Respond Over React
It’s 11pm at night.
The temps are -35°, there is feet of snow in some places, and the wind is howling in the dark of the night. The boys are asleep in their beds while John and I gear up to go outside into the brutal cold.
We are fully dressed in head to toe cold weather farm gear. Insulated coverall bibs, long johns, base layers, sweatshirt, boot socks, Carhartt hat, Muck boots, wild rag, gloves, an extra scarf and another jacket.
Driving through the corn field that is now packed with snow praying we don’t get stuck again. Making it to the pasture gate to go check on the mamas and their baby calves to make sure everyone is alive, dry and warm. Seeing if any mama cow is close to having her baby or has had it.
This was a daily/nightly routine for almost 2 weeks straight.
One night while we were checking we found a newly born calf that needed our immediate attention. We looked at each other and asked, “Is it too soon to intervene? Have they bonded yet?”
As soon as we saw mama licking her baby, we knew we were good and decided to take the baby calf to our basement to save its life. Walking back to the truck with the 75 lbs. calf in tow, we knew time was not on our side.
This calf needed to be warmed up and standing/walking in the next hour or it could take a turn for the worse.
Getting to the basement, I rushed to get big blankets and towels to warm it up and rub on it to get its body temperature up. Checking its mouth and nose to see how warm it is, hearing it bawl and getting some powdered milk replacer warmed up you get tunnel vision or laser focused in on the situation.
You know every minute is important to saving this calf's life and get it back to its mama as soon as you can. It doesn’t matter how tired you are mentally or physically in pain, you keep going until you cannot do anymore. You pray to God to help you have the strength to care for this calf and give you wisdom to know what next steps of care to take.
I recently heard a fellow cattle woman say, “Ranchers are folks who do everything they can until they can’t do anymore.”
This couldn’t be a more true statement.
I’ve been on the farm now for almost 6 years, which means I have first-hand experience and lived through 6 calving seasons on our farm.
I learn something new every year, but the same thing rings true for me every year too…and that is me learning how much grit and determination I truly have, but also knowing I cannot do any of it without God.
I’ve always been determined or as some people like to call it stubborn, which I know sometimes isn’t always the best, but I know when it counts.
Determination can mean many things.
A few synonyms I love are strength of character, purposefulness, perseverance, tenacity and bravery are just a few that stuck out to me.
If anyone understands being a little too stubborn…hi 🙋🏼♀️ it’s me. But I also know there are times where being brave or persevering is needed.
Sometimes my dial is at an 8 and I need to dial it back down to a 3, OR it’s at a 4 and I need to focus and bring it to a 9.
Do you ever dial it up a little too high sometimes when you need to dial it down just a little?
God has really put on my heart this year to be more slow to react and better and knowing how to respond.
This is something that I know will take time, intentional focus and lots of prayer.
I’m excited to see how I can better place myself in situations to make things better, not worse.
5 Questions to Help You Respond Instead of React
Think about a past situation where you reacted.
How did it make you feel after the fact?
Was the situation solved or worse?
How would you have wanted to respond?
What is a time you persevered?
→ P.s. we got that calf back to her mama and she is doing great!
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