How deep do your roots run?

So I was sitting in my Plant and Soils class today and we were kind of discussing roots... or at least I think, i may have also been studying for another test. While I was paused from consuming my breeding notes I started to daydream about roots and more than just the tubers that come from plants (see I have learned a thing or two from Plant and Soils). I began to think how everyone has different roots and in some way or another I bet everyone has some sort of root in agriculture whether you grew up on a farm or you are generations removed. I could bet that in some way agriculture has played a part in who we each are today.

I was fortunate enough to grow up on a farm. I started helping my parents feed, breed,and treat cattle probably before I could talk. I was always daddy's best sweeper when it came to cleaning up after chore time (I had an uncanny knack for dumping grain, as you can see) or when it was time to put up straw or hay. I still remember helping my mother on a farm call where she had to fixed a displaced abdomen in a dairy cow. While mom had a cow on her back and feet in the air I was playing hopscotch in the feed bunk. Turns out I was clumsy then too..... I fell on a rusty nail which conveniently happened to slide under my knee cap. I'll never forget my first pig peeing on me at the catch-a-pig show and my first Pemberville steer. I so wish I could go back to those days playing daddy's little helper and mom's clumsy assistant,but now as a college student I realize that those were the experiences that not only were highlights of my childhood but also major times were I absorbed what agriculture truly was. My roots run deep and recently when I was asked why I started pursuing a career in agriculture, I realized it was not just because of my involvement in 4-H and FFA. Agriculture is ingrained into my DNA my great great grandparents relied on agriculture as a staple to live as did many of our ancestors. Although I found my interests lied in producing a healthy, palatable food product, I think I would still be able to credit agriculture in some way to the person I am today. I am so thankful that 4-H, FFA, Livestock Judging, NJSA, and of coarse my parents have instilled wholesome values, knowledge, and experience that have not only helped me pursue my goals in ag but have also made me the loud, funny, and caring person I am today. I am thankful that agriculture brought my great great grand parents to a place where agriculture was such a staple, and I am thankful for them raising my grandparents and parents with the morals, values, and willingness to work hard that they learned on the farm, because ultimately I got some of it too. So my challenge to you is to think about how agriculture has made an impact on your life in any way shape of form?

Keep Pork on Your Fork!

More than I had expected.....California

So I just recently spent my spring break in California's central valley due to my involvement in NJSA. Being on the Jr Board of Directors we attend numerous shows each year and I choose to attend the NJSA Western Regional in Turlock California. The show started the week before my spring break but luckly my professors allowed me to miss a few classes. When my roommate Rebecca Bailey and I finally got to Turlock (Rebecca's hometown) we immediately went into show mode planing and preparing for the days ahead. The show was a blast and I even got to see some great friends like my fellow board director, staff with the NJSA and NSR, Dan Shike (our judge), and some fellow Ohian's Jim McCoy(judge for the CPPA show) and Steve Mapes (photographer). It was a great gathering of new and old friends and I even got to see some great hogs! Something I had not gotten to experience at an NJSA event was the Barnyard Olympics. Now I was expecting just a few teams of kids to get together and participate, but I was wrong. In California kids are eager to participate (even the older teens) we had around 15 teams of kids participate and even make their own costumes! Above our new Director of Jr. Activities, Cally Hass, holds up our potato golf clubs. We had many games for the event and I dont think I have ever laughed so hard! I was also new to the auction and dinner that was held that night where us NJSA girls and Bryn Poliska set out to buy Carmelitas, the most delicious and indescribable treat know to man, and despite having a bid battle between Rebecca's parents we got em! (unfortunately they are now all gone and we are having withdrawals) After the show was over Rebecca and I were off to stay with her parents in Turlock but before we said goodbye to our friends John and June Bailey took us to one of their almond orchards and taught us about almond production.....way cool!

Now I had always known that California was the largest ag state in the country but for some reason I didn't expect what I got to see. Not only did I see nut orchards everywhere but I got to experience Pork Power Farms (The Bailey's commercial operation), help sell pigs to 4-her's at Golden State Genetics (The Bailey's Showpig operation), I got to see happy cows, Hilmar Cheese, bees, and even some grape fields! Everywhere I looked there was agriculture and most everyone was diversified in some way or another. I loved it so much I could honestly see myself living in the central valley one day!

Once our spring break technically started John and June, Robin and Paul (Rebecca's sister and brother in law), myself and Rebecca headed to San Francisco. I think I was a little unprepared for the big city so they decided to break it in easy on me. We went to the beach (my first time to the ocean!) where I got a little wet, I was unprepared for the waves. I got to see my first 100 jellyfish, I collected some shells, a sand dollar, and my shoes after leaving then about 100yards down the beach. I loved the beach and it could have made the trip amazing as it was but we had much more to see. In the next few day we visited Lombard Street (the curviest road in the US), I rode a street car, I got yelled at by a crazy San Francisco street preacher, went to Chinatown, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge! However one of my favorite things was visiting ATT Park with the Baileys who are die hard Giants fans. We got to go on the field, in the locker room, the dugout, and even in the private suites. It was so fun for me because it was a new experience for all of us and I finally feel like a hardcore Giants fan!

I loved my time in California and I am so blessed to have met Rebecca and her family through the NJSA and have been able to not only become roommates but also great friends. Agriculture has brought many people together, either through, work, travel, or food. I am thankful for the fact that we live in a country where there are so many agriculture enthusiasts, and I hope that those people continue to spread their passion for agriculture, by inviting people to their homes across the country (like Rebecca did!), or by simply having a conversation about agriculture on a plane or bus. There are many opportunities to spread your message.... so remember to Keep Pork on Your Fork and pass the plate of knowledge and experiences.

Are Americans willing to back their words with THEIR dollar?

(heads up this is kind of a long one)

Friday is my favorite day of the week not only because its the end of the week but its the day I have my advocacy class. Each week we have a speaker come in and discuss issues in agriculture and what we can do to make a difference. We have had Oklahoma legislators, veterinarians, producers, and even Trent Loos! This week Dr. Bailey Norwood, professor of Ag Economics at Oklahoma State, came and spoke to us about the research he conducted for his up coming book "Compassion, By the Pound". Now Dr. Norwood kinda came out and said that he himself could not teach us about speaking to the public, but his presentation was about establishing credibility. He presented to us in the form of a debate, in which he was on both sides. Kind of different right? Well he presented us information that he collected while researching his book and directed it in two different fashions, an anti-ag mindset and one in defense of agriculture.

On the Anti-Ag side he presented 3 main points,

1) There is no doubt; layers and pigs suffer. ( Dont run away yet, remember he is coming from 2 different sides)
-Information that he gathered from studies showed that cage systems and gestation-confinement are the worst forms of production in egg and pork production.

- No where was he able to find a citable study in which a cage system was better that an cage free system or where a gestation stalls were better than group penning.

*Now when he comes back with the Agriculture side of the debate he stated.

"The Availability of "better" systems does not imply modern egg and pork production is inhumane. I have seen the most prestigious animal scientists defend battery cageing and gestation stall systems."

Kinda easy to leave a scued message, huh?

The second point he made-

2)People care about layer and pig suffering. (Now if you are a sick and twisted person you may enjoy seeing animals suffer, but face it livestock producers and animal welfarists share a common goal of wanting to see animals treated right. We just have different ideas about doing so.)

-81% of Americans believe that farm animals can suffer just like humans can.

-84% believe that animal welfare is more important than low meat prices.

-75% would vote for a law in their state requiring farmers to treat their animals better.

-31% believe that animals have a soul.

*Then Dr. Norwood comes back for Agriculture and states that he left out information that was collected in the SAME studies.

- People care more about the financial well-being of FARMERS, food prices, and food safety than they do animal welfare. Additionally he states that even though some of these studies were done anominously, people still answer with a biased opinion. He put it this way, if some one asked you if it was important to help developing nations have better food, medical, and educational resources, you would most likely say yes. BUT would you back your words with your dollar?? Most dont. When they restated the question "Do you believe that the Average American cares more about low food prices than they do animal welfare?" those results were that 68% thought so.

- Also in the sudy it showed that 50% of people believed that desicions about animal welfare should be made by experts.

- and only 1% believed that livestock should be gauranteed a "happy or content" life.

- he also said that he couldnt help but notice that 1/3 of all the studies came back that people did not care at all about farm animal welfare.

Again its easy to find credible information for the anti-ag side because of the fact that no one is going to say they do not care if animals are being harmed. Yes people care, but likely they will not act upon it. (just like when you flip the channel when that commerical comes on about starving children in 3rd world countries)

3rdly) People will pay for better animal care.

-Economic experiments prove that people will pay the additional costs of producing cage-free eggs and free range pork. These experiments were conducted using real money in real purchases so there is no survey bias takin place.

*What Dr. Norwood left out in this argument was that these studies were conducted with real money, but not in a grocery store. They conducted an auction in a laboratory after paying people $100/hr to come and participate (they were told the money is theirs to keep and that they do not have to spend it) However people felt obligated to do so because they were there, and were more willing to do so because it was not money that they had earned. In other studies conducted in the grocery store, where humanely marketed products were even on sale, not a single product was purchased because people's main agenda when shopping is to save money, not how was this pork raised?

So he asked "Ok class who won the argument?" Well, no one really did.

I think as advocates we have to remember that their is going to be legit credible information that the anti-ag side is going to use. It is our job to understand that there is probably more behind the story for those studys and realize that to our consumers see things in black and white, (Cage free -good, gestation -bad). We also have to avoid from becoming discredited by admitting that welfare can always be improved upon, but it will come at a cost. This is not a struggle between meat eaters and vegans, and public education about modern egg and pork production will likely not help us.

What I took away from this lecture was that surprisingly eventhough people say that they care about farm animal welfare, very few are willing to back it up with their own hard earned dollar. What I also realized is that we are going to have to do the real fighting for agriculture legislatively. I asked Dr. Norwood if he expected for consumers to demand better welfare for livestock, interms if having a numerical value and rating system for how animals are raised would ever likely come into play? He did not act as though he foresaw a consumer demand for humane steaks, chops, and eggs, but we will have to be concerned about the misguided mindsets of voters.

So what do you think? I am not only considering vet school but also graduate school and I greatly care about these issues. Do you think there is going to be a need for Animal behaviorists in 15-20 years? I dont know, maybe no one knows ,but I do believe it is our duty to care.

God bless! And always remember to Keep Pork on Your Fork, make beef your meat, and make each day EGGcellent!

2011 National Youth Leadership Conference

Ok so its my favorite NJSA event of the WHOLE year! The National Youth Leadership Conference!!!! This year it is being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota and we will be having....get ready for it..... Wes Jameson speak! Ah I am so very excited not just for Wes but also because we will be taking a tour of Hormel on friday (so get there the on the night of the 28th flyers) we start bright and early with registration from 7:30am -9am and then get going to Hormel! additionally we are going to the Spam Museum AND the MALL OF AMERICA can you say shopping?!( just in the first day!) Saturday we have a great list of speakers, social media training, and we get to spend the day at The University of Minnesota! then sunday we kick off the morning with an inspirational service from my favorite Ray Perryman and then get to listen to Jody Sterle speak about using youtube to tell your story! If you havent had your Youth PQA plus training yet, Bryn Poliska will be here to hang out after the conference to certify you! Oh I am sooo excited! At my first leadership conference I met one of my some of my now best friends and board members and even a roomate now (Rebecca Bailey, President for the NJSA). I hope who ever reads this blog will encourage their parents to let them attend, or invite their friends!

For the entry form (it will not be in the Seedstock) please visit http://bitty.in/11d

Stay classy Minnesota, I'll be there soon with Pork(this case maybe Spam) on my Fork!

National Pig Day!

So I just took my 2nd microbiology exam after staying up late to do the study guide and a scholarship and I was feeling pretty nervous and down about it until The Versitile Whitemeat reminded me that it was National Pig Day! Immediately I was cheered up and decided that this would be my first of many blog post dedicaded to the pig! If you dont know me that well, I love pork. I believe that God created the pig for breakfast, italian food, chinese food, and PIZZA, but in my case for all food! So you know Hamburger Helper,(the college students 2nd main source of nutrition) who says you need to listen to the box and add hamburger? Dont get me wrong I love beef too, but Its sooo much better when you add ground pork instead!

Did you know that we can use "Everything but the Oink"? Pigs give us so much more than bacon and pork chops. Pigs not only nutritionally support us but can also medically help us. Did you know that we can make insulin needed for treating diabetics, and can use pig heart valves for human heart transplants? ( can you imagine being a vegan and finding out you just had a heart valve transplat that came from a pig?) From the hair we can make artists brushes, and from pork fat can come nitroglycerin! Among the list of other pork by products; crayons, glue, glass, pet food, gelatin, and even cosmetics! So next time you see a vegan applying their make up or enjoying some jello maybe you can drop a tid bit of information to them.

Have a great week everyone and Remember to keep Pork on Your Fork! (or in your heart, on your paintbrush, and on your lips!