Revisiting The Tractor Seat
#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk
While I have been out of the agricultural world for some time, driving a tractor is not a new thing for me. Neither are cutting and baling hay or stacking square bales and transporting big round bales. What is new to me is the environment in which I am doing these things and the process of being selective of w hat fields to cut and i n some cases what specific parts of those fields to cut. How much to cut o r i f to even cut the field can be heavily dependent on the density and quality of the grass and/or alfalfa i n the field as well as the current moisture content of t he standing grass or alfalfa. This process has been somewhat of a l earning curve for me this week but with a few questions, some instruction, a lot of map reconnaissance and a little bit of guessing, the cutting and raking process became more intuitive, eventually resulting i n an at l east acceptable end product by my host’s standards.
Additionally at the beginning of this week we did some spraying for various invasive and non-invasive problem plants in several pasture areas of t he ranch. Some of these plants are common to my area i n the Southeast and easily recognizable but some are new to me and required some diving into plant identification resources provided by my hosts as well as some of my own personal resources. Plant i dentification from book or website to on the ground in the pasture requires attention to small details on a sometimes very LARGE landscape. As an aspiring Ranch Management Specialist this type of work has been very helpful and the information gained through my hosts and the resources they provided will be carried with me into the future.
Week 4 ended with attending the Wyoming Sheep and Wool Growers Festival which was my scheduled Education Event. T he educational experience of t his event w as phenomenal. I was able to attend several workshops as well as a Ranch tour and Sheep Herders Panel voicing issues and telling stories of keeping and raising sheep. While the educational experience of t his event w as phenomenal i t was vastly overshadowed by the social aspect o f the whole weekend. Meeting people and making contacts that m any of t hem I am going to study with or study under and eventually probably work with was a highlight of t he weekend. Until two weeks ago I had never even touched a sheep and now here I am in the middle of one of the biggest gatherings of Wyoming Sheep industry professionals of t he year. I have never met a group of people who love what t hey do and take as much pride i n the services and commodities they provide than the group of Wyoming Wool Grower that I had the privilege of meeting over this educational event.
The lessons learned this week will without any doubt be carried into the final half of my internship. From cutting, raking and baling hay to spraying weeds and grazing management regardless of type of livestock or crop, everything affects other aspects of agriculture down the line. Ensuring you are doing your part is essential even if in the moment you are unsure of how, or if it seems impossible at the time.
Submitted by: Cody Lancaster
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
