Paul told me about someone he knew that was starting a dairy up in the Box Elder Country area. He was looking for a young, hard-working herdsman to help him get his dairy going. Paul had heard that I was home from my mission and thought I fit the bill very well. That is when he gave me a call. He asked if I wanted a job working at this dairy. He gave me a brief sketch of the compensation package, which was very compelling to someone without a job and no money at all. The job was a full-time dairy job, which really meant, probably working 60 hours a week. If I were to take this job, it would mean no college for me. It would however, mean immersion in dairy farming, which I loved. What to do....? Decision time.
I didn't take very long to make my decision. My Dad's influence was very powerful. Probably five years earlier, we had the conversation that went through my mind. When I was about 16, I had spelled out the idea that I could take an 18 month Dairy Herdsman certification course at Utah State University, then get right out into the work force, doing what I wanted. My Dad made the argument about the limited range or earnings potential. My counter argument was that herdsman were often on an incentive program related to production or profitability. My Dad argued back about the limits of natural systems leading to limits on earning potential. We went back and forth and back and forth. Ultimately, my Dad said, "I don't care if you want to be a garbage man. The reality is that going to college teaches you how to think and how to think critically. It gives you new and broader perspectives on the world and how you interact with the world. Going to college helps you to become a more well-rounded and well-grounded person. You need to go to college." Well that was the end of that conversation.
After mulling over the five year old conversation with my Dad, I told Paul, "Thanks for thinking of me, I really appreciate it, but I need to get myself back to college."
I have often pondered, briefly pondered, whether or not that was the right decision. I could have gotten right into farming instead of spending much of my adult life living my farming life vicariously through books, periodicals, the internet, and DVD's. My answer to that pondering is always the same: I did the right thing. Because of my choice at that point in time I was able to meet my wife and have my kids and have all of the grand experiences of life that I have had to this point. Many of those experiences have changed my worldview in many respects. Among those changes is how I view agriculture and how it fits into the human and otherwise natural world.
It seems quite likely to me that if I had immersed myself in commodity dairy farming at that point in time, I would have adopted a "production at all cost" mentality so often associated with that segment of agriculture. I may have been blinded to the need for long-term, regenerative, healthy, sustainable agriculture. Many of my early thoughts about sustainability, self-sufficiency, and self-reliance may have been put on the shelf, maybe to be forgotten. The time from that time until now has given me a great opportunity to think, learn, challenge myself and the views of others, and learn about a variety of ways to look at farming, farming problems, and farming opportunities. I have learned much and matured much.
At this particular branch in the road, I chose not to pursue farming with an unknow greater goal in mind. I felt like I needed college to get me set for life. My Dad was very influential there. Ultimately, I think it was the right decision. That decision opened the doors to so many wonderful things in life. That decision did not alter my goal, dream, and desire to have a farm and all that goes along with that.
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