Today is a farm update episode, and we will be discussing:

Mother Nature is so deceptive - looking outside at snow and frozen ground knowing that sometime in the next couple of weeks it is all going to change and I will go from feeling like I am in winter to feeling like I am behind.

Winter is definitely my most relaxed time of the year when it comes to the farm. This is the last week of that….everything starts to ramp up next week….

I bought an Indian motorcycle, and I wanted to get it done before the weather got good. I test rode it on the one 50 degree day we have had in the last 10 days and will have in the next 2 weeks…

I am very excited about it, but also a little sad to give up my Honda.

I start calving next week and calving season will be followed by kidding…so my chances to ride it very much is probably going to be delayed by more than just weather

Watched Borrowed Future with Autumm & Hattie as we start preparing for Hattie to go to college. Watching this and hearing the realities of higher education in the U.S. made me so proud of what agricultural colleges throughout the U.S. are doing. Just in the 20 or so that I have interviewed so far, I have found a multitude of very affordable options for ag students to get a four year degree if they want to. In my interview with Kansas State I found out that Mid-Western States are losing population and thus, future students, so there are many affordable options for agricultural education in the Mid-West. They need the students and they want to bring people to their states and try to keep them as permanent residents.

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Whitley Anderson is a District Officer in the Lonewolf FFA District in West Texas. She is also the chapter Vice-President at Snyder High School and immediate past-chapter president. She raises pigs and chickens and definitely has a passion for agriculture. As strong as Whitley's love to agriculture is, her love for sharing it with other people is stronger.

Whitely is currently a junior in high school, and she has her sights set on becoming an agricultural lobbyist after she completes high school. She wants to advocate for agriculture at the highest levels and be part of what keeps agriculture seen as the "backbone of America". She is not waiting for that first lobbyist position to start advocating however. Right now, in Snyder, Texas she is taking the opportunity to share agriculture with everyone.

Just one week before Whitley and I did this interview she facilitated the "Scurry Stars Livestock Show". Snyder High School is in Scurry County. Whitley had seen that some of her peers in other parts of Texas were parts of livestock shows for students with special needs, so she came back to Scurry County and proposed this to all the relevant decision makers. Everyone decided to move forward, and the second livestock show for students with special needs was completed, this time including goats and pigs rather than just chickens. Whitley said she was nervous, but everything went very well and she is excited to do it again next year and watch it grow!

For Information Like Degrees Offered, Annual Costs, Etc., Please Click The Banner Below:

The Agricultural College Episode is designed to profile agricultural trade schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities around the U.S. This episode is an effort to replicate the conversation that prospective students, parents and ag teachers might have with agricultural schools at trade show like the National FFA Convention.

Howard College - Big Spring is located in Big Spring, Texas. Located at the southern end of the Texas Panhandle, in the middle of some of the most complex agriculture that the State Of Texas has to offer, Howard College - Big Spring offers its students real life, hands on agricultural learning in a tight knit community. On today's episode Kelby Vise, the Agricultural Sciences Chair Program and Campus Dean of Arts and Sciences joins me to talk agriculture, learning and college life in Big Spring.

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Tip Of The Week

Write down serial numbers and recover stolen property

Rural Crime In The U.S.

https://kdvr.com/news/local/50000-in-equipment-stolen-from-stables-owner-worries-stables-are-a-new-target-to-thieves/

https://www.14news.com/2023/02/23/perry-co-sheriffs-office-seeking-help-identify-truck-involved-theft/

https://www.wjhl.com/news/regional/tennessee/cow-heads-found-illegally-dumped-in-west-tennessee/

https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2023/02/21/solutions-sought-as-the-federal-shooting-of-feral-cattle-in-the-gila-wilderness-approaches/

Across The Pond, Down Under And Up Above

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2023/02/19/sheep-stolen-from-field-in-south-staffordshire/

https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/23325589.police-reports-three-bull-calves-stolen-farm-near-aboyne/

https://www.donegaldaily.com/2023/02/21/gardai-probe-theft-of-24-sheep-from-east-donegal-farm/

Africa

https://briefly.co.za/south-africa/153626-sheep-truck-overturned-western-cape-sparking-looting-online-debate-lots-hungry/

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2023-02-20-suspects-arrested-in-possession-of-stolen-goats-and-sheep-in-limpopo/

Chalk One Up For The Good Guys

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/crime/burglar-sentenced-to-15-years/

https://www.kentreporter.com/northwest/robbery-suspects-nearly-collide-with-train-while-fleeing-auburn-police-video/

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Arin Whitemountain and Tom Masterson are partnering together in Southeast Missouri to bring a niche haying service to very small acreages. Arin has invested in the necessary equipment to bale very small, round bales on small acreages with low horsepower tractors. He did it for himself last summer, and has developed a passion for these small and easy to use bales.

Arin recently retired from the Coast Guard and moved to a piece of property he had previously purchased in the area. Tom has become an agricultural mentor to Arin and has been helping to get him started in the world of farming. At the same time, Tom knows many people with small acreages in the area and helps them as well. This has made for a great partnership in growing this service, and they are both very excited about the production of small round bales and how it will help those folks with very small acreages to produce something off of their grass rather than just brush hogging it down.

On tomorrow's Ag Business Episode I am featuring two gentlemen with a very unique hay baling business. This made me think of the episode I did with Saydee Longhurst several years ago, and how she discovered a niche in how she was selling small bales. On today's re-cap episode I want to bring back that interview as the perfect tie in for tomorrow's show.

Noah McMeeken is a sophomore at Slinger High School in Slinger, Wisconsin and he is a recent recipient of a $1,000 SAE grant. Noah has interests in things that fly. He and his brother have been raising and showing ducks and chickens for the past several years, Noah loves to fly in aircraft, he is a competitive alpine skier and flies down the mountain and he has developed a deep interest in drone technology. So much so, that he was teaching me a thing or two about drones during the interview.

Noah is just picking up speed in his FFA career, and he has a vision of a business involving him flying FPV Drones and taking aerial photographs for farmers for crop scouting as well a multitude of other reasons. Noah is pursuing this with a lot of wisdom too. In addition to being proactive and seeking (and winning) the grant money to fund the project, he has chosen to purchase a kit and assemble the drone himself. Obviously, he could save himself time and headache by purchasing a fully assembled and ready to fly drone. However, he knows he will eventually break something on the drone. So, he looks at the assembly as preparation for that day. This way he will know how to fix the drone, rather than having to purchase a whole new unit. And this knowledge will come from the assembly.

Today is a farm update episode, and we will be discussing:

1. Urban Sprawl and disappearing farms
2. The period between the Super Bowl and March Madness
3. When is it a good idea to get a Harley Davidson
4. A better mouse trap
5. Our new Ag College Episode

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Mackenzie Serrano is a Montana State FFA Officer and the winner of the Montana Star in Agricultural Placement from 2022. She has a great story of building FFA career in spite of circumstances that would conspire against her. She started her cow herd in Wilsall, Montana, which happens to be 172 miles from her home in Musselshell, Montana. She persevered through Covid, working a job at a "blood lab" to pay for more cattle. At the end of her junior year her FFA Advisor moved to a different high school and the vacancy was not filled. A recent college graduate was hired to fill the vacancy on a temporary basis, but he was not an ag teacher. So, Mackenzie took it upon herself to assist with developing lesson plans and keeping the chapter going, even when the school district was considering pulling the plug.

It was the final challenge that inspired Mackenzie to throw her hat in the ring as a state officer. She served as her chapter's president for three years of high school, and it was the challenge of continuing her FFA chapter's legacy against resistance that inspired her to become a state officer. That happened last spring, and she is just getting ready to end her term. What's next? Mackenzie is going to pursue a national officer position. First, she must be selected to represent the State Of Montana, and then it is on to sifting in Indianapolis next October. She has a very unique story, and I think she has a great shot.

For Information Like Degrees Offered, Annual Costs, Etc., Please Click The Banner Below:

The Agricultural College Episode is designed to profile agricultural trade schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities around the U.S. This episode is an effort to replicate the conversation that prospective students, parents and ag teachers might have with agricultural schools at trade show like the National FFA Convention.

The University Of Idaho is located in Moscow, Idaho. Matt Doumit is the Associate Dean Of Academic Programs and a professor in the College Of Agriculture And Life Sciences. Kacie Hoffman is the Director Of Recruitment & Student Engagement in the College Of Agriculture And Life Science. Both join us today to discuss the University Of Idaho CALS.

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