Some of you probably know what my family has experienced over the last 10 months. I won't rehash it all here - if you're interested, I invite you to check out my personal blog at www.flyingmule.blogspot.com. Needless to say, 2023 has been quite a year.

The purpose of this blog post is to share some thoughts and observations about the vulnerability of first-generation ranchers to medical and other crises. And hopefully, to help us all have reality-based conversations about the connection between our own physical well-being and our ability to farm or ranch. I hope others will weigh in on this conversation.

To make the long, painful story short, 2023 has been an awful year for my family. In late January, Samia, my wife of 33 years, underwent emergency brain surgery. In February, just prior to a second brain surgery, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. She passed away in mid August.

I'm blessed to have really good health insurance through my job. When I checked my health insurance portal this evening, I found that they had been billed nearly $1.7 million since January 1. While they had negotiated a discount of just over $1 million, they'd paid out in excess of $600,000 (so far - I just received another ambulance bill today). We can (and should) debate the merits of the U.S. healthcare system in another space; in this post, I want to talk about health insurance as it pertains to small-scale farming and ranching.

Samia and I started Flying Mule Farm shortly after we moved to Auburn in 2001. Our first commercial farming endeavors were selling pumpkins in the fall and potted daffodils in the spring at the Auburn Farmers' Market. I soon realized that I was better at raising livestock than plants, and we started raising sheep in 2005. I worked full time and ranched part time until 2011, when I jumped into sheep production with both feet - quitting my other jobs!

I was 44 years old - middle-aged, but still invincible (in my mind) - even though I'd broken both arms in a fall from a stack of straw in 2007. And as an invincible middle-aged rancher, I debated whether health insurance was a necessary expense. Fortunately, Samia insisted that it was - especially since our growing daughters needed to see a doctor each year. But I still grumbled about the premium payments.

In 2009, I started helping our local extension office teach a multi-week farm/ranch business planning course. We always forced new producers to think about difficult things like paying themselves, like generating profit, like taking a vacation now and then. And we talked about health insurance. Farming and ranching, after all, are very physical occupations - especially at the scale typical here in the Sierra foothills. I always offered the example of my broken arms - we all laughed and moved on to more important things.

But as my family has lived through the last 10 months, I have realized that if this had happened when I was self-employed, it would have broken us - physically, emotionally, and financially. I've realized the importance of insurance. When I was self-employed, our out-of-pocket maximum was beyond our means (to be fair, a higher premium was also beyond our means). Yesterday, I met with a young beginning rancher and asked about their insurance. “I don't have any,” was the reply.

These decisions are very personal for all of us - I get that! But with the benefit of hindsight, I also realize now that I would have done everything possible to dig up the means to pay for Samia's treatment regardless of our insurance status. And that without insurance, I undoubtedly would have fallen short. The decisions that our family had to make in the last 10 months were difficult enough; deciding which bill to pay (or not to pay) - and losing a business (and our home) in the process - would have been even more devastating.

Like many people in the rural areas of the Sierra foothills, my family raises chickens. Our dozen or so laying hens keep us supplied with eggs year-round. And each year, we raise 20-30 Cornish-cross meat chickens, which we butcher ourselves - roast chicken and barbecued chicken are two of our favorite meals!

About 10 days ago, we picked up our first 15 meat birds of the year from a feed store here in Auburn. While we typically expect to lose one or two chicks at this stage, this morning we lost the 13th chick out of the 15 we started with - so we decided to try to learn what's going on. I'd recently read about an avian influenza outbreak in the Midwest and felt that we needed to be responsible chicken owners!

I first called the Sick Bird Hotline at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) (866/922-2473) and left a message (they called back within an hour). Then I contacted the California Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) Lab at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. From there, I was referred to CDFA's Animal Health Branch Redding District office, where I talked to Dr. Michael Poulos. He told me that backyard chicken producers could get up to two birds examined at the CAHFS lab for just $25 - and that we could overnight the specimen to the lab (as a sheep producer, I have driven animals to the lab in Davis for necropsy - it was nice to know I could put the dead chick on ice and overnight it to Davis - especially with gasoline at over $5 per gallon!)

The lab should have my sample by tomorrow morning. Overnight shipping was around $47 - less than the gas I would have burned driving to Davis and back. And I hope to have some answers by the end of the week. I don't suspect avian influenza, but I do hope to learn what's going on! Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here are some great resources for backyard poultry producers:

UCD Veterinary Medicine Backyard Poultry Website

CDFA Avian Influenza Updates

California Animal Heath & Food Safety Lab System

A final note on the CAHFS lab - we send sheep to the lab whenever we experience an unusual death (for example, if more than two sheep die, or if we experience an unusual level of abortion or newborn lamb losses). We don't always get definitive answers, but we do get useful information. Thanks to information we've received from the lab, we've adjusted our mineral supplementation program to be sure that we are providing adequate selenium - and we always have injectible selenium on hand at lambing. We've also started paying more attention to sources of copper (including irrigation and drinking water in our environment). Having a necropsy performed is an investment in improving our management!

Like everything and everyone else in 2020, our local fairs are adapting to the changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As I write this, the Nevada County Fair Junior Livestock Auction is underway – virtually! Youth exhibitors who've spent months (and in some cases, a full year) raising their livestock projects are excitedly anticipating the rewards for their hard work.

Livestock are judged during the fair on a variety of attributes – their structural correctness, the amount and shape of muscling, the degree of finish (or fat) they possess. This evaluation is designed to predict the quality of the end product – the meat that our junior livestock auction buyers will put in their freezers, and ultimately on their tables. But just as we know we can't judge a book (entirely) by its cover, there's more to predicting meat quality than a judge's subjective opinion. And that's why our local fairs and livestock associations (including the Tahoe Cattlemen's Association) also sponsor contests to evaluate meat quality after the fair.

Meat quality is a combination of the amount of meat an animal produces and the appropriate amount of fat (which we refer to as marbling). This marbling makes for an enjoyable eating experience - a juicy, tender steak! Choice or prime grades in lamb or beef are the target!

So how do our Nevada County youth beef exhibitors measure up against these industry standards? Last year, 91% of the beef from the fair graded USDA Choice or better! Twelve exhibitors received a Carcass of Merit award from the Tahoe Cattlemen's Association; another two received the Gold Seal Award. This doesn't happen on its own! The quality of the product these exhibitors produce is a testament to their hard work, the quality of their care, and the support provided by 4-H leaders, Future Farmers of America advisors, families and friends.

The bottom line: when you're supporting the Junior Livestock Auction, you're supporting a great kid – and you're putting a great steak (or lamb chop, or pork chop, or goat chop) on your plate!

To participate in the Nevada County Fair Junior Livestock Auction, go to https://auction.showorks.cloud/fair/ncfair.

Photo credit: Kaleiah Schiller

As I write this post on the morning of March 19, 2020, several of the counties surrounding Placer County, where I live, work, and ranch, have issued "shelter in place" orders in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. The only order I've actually read, from Sutter and Yuba Counties, specifically notes that the following "essential businesses" are among those exempted from the shelter in place order:

Food cultivation, including farming, nurseries, livestock, fishing, and businesses necessary to support those industries; 

Food and agriculture processing and distribution facilities including those facilities on farms and those use to conduct related research.

In other words, I can continue doing most of what I do, but I will need to change some of the ways in which I work.

We are in the midst of lambing season, which means the sheep need to be checked 2-3 times a day (and more frequently during stormy weather). Fortunately, sheepherding is naturally socially distanced - even in normal times, we usually work independently. As the Sutter-Yuba order acknowledges, the work of farming - especially at this time of year - doesn't shut down. Animals need to be fed, crops need to be planted - the work goes on.

We farmers and ranchers - and agricultural researchers - still need to take precautions, though. We need to avoid large gatherings, maintain social distancing, WASH OUR HANDS FREQUENTLY! Our farms and ranches, and the communities who depend on the food and fiber we produce, are depending on us to stay healthy.

I can't speak for others, but at times the news has been a bit overwhelming. I realized yesterday as I was trying to set up my home office and continue to do my extension work that I was having difficulty focusing on any specific task. Fortunately, a friend called before lunchtime, just to catch up. We talked about forage conditions and lambing (he's a sheep rancher, too), and also talked about our families and about the times we're living through. Having that direct interaction (as opposed to texting or emailing) helped me relax and focus - and the rest of the day was productive. 

Based on yesterday's experience, I've decided that I will call a friend and/or family member once a day - social distancing doesn't need to be isolating. I've also decided that I'll check in on my older friends at least once a week. I know we need to be cautious about spreading COVID-19 to older folks, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't reach out to them to make sure their needs are being met. Twenty-first Century medical and information technology are amazing, but our sense of community - our willingness to help our neighbors - will be critical to getting through this crisis.

To ensure that we are taking all appropriate COVID-19 precautions within UC Cooperative Extension, the Placer, Nevada, and Sutter-Yuba UCCE offices are closed for face-to-face, in-person service through April 7, 2020. While these measures may be inconvenient, we are taking these precautions to support our communities. And while our offices may be closed, we are still at work – mostly from home. If you have a livestock or natural resource question during the closure, please email me directly (at dmacon@ucanr.edu) or leave me a voice mail at 530/889-7385. I will be checking both voice mail and email regularly during the closure, and will respond as quickly as possible.

During the closure, we will not be holding any workshops or meetings. However, I have several webinars and other online programs in the works – stay tuned for details! Also, I will be updating my blog, FaceBook pages, and Instagram IGTV channels regularly. Follow the links below to view these resources:

• UCCE Placer-Nevada-Sutter-Yuba Livestock and Natural Resources website: https://ucanr.edu/sites/Livestock/
• UCCE Foothill Farming website: https://ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/
• Ranching in the Sierra Foothills Blog: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/RanchingintheFoothills/index.cfm
• UCCE Sustainable Foothill Ranching FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/FoothillSustainableRanching/
• UCCE Foothill Farming FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/FoothillFarming/
• Instagram (including IGTV channels): follow me @flyingmule (note: I'm posting short videos about grazing management, stockmanship, and other topics - and lots of photos of lambs!)
• Twitter: @flyingmulefarm

Also, I am able to do ranch calls and consultations by phone or by video conferencing (including FaceTime) – if you have a question or an issue that involves looking at a particular resource or livestock issue, this might be an option!

I realize that this is a very challenging time for all of us. I also know that livestock need to be cared for, pastures need to be managed, and bills need to keep getting paid regardless of what is going on around us. Take care of your families, your communities - and yourselves! Please feel free to contact me – I look forward to hearing from you!