Wordless Wednesday

Winter continues to hang on. 

 

 

 

 



 

A Super Bowl Winner!

I'll be the first to admit I am not a sports fan.  I'm pretty sure it was the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens that played in the Super Bowl Sunday evening.  Ya, I'm confident that it was the 49ers because I was fascinated by the players' shoes - they were a shiny gold color that reflected off the stadium lights.  My enthusiasm for professional sports has rubbed off on the majority of my famly.  I think 3.5 of the Shirbrouns were interested in the "big game".  I just showed up the commercials. 

There were a few fun commercials and the usual number of commercials that I wonder if a group of teenage boys made up.  By far the best commercial of the night was the Dodge Ram Paul Harvey "So God Made a Farmer".  I almost missed it as I was busy going through my magazine mountain looking for Valentine ideas for son #3.  Up to that point there had been a lot of white noise and all of a sudden there was silence.  I looked up wondering why there was dead air to see "Paul Harvey"  on the screen.  If you haven't seen the commercial here it is:

Wow.  This was definitely a winner in my eyes.  Joe, a dyed in the wool GM guy, said he was ready to go buy a Dodge.  Kudos to Dodge for this excellent commercial and Dodge's support of FFA.  This commercial got the social media community buzzing.

Paul Harvey first recited "Go God Made a Farmer" in 1978 (If I have my facts correct).  A lot in
agriculture has changed since then like the technology used on the farm but other things aren't so different after all.  I recommend you take a moment and read Ryan Goodman's blog entry on CNN's Eatocracy website.  Ryan maintains a blog at AgricultureProud.com.   Here's a link to the Eatocrary blog:  http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/02/05/by-the-numbers-how-has-farming-changed-since-so-god-made-a-farmer/

The only thing I would have changed in the commercial would have been more pictures of younger farmers but the average age of the American farmer is now up to 57 years old.  So, I guess Dodge is spot on.

Until next time...
Suzanne

 

Visitors

Fall is an amazingly crazy time for us.  During the fall we are combining, hauling corn or soybeans to the barge terminals or ethanol plant, doing tillage, doing weigh checks for our Pioneer customers, and trying to get the boys to all of their activities.  On a late October morning, we had the opportunity to host some special visitors to our farm.  It was an opportunity for us to slow down for a few hours and see our operation through our customers eyes.

I just read another article about buying food locally and started contemplating this visit.   I'm all for buying locally whether it is food or other products.  But, what if your source of food is thousands of miles away?  Is buying local as important as is knowing where your food comes from? 

We hosted a group of Japanese corn customers through the US Grain Council.  There were 22 individuals from very different backgrounds but all had some connection to US corn.  There were economists, starch millers, feed mill managers, grain buyers, a college professor, and even an environmentalist.  Japan happens to be the largest importer of US corn in the world.



Our visitors arriving at our home farm. 

  We began in our meeting facilities and gave them background information about our farm and family.  Our boys were a big hit, especially #1 son with his blue eyes and blond hair. 



Joe explaining how we determine what hybrids to plant.  Notice
some of the men are wearing head phones.  The interpreter speaks
into a microphone which then transmits her voice to the listeners.  I thought
it was pretty cool.  I had never seen this type of setup before.

Their questions ranged from why do we plant both conventional and genetically engineered corn to why did we still have crops standing in the field on October 26th when it is so cold to how do we get our "big" machinary to the field to harvest the corn.

The visitors really got excited when we brought out ears of corn to show them that there is no physical difference between conventional and genetically modified corn.  Many of them had never seen an ear of corn even though they used it in some aspect of their business or occupation. 

 

 

We next headed down the road to our bin site.  They were able to watch how we load out semis to haul our corn to market.  They were very interested in how we handle our grain and store it.  In the past we have sold corn through one of our local grain purchasers to a Japanese business that used the corn to produce beer.  At that time, the end user was very concerned about stress crack in the corn kernels so we had to cool the corn very slowly after drying. 

 

 

The final leg of our tour was to go out into the field and watch the combining process.  I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter where a guy is from every boy/man loves equipment that has wheels. 



 

 

I'm pretty sure that there were hundreds of pictures taken in a matter of minutes when the
Japanese customers got off the bus by the field.











And, just as many were taken when Dad pulled up to the group and opened up the side panels of the combine.

There was one question that at the time surprised me but made perfect sense.  One person wanted to know what the things were coming out of the back of the combine.  Those would be the corn cobs.  Then the next question was if there was a use for the cobs.     

 

 

 

To him this looked like a waste but when we explained to him that the fodder (corn cobs and leaves) helps hold the soil in place during the winter and also adds nutrients back into the soil as the fodder degrades he agreed that this is a very environmentally friendly use. 

 



A cross section of an ear of corn - the kernels
still attached to the cob.

Back to my original question - Is buying local as important as knowing where your food come from?  After spending time with these customers I believe that while it is good to buy local because of the economic values to an area, it is important to know where you food comes from and to make buying decisions based on what you may know about the producer of the product.   I truly feel the Japanese corn customers that came to our farm now have a better understanding of the product they are buying. 

 

Considering the fact that Japan does not have the land available to produce crops like corn, US corn could be labelled local product in this case.  There are only a few other countries that can produce a high quality corn crop and also be a dependable supplier.

 

Any thoughts on the buying local topic?

 

Gary explaining what a corn cob is.

 

 

 

 This young man did all he could to be left behind so he could run the combine with Gary the rest of the day.

 



The Group!

I would like to thank Shannon and John from Iowa Corn and Tetsuo "Tommy" Hamamoto from the US Grains Council for giving us the opportunity to share our story with a great group of Japanese corn customers.  It was an educational experience for all of us!



 

 

Cabin Fever

It's the end of January. 

 

It's been cold out.  It's windy and snow flurries are starting again.  Our farm operation's fiscal year ends January 31st.  I have spent most of this month to year end book keeping in our farm office. I'm pretty sure cabin fever has set in.

While looking for a file on the computer I came across pictures from last winters trip to Los Cabos, Mexico.  If you have a few minutes, I invite you to bask in the sun, heat and glow of Mexico from last January. 

Are we going some place warm this winter?  Nope.  We now have a highschooler.  If this doesn't make sense to you go ask a mom - she'll explain it to you.

 

 

Well, that was fun.  Now back to the grind stone.



 

 

Boo!

Reason #873 For Living In The Country

Guest Writer Today

The following Letter to The Editor was written by a member of the 4H club to which my kiddos belong.  It's great to see a young person take the initiative and express her concerns and ideas.
Thanks Shana!

Many kids show livestock at the county fair every year, whether they show ducks, chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, hogs, or cattle.  After showing at the fair, some members choose to sell their animals.  Because 4-H is a program that is here to teach life-skills to the next generation, a lot of livestock exhibitors choose to sell their project animals at the sale the Monday after fair.   Every year a sale is put on by the Clayton County Extension Office and a group of local auction houses.   

The auction is a great way for us to learn how an auction works.  As we raise our market animals, we learn how to feed and care for them.  The reason market animals are raised, of course, is to go to market.  Selling our exhibits at the fair gives us an idea of how an auction really works, and all exhibitors and their families are able to meet with the buyer afterwards. 

Our problem that we face is with the buyers.  The buyers we get, we are very grateful to.  But because our buyers are so few, animals are going for regular market price or below.  Being a showman at the fair myself, it is discouraging and disappointing that my cattle can be sold for such a low price after all the work put into them.  All of the animals at the fair have been custom grown and finished to be shown; this means that very, very, special care has been given to these animals so that they can reach their full potential in both quality and quantity.

Potential buyers in the community believe they face several problems.  Many are afraid to buy an animal because they will not be able to utilize all of the meat.  Simple solutions to this problem have been found.  For the smaller animals (chickens, ducks, and rabbits) the buyer can send the animal home with the exhibitor.  Then their money will be given to the exhibitor who will use those funds for projects for next year or pay off previous animal expenses.  For the larger animals, families have been known to get together and pool their money in one animal.  Two or more families can buy a steer, hog, goat, or sheep, and split the meat. 

There is also the choice to take your animal and re-sell it at a sale barn.  This brings us to another concern .  Transportation.  This one is easy to fix.  Volunteer trailers  take your purchased livestock to the local locker or sale barn of your choice.  There they will be processed or re-sold.

Help us encourage our local youth to stay involved in agriculture.  Let this be a learning experience for both the members of Clayton County 4-H and yourself.  Join us on Monday, August 6^th at 9:00 a.m. for the annual Clayton County Livestock Auction!

9 Days to The Fair!

The count down is on to The County Fair! 

#2 giving Hersey a bath.

#1 feeding his laying hens

Since big brothers are busy with 4H projects #3 decides to get in
the act with his Erector set.

Sweet Corn

Just so every one is on the same page - we grow field corn.  Field corn is the corn we make our living from.  It's used as animal field and ethanol.  We do have an acre patch of sweet corn.  Some days I'm convinced that this little patch gets more attention than all of the other acres we farm.  Today was one of those days.

We have a few more days before the sweet corn is ripe for eating but the raccoons have been checking the patch just like our boys so Joe deemed it was time to put up the electric fence.  What else does one do on a hot, humid Sunday afternoon?

Pounding posts

#1 and #3 getting electric fence supplies around

Just a few more days and sweetcorn will be on the menu!

Creativity on the Farm