Corn Prices and Rain Make Me Giddy

I am driving through Fairfield County today, when I hear the distinguished voice of Dale Minyo.  I reached to turn it up and told the girls to quiet down.  Just as he began the story about corn prices going down the limit today.  I almost thought it was some kind of April Fool's Joke, but it isn't and corn is going down rapidly. I called a friend of ours and corn producer Jon Miller who is also a Board Member on the Ohio Corn Growers, for the update. He with more disappointment than I, explained that the USDA planting reports came out on Thursday at 11:30AM and then corn went down the limit of 40 cents.  The report had a couple key components that started the trend downward, one was that they are predicting more acres to be planted this spring than there has been since 1936.  Secondly they have realized that there were more than 500 million bushels of corn in storage on farms and elevators that they didn't have accounted for last month.  The market then was closed Friday and obviously the weekend to open today, where the market could have went down an additional 60 cents since it went down the limit the market day before.  However it only went down 58 cents but then closed down at 53 cents on the Future Markets.

There have been two moments in the last week that have made me giddy. The first was when our friends called and posted on Facebook that our Nebraska home was getting rain.

The second was corn prices coming down. As a feedyard owner the price of corn is crucial to our business. It takes a lot of corn to bring you the Grain Finished Beef that your family enjoys.

Life Lesson #99

Jacie's Kindgarden teacher Mrs. Rikli apparently would tell her class many times as she passed out items, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit".  Jacie adopted the saying and brought it home to share with her sister Jaelin.  I love it and find myself using the catchy phrase all the time.

For example I have repeated it several times to myself in the last few weeks about the weather and the pasture conditions as we continue to unroll more hay.

Last year at this time we were bottle feeding calves in shorts and the grass was green.

This year we have snow, brown pastures and mud.  Although I am hopeful this will lead to more precipitation this summer.  

But no matter what, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit"!

Ohio Valley Cattlemen's Banquet

I am aware that most American families go to the movies or maybe bowling on Saturday nights.  However this past Saturday after we went to Mass we attended the Ohio Valley Cattlemen's Banquet.  If you have not attended your local cattlemen's banquet - you should.  It is good food, usually the best steaks with a salad, green beans, potato and pie.  There is usually a speaker followed by door prizes.  I'll take you through the night as it unfolded.

We ate a lovely dinner of steaks, potatoes, green beans, salads and pie.  We had lovely company, as we sat across the table from two older couples.  One of the ladies shared with me that Russet Potatoes make better mashed potatoes than Idaho Potatoes.  That is good information you can't get at the bowling alley. She also told be that Riesbeck's has them this week.  Looks like I will be going there.

Dr. Francis Fluharty from The Ohio State University was the guest speaker.

Dr. Fluharty was my professor at The Ohio State University for Feedyard Management.  After the banquet I asked if he would let me use his slides.  He graciously sent them to me via email.  There were so many good points, that I will break them out over several blogs.  The first point was most interesting to me not only as a beef producer, but as a mom.

1950 those had to have been the days.  There were only two cities of more than 10 million people each,  New York City and Paris. 

This is the map for today.  This seems reasonable. But then . . .

This is the map that concerns me. In 2050 I will be 72 years old.  The girls will however be in their 40's.  What does this map mean to them.  Although the girls were sitting next to me, they don't yet grasp the concept of megacities, billions of people or even other continents.  Jake has since downloaded the app "stack the countries".  

This leads me into the next slide Dr. Fluharty went over. Which is where will we find enough Agricultural Land to feed all of these people?  As Agriculturalists that is how we think.  Dr. Fluharty later told me I should make sure the girls learn a second language.  I put that on the list.  This graph also makes you think of several other career ventures including International Agriculture and Real Estate Investments.

I will continue this discussion in the next few weeks about what this makes me think about the beef industry and ours along with the girls' futures owning a feedyard and cows.

The door prizes were then handed out.  The girls were excited as they began calling names.  The first door prize was handed out a hat from the local farm machinery dealership, and a couple gift cards.  Soon Jaelin's name was called.  She won a gardening hoe.  She kinda liked it. She used it Sunday to dig up treasures in the yard.

Then Jacie's name was called.  She won a tube of grease and showed little less enthusiasm.

It was a great evening of beef knowledge and fellowship with the local beef community.

Christmas, snow, cows and grass

We left for "Perrydise" shortly after the girls opened their gifts on Christmas morning.  We had a Christmas party at Jake's parents' home, Christmas night.

Our nephew Payton

The girls and their American Girl Doll clothes

Jaelin, Payton and Jacie

We then left before the snow and ice came to spend the evening with my parents.  The following day we celebrated Christmas with my family minus my sister who was snowed in, north of Lima.

Jake has been sick for the last two days with a cold and fever.  Jake doesn't get sick often, however when he does it is miserable for all of us.  He can't sleep and he complains a lot.  I don't think I complained that much the entire time I was giving birth to both of his children.  It would have been better if he was at home, because he would have just went outside and worked through it.

My brother in true bachelor fashion promised the girls he would take them sledding this morning after they delivered some cull cows.  I thought they wouldn't have time to get everything done this morning, I also knew they would not let him forget that he promised them a sled riding trip. Much to my surprise, he pulled into the driveway just as we were and he pulled the kids out of his truck and sent them down the hill a few times, keeping his promise.

We met back at the farm, as we needed to get back to eastern Ohio, with the snow that hit, Jake was anxious to check on some cows.

By the time we got half way back, Jake wanted me to drive. However when we arrived home as sick as he was he went right to work.  He jumped on the 4-wheeler to check the cows. Then he decided to close in a hole with the backhoe and clear the driveway.  I am now thinking he just didn't want to drive, but really wasn't that sick. :)

Nebraska Blizzard 2012

I called my friend Gail a couple days ago, as she was just getting in from checking cows and she said the blizzard was well underway in Nebraska the place of the Good Life. With a large portion of Nebraska being in a severe drought, this moisture is welcomed. Gail (Jeremy and Gail Martin) sent me these great pictures to share with the readers of for the love of beef.

Beef Eaters, Producers and Promoters

There are so many agvocates promoting all areas of Agriculture. Tonight here are two virtual beef tours from two of the biggest Beef Agvocates in the country.

The first one is our feedyard neighbor in Nebraska and Beef Agvocate, Anne Burkholder. You can also follow her at Feedyard Foodie .

The second introduction is a Beef Producer and Agvocate from Kansas. You can also follow Debbie Lyons-Blythe at Life On a Kansas Cattle Ranch.

The second video is at Debbie's home in Kansas, where Anderson Live helped bring a New York City resident to the ranch to get her questions answered.  This is awesome, first hand experience. 

How Beef is Raised with the U.S. Farmers & Rancher wildfire.gigya.comWe worked with our partners at the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance to help answer Rebecca's questions about meat.

Science not Politics

If you would like to change the world, an education and career in science should be your route not politics.  I am told there was a time in our country that our representatives in politics actually had businesses and careers in their hometowns and only went to DC or their respective State Capitols to discuss and vote on official business. Hmmmm!

I see a lot of people commenting, blogging, reporting, and voting on things they are not entirely educated on.  If you want to change agriculture, food sources, education, medical practices, laws or anything else your heart desires, you should be studying the subject matter through a multitude of resources (including live people interviews) and do some old fashioned science projects. This should be a top priority.

There are many issues this applies to, some from my former classroom teacher days, some from owning a feed yard and some from my community of agriculture people I pal around with.

Who thought it would be a good idea to make it more of the responsibility of teachers for the attendance, graduation and passing of "the test"?  Who thinks that high school students who are days from entering the real world, where we want them to get out of bed and get to a job where they will pay taxes, are given no responsibility in setting an alarm and getting themselves out of bed? Many times in my teaching career I was told to call parents of 17 and 18 year old students' about them being late, not turning into their homework, and not working to their potential. I think a good talk with the pre-adult student would be more useful.

We coddle children in our society entirely too much, always thinking we expect too much of them. Then one day we want them to wake up and be adults. Who would think that is going to work?  I often look to the Amish Community when thinking about expectations for our girls.  If I grade myself on this scale I would be failing currently as an Amish Mom. My girls don't do laundry, have any real cleaning responsibilities, bake or cook.

The most recent story being talked about is antibiotics being used in livestock.  I understand the concern for the topic, however I can't understand why after all these years someone would go to the government rather than the laboratory/feed yard/farm to see if those people are concerned.  I surround myself with some really smart people. It is part of my plan to get through life. Dr Francis Fluharty is just one of those people. He has spent his life studying chemistry, animal science, and ruminants and in my mind if he says it's safe and he feeds a lot of beef to his family, I believe him.  Can you believe with all of the uproar over antibiotic use, not one person has called our feed yard. Not one reporter trying to get the truth, not one editor determined to find the truth for their readers.  Don't you think asking a feed yard owner about antibiotic use is important? Don't you think asking, "what if, we told you tomorrow you can't use any antibiotics at 4+ Feeders, what would you do?" "What do you think would be the repercussions to the consumer and how many cattle would suffer or worse die?"

If I was a reporter, I would ask these questions:

1. If antibiotics were not able to be used, starting tomorrow, what would happen at your feed yard?
2. Would the price of beef go up, if so in what proportion?
3. What things do you do to use less antibiotics?
4. When you choose a steer/heifer to butcher for your family, do you make sure you get one that has not been treated?
5. How do you choose a steer/heifer for your family?

The problem with our thought patterns is we have become a nation of couch problem solvers.  If we have an issue, problem or complaint we should not always email our representative.  We should first write people that have first hand experience with the "situation". We should also find people to represent us in government that have had at least 10 years of experience in the field.  For example before you start telling people how to run a classroom and what is best for their students, you should have been in a classroom teaching students.  That does not count, being in a principals office. Because unless you are in the trenches, it doesn't count.

The technology of Record Keeping.

I was recently asked to make comments on an important Agriculture Topic. What has been the best new technology or management style that farmers and ranchers use to produce more food?

One of the oldest and most effective management quotes on record is "you can't manage what you don't measure".  Farmers and ranchers continue to get new technologies in order to record and measure more and more information.  As we continue to collect and record more data we are able to manage more intensely. Examples of these include the use of EID (electronic identification) tags and the collection of this information.  At 4+ Feeders we are able to document the antibiotic given, date given, and withdraw date.  Being a backgrounder for calves that eventually move to another feed yard, this information easily transfers to the next care takers of the cattle.  In return beef consumers can be sure that their steaks, burgers, brisket or roast are completely safe.

There are numerous devices and tools that have been designed to help with food production.  I am sure you are thinking about a few right now.  However when I was teaching Agriculture Education I told all of my students whether they were returning to the farm or not that keeping track of expenses and expenditures for personal use, or if they were running a hair salon, dairy or any other business keeping accurate records is extremely important.  We filled out mock record books in class.  I recognized that the curriculum has called for all information to be put into a computer system.  I think it is extremely important to keep records electronically because it will give you more data and information to make better business decisions.  

However I always felt as a teacher to students being introduced to record keeping, that they should do their own adding and subtracting.  I didn't like the computer system adding for them and transferring the numbers through the book and then subtracting the expenses and telling them what they made.  I wanted them to understand the numbers moving through the system and how to change them.  It was important for them to understand that profit could be increased by both decreasing expenses and increasing income.  

I will never forget the day I realized that America was at a great loss in our education system for not teaching this anywhere in math except as an elective.  I had a National Honor Society student in my class and at the end of the week of teaching these concepts, he said "I am in Honors Algebra II, and I just don't get this."   I am thinking at this point and we are in big trouble. While I appreciate the math I have taken involving letters, that math has not made me near the money that math with numbers has.  

I am so thankful for the record keeping experience Jake and I have had with the FFA and Agriculture Education. If it wasn't for that experience, we wouldn't be doing what we are today.  Although our record system has changed and continues to evolve based on the information we want to collect and need to collect.  

There are two things that reminded me this weekend about how important record keeping was and continues to be in all facets of life.  The first was my cousin Friday night sitting down after we ate dinner together to count and record the money she had made cutting and coloring hair that day.  She recorded information from that day on paper, quite possibly the most simple record keeping system available, but still very useful. The second thing was when I found my Grandpa's record books from his Agriculture Education and FFA days.  I wish I would have had these when I was teaching.  These are my Grandpa Jim Poorman's record books from his Junior year of High School in 1942-1943.  This was the same year that he quit high school to take over the family farm after his father passed away. 

According to his records he took corn, wheat, cattle, sheep and hogs as his projects.  

This is an agreement that is very similar to the one found in today's record keeping system for Agriculture Education. It always bothered me that students would forge their parent's signature on these.  I would tell them it was against the law to sign someone else's name, they would say "oh my parents don't care".  Do you think these signatures look like forgeries?

Isn't this budget interesting?

A cattle Plan of Practice. In 1942 it looks like corn was on the menu for cattle.  Hmmmm!

Does anybody want to harvest corn with this plan of practice?

  

My Mom and Dad

With six days of thanking great people in my life, still in no particular order obviously.  I am thanking my parents Jim and Joanne Poorman.  They have loved me, educated me, and helped me.  They just got back from a trip to Dyersville (not my Mom's idea of a vacation) where Dad competed in the National Toy Show display contest and won.  Since there are not a lot of hotels in Dyersville if you want to stay in the community that shuts down for this Toy Show, you sign up to stay with families.  Again this was not my Mom's idea of a vacation.  However I am happy to report that Mom had a wonderful time, she was glad to meet the people they stayed with, and was even more excited to be there for Dad's win. My Mom is a good sport.

Those are nice flags - Dad! (Dad had me make these (not the American flag) right before he packed to leave. 

I will type a guest blog from my Dad on this piece - only one real black MF combine in the country.  Interesting story.

YouTube video of Dad's First Place Toy Display in Dyersville, Iowa

The Shotkoski Family and Hay Co.

We moved to Nebraska at the end of June in 2010. With the wrapping up of a 10 year teaching career and Jake tying up what he had going on at the farm, we forgot about the grass growing at the feed yard in Nebraska.  So, when we pulled in at the yard the grass was waist high and a total embarrassment.  Our basic lawn mower was not going to take care of the landscaping we were going to need to do. Jake called Bill, who he barely knew to see if he could rent a tractor and mower to brush hog the feed yard.  Bill said of course and then didn't charge us. I assumed it was a mistake.  But then I didn't know Bill.  

The Shotkoski's soon became the company we bought hay from for our feed yard.  Our cash flow was minimal so Jake would call for hay when we needed it, instead of stock piling large amounts.  Many times it would be at the last minute, because we would get cattle shipped we didn't know about.  They always made accommodations to get us hay quickly, even though our feed yard was small and they had much bigger clients to serve.  There was even a time when our tractor was broke down and he would send one to load the hay to grind.

The Shotkoski's are just good people, the kind of people that do something nice for people they don't even know.  They have been a good source of information, advice, equipment, tools, friendship and even a beer in their kitchen. The thank you today goes to the Shotkoski Hay Company and Family for great Nebraska hospitality.
Alr

Social Media

I have written a thank you to social media before - Thank You - Social Media.  However I am including it again as part of my 30 days of blogging challenge.  These 30 days of November - have just been awakening as I continue to thank the people that have helped us along our journey.  I have also come to realize I will not be able to get through my list of people, so I think I may continue it next November.

Jake and I have recently been chosen as a finalist for the Faces of Farming and Ranching.  I have so appreciated the positive comments, shares and retweets through social media.  Thank you so much for your support of us, USFRA, the beef industry, agriculture, and farmers and ranchers everywhere.

I would like to ask all of you to please log on to Food Dialogues and vote for your favorite farmers and ranchers which is the last portion of scores to be collected.

To all of my former students that I have taught and coached through Agriculture Education and FFA, if I have helped you along your journey please vote for me.  For any of my former students who feel I didn't do enough to help you, you should log on and vote for someone else.

To all of my Agriculture Education teacher followers there are 9 great videos to total about 35 minutes.  I believe that will be just enough time for you to sort some of your fruit and still have a quality of education plan for another group of students.  You can thank the United States Farmers and Ranchers Alliance for that. I would also appreciate the group of students that you eat lunch with, because they say if you write them a pass they will work on their record books and help you out - but then they don't, have them log on and vote.

To all of the farmers and ranchers who get the markets sent to their phone everyday at noon, please use that as a reminder to log on and vote for your favorite farmer or rancher.

To all of my beef readers please log on and vote on behalf of the beef industry.

To all of my readers who are agvocates at all levels.  To the people who love farmers and ranchers, please help share these videos with the people you know.  There has been a tremendous effort to make these videos and we as farmers and ranchers have invested money to create these great stories of many areas of agriculture and it is important that people all over the United States get to see where there food comes from and the real faces of the people who have made it their life's work.

Grass Fed - Grain Finished

A couple months ago, I was in Washington DC delivering a presentation on beef to personal chefs on behalf of beef producers across the country with Daren Williams from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. There was a participant telling me they had seen a label on beef that said "grass fed - grain finished".  That would explain a majority of the beef produced in the US, but it's worth a little more with a sticker. Don't you think?

That makes a good story for the lead into tonight's thank you.  My appreciation has grown for an employee of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association - Daren Williams. Daren instructed a media training Jake and I attended a few years ago and then encouraged us to take the free online course to receive or MBA.  We have had the opportunity to work with him on several occasions and it surprises me more and more that this man, travels the country advocating for the beef producers of America. In fact he spends a majority of his time traveling.  I enjoy advocating on behalf of beef producers, however I love my husband, girls and my own bed.  I also find airports, large crowds of people and mass transportation intimidating.

Daren has made sacrifices on behalf of beef producers everywhere. It is hard for me to understand why someone with no money invested (that I know of) in cows, cattle, feed yards, pasture or any other part of the beef industry, has dedicated so much of his life to the beef community. I am sure he misses his girls and wife and probably his home as he travels, but he does so anyway.  The beef checkoff and great people like Daren are becoming more instrumental for our survival as beef producers.  Tonight I am sending a big thank you to Daren for your unwavering commitment to the beef industry and for your family allowing you to travel so much on our behalf.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

I am assuming the girls were singing "This is the day that the Lord has made" at school today.  Because as we set out for an evening drive through the cows at sunset this evening they were both singing it.  Of course Jaelin was singing . . .

This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad.

This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad.  cha-cha-cha

I have never heard the cha-cha-cha version of any church song.  

We headed down the road to find some cows and mineral feeders.

We found this heifer wanting to pose for the camera. She moved around and wanted to hold her head up.  As we pulled away she even followed us, as if she wanted me to take more pictures of her.

These cows were hanging out by the mineral feeder for the twice a week mineral delivery.

The sun sets on The this day that the Lord has made . . .

 cha-cha-cha

The research - Being a Daddy's Girl

Jake and I  are raising two girls.  Since we brought them home from the hospital, I have told Jake how important the relationship between fathers and daughters is.  He has worked really hard to develop this bond. Although with both of them in school full time for the first time this year, I think his role is only becoming more important. This book may be in his stocking at Christmas. Strong-Fathers-Strong-Daughters I couldn't be happier raising these girls with Jake.

Jake will color, change Barbie clothes and set up a fantastic farm set complete with Polly Pockets.

Jake often takes the girls to work with him.  He planted beans all day with Jacie when I was at State FFA Convention with students.