I recently participated in a scholarship interview with a high school senior from the city of Chicago who was interested in going into a career in agriculture.

Yes, I said that right.

Someone in my group of interviewers asked her what is most surprising about being involved with agriculture when you are not from the farm.  Her response has stuck with me for a month.  She said most of the time, when she tells other students that she is from Chicago, the first two questions she receives, are: 1.  Do you know any gang members? and 2.  Are you afraid to go outside in your neighborhood.  WHAT?  I couldn't believe that these rural kids misunderstand that much about how people in urban areas live.  Really?

She invited a few of her friends from the farm to her house last semester so that they could debunk their myths about what life is like in a city.  HA!  This is exactly what we in ag try to do to urban youth!

I read a lot of blogs and Facebook posts from people who live on a farm who strongly advocate for those of the city to UNDERSTAND us on a farm, to get to know what it's like, what our priorities are, what we do everyday to make food for people.  It is rare when I read something the alternate way, when we on the farm are seeking to understand our customers, what their lives are like, what they do or eat.  We may have the same misconceptions of them that we think they may have of us.

Big agriculture, which my family is involved in, has taken a true beating the last few years. They have been accused of much that is not based on much fact, similarly to the farm kids above who had a misconstrued idea of what urban life is like.  The farmers who are involved in raising grain are our friends, our customers, those who are families like us in a business to grow food for a growing population.  Is there misunderstanding of how that is done by some?  Yes.  Do I, who does understand this industry, trust them to raise our food in a healthy manner and get it around the world?  Yes.

Do I think that there is room for those who don't believe in the way they believe food is raised to voice their opinion, seek out other manner of obtaining and eating food for their family?  Yes.

But the key here is understanding.  Understanding where the other side of the fence is coming from.  I think we in ag need to not only seek to communicate but not do the same thing that we are doing to the families who are criticizing us -- group all into the same stereotype.

The Sale is Complete

We finished the sale tonight -- a great event with a great finish, and over 236,000 in sales.  WOW.

When the sale is over, I feel a rush of exhaustion afterwards.  All the excitement, gearing up, adrenaline, and putting yourself out there for the last month or so has ended, and the end of it makes that excitement just run right out of you like water out of a cooler.

I'm so proud of Alan, I'm so excited that people believed enough in our program to actually bid on these heifers using their money.  I'm happy that we have found homes for these calves that we have birthed, broke, fed, and loved on for the last few months.  That's what we raised them for.

And they are going all over the country, and out of the country.  People from California, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Ontario, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri all now own our heifers.

Now, on to the next project.

Day 28 -- or Day 1

Today was the first day of our open house -- the day one that starts today and ends Tuesday when we end our online sale (see www.pvfangus.com).  We had people here from Springfield and Peoria. And then there were people from North Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana and even south of interstate 70!  This weekend is one of the busiest for purebred cattle producers and this area of Illinois tends to be a hotbed of activity.
Things I like about having a open house:  we can offer hospitality to people that come to see our calves. Most times when people come they just wander through our pastures then leave.  We will do this again tomorrow with more food and more cow washing.

Day 27 -- Ready we are

The food is made, the shop is cleaned out, the website is updated, the calves are all clipped up, washed, fed, and ready to be viewed.  We are ready for the open house this weekend.

We've been watching our website traffic like a hawk, which calves are getting the most views of their video, where are people looking at first.  We've been fielding calls (Alan's on one right now) asking about different calves.  It's nerve wracking, exciting, and panic creating all at the same time.

Having a sale makes you put everything out there -- for everyone to see.  Our success or failure will be able to be viewed by all -- this makes me very nervous about doing it.  But here we are, we're 5 days from the sale, and we'll know what happens Tuesday night.

Day 26 -- Missing Holidays

I'm not really thinking of Thanksgiving, or Black Friday, or what we are getting people for Christmas, or how we are going to celebrate the holidays as a family.

When we have an open house right after Thanksgiving, leave for Denver right after Christmas, and have a sale right around Easter, sometimes I feel like we slight our children because the holidays are considered in my mind "something to get through while we're getting ready for ____".

I've been reading some other women's blogs, who are talking about slowing down holidays, removing the hype from the holiday, getting rid of Santa, of turkey, of all that's commercial about the holidays.  I can't say that I completely agree with that -- we enjoy the fun of the holidays, try to remember the reason for the holiday, and move along with life in general.  If there's no fun, then there's not much to look forward to, especially when I'm pretty sure I treat the holidays are something else to check off the list.

I need to figure out a way to reflect on the purpose of the holiday we're in the middle of, while we're in the middle of it, and try to slow down, and try to help the kids understand it too.  Maybe in some way piling all this other "stuff" on top of a holiday is God's way of helping me not make too much of a deal about them in the first place, although about this time before any holiday, I'm wondering what in the world He got us in the first place.

Day 24 -- Sink or Swim Time

So it's now 1 week until our sale.  Food has been purchased/made, the cows are all clipped and ready to be shown.  Now is the time where we sit and worry about whether or not anyone will come to look at and/or buy them.

I compare this line of thinking to when you are about to take a test, and you pull out the review sheet one more time, then realize that whatever you're going to look at for the next 30 seconds isn't going to make up for the last three days you've been studying it.  It's sink or swim time.  You need to just take it and see how much you know.

That's what we did today -- send out a bunch of emails this week to make sure people know about the sale (as if this one email will make 300,000 people suddenly look at this flier and decide to buy a heifer).  But really, the work we've been doing for the past several months is going to be the difference whether we pass the test (i.e. sell the calves at a respectable amount) or fail.

Day 24 -- Sunday Sunday Sunday

Another typical Sunday -- cows who needed to be bred, people here to pick up bulls, look at calves, etc.  Sundays can be anything on the farm, from a lazy day watching football, to a crazy day catching ourselves coming and going.  Today was a coming and going kind of day, and it needed to be -- it's a week before the sale!  If we didn't have a bunch of people here I'd be more worried.

Day 23 -- I am (I am?) married to my boss.

I have spent a good part of today making sure that if people want to see videos of EVERY heifer we have on our sale, that they can do it.  (see https://www.facebook.com/theresaboian for a video of every heifer we don't have on our website yet).

One day, Holly Spangler (see her 30 days blog) posted about how her father advised her to look not only at love when choosing your mate but whether or not you could work together.  He advised this the first time she brought her now husband John home to meet her parents.

Wow -- what insight! Especially as I reflect on the workload on our farm right before our sale.  Working together on a farm is definitely not an easy task, especially when you're married to the person you're working with.

I've been reading book reports from my students yesterday and today.  I ask the students in my U of I class to read a book during the semester -- something that I hope they would be able to talk about in a job interview.  As ag economics students, naturally many of them read a book on things like leadership in the workplace, communication and organizational strategies in a corporation, how to deal with high conflict people (I may pick that one up tonight on amazon).

These books are full of tidbits of advice when you are in a workplace setting, an office.  Strategies like "over communicate", or "provide clarity again and again", or "lead with the lid on" are great when you have a setting that can provide structure around these strategies.

A farm is not one of those places.  Neither is a household, a bedroom, a breakfast table, the shower.

It's communication that will allow us to save our marriage during these high conflict times, it's clarity that will help us to know who is managing which piece when there are 50 of them flying around and needing to be done, and it's leadership that will help me to understand where I can best help in this stressful time.

My workplace here at home is full of other needs that aren't going away -- and I'm not sure I'm doing a good job of separating the household/family from the business right now.  But in this place, I'm not sure how I can.

Today a family from Alabama picked up a heifer they purchased from us -- they were intrigued by our snow flurries on the farm and VERY cold -- so cold that most stayed in the house while Alan showed heifers to them.  And I don't think it's that cold yet.

Day 22 -- Prioritizing my time

I made a mistake today.  Instead of making sure I sent off updates to our website right after lunch, I went upstairs and changed laundry.

But as someone who tends to get sidetracked easily, I changed laundry, saw the large pile of clean laundry needing to be folded, the beds needing to be changed, and spent the next hour cleaning up the upstairs.

Instead of sending updates at 1:00 I sent them after 2:00.  The updates didn't get completed before the end of the day, and now a bunch of videos we have ready to view won't be seen until Monday. (Unless you go to the playlist on the youtube site:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaWOMpqJcu_7ehtXPDdQ78vbjPQq1ajfh which you can do from here!)

Needless to say, my husband is UPSET.  Am I thankful we have these videos to see?  Yes!  Am I thankful someone is creating them for us? Yes!  Am I upset that they aren't able to be viewed the right way, during the weekend before our big open house?  Yes!

Sometimes it makes me tired to think about everything that needs to be done around here, and yes, sometimes I prioritize things incorrectly.  Unfortunately in our house, that could mean the difference between selling a heifer, and having income.

Day 21 -- Lunch

I make lunch for the guys at the house every day -- including the two days a week I drive to campus.  When I'm home I cook a meal that's complete with some side dishes, and sometimes dessert -- usually on the days I'm at work it's stuff like chili in the crock pot.

I'm not a good cook.  I didn't cook much growing up, and I certainly don't have any natural abilities in terms of knowing how things taste together.  I don't invent my own recipes, etc.

So why in the world do I spend time doing this?  Trust me, on occasion I wonder that myself.  But lunch on the farm is usually the only down time allowed.  It's the only break in the day, and selfishly, I want to hear what's happened and be a part of what these guys are doing for us.  And I hope they consider that it's a bit of a benefit for coming here -- isn't the way to a man's heart through his stomach?

The problem is in the guessing -- I guess every day who's going to be here, but I never know who may show up delivering cattle, coming to look at our sale offering (which you can see videos on our blog as of today (www.pvfangus.com)), or just stopping by to visit.

The good news is, there are usually few leftovers in our house.  The bad news is, my freezer gets emptied pretty often.

Day 20 -- Decisions that have made a difference

After spending time with our cattle family and working with both our crew and customers that want to make the cattle business theirs someday, I got a little reflective.

Alan made some decisions in college and beyond that I think made the difference in who he (and I guess, me and the farm) are today:

-deciding to spend time on livestock judging teams.  I think if I counted them all, he spent four full college semesters of his life traveling with a team on weekends, after classes, and during the spring break, winter break period learning how to evaluate cattle, sheep and pigs.  Not an easy decision for a frat boy, who, because of this involvement, made it to very few social events.  However, that dedication, and decision to spend his time that way allowed him to be selected as a junior show judge at a national show this weekend.

-spending time with breeders who could help him learn the business.  Alan spent his college career working for people who were leaders in the industry -- one of them is someone who now buys cattle from us!  By working for these breeders, going to national shows, meeting people, and being a part of the scene, he learned what he needed to do to become successful in the Angus business as a breeder.  I'm thankful that these people gave him this opportunity when he was younger -- and I hope we are returning the favor to a few who want to do the same thing someday.

-taking on leadership positions in the breed.  I watch the members of the National Junior Angus Board, a group of youth in a leadership board for junior activities for the Angus breed, and I hope they realize what an awesome opportunity that they have been presented.  Alan ran for this board, and was elected to this board, with little experience, no name recognition, and little idea of what it would do for him.  I think now he would say without question that his involvement, and exposure to the people in the breed while a member of the board, not to mention the friendships he made with his peers who were on the board with him (and now are breeders themselves), is a large part of why he was able to start and carry Prairie View Farms to the place it is today -- a nationally recognized breeder of show cattle stock and genetics that breeders are interested in.

So I'm happy then to offer opportunities to younger cattlemen and women who want to also learn the business, and become breeders themselves.  And I want to help those in leadership positions in the breed see what opportunities they are getting to experience while they are on boards, serving as presidents, or just participating.  Without sounding like one of those older people who were always lecturing me when I was a kid.  My reaction was usually:  yeah yeah yeah, this is an experience of a lifetime, whatever.  It's a lot of work right now. . .

I don't want to be that person. . .

Day 19. Another day another show

Today is the open show, meaning that the breeders show off their genetics through the calves they show. Alan's showing some of our best heifers, marketing just as the other breeders are. As a breeder, this show is great exposure in front of some of the most influential people in our breed. We want to do well here so PVF looks better. And gets some name recognition.

I think the coolest thing about the exposure we get at NAILE is the fact that the association's annual meeting is held here. People involved in other parts of our breed take some time to watch our part of the industry and I think lends credence to this sector of the livestock industry. Not so next year. The association decided to move this meeting to the week before in another part of the Midwest. I will be interested to see how the importance of this open show changes as a result of them moving away from a show.

For now. We are doing well today. Happy to show off our show string. And enjoying being at this show.

Day 17. We won

We are fitting for the supreme champion heifer. This is so exciting!  We had an awesome day. Alan won the angus show.   We showed 11 heifers today, no small feat. Now Alan is judging the chaiana show while our brother in law gets the heifer ready.

It is very exciting and rewarding to win the show but in my opinion it's exciting in general to see our heifers that we've watched and cared for and prepared even participate in the show.

Day 15. Interruptions

We made it to Louisville. Arrived at 10 pm. After a day of interruptions.
Interruptions are something that on a farm are an everyday part of life. On the days I'm home I like it when I respond to an I nterruption. It allows me an opportunity to listen to a friend or help at school or ride out in the field or the pasture.

Today interruptions made it practically impossible for me to walk out the door. I ran and ran to get done all the random things before you leave for a few days.   Interruptions caused me to get the oil changed in a car so clayton had something to drive down here tomorrow.  Interruptions found a repairman who just showed up unannounced 1 hour before I had to leave.  Interruptions caused me to copy a bunch of stuff that I was supposed to leave at work and had to stop at the post office and mail it back.

We are here!!  We made it. Despite interruptions.

Day 14 -- All is calm, all is quiet

I'm nearly halfway through this 30 days blog -- I see Holly Spangler is diligent as ever so I'm determined to be as well.  And for the first time this month I can say that it's quiet here.  All the show cattle have left for the North American International Livestock Exhibition in Louisville, as well as most of the guys working here.  The lights are off in the barns, and strangely, there's no one talking on their cell phone in the house right now.  It's quiet.

When I thought about living in the country before we moved here six years ago I thought a lot about how I would enjoy the quiet of living without neighbors, cars driving by, people walking on the street, emergency vehicles, noises that come with town.  However, I quickly learned living here that the farm is ANYTHING but quiet.  There are tractors driving by; the feed truck pulling through the lane; my father in law coming in to check on us, employees walking in and out of barns, houses, shops; customers' trucks opening and closing and trailers backing; and oh yea, cows mooing.  At all hours of the day and night.

So quiet is again something I can appreciate, because it's a rarity.  And tomorrow we'll head to Louisville, and I'll forget what quiet is like again for awhile.

(While it was quiet I've been working on our website - there are 12 photos up of the cows for our sale!  Check it out!)

http://pvfangus.com/sales.html

Day 13 -- AAAAnd they're off. .

We packed one trailer today to go to Louisville.  A trailer full of nothing but the stuff that our cattle (and the people taking care of the cattle) need to go to a show for a week.  It's a lot of stuff.

I think about what I do to get ready for a cattle show, and it has nothing to do with the care of the actual CATTLE.  Isn't this silly?  It's a day like today when I consider that -- our cattle have been cared for, washed, groomed, fed properly, exercised, clipped (meaning a haircut), made sure they were healthy, their feet were trimmed up, I could go on and on, for over a month, maybe two.  It's  a big job, but when you consider that this is what they are bred for at this time in their lives, that attention to detail is key.  All the minor stuff around that, like making sure there are health papers, registration papers, signs to show their pedigree, and of course a picnic table for my kids to sit at, in the trailer, is really nothing compared to the effort made on the cows themselves.  As it should be!

So tomorrow we'll take these cattle to Louisville.  And the guys who are hauling all of their stuff will have it all in the barn and set up so the cows can waltz out of the trailer into a nice bed.  They live in a lap of luxury right now, and our every effort is made to reduce their stress, so they can relax, and look good down there, so they will make a good impression for the owners, and of course for PVF!

Off we go!

Day 12 -- Great Customer Service

My dad is the local pharmacist in the town I grew up in -- a town of just over 1000.  When people needed something, whenever it was, they felt comfortable enough to call him, and no matter what we were doing, he stopped and took care of them.  We held up many a Christmas dinner, Easter bunny hunt, or even just family movie night so dad could run to the store and meet someone to get them medicine.

As a kid I thought going with dad was HIGH adventure.  To go up at night to meet someone who needed help, I thought it felt like we were doing something good for someone else.  And if we missed or delayed our own activities, it was something that in the end was right in my young eyes.

So now, Alan and I are in the customer service business in a different way.  If someone needs something we stop what we're doing to take a phone call, meet someone with a cow, run outside to help someone looking at our calves.  As an adult, this is HIGH adventure.  There is always something going on, people coming in the house, new people to meet and talk to from all over the country, and I think that we are helping others be able to build their own cow herd. 

I guess I never realized until this week when not once, but twice, I have been dealt with as a customer entirely differently than I grew up or expect now as an adult.  The idea of the customer being right, needing something from you the seller, and asking for things that may be out of the ordinary has become not a challenge to a business operator, but a burden.  When I'm told, "Well, if you ordered this item I need proof of that via an email exchange or a printed copy order" instead of "If you said you did it, I'll take care of it", or I hear, "we're going to charge you for that", instead of "we'll take care of this for you", something is wrong with that business's frame of mind and end mission.  And that is what I hear more often than not anymore.

Customer service should not be something that has moved out of vogue because we are trying to preserve our policies, or watch our bottom line.  It's something we just do.  And I just don't think many are doing it anymore.  I hope my kids watch Alan and I and learn what good customer service really is -- taking care of others who are relying on you to provide them with a product, an experience, or a service.  No matter what.  

Day 11 -- What I wanted to do. . .

It takes 2 hours to take out the trash on our farm.

I started today with Alan gone fixing the truck (see yesterday's blog for more on this subject), and I thought -- yahoo!  No one with a list for me so I'll just run outside for a bit and get some things done in the yard that I WANT TO DO.

I start by loading our ranger with the garbage in the garage to take to our burn pile.

To go to our burn pile, you drive our ranger to the east side of our farmstead, open two spring gates, close an iron gate to the cow lot, and pray that the cows who are out on pasture don't decide to come in for a drink while you are driving through.

Luckily, there were no cows, so I think, Hey!  I'll just run around and get the rest of the garbage on the farm, and we'll burn all this trash before the rain comes (it turned out to be snow, I may have another blog on snow tomorrow).

There are garbage receptacles in four barns, plus hay netting around the farm, plus silage bags, plus feed bags, plus other junk that I like to throw in the pile before I burn it so my father in law doesn't say "oh, don't throw that away -- it could be used for something someday".

So I spent hours running around grabbing all these things, chasing cows back in between my runs, getting dirty, and all of the sudden, two hours passed by, and I didn't get to what I wanted to do in the first place.

Not sit and read a book, not relax by the fire.  Clean the landscaping up.

Just another day at the farm.

Day 10 -- My kids

We have two full time employees and I feel like they are as much our kids as our three biological children are.

Clayton has been with us a bit over a year -- and is a part of our family.  Last night, when we sent him on the road with cows in our truck and trailer, I worried about him.  Not because he has our cows, but because he's going out on his own on a big trip, by himself.  And my worries were confirmed when he called saying he was having truck trouble -- we told him to turn around and bring our hobbling truck back home.  Today we gave him a different rig and sent him off again, and he called with the SAME problem, but this time too far away from us to be able to call him back home.

I could start on a tirade about the fact that we ALWAYS have a problem like this right before a big event (remember I said we were one week away from one of our biggest promotions of the year -- we leave Wednesday), or that owning "stuff" associated with a business brings NOTHING but trouble because all of these things need to be maintained, cared for etc. (and believe me, I could go on about this, ask my friends), but really, my main concern was Clayton.  And if he was ok.

Am I going to be this much of a basket case when my kids start to drive, leave on their own from my home?  Am I already?  This is an employee, right?  NO.  When these guys are at our house as much as they are, eating meals with us, playing basketball with us, spending ALL of their waking hours with us, they are my kids too.  And I have to worry.  Now I know what my mother felt like when I took off by myself. . .I'm waiting for her to say I told you so.

Day 9 - 54 kids later. . .

Today, we hosted 54 (I counted them) college students at the farm for a livestock judging team workout.  This is a yearly activity.  We put our new 2013 calves in groups of 4 (Alan puts them in groups to make a best, second best, third best and worst) for the teams to evaluate them.  They walk around and study each calf phenotypically (meaning how they look), and pick the best, 2, 3, 4 etc. for each one.  Then they have to back up what they say with oral "reasons", or a small speech about why they did what they did.

Alan was a member of a county livestock judging team, a state 4-H livestock judging team, and the University of Illinois livestock judging team.  He coached the state 4-H team after college, which won a national championship.  He really understands how important it is for these teams to have a great set of calves to evaluate.  The teams every weekend and two-three times a week go to a farm like ours and evaluate different types of animals, all to get ready for a series of competitions that they participate in during a one-year period.  It's highly competitive, excellent for public speaking and analytic skills, and, in Alan's case, made him into someone who professionally evaluates cattle regularly.  

I liken judging to any type of team activity -- it's individual for some portion in terms of doing your best, but they work together as a team to improve.  It's awesome, and I think one of the best extracurricular activities for a kid from a livestock farm to truly understand what makes their animals the best they can be.  

From our side, I enjoy having all these kids running around our farm.  They are some of the best livestock kids in the country and they are looking at our calves!    That's great promotion for our program at PVF!