The Cattlemens Story

Recently at Mom's Day Out on the Farm, I took some video at the cattle stop, which was Doug VanDuyn's feedlot. He doesn't usually speak to groups of people, but he had me fooled - Doug is awesome at speaking about the beef industry!  I hope you enjoy - I know all the participants of Moms Day Out on the Farm did!

To learn more about Mom's Day Out on the Farm and other Ag United Events visit South Dakota Farm Families on Facebook, find us at @agunited4sd on Twitter or visit our website at http://www.agunited.org/

The Writing on the Wall

 As the Ag United Intern, I get exposed to lots of opportunities to educate people about agriculture at different events. At last month’s Moms Day on the Farm events, 60 Sioux Falls area moms toured  beef, hog and dairy farms to learn more about where their food comes from. While all the farmers, industry representatives and speakers did a fantastic job of talking to the moms, one thing said at lunch the last tour really stuck in my mind as something to blog about. We were eating at the Tri-Valley School, and Dr. Stacy Scramlin, meat scientist from SDSU, looked up at the wall in the lunch area where the words PRIDE, PURPOSE and PASSION were painted underneath the school’s mascot. She said to the crowd “If you only take one thing away from today, look up at those three words and remember that farmers take pride in what they do, they have the purpose of feeding the world, and as you have seen today, are passionate about their animals and way of life. "



Brian Alderson

 We all know the farmer’s Purpose – feed the world. And with the world growing at 222,239 people PER DAY, farmers strive to produce more food with less land. On average, one farmer produces enough food to feed 155 people!

Karen Hofer shows moms a piglet

 

America’s farmers certainly have something to have Pride in. Producing the world’s cheapest, safest, most abundant food supply is a pretty big deal. Farmers love sitting down and talking to each other about their crops and cattle – and when one compliments another, their face lights up.

Laura Nielson

The final word on the wall is Passion. To every mom on the tours, it was pretty obvious that every farmer visited had passion about their operation. Brian Alderson held their attention for twenty minutes when talking about his hoop barns. Ferlyn Hofer and his family talked about their pigs and sheep, and even brought out some brand new baby piglets to meet the moms. Doug VanDuyn spoke to the women about his feedlot and beef industry – and all the women commented later that he really really loved his cows. After visiting the Nielson Dairy, moms commented that they could really see the passion in Laura’s eyes when she talked about her cows.

Doug VanDuyn

Telling the story of farming is so important, and through Moms Day on the Farm Events, moms saw the Purpose Pride and Passion in the farms they visited, and realized that every farm in America has those same qualities. Moms on the tours commented that “I have a face to put with where my food comes from, and I really like that”. As for me, I learned more about how to talk to consumers from all of our awesome farmers and presenters - and found three more words to talk about when people ask me about farming.

Why my job is SO important

Last week I took 17 day care goers on a field trip. Their big green van followed me to two farms.  Our first stop was near Hartford at Dennis Steinke’s farm.  I knew it was likely that these kids had never visited a farm.  Having grown up on a farm, it was an eye opening experience for me as well to see how these kids reacted to things on the farm, I just assume it is common for everyone to experience.  The first thing the kids fixated on?  Mud. They were all a leery of it, even the boys, to my surprise and the teacher’s relief!  Next, the Steinke family’s dogs caught their attention, as did the 4 wheeler.  These little things that I never thought would be new to them were – the dogs racing the 4 wheeler is a common sight at my house as is the mud, but both were new things to these kids!  We saw pigs, cattle and fed a bottle calf at the Steinke farm. They wanted to pet every critter they saw from the pigs to the feeder steers. The highlight of that stop, however, was feeding the bottle calf.

Our next adventure took us to Lynn Boadwine’s dairy near Baltic.  Lynn talked to the kids about different dairy products they may have in their own home and how those products get to their home from the dairy.  I had to laugh when one of the kids told him that cows weigh only 100 lbs!  We showed them the parlor and the feed lane of the dairy, plus the baby calves. They were so eager to pet the cows and even wanted to try their hand at milking. After a half hour at each place, we headed home. I bet their parents get a good education on the ins and outs of farming that evening!

Events on a farm always remind me of why we do what we do here at Ag United. Connecting consumer to field and farmer so that they know where their food comes from is essential in our world. People want to know they are getting the healthiest best food for their family, and that it is produced in the best way possible. 

My first post!

Long have I been amused, entertained, educated, and distracted by other peoples blogs. After my boss's urging, I have decided to start my own! So here it goes:

I am many things.

I am a Farmgirl - from south central South Dakota. We have 1000 sheep, 100 cattle, 20 goats and many acres of farmland. Living on and working on the farm has giving me passion for agriculture and what I want to do with my life.

I am a Cowgirl - We also have 12 horses. My favorite thing to do is ride them, work with them, and just be with them. I love barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying and rodeo

I am big sister to 2 little munchkins - J and J are my best friends, worst enemies, and favorite people to play with. Even though I am 11 years older than them.

I am a sheep and goat person. (Yes I even admit it :) I love working with our sheep on the farm, talking to others about sheep and working at the SDSU sheep research unit.

I am the intern at Ag United: I work in Sioux Falls, helping plan events and do outreach to consumers so that they can learn more about agriculture.

Thats about all I have for now, hopefully I will update this about once a week, so stay tuned!!