Live Life to express, not to impress
I can’t believe I have just completed the fourth week of this internship. One whole month has flown by already in the blink of an eye. My host and I were working yesterday, he asked me if I was homesick yet. I replied no right away, but later that night, I got to thinking about his question. I haven’t had to time to sit and think about being homesick during this internship yet. There is always something to do or something to watch and learn from. This is the way I like it. I am a very active person, so going all day long and being put to work is something I thrive on. I will not lie, though, there are some days when it is slower because of the rain, so those days were harder to stay focused and attentive to what we were doing.
This week, I got to see how some of their water tanks are filled. Monday, while we were fixing the fence in the pasture the old moms were going to be moved to, My host took Morganne and me to the Fishing Pond pasture to turn the water on. The water for the Rock Hill pasture comes from the fishing pond in the Fishing Pond pasture. After we fixed up all of the fence, Morganne, our host, his dog, and I moved the old moms to their new pasture. On Tuesday, Morganne and I were sent to the west ranch in Wyoming to help Christy take down some fence where the spayed heifers are.
Wednesday, Morganne and I got to experience a Wyoming rope and drag. This was a whole new experience for Morganne, so she was blown away. Christy and her husband had invited us to the rope and drag. The host of the rope and drag were the nicest gentleman and helped us hop in and experience every detail of the branding. Brandon hurt his back last year, so he couldn’t do as much wrestling as usual. So he sat and talked with Morganne and I, while explaining why they are doing what they are doing. The other hosts job was to cut the testicles off the bull calves and notch their ears. Taylor tried to talk to us while he could. We hopped in to wrestle a few, but they had a penalty for help. Many men were standing around waiting for the next calf to be roped. Overall, this was a great experience for both of us.
#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk
Thursday and Friday, my days were filled with the zero-turn mower. I was tasked with mowing the driveway and around the hay yard. Morganne was in the tractor with the bushhog. Anything that she couldn’t get to with the tractor, I got with the zero-turn. This week, I asked one of my hosts some of the questions that I was thinking about. Here in Harrison, we have had some really bad thunderstorms the past couple of days. Some hail came with these storms. Back home, we take out crop insurance on our corn crop in case of hail damage or other natural disasters. I asked if they take out and crop insurance on their hay since that is the only crop they grow out here. He said they used to hold crop insurance on their hay, but after a while, it got too expensive to hold anymore, and they didn’t see the point in having it. I also asked if he holds livestock insurance on his bulls. They pride themselves on their high-dollar bulls. Knowing they have high-dollar bulls, I asked why they don’t have insurance on them. He gave me the same answer; they just don’t see the point in it because it is so expensive.
Saturday, my day was spent with Michael, and we were tasked with putting in metal posts for a new continuous paneling fence. Working with Michael is fun and easy; we can get the job done right. Michael loves to crack jokes, which makes working not feel like working. To Michael, my name is Midget Toolbox. While we are working, I hold most of the tools and give him the tools he needs when he needs them. I told my father we have been doing a lot of fencing here recently, and he sent me a poem by Red Steagall. The poem was titled The Fence that Me and Shorty Built. The way my parents raised my siblings and I was that we always worked for a cause, not for applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt. This is something I have lived by ever since I was a little girl. When my dad sent me this poem, it kind of follows the same lines. When you are building a fence, it is not just going to be there for a couple of years; that fence will be there for generations to come. So when we were doing the job, we made sure to do it right, we leveled all of the posts, and made sure they were all exactly 58 inches tall. This fence we are building will stand the test of time on the ranch.
Submitted by: Tamryn Klein
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
