Acting glitchy? Time to reboot [Dairy Star Column]

I use my smartphone a lot. I use it to take pictures, manage social media, check the weather, monitor school happenings, and keep in touch with family and friends. My phone is on 24/7.

Every once it a while, my phone starts to act a little glitchy. The keyboard doesn’t slide up like it’s supposed to, a text message won’t send, or an app won’t open.

The first time my phone acted up, I got a little worried. But then I realized that all I need to do is shut my phone off for a little while. When I turn it back on, everything works the way it’s supposed to.

Dairy farmers are a lot like smartphones. We’re smart. We’re incredibly capable of performing multiple tasks at the same time. The variety of work we can do is astounding: from veterinary care to machinery maintenance to financial planning to growing crops. Most of us are on call 24/7.

And, every once in a while, we start to act a little glitchy. We forget things, we make mistakes, or we get grouchy.

Many of us operate in this glitch-y state for so long without rebooting that we begin to think this behavior is normal.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to reboot a dairy farmer as it is to reboot a cell phone. But it is possible. Often, it doesn’t require shutting down as much as it requires reconnecting with others, although time away from the farm does help.

We rebooted ourselves last week with a short trip to the Central Plains Dairy Expo...

[Read the rest of the column here.]