Dear Editor
This letter is written to thank the grain farmers of the area who willingly dropped straw for the hard-pressed cattle producers in this difficult year. Of course, it is good for the soil to have to straw left but as one grain grower said, "Yes, we should put the straw back. We have to look after the land, but there are times we have to look after the neighbours."
It is gratifying to discover the sense of community is not yet gone.
I've been told by cattlemen in other areas that the grain growers there wouldn't drop anything, not oat or wheat straw, not canola or peas, nothing. I suppose they are all vegetarians and wouldn't eat a steak or a burger.
Of course, the price of hay went up. In some cases, hay growers had to put on fertilizer to make the scanty rain go as far as possible but that isn't the only reason. The reason in many cases is just plain taking advantage of those of us who are in a desperate situation. At the same time it was heartening to hear producers with ample rain for hay growing have sent hay.
On the other hand, the theft of bales started weeks ago. I stated that a bale of hay would make a poor door prize at a cattle event, but the winner would have to put an armed guard on it until it could be hauled home. Imagine a hay bale delivered to the farm gate in a Brinks truck.
The people who enjoy shafting other people aren't just doing it with hay. The lumber companies are at it. I bought two bundles of fence-line windbreak slabs. One was acceptable, but there were rotten slabs in the middle of the other. I have been forced to buy 2x6 and 2x8 boards which are, in my opinion, next door to firewood. There's lumber of those dimensions here that is 30 years old and it will outlast that junk. We can't blame the businesses from whom we buy it. They hear about it, of course, but it's all they are sent.
Who gets the good lumber? Other countries. We get the trash. During this pandemic many people decided to build since they couldn't go anywhere. I don't think it's a good time to build, unless one has connections in the lumber business.
It's not a good time to be in the cattle business either, but this time will pass, and I remember all the kind-hearted grain farmers who remember they are their brothers' (and sisters') keepers.
Christine Pike
Waseca
