Farmers, especially dairy farmers, tend to be more distanced and like staying at home on their own farm. During these times, that is a good thing. We are all starting to get busy with Spring harvest and corn planting season, but it is a great time also to take this opportunity to share online facts about farming that all can relate to during this time of social distancing and other terms that dairy farmers have understood for their entire careers.

1. Social distancing. Take time to record a video and share info on why a lot of farms separate calves for the first few months. Explain why that is important to give the calf time to build a healthy immune system, to help prevent viruses from spreading from calf to calf, and to make it easier on staff to monitor calves as individuals. Explain that they are housed like this for only a short period and then are moved into small social groups once they are past those 1st critical months of life. Being a few feet apart greatly reduces the chances of virus transmission.Remind them that each calf is precious to us.

2. Herd Immunity. I never thought I would hear that term on the evening news. We should take the time to explain all the steps we take to protect and care for our cows. Dairy farmers understand better than most the reasons for vaccinating your herd to give it resistance to many common viruses found in nature.

3. Critical Infrastructure. This should have already been self-evident but people took note of that fact when they went to a store and found empty shelves for the 1st time. We had folks calling wanting to know why milk production had dropped or had we (dairy farmers) stayed home. I explained our cows were producing at the same amounts as always. I told them our family and staff had to care, milk, feed our animals just like we always had. I explained that we were trying to social distance staff at work and explain to staff daily why that is important.

This is a unique time in which we can explain things we do on the farm to care for our animals and how it relates to the current situation we are all in.

We are all part of the human herd. We are a critical industry to this herd. Take this time of social distancing to explain what we are already practicing.

This post was written by Mark Rodgers of Hillcrest Far in Dearing, GA.

Social Herding While Social Distancing