Lost phone

On days when there is a lot to do, nothing seems to go as planned. We had hay lying in the field, some of which needed to be baled, and some still needed to be chopped. We were battling the clock and the predicted rain that was set to fall that evening.

Some of our hay had already been rained on a few days before. The day prior, we raked what we planned to round bale, tipped what we wanted to square bale and let the last field of chopped hay dry out.

Round baling and small square baling were first on the docket. For once, things seemed to be going our way as the hay was ready to bale by 11 am. My uncle took to the small square baling while my dad headed out with the round baler. Of course, the round baler had issues, having to come back to the farm once and needing a repair run to the field another time. What should have taken an hour turned into much longer, but the job got done.

That meant getting to the chopped field later than anticipated, though. No major issues, but we knew it was going to last into evening chores.

Our farm seems to be in a current “lack of labor” stage, and it played into the day’s chaotic finish. I had to take my kids to evening sports activities; my brother coaches high school track and field, so he still had practice to attend; one of our part-time employees is recovering from back surgery; and our new hire has been less than ambitious in picking up available hours.

This meant my mom had to start milking cows by herself while my dad and uncle finished chopping. Eventually, they joined my mom and wrapped up evening chores.

After milking and feeding, my dad and uncle decided to level off the silo they just filled with haylage. In retrospect, that was the task that should have waited until the next day, as everyone was tired, hungry and a bit on edge.

My dad is the adventurous one who climbs the silo and levels things off inside, while my uncle remains at the bottom to assist with turning things on and off. Phones are a must to communicate back and forth between the two.

My dad had his phone in his front shirt pocket, a place he knows isn’t always secure. He told himself he would set his phone down on a spare shirt he carried up the silo with him, but he got distracted by trying to get things done quickly.

After a time, he noticed his phone was no longer in his pocket. Looking around, he couldn’t see it, so he climbed down the silo and told my uncle. They turned the blower off, and my dad climbed back up to listen for the ring while my uncle called his phone. Miraculously, he could hear a muffled ringing and buzzing, so he knew the general location. Some digging here and there, but there was no luck locating it. Eventually, my dad could no longer hear ringing, just faint buzzing every now and then.

A rushed day with setbacks and inadequate meals meant my dad was already short-tempered. He decided to give up for the night, as it was almost 9 pm and they still had one more load of small squares to bale and calves to feed.

The next morning, my brother joined my dad up in the silo to try to locate the phone. Climbing the silo for my brother is not ideal, and I think he had to down a whole bottle of anxiety medication afterwards. They only heard one round of buzzing when they called the phone, but no more ringing. They dug around quite a bit in the area where my dad knew the phone was located, but still no luck. My dad conceded to the fact that he was not going to find it anytime soon and needed to get a new one.

Frustrated mostly by the loss of his contact list and saved photos and videos, we discussed the next day that it is a sucky situation, but it could have been much worse. No one was hurt, and it’s a phone lost in the silo, not a body part.

Needless to say, his new phone is smaller in size and has a brighter colored phone case. We will see how long it takes for the old phone to eventually make its way down the silo chute.

Jill is a stay-at-home mom who helps part time on her family’s 140-cow dairy farm near Forest City, Minnesota. She and her husband, Aaron, have two children: Hayes and Nash.