A Shift in Focus
#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk
What I have learned from this past week spins off what I learned from last week, this being water rights and how to order and flow of irrigating water. On Monday we ordered about a foot and a half of water so we can irrigate the fields. We have mainly focused on the corn field, ensuring that in this hot weather that it has lots of water to grow and germinate. With that, I have learned that the corn and sunflowers we planted took a week to two weeks to germinate. Finally, we are now getting to see the germination and sprouting and having a good outlook.
What I would like to challenge this week is the mechanical understanding for the ranch. The past week I have had our ranch truck break down, as well as lose the cv axle to the ranch four-wheeler. I want to challenge the problem solving and by that, I mean try and diagnosing what was wrong with the vehicles. The truck turbo actuator was going out, so I had to figure that out and then replace that part. And the four-wheeler front left cv axle was ripped off after being up on the mountain. In that there was problem solving how to remove and install the new axle.
As this internship wraps up, I wonder less and less about what to do and how to do it. Now I have questions about what a smarter move is for starting a ranch. Should I go and run beef cattle from earlier spring to late fall or have show cows and bulls to start a small ranch? As well, would it be better to live closer to a mountain for water run off for irrigation compared to the prairie and not have to always fight water rights? There are still many questions I have, and I am sure that there will always have questions.
From what I have learned from this past week can be use in more ways than one. I can put it towards my study’s problem solving in class or even working on my personal vehicle where I can if there comes a time that things don’t go correct use what I have learned to solve and fix on my own. As well with what I have learned I can use when I start my own ranch to better evaluate what I want to do and not with cattle.
Submitted by: Cody Long
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
