Core Beliefs... and Spring 2010.

Weekends like this challenge our Core Beliefs.  I can firmly state that Bridgewater Dairy agree's with the following statement.

 In Balancing Life: God should come first, Family second, and work third.

The challenge is how we balance all three parts, and because all three are important, it is up to the individual to figure out that balance.

As many may have observed, we harvested over 1400 acres of Alfalfa Haylage and planted over 1000 acres of corn and soybeans, in the last 6 days.  Some might say 'we shouldn't have worked Sunday'.  No, we haven't taken our Core Beliefs to this level, but I can say we make every effort to minimize the need to work Sunday's and encourage our employee's lead balanced lives.

So how does all this play out in a spring like 2010?

This year much like last year, we have been faced with the fewest days to plant and harvest our spring crops in our history.  This year we planted as many of our acres as possible in 7 days.  Often this day consists of an 18 hour day ( 6am to midnight), but occasionally when faced with a significant rain event, we will run a 24 hour in order to get as much planted as possible.

Of these seven days, one and a half of them were Sunday's and one of those Sunday's, Memorial day weekend became a 24 hour day for both the planting and the harvest crew.  With rain in the forecast all day Monday, and then all week as well it was a decision that had to be made.  If we couldn't get a complete harvest of our Alfalfa, or plant as much corn as possible we may run out of food for our animals before the next harvest. 

Behind the Balance of Work and Life are many difficult decisions, we must use the information available to make the best decisions possible for God, our Employee's families, and our Animals.