Instant adults

Farm boy driving a tractor in North Carolina

The glory days of agricultural in New England are over.  Long ago, the glacial rocks won and the majority of farming moved west.  So you might be surprised to know that there are 7,691 farms in Massachusetts alone producing over $489 million annually.  It is with some astonishment, then, that we are faced with new government regulations that will increase the cost of farming, increase teen unemployment, and at the same time reduce the opportunity for teens to become responsible adults.  What’s not to like?

Growing up on a farm was a wonderful opportunity to learn about cause and effect, personal responsibility, and how to actually do things.  If the cows didn’t get milked, they dried up.  If the cows dried up, the family didn’t have milk to sell or consume.  This was serious; if your chore was to help milk the cows, you didn’t mess around.

It seemed like many things were like that.  The kitchen garden fed the family in season and provided a bounty of canned and frozen produce to last through the winter.  But the garden must be planted, watered, weeded, cultivated, protected from woodchucks and rabbits, and finally harvested.  If your chore was to participate in those activities (and it usually was), the consequences of failure were severe.

Farm boys and girls, at the ripe old age of eight or nine, were often enlisted to steer a hay truck through the winding windrows of bales.  The older teens and adults threw the hay up on the truck as a youngster steered, feet not reaching the pedals.  At the end of the row, one of the older workers would jump into the cab to turn the rig around, and then the whole thing would be repeated in the opposite direction.   Although the lack of seatbelts, car seats, and helmets would today seem scandalous, no one was injured or killed, and a lot of self esteem was rightfully earned.

Farm boys and girls, when leaving for college or the military or their first outside job, actually knew how to do things.  They could replace spark plugs, build a chicken coop, responsibly fire a rifle, drive a tractor, and care for dependent livestock.  When entering the wider world, they had developed a sense of self confidence that was based on real skills and accomplishments.

But no longer.  In our zeal to keep our children perfectly safe, the nanny state is preparing to crack down.  The US Department of Labor is issuing rules to prohibit farm kids under the age of 16 from operating power equipment.  They would also proscribe “children” under the age of 18 from activities involving the storing, marketing, or transportation of raw farm materials. This means that they could not work in “country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions.”

This is nothing short of amazing.  We consider an 18-year-old to be an adult, the age of majority.  But the Federal government is now usurping parental discretion, becoming in effect, a super-parent.    

According to our Federal betters, upon reaching the age of 18, these kids are entitled to vote, but don’t understand economics, having no personal involvement.  They can buy and drive a car, but have little experience in mechanical things and little sense of personal responsibility.  They can join the military and go off to war, but just a day before were considered immature and needing of great protection.  How can we expect them to be successful if we don’t trust them and give them opportunities to grow?  According to the government, they must become instant adults with none of the experiences necessary to do so.

In the old days, the family was responsible for the well being and development of their offspring.  It seems increasingly now that the government has usurped that role.  A good thing? Not likely.  

Attack of the Killer Coyotes

A hungry coyote.  Photo courtesy of USDA.

We are counting our blessings in New England.  This is the mildest winter we have seen in many years.  But while we walk and jog and even play golf, luxuriating in moderate temperatures and enjoying the lack of snow, there is a grim struggle for survival going on.

The number of coyote attacks reported this winter has been rapidly escalating.  Dogs injured and killed, cats missing without a trace, and even children bitten and terrorized.  What the heck is going on?  Have coyotes suddenly turned malevolent, possessed by evil spirits?

No, the answer is far simpler, and in two parts.  First, as we have become an urban nation,  coyotes have extended their range into our suburbs while at the same time we have stopped vigorously hunting them; they have lost their fear of man.  But this is a long term trend that has played out over many decades. Of more immediate portent, they are ravenous. Slowly starving, they are driven to attack pets and children and livestock and whatever else might keep them sustained for another day.

The question begs to be answered: why? The proximate cause is an extreme lack of acorns.  In a good year (called a high mast year), a single large oak tree can produce tens of thousands of acorns.  In a low mast year, perhaps half that.  But in the autumn of 2011, there were large tracts of New England without an acorn.  Nary a one.  And that is catastrophic for mice and chipmunks and squirrels and many other direct acorn-eaters including wild turkeys, quail, and deer.  Some ecologists have estimated that up to 90% of the current rodent population could die by spring.  This puts enormous pressure on coyotes and other predators, such as foxes and weasels and hawks and owls, who must compete for that rapidly dwindling food supply.

No wonder the coyotes are famished.

But where did the acorns go?  There are multiple theories; here are two that seem most likely, especially in tandem:

1. In the spring of 2010, we suffered extremely heavy rains and flooding.  This excessive moisture interfered with the pollination of oak flowers, the necessary precursor to acorns.
2. The intense winter moth infestation in the autumn of 2010 caused the trees to be nearly defoliated the following spring.  This greatly stressed the oaks.

Perhaps as result of two consecutive whammies, the 2011 acorn yield was a record near-zero.  It is most likely that we will soon return to normal mast production and a recovery of the rodent population will remove pressure from coyotes and other predators.  Hard spring rains are not typically intense enough to interfere with the blooming of oaks.  And there is a new tool for winter moth control.  Cyzenis albicans, a parasitic fly imported from Europe (where winter moths originated) is showing promise in controlling moth outbreaks.

So the problem remains, how to minimize the risk of coyote attacks?  Here is a short list of ideas from the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation:

• Don't let coyotes intimidate you. Don't hesitate to scare or threaten coyotes with loud noises and bright lights. Don't hesitate to pick up small objects, such as a tennis ball, and throw them at the coyote. If a water hose is close at hand, spray the coyote with water in the face. Let the coyote know it is unwelcome in your area.
• Secure your garbage. Coyotes will raid open trash materials and compost piles. Secure your garbage in tough plastic containers with tight fitting lids and keep in secure buildings when possible. Take out trash on the morning pick up is scheduled, not the previous night. Keep compost in containers designed to contain but vent the material.
• Don't feed or try to pet coyotes. Keep wild things wild. Feeding, whether direct or indirect, can cause coyotes to act tame and over time may lead to bold behavior. Coyotes that rely on natural food items remain wild and wary of humans.
•  Keep your pets safe. Coyotes view cats and small dogs as potential food and larger dogs as competition. For the safety of your pets, keep them restrained at all times.   
• Eliminate availability of bird seed. Coyotes are attracted to the concentration of birds and rodents that come to feeders. If you do feed birds, clean up waste seed and spillage.
• Ask your neighbors to follow these same steps.

Some of these may seem cruel… poor squirrels, poor birds!  Why can’t we feed them?  But remember that you are trying to save Tabby and Rover and even Junior from becoming a coyote meal.  Mother nature will return to a balance – have faith.