I know that feeding is one of the two most important jobs on the farm.

When there is preventive maintenance, there might be also equipment operation.  Since this one is seasonal, it could have a few hats worth of its own.  But since school has a big precedent on what I can do right now, most of my equipment operation is during the summer for silage harvesting.  I mow down the alfalfa, merge/rake it, bale it, truck it, and store it (all depending on the type of harvest, and the need for manpower is.  

And of course, the hat that is worn the most often is the general-farm-hand hat.  There is always something that needs to be done, like cleaning pens, and bedding the gals down so they have a nice soft and clean place to stay (especially in the cold winter, they need a place to nest in).  

Y'all have a good day/night now