To say 2025 is off to a rocky start would be a complete and total understatement. The West Coast is on fire, and everything from the Rocky Mountains to the East is frozen. There is even snow on the gulf and beaches along the East Coast. Poor Florida has snow in areas that have never been covered in the blanket of white, frozen slush. Down in New Orleans, not many folks are running out on the streets Mardi Gras-ing in a foot of what Saturday Night Live referred to as, “the devil’s dandruff.”
Here at home in Virginia, we’ve had temperatures down in the single digits and teens, biting winds, snow, and ice. We are fortunate to not have to see this kind of weather more than about two weeks in the winter, but I still dread it when it’s here. God bless my northern and western friends. I don’t understand how y’all get by this time of year. I’m half frozen doing chores, and my weather isn’t even close to how harsh you stay this time of year.
Weather extremes are annoying, but all we can do is layer up and keep farming. The cows still need hay and grain. The water troughs still need to be broken loose and refilled, and I’m still milking cows no matter how cold it may get. We just grab another coat and head for the door. Just because schools are closed, farms are not. We just keep going.
One the West Coast, farmers are worried about the fires and keeping their cattle safe. The rest of the country wakes up and breaks another water trough open to get water to their cattle. It doesn’t matter where you are in the United States right now, we are all facing challenges with Mother Nature. We just have to keep going. Stay safe y’all.
The author is a sixth-generation farmer and fifth-generation dairy producer in southwest Virginia, where she and her family own and operate a 145-head Holstein dairy. Courtney is involved in agriculture organizations throughout her community and is a graduate of Virginia Tech.
