Reactive or Proactive?
By Kate Yegerlehner
As most everyone knows, it’s been a summer for the record books in much of the U.S. And
summer is only about a third of the way through. Heat and drought have devastated vast numbers of
acres of agricultural lands. We all hope this is a fluke of some sort, and things will get back to “normal”
soon. But what if it’s not? In this article, I just want to encourage us all to be people of vision, and not
simply react to circumstances but instead to be true to your calling and make decisions accordingly.
A few weeks ago I was talking to a fellow grassfarmer at the farmers’ market, and he was
explaining that there were several grass-fed beef producers in our state that had converted their
pastures to cornfields recently. A couple of local value-added food vendors had lamented to him about
the diminishing supply of 100% grass-fed beef available to them, and hoped he would commit to
continue producing beef for them.
When I got home I shared his account with my dad, and he was saddened to hear about it, too.
His response was quite discerning, and I knew in that moment that there is a truth here that needs to be
reiterated. Whether it is flood or drought, extremes of either kind usually drive up the prices of
commodities because of diminished supply (even if only perceived as diminished). And those high prices
are so alluring in a realm where more dollars appear to be the solution to so many of our problems!
With compassion in his eyes, Dad sadly said, “It’s so short-sighted. You immediately become a
price-taker again.”
I understand the need to pursue a bottom line in the black and not the red, so this is not meant
as a judgment call on other individuals’ decisions. But I am here to tell you that true riches are not
measured in a healthy bottom line. A cursory glance at the economic headlines of the last few months
and years by even the most casual observer ought to indicate that storing up dollars is a risky business at
best right now.
When it comes down to it, all earthly commodities are fleeting, but we still need to use wisdom
to best utilize the resources we have been given. In the face of this drought, I look back and see how we
were being prepared for it. Having grazed the pastures taller for the last four years (the previous two
summers were quite dry, too) has really improved the health of the plants, as well as the density. This
canopy and the deeper roots have provided forage to graze through three months of only a handful of
rains to wet the dust, very little dew, and record numbers of days over 100 degrees. It’s crispy, but the
cows are eating it (and still making milk! I call that the supernatural increase of the Lord!). Some soils
and elevations have not supported any regrowth or have completely browned, but some do. And even
in the brown or dead places, there is a seedbank in the soil should the rains return.
Additionally, two winters ago you might recall from an earlier article I wrote that we lost quite a
few animals because of several combined factors. It was horrible, and I felt like a failure, and it was not
the most economical way to downsize. But the lower numbers is what got us through last summer’s
drought without feeding hay (in fact, we didn’t feed any hay to any cows until February (though I think
the bulls had some before that).
Last summer, the rain came just in time to keep the cows grazing all fall. This summer, we feel
like we’re walking by faith again. Honestly, I don’t know what the outcome is going to be. Maybe it will
rain just in time. Maybe it won’t. Maybe we’ll have to ship the herd off to greener pastures (literally),
or maybe we’re going to be called in a new direction and the land is going to get a Sabbath rest. God
has promised to take care of our cows, and so He shall. There is the temptation to succumb to fear of
the unknown, but fear is the enemy of faith.
My point in sharing our experience is not that we have done it all correctly or that everything
will go just as we want it to. No, we’re still learning and making our own mistakes, too. However, I can
say with a considerable degree of certainty that tilling up our pastures to plant corn this year would
have been a dismal failure. What if it had rained, though? We might have made some money (though if
the drought hadn’t been so severe, the price wouldn’t have gone so high), but we would have lost
something, too. Not only would we be losing the ability we have to maintain more stable prices we
receive for our direct-marketed products. We would also lose some of the progress we’ve made in the
development of the delicate balance found in healthy soil communities.
This is not to say that tilling is always bad. But look at the situation long-term. What if this
pattern of drought were to be more persistent for a while? I hope it’s not, but if it is, keeping the soil
covered and implementing planned grazing strategies will help resist desertification. After reading of
some of Allan Savory’s work, I have learned that brittle environments require different management
strategies than non-brittle. His book, Holistic Management, details these concepts and would be a very
useful tool to have in your repertoire for these days.
What is resonating deep within me is telling me that the days of “normal” or “business as usual”
are drawing to a close, if they haven’t already passed altogether. A reactionary response to these
changes will put us behind the 8-ball. Being proactive—which can make us much more effective at what
we’re called to do—requires vision. So…what do you see?