Friday on the Links

I think Senator Gillibrand's dairy proposals have about as much chance of becoming part of the Farm Bill as a snow ball does of being annealed into a diamond in a glass-blower's furnace, but they would go a long way toward saving NY's dairy farms. 

Someone said nine cows equal one job here in our state. If you think about all the implement dealers, feed mills, repair shops, farm stores, veterinarians, consultants, truck dealers and all sorts of other businesses that rely at least in part on farms for their livelihoods, it sure makes sense. 

A lot more sense than giving broadband companies tax breaks to extend Internet to regions that don't have it,as some are proposing as if it would solve all our financial problems in one swoop. Not that you don't need the Net in today's world, but giving folks access won't put milk in their cereal bowls.

This article in Farm Shine details those proposals as well as any I have read. Now if the senator can just work on those snowballs without melting them. However, she is up against some pretty big opposition, such as NMPF so I don't expect much more than steam to emerge from this.

And then there is this blog post from a man whom I was fortunate enough to meet and admire quite a lot......about where our world seems to be headed.... he is a smart man and I sure respect the way he thinks.

That is pretty much all for now. The weather is so miserable we fed all the cows a whole extra feeding of hay last night even though it is short and hard to come by. 

It was very satisfying to do so. They came in from the yard, cold, dripping wet, and kind of grumpy and miserable. After they tucked into their late day second breakfast, the whole barn warmed up, the water steamed out of their coats, and we were comforted to see them so comfortable.

When the boss went over for early morning barn check they didn't even bother to get up to greet him.