Monday, March 11, 2013

'Just' a farm kid is a job prospect extraordinaire...

I came across this on my lunch break today... I'm not going to give a lengthy commentary. I think author, Rudy Taylor, does a perfect job that needs no further explanation.

A great article that appeared in a rural Kansas newspaper has been getting national attention. It's all about how being a farm kid is not something to apologize for--it's a resume all on its own. And it related to me, a small town farm girl... I just couldn't not share it. Enjoy:
...........................................................
‘Just’ a farm kid is a job prospect extraordinaire

By: Rudy Taylor
...........................................................

While attending a job fair last week where Taylor Newspapers manned a booth, I met lots of job seekers. Some brought resumes. Others just moseyed by, picked up the free stuff on our table and asked a few questions. But one young woman created a memory for me.

She was a senior in high school, seeking summer employment before starting to a community college in the fall.

“Are you hiring?” she asked.

We said probably not, but we’re always looking for good resources, such as part-time 
photographers and writers. “We’d be happy to take your resume,” I told her. Then she said something that stuck with me.

“I’m afraid my resume wouldn’t be too impressive,” she said. “I’ve spent all my life working on my parents’ farm. I go to school in the daytime and do chores morning and night.”

Whoa.

I told her to go home and create a resume, and write down exactly what she had told me.
As a farm girl, one who has driven a tractor since she was 12, one who has cleaned out barns, scooped grain until her back ached, fed chickens, pigs, cattle and goats --- this girl knows the meaning of work.

She knows about dependability and getting jobs done on time. The morning school bus won’t wait until a farm kid finishes those chores. They’ll be done on time or the young student will miss that all-important ride.

A young person who has put up hay, helped her dad and mother in the farrowing house or candled eggs has something more than words to jot on a resume.

Farm kids don’t need to take art appreciation classes in school. They witness picturesque landscapes, sunrises and changes in seasons as they grow up.

They ride horses, drive four-wheelers and neatly stack big bales at the edge of meadows. They fish in their ponds, learn to handle firearms and shoot deer, rabbits and turkeys. They work as a family in the garden, raising, harvesting and canning their own vegetables. 

Farm kids learn to keep good records on their livestock. When they raise and sell a 4-H calf, they can calculate the profit gained after deducting feed, vet medicines and other costs. They typically know how to stand on their own two feet and give project talks, or give oral reasons for judging a class of lambs or swine. Many of them earn leadership roles in church, 4-H or FFA, so they can moderate a meeting to perfection using Roberts Rules of Order. 

They learn early in life the tactics of conservation --- how to keep topsoil from washing into Oklahoma; how to plant wind barriers and how to recognize grass-cheating weeds that need sprayed. 

Any farm kid can handle a paint brush, spade a garden, pull worms from tomato plants, gather hen eggs, mow grass, groom animals and take one grain of wheat, bite down on it and determine if it’s time to start the combine. 

And, this girl thinks her resume might be lackluster? ------- Oh, I don’t think so.

Put her to work in a hardware store, newspaper office or grocery store, and she will enter the front door looking for things to do.

It’s that way with kids who grow up as farm and ranch kids.

Their resume is written on their foreheads and in their hearts.

They should never apologize.

NEVER


- Randy Taylor is publisher of three weekly newspapers in southeast Kansas. He also takes pride in being a young farmer during his teenage years and a proud member of FFA.

This article was originally printed in the Montgomery County Chronicle, Thursday February, 21, 2013. 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Jump on the Wagon with Me: Facebook Isn't Just for Posting Status Updates Anymore!

So lately I've been using social media a lot. If you read back to my first blog post, my first and foremost goal with this blog was to bridge the gap between the city and the farm and learning more about myself and doing so with any tools I came across.

I'm on Facebook, I've self-taught myself with a few different web programs, I'm pretty familiar with the Adobe Creative Suite, I'm on Twitter, I'm on LinkedIn, still want to get better with YouTube, and as soon as I save up my pennies for a new phone, I'll be an Instagramer as well... 

I have found that they're all great tool for sharing information and it seems to be the more, the better. Some may wonder well what are smart phones doing in farmers pockets, or what is GPS doing in tractors or sprayers, or why would a food packaging or processing facility need to enlist the services of a graphic designer? It's the 21st century and everything is changing so quickly. My take on it is that social media is mostly free and its becoming the forefront of news sharing, so why not jump on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn bandwagon? It's win-win. 

I'm staying with the times, while showing everyone around me I'm staying with the times, and staying with the times of what everyone is sharing. It's a full circle and if I use it correctly, I can be a sponge and just keep learning and I can help others become sponges by sharing what I've learned. Twitter is my newspaper in the morning, Facebook is an instantaneous website, and YouTube is a way to share with the more visual learner. So yes, all of the above belongs in the agriculture industry. It's one of the quickest, and most cost effective ways to help bridge the gap between the city and the farm. 

And to finish this night time blog post... with more and more people becoming closer to FOUR generations removed from the family farm, there's no better time than the present to capitalize on this viral sharing bandwagon.

Jump on the wagon with me!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

It's Not What You Know, But Who You Know: The Journey of a Lifetime

I have found that, sometimes, you just need to sit down for a couple of minutes and think. I'm not talking daydreaming or thinking about how you are going to make next month's car payment or even thinking about what you want to have for supper or what you want to plan for your weekend. No, you need to think about your goals and your happiness. After all, you'll never work a day in your life if you love your job.

And thinking is what I have been doing for the past couple of months. And it's what I'm doing right now as I type. I'm 24, and I'm happy. The holidays are coming to an end, and I finally have time to take a deep breath.  Yes, there are other things I could be doing and probably should be doing rather than writing this blog post, but that's okay.

This past year, I have made a lot of decisions for myself. Don't get me wrong, faith is still an integral part of my life and always will be. I love my God and Creator. But sometimes you just need to look at the big picture and trust God's plans for you, even if others don't agree with you. All that matters in the end, is you and God. So with that in mind, I am happy, I feel blessed, and I hope and pray that all those I hold near and dear to my heart can see what I see.

One of those decisions was to work on my career. I sent in my resume and accompanying cover letter to countless agribusinesses hoping to land an interview if not a job. There's one thing you all have got to understand. I grew up on a farm, loved it, grew up with a veterinarian grandpa, loved it, and came back after college to help our the family businesses. That's where the issues began for me. I love helping my family, but there were no boundaries, no lines. The sayings about working for family are all true, trust me. So I spread my wings and crossed my fingers. After countless interviews, emails, and prayers, I finally got a break. Good things come to those who wait. Gumz Farms, LLC gave me that break. I started the week before Christmas part time so that I could transition from Gomers Inc., and help a new potential hiree. I'll eventually become full time to get off on my own and keep my family my family and my job my job. So far so good.

You may be wondering how the blog title has anything to do with this post. Well, that's a good question. Long story short, I got the job just a few months after my sister made me join a crossfit workout group, emphasis on made me. Never would have met my (so far) awesome new boss or family if I hadn't stepped my foot in the door for that first workout just last August. So, always keep your eyes and ears open. You never know who you'll meet or how they'll fit into your life in the future.

Enough thinking for now... I've got to get back to work, which isn't even work (most days). Have a good one!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

All in a Day's Work

Good afternoon you all!

It's been a while. These past few months have been pretty busy... between my co-worker at Gomers Inc. and her family re-locating with her husband's job in Nebraska, to finishing up calving season just a couple of weeks ago, to a few possible job interviews here and there, I have barely been able to catch my breath. And, therefore, I haven't had time to sit down and put together this post that I had been envisioning since my last post in July. WOW, time flies!

Anyway, I have been collecting these photos around my farm S.B. Feedlots to share with you all. You will find descriptions of each beauty I caught below the photo block. Enjoy!


1. This first one is a shot of my dad, sister, and I. My family runs about 200 beef cattle pairs. I help my dad out and split my time between the farm and Gomers Inc. We also have two hired hands, one being my show pig raising boyfriend, and we also rely on neighbor and farm friend help during the busy seasons.

2. As we are out with our animals a lot, and I mean a lot, they are a pretty curious bunch of critters. Calm animals are happy, healthy, and fast gaining animals. They aren't afraid of us at all.

3. Cows aren't always able to get the nutrients they need out of the pasture and silage that we feed them, so we supplement them with salt blocks and mineral tubs. This first year heifer is picking her nose after a few licks off the salt block. (A heifer is a female cow that hasn't had her first calf yet.)

4. Cows eat a lot. Every day. Vacation is slim around here, but if you're doing what do love, it doesn't feel like work all of the time.

5. We cut our own alfalfa for hay bales and chop some of our field corn to last through the winter to feed to our cows as silage.

6. With this summer's drought, feed is somewhat scarce. So, we get "waste" loads from canning factories of sweet corn silage and carrots. The cows go absolutely crazy over the carrots, they're like candy to them. Who would have thought?

7. This year, the DNR offered up grasslands to farmers to bale for their cattle. We got over 100 bales from this field for free. Such a blessing.

8 & 9. Bulls trying to stay cool in this summer's dry heat by laying in the mud and playing in the dirt. We had to be careful with our animals this summer to make sure they stayed hydrated and didn't overheat. It was pretty rough on them for a while there.

10. There's always something to do on the farm. One of this summer's projects was replacing a couple of fence lines.

11. This is our chute made by Morand Industries out of Canada. It is amazing and so easy to use and truly a God send. A lot safer than the ancient chute we used to have to deal with. We use a chute when we vaccinate our herd and when we need to re-tag cows and process our bull calves at weaning time.

12. A new cow calf pair.

13. It takes between 18 months and 2 years for our calves to grow this big. This is our fat lot of full grown steers and some heifers that will go to market for butcher and find their way to your plate. Yum!

14. The replacement heifer lot. We keep back between 20 and 30 heifers each year to replace old cows that we have culled from the herd.

15. Constantly bringing in new genetics with our bulls from the WBIA Bull Sale in Platteville, WI every spring. These bulls are calm, beefy, and help to get our herd better every year.

16. Our beautiful woods on the farm... makes for some good hunting!

Well, that's it for the farm tour and this blog. Feel free to comment with any questions. And in the mean time until my next blog, be sure to enjoy some yummy BEEF. And if you ever need any farm fresh meat, I'd be happy to get you lined up.

Thanks for reading! And until next time, stay curious about agriculture and help me bridge the gap between the city and the farm. Have a good one, everybody!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Farm Life is just not understood in the Big City

One of my favorite blogs to follow is the BEEF Daily blog by journalist and South Dakota rancher, Amanda Radke. She always has great insight to everything that is happening in the agriculture industry. I start off today's blog with an introduction to BEEF Daily for the simple reason that through Amanda's blog, my eyes have been forever opened to one of the biggest issues facing farmers and agricultural professionals today.

That issue is being MISUNDERSTOOD.

I looked up two definitions in the dictionary: farm and city. Farm (n) means: "a tract of land devoted to agricultural purposes (such as raising animals, especially domestic livestock)." City (n) means: "an inhabited place of greater size, population, or importance than a town or village." So, a farm is agricultural and a city is an inhabited place by people, generally more people than are in the country. Makes sense, right? Too much sense. Since there are more people in the city than on farms in the country, our job of educating the general (city) public about agriculture is definitely cut out for us.

Today, I am just going to share some tidbits for you to digest, nothing too crazy. And I welcome your comments!

1. If you're on Facebook, please like Keeping it Real: Through the Lens of a Farm Girl. Erin Ehnle always has great facts along with photos that she shares with her followers. I especially love the facts that show how far agriculture has come along. One of my favorites was a picture of a dairy cow in Illinois and the fact to go along with the photo was "More milk is produced today with only 9 million cows than with the 26 million cows in 1944." (Source: Dairy Farming Today) I thought that was amazing. And growing up on a farm, I know how important productivity is. But a lot of the comments to that photo that Erin shared showed a lot of concern for the cows and even negative comments saying that it couldn't be good for the cows and wondering if the milk was full of hormones, etc. Those comments, I'd be willing to bet, were probably from city folk that just misunderstand how farming isn't the same as it used to be. A cow can be so much more efficient with the right feeds, the right housing, the right everything, and farmers just didn't know what we know now back in 1944. Science and research is truly amazing.

2. Go to your local fairs this summer. Check out the agricultural booths, the 4H booths, the livestock barns. Ask questions, get informed. For those of you in Wisconsin, here are some links for fairs that you could easily visit: Columbia County Fair, Lodi Agricultural Fair, Wisconsin State Fair, and many more!

3. Just take a drive in the country. It's gorgeous. Challenge your family to find as many crops and farm animals as possible, just like the license plate game.

4. If you have questions about animal health, boy have you read the right blog... I hope my grandpa doesn't mind me posting this about him, but he is the most knowledgeable veterinarian I know. I work for him at his animal nutritional supplement business, Gomers Inc. To learn more about us, visit our website, our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter @Gomers Inc., or give my grandpa a call at 608.742.6014 - he'd love to chat with you!

Well, I better get back to work though, being a farm girl never gets dull. Hopefully next time I'll have some pictures and/or a video to share... Thanks for reading!



Friday, June 29, 2012

The start of a new chapter...



Well, here it goes.  ...just a small town farm girl.

I have made a vow to myself that I need to use as many avenues of social media to share the story of country, agriculture, livestock, crops, and the beautiful land that God created as I can. I have become more open-minded to twitter, although I must admit I am still no pro at it. I have made my facebook profile mirror my roots growing up on a beef farm with a farmer as my dad, a farm girl/turned nurse as my mom, a veterinarian as my grandpa, and now a show pig breeder as my boyfriend (of two years this past Sunday!). I am taking a poke at getting some videos going viral on youtube and now I am going to take a stab at blogging. I am going to try it slow... probably bi-weekly at first and see where it leads.

So, sit back, and enjoy the ride with me!