From the Pastures: Still on the go

Happy New Year! Things are slow here. We’re just unrolling hay bales and feeding corn and a protein pellet to increase the total protein to 12%. I turned the rams in Jan. 1, so lambing should start about May 22. I got a hold of the pregnancy scanning guy and the sheep shearer and set up dates to do those jobs, so now we just wait.

The weather has been mild, too mild. I talked to a guy at church that is tiling some ground and he had to tie in the new tile to an old existing tile. So, they had to dig down six feet to make the tie-in and I just had to ask, “Did you hit any moisture?” And he said no.

This is good, deep black dirt around Fairbury with good water-holding capacity and it was powder dry the whole way down. I know you guys won’t like this, but we need more snow this winter and rain this spring to recharge our water supply. It’s going to be a very interesting planting season.

On a completely different subject, I had my left hip replaced Dec. 8. I had my right hip replaced 21 years ago when I was 50 years old. It’s still doing OK, but I’ve noticed that my recovery is slower now than last time. So, to anyone that is contemplating surgery, I highly recommend doing it sooner than later. Your recovery will be faster and everything just worked better 21 years ago. Why put up with the pain? The drugs after surgery work good and your quality of life will greatly improve.

Now that’s not to say that I’m behaving myself. The doctor, my wife and the physical therapist all tell me what I can’t do, but I still sneak outside to check the sheep, the forage and what the hired help has done. Twenty-one years ago when the wife went into town I went outside and when she called me on the phone I had my walker in the middle of my pasture checking the forage height. I got yelled at.

This time she met me at the back door with a scowl on her face and said, “The physical therapist told you to not ride on the ATV!” Well, it was a quarter of a mile out into the pasture that I had to go to check the sheep and the unrolled hay and it was faster and safer to ride the ATV than to walk out there with only two canes — no walker — this time.

One thing I have learned from two people in the last week is to keep doing the physical therapy exercises I have been given. Both people admitted to not doing all the exercises and their range of motion has been curtailed and they regret it. Another thing the PT told me when I told him I was going to drive to grazing meetings five and six hours away is to get out of the car every two hours, at the maximum, and walk around for 10 to 15 minutes to circulate my blood to prevent blood clots and to stretch out my muscles.

I’m still healing and I need to keep doing the exercises they gave me so I can regain my range of motion. Man, he just keeps adding more time to my trips, but I guess I should listen to him so I can get back to the good health I had before the operation.

Enjoy your health and protect your body. You’re only going through this life one time.