Farming is a mystery to some
They don’t know the difference between plowing and discing and all cattle are cows
Every spring I hear observing people remark that farmers are on the field “plowing their fields.” You’ll also hear newscasters say things such as “You can tell it’s spring, I saw a few farmers out plowing their fields.”
Farmers are certainly out on their fields in the spring, but they aren’t plowing. Plowing is done in the fall. Most farmers don’t plow anymore, preferring to leave the land alone or do a light tillage. In the spring they might disk, cultivate, harrow, plant conventional or no-till and maybe roll the fields after planting. None of those machines look like a plow.
It’s as bad as seeing kids playing soccer and saying that they are playing a game of hockey.
Plowing over the sod, or the soil, is such a misunderstood job. It’s been done for centuries but it seems that every type of fieldwork is referred to as “plowing.” It’s like all cattle being referred to as cows. They might be bulls, steers or heifers but they’re almost always wrongly identified as cows by news people, who should know better. I’ll get to that after my rant about plowing.
Many non-farmers confuse tillage methods with plowing. Numerous times I’ve been asked in the spring if I’m finished plowing. People want to make conversation and it seems a timely subject to them. “Have you got all your plowing done?” they’ll ask.
Sometimes I explain that plowing is done in the fall and that farmers usually don’t plow in the spring. Spring plowing can dry out the soil. You don’t want that in a dry summer. I might also add that if a field is dry enough to plow, it’s probably dry enough to plant.
Then they’ll say, “Oh, well whatever you do on the land. I have no idea what all those machines are for.”
City newspaper editors help in the confusion. A good example of that is an article I saw in the Ottawa Citizen. In a fairly lengthy article entitled “End of collectivism draws near for Chinese farms,” there’s a photo of five small tractors pulling what looks like some sort of a seed drill. I studied the photo with a magnifying glass. They are in a row each one pulling something. It’s definitely not a plow. The soil has been worked up but looks lumpy. Trees are full of leaves. I’m noting everything in a photo. The Chinese farmers are motoring right along sowing something. The caption underneath reads, “Chinese farmers plow their land using tractors in Suzhou.”
CTV News in Ottawa adds interesting outdoor scenes during their 6 p.m. newscast. Last December, on a day with light snow falling, they showed a clip of a large combine combining grain corn in a field of dry yellow corn stalks. Graham Richardson, who has been reporting news for many years and is one of the news anchors, raised his eyebrows and said, “Don’t know what they’re doing but the weather isn’t interfering in their work.” Something to that effect.
No one at the station offered any wisdom what was being done on a cold day in a corn field. A field outside of the city was being harvested and no one at the station recognized what’s being done. Yet these days people can recognize sport figures anywhere on the spot, it seems.
News reporters and anchors like to show news clips of cattle on the loose in a city. A cattle truck hauling steers to a slaughter house might have overturned and they have to be rounded up. Great story to add on a dull news day. These young 18-24 month old steers are referred to as “cows” on TV. The police help round up the cows. The cows are all rounded up after a night out on the town.
A few weeks ago there was such a story of the police helping round up some cows that had gotten out of a transport. A photo showed three of the animals caught and in a pen. Two of the so-called cows had a large apparatus (a sack or testicles) under their hind legs and clearly visible was their hairy shield that holds their penis. They were bulls. Matt Skube, CTV’s weatherman who also anchors the news, commented it was good to get the cows back where they belong. Urrrr!
Calves, heifers, bulls, first-calf heifers, steers, cows and I’m throwing in oxen too. They are all cattle and shouldn’t be referred to as “cows”. And hey, an ox can be male or female. Now that’s interesting and confusing!
Maynard van der Galien is a Renfrew-area farmer and a long-time columnist with Farmers Forum.
