Its a boy!!

This morning as my brother was driving me to school, I was pondering about what to write today! I started think about my parenting class at school, we where talking about how much it cost to have a baby. To be honest, I wasn't surprised on how much it cost. Outrageously, expensive? Yes, but it gives you a much better chance of having a healthy baby! How dose this relate to agriculture? Livestock are mammals so they have babies...which means that they need some prenatal care. Producers want to insure that their heard, operation ect will have healthy, plentiful babies that will bring good money. The exciting thing is raising them, and watching them grow, sort of like how parents conceive their children and watch them grow. How much it cost for a heifer to have a calf is coming soon!!

                                       ...to be continued......

Along with agriculture comes...personal growth!!

Good morning!! About 15 minutes ago my high school had a motivational speak name Retro Bill. Do not be fooled by the name people, this man has inspired me. I have heard great speakers in my 15 years, but Retro Bill's presentation really gave myself a "self check-up". He talked about the importance of pursing your dreams and being positive to get there. People can throw "stingers" (off of Jersey Shore, I thought it sound cool)...stingers are mean things people say to you, but all you haft to remember is that you are amazing! Retro Bill was fueling our self esteem because people today are constantly tearing it down!! But I would like you to know that you can do anything, you haft to have determination that you can and will achieve your dreams. For more information about Retro Bill here is a link to his website http://www.retrobill.com/index.htm! 

FFA is another constant cheerleader for personal growth, we need to support our local chapters!! Have a great day and remember you are a winner :)

Watch what you say!!

Recently, I have been aware that young adults are posting and really thinking about what they are posting. 93% 12 to 17 year old use the internet in 2009. What are they posting and how are they posting it? When posting think of someone who you respect and they respect you  reading this post. Don't think of you friends think of how it will impact people around you. Being a young advocate for agriculture, I NEED to educate, and by educating I can add more voices. I am not going to educate by telling them I am getting my hair done or I am going to a party. But if you did post example : Going out tonight, lets thank the livestock for making it possible that I get to drive to the party! Just be creative and throw together a little something that helps agriculture. Because we are the future :)

Work Work all day long...

Recently, I have had my hands full with constant sheep sales, work and FFA.


Its almost spring!! Most lambs have already been born starting during December and on...I have been and worked at three sales. That is quite a bit, setting up, taking down, I have sheared over 300 lambs in the past week alone if that tells you anything. But along with hard work comes success. :)

FFA! Spring banquets are hitting hard as the school year slows down, but yet FFA and 4-H have just begun! If you excited comment a smile ( :) ) on this post if your not put a sad face ( :( ) and explain. EXCITING!! Have a great day!!

Thanks a farmer thursday is here!!

Challenge for YOU!! Thank a farmer today!!

FYI

Last night, in the midst of bah's of sheep, my pocket knife and plastic I began to think about what I would write today. Then it began to storm as my cousins and uncle and brother where in the other room grooming sheep for the sale this weekend, the rain was hitting the barn hard and the wind was gonna blow us away...and yet we stayed out there. On my way to the house to grab a bucket of warm water I noticed that the wind was strong and was about to knock me down...and then I thought. "Farmers work through it all!" - Lindsey O'Hara.

It dose not matter, Farmers NEVER take the day off! Through rain, sleet, snow, blizzards, floods, tornados whatever mother nature throws at them...they NEVER quite. 

Article About Farmers

http://www.bls.gov/k12/nature03.htm

After I read this article, I pondered some questions...

• Advanteges farmers have...
• Their pay...
• Importance...
• How I can help...

What are some question that came to your mind?

It's a Legacy!

This week I am honoring farmer, ranchers and producers, Thursday is Thank a Farmer Thursday, it's important to me personally, as well as others. But why thank them? Who cares? Thank them because they supply us with products, and care because they care about you.

Today, the average U.S. farmer feeds 155 people. In 1960, a farmer fed just 26 people. American farmers ship more than $100 billion of their crops and products to many nations. Farmers are a direct lifeline to more than 24 million U.S. jobs in all kinds of industries. U.S. farmers produce about 40 percent of the world's corn, using only 20 percent of the total area harvested in the world.

These facts, say it all. Let's take it back a couple years when these farmers great great great grandfathers started up a little ole' farm maybe with a cow and some chickens. This isn't true for everyone, just simply, a example. Back then you either lived and worked on a farm or lived in the city. Agriculture was very important for the United States to develop, who was the first people to set foot in America?  Pilgrims . As the story goes, the "friendly Indians" helped out the pilgrims showing them how to grow produce and from there everything started to spread like wildfire. They are yet forgotten and often looked over, but when in the presents of myself, they are honored and respected..they are farmers.

Half of US has above-average risk of flooding in coming weeks!

Nearly half of the U.S. has an above-average risk of flooding over the next few weeks as heavy snow melts, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. The highest risk areas include the Red River, which forms the state line between eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota; the Minnesota River; and the upper Mississippi River basin from Minneapolis southward to St. Louis, according to NOAA.

Article Written by Susan Crowell

HSUS brings message to 4-H’ers

by Susan Crowell

There was an unusual presentation at this year’s National 4-H Conference, March 20-24, in Washington: “Animal Instincts: Service Learning and Animal Welfare.”

Now the name of the March 23 break-out session doesn’t sound too unusual, but the presenting organization sure was — the Humane Society of the United States.
Hmmm. An anti-animal agriculture, vegan-promoting lobbying organization is presenting information to our brightest youth?
What were organizers thinking?
That’s what a lot of folks would like to know.
The issue came to light April 1 in a blog post by BEEF Web Editor Amanda Nolz. Honestly, at first I thought it was an April Fools’ Day hoax, but then I realized it was no joke.
The presentation was made in two sessions, with about 25 youth in each session, according to the 4-H National Headquarters.
Nolz’s post created a whirlwind of activity and comments in the online world, as folks spread her link like wildfire. Commenters expressed their dismay on the Beef Daily blog, on the national 4-H Facebook page and on Farm and Dairy’s Facebook page.
On the national 4-H Facebook page, one poster called it an “irresponsible decision,” adding, “The opposing viewpoint argument means nothing when you bring in manipulative and corrupt public policy groups whose main goal is to create a vegan society.”
By 6 a.m. April 2, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which houses the National 4-H Headquarters within USDA, posted a statement on its Facebook page, saying the HSUS proposal “was reviewed by the planning committee and found acceptable.”
“… the workshop was approved by the planning committee because the proposal aligned with the goals of the 4-H conference and did not present any indication of anti-animal agriculture views or positions.”
No, but you can’t separate the proposal from the organization presenting it — an organization with a stated goal of reducing animal consumption.
In its call for conference presentations, the National 4-H program stressed that each session must provide take-home resources, and “to encourage them to apply what they learned back home.” That opened the door for the distribution of the 35-page HSUS Mission Humane Action Guide, which encourages youth to set up animal protection clubs, and devotes pages to researching animal issues, “making your voice heard” and raising funds.
If you throw a party, the material suggests showing videos from the HSUS Web site and serving vegan refreshments. And just about every page plugs information available on the HSUS Web site.
“You’ll also learn about lobbying — one of the most effective ways of making change for animals,” says the guide’s message from CEO Wayne Pacelle.
OSU Extension Director Keith Smith issued a statement April 2, saying, Ohio’s 4-H program was “very distressed that this happened at a national 4-H event,” and that the Ohio 4-H organization had expressed that dismay to the 4-H National Headquarters and USDA-NIFA.
“The primary concern about this distribution is that HSUS is well known for its anti-animal agriculture views and positions, and 4-H has a long tradition of providing education in the animal sciences, which includes the dimension of positive animal welfare.”
In its statement, Kansas State University said some of the materials provided by HSUS met the conference’s workshops criteria of “teaching civic engagement, community service, youth volunteerism and impacting community issues.
“However, much of the material was more focused on the HSUS goals.”
Living in a world with blinders on gives us all a narrow perspective, and I believe it does none of us any good to close our ears and minds to opposing viewpoints and opinions. However, I dislike the calculating move by HSUS to target 4-H youth with its subtle anti-animal agriculture message.

Organizations that Support Agriculture

4H, most commonly used through out American at county fairs and state fairs.The program lets young adults and children raise their livestock and take them to the fair, adolescents use creativity and their imagination to produce general projects as well as problem solving and research. They promote responsibility, community service and     Head Hearts Hands and Health is what the 4 H's mean. 

Every year some where you live is a bunch of kids, parents, grand parents and people working their butts off at the county fair. If it's late night general project finishing, staying up till midnight working with your livestock, and getting your manuals done, that's dedication. 4-Her's spend all year getting ready for 1 week, ONE WEEK to shine and display their hard work. They are the future :) Support your local 4-H group! 

It is time!

“Two dozen of the nation's largest and best-funded farm groups have formed a coalition to counter poor publicity that they say has led to some bad public policies and threatens farmers' ability to produce food for the world's population.”


At this day and age, publicity is common, celebrities splashed all over the news, magazines, and newspapers, everywhere! Most of the time when they are displayed it is not for a good reason…that is how some organizations are displaying Agriculture. Yet, Agriculture fuels the world! There is just over 2.1 million farms in the United States, imagine them all gone. Where would the world be? NO WHERE!

Slandering the producers that feed the world is disrespectful and should be against the law. Farmers don’t take a day off! Working hard till dust, till dawn! “Imagine being hung upside down, shocked into paralysis, having your throat cut, then drowned in hot water...while you’re conscious. That’s the stuff of nightmares, and it’s the tragic reality for billions of birds each year. These animals have virtually no protection from the worst slaughter abuses.”- (HSUH website). This is what those organizations are telling people, when actually half of the people writing this have never had the firsthand experience. How can you publish lies, slander, and now people are believing it?

“"Feeding the world requires us to kick up some dirt and create a few odors. That is just a reality of producing food and fiber that may not fit in with the utopian vision.” Joe Cornely. We all see things as right and wrong. The HSUS says that producing the world with food, clothing, by products needed for everyday life is wrong. How can it be wrong when they themselves are wearing cotton clothing, have make up on their face, drive cars to work and took a shower…it’s not wrong.

We need to STAND UP and SPEAK OUT, against these organizations! The HSUS may have money but WE have VOICES! We need to stop this negative image that they are giving agriculture…its time.

CREED!!

I just haft to tell someone!! I won Creed Friday night at our District II competition. I am not the only one who took it home!! The whole Warsaw FFA Chapter kicked butt!! Congrats guys! Keep striving for you infinite potential!!

Challenges are frustrating , Agriculture can Help

$135.5 billion in finances this year (2011) from agriculture exports. This is a amazing estimate, the highest since 2010. It would be a 25% increase from last year!! "The federal agriculture head spoke in Tampa at the Commodity Classic, a large convention and trade show for the U.S. corn, soybean, wheat, and sorghum industries that draws some 4,500 farmers from around the nation." -Farms exchange. 

What makes a farmer, producer, rancher...

Living in a itty bitty town, one 4-way stop light, and neighbors 1 or 2 miles away is the life for me. I don't live on a great huge farm, honestly I live on a very tiny farm. I have 15 chickens, a golden retriever, a heifer (lives at a different farm), dairy calf feeder steer that will becoming soon (at my grandpa's farm) and 20 sheep that will be entering the barn no later than the end of March. Dose this make a farmer? A rancher? A producer?

To me, I am a farmer, a producer...someone who is a billboard for agriculture. My mother calls us spring farmers, we basically have livestock during the spring, but throughout the year my time is spent on Northern Indiana's Largest sheep operation, taking care of my heifer, helping my grandpa restoring tractors, and FFA.

Can you really determine what a farmer, producer and rancher is? 

Indiana looking up...

"The hope is that corn prices are lower by fall," said the Purdue University agricultural economist last Friday. "If we can see a crop that is a normal crop this year ... while the price of hogs drops to $60 in late 2011 and early 2012, corn might drop to $5.75 to $6 per bushel. That's about breakeven for pork produc-ers.
"It's no profit, but covering all costs including labor, depreciation on facilities ... breakeven is a normal return—no profit and no loss. It's about as optimistic as we can expect considering record corn prices for 2011."

The Pork industry has seen record low meat prices since 2008.  And the price of corns as sky rocketed, since the recession that we are having buying corn is VERY expensive. How will the farmers mange? Going to the feed store the other day to buy cracked corn, I about doubled over. Hopefully prices will be able to go down.

Whats the pork producers going to do?? Instead of using corn, they alternative is DDGS. DDGS is very high in protein it consists of soybeans and some corn, the pricing is fair. Now the producers has to research and find the most effective, cheapest, nutrition way of supplying their hogs with feed. The down side to DDGS, can stunt the growth of piglets in their first stages. The world is just right on the edge of having a panic in terms of available food supplies, not only for livestock, but for humans also. Good Luck!

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day

75% of all women cannot get bank loans because they have unpaid or insecure jobs and lack property ownership rights. Women are also 21% less likely than men even to own a mobile phone and therefore to have similar communication possibilities. Women perform two-thirds of the world’s work and produce half the world’s food, but earn just 10% of the income and own 1% of the property.  Women constitute two-thirds of the world’s ~800 million illiterate adults (aged 15 and over). Educate a girl in Africa and she’ll earn 25% more income, be 3 times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS and have a smaller, healthier family
Only 28 countries have achieved the 30% target set in the early 1990s for women in decision-making positions. Worldwide, women are paid 17% less, and have less employment security than men
99% of maternal deaths are preventable, but every minute a woman dies from pregnancy-related causes. Worldwide, young women (15 - 24) are 1.6 times as likely as young men to be HIV positive. Every 14 seconds, another child becomes an orphan due to AIDS-related deaths. The abuse of women and girls is endemic around the world. One in three women will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise violated in her lifetime.

What is Organic Farming?

Organic farming management relies on developing biological diversity in the field to disrupt habitat for pest organisms, and the purposeful maintenance and replenishment of soil fertility. Organic farmers are not allowed to use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. All kinds of agricultural products are produced organically, including produce, grains, meat, dairy, eggs, fibers such as cotton, flowers, and processed food products. Some of the essential characteristics of organic systems include: design and implementation of an "organic system plan" that describes the practices used in producing crops and livestock products; a detailed record keeping system that tracks all products from the field to point of sale; and maintenance of buffer zones to prevent inadvertent contamination by synthetic farm chemicals from adjacent conventional fields.

Exports of Farm Machinery

Nine billion dollars of farm related machinery was exported last year (2010), that is around a 12% increase from lasts years report. This is a much improvement of the decline last year of 25%, very encouraging for farm machinery suppliers. Canada is the biggest buyer totaling at 3 billion dollars of exports made by the United States last year.

This is great news for the agriculture machinery industry as well for the producers!!

Are you ready for this??

Livestock, and other animals where put on this earth for many reasons. Some say they are here for the pleasure and companionship of man kind, others believe that they are for the use of humans, and some think that they are just here...taking up space. I believe that livestock in general is for the use of humans, we not only need them to supply the world with food, but also in the world of show circuit. Other animals, like for example, dogs, cats are for the pleasure of man kind. In the wild, other animals such as, coyotes, birds, mice, and rats are mearly a part of our surrounds and are much needed for the food chain.

I would like to bring to attention of my readers that livestock is not are pets, I will admit at times I get attached. But when it comes time for them to be sent of and processed  I know that I am supplying someone with the meat needed in their daily lives. To me that is very satisfyingly, that I can produce my meat and know that it is healthy and was well taken care of. To others, what I am doing is terrible, inhumane and just pointless. Non-meat eaters have either been uneducated or just don't agree, which disagreeing is fine because we all get to have our opinion But its not okay to say that producing something is terrible and inhumane if they haven't really seen, or experienced the process.

What is your take?