It's a crazy ride, but it's just beginning

Social Media, It's the new thing in the past couple years. You can find friends, acquaintances, company advertisements, junk mail and spam, groups, music artists, and yes even add new friends. Recently I have found that social media can be a great help in communicating with people that I otherwise would never meet in day-to-day routines. So, how am I using this?

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am cattleman by birth. My parents and grandparents have all worked hard raising stock, goats, chickens, cattle, hogs, and horses. My passion has been cattle, ever since my first bottle calf from an age that I can barely remember. I love working with and around cattle; spending every day possible caring for, providing a balanced ration, and learning about the cattle that are in my care. It wasn't until I started taking upper division classes in Animal Science that I realized how well I really had it. There are so many students in the Animal Science department that are interested in livestock, but have limited hands on experience. And then I begin to realize just how many people outside of the Ag college that have no connection with production agriculture. This is hard to grasp, especially for a person whose favorite place to be is riding horses through the pastures taking in the solitude, adventure, and awesomeness of ranch life.

Back to my point, social media is a growing place of communication, and I want to use it to share my story with those outside of animal agriculture. There are lots of people that are a few generations removed from the farm. I want to take them along for the ride and share my story with them.

In the past few years I have put a lot of miles on my truck. I was just working on a family cattle operation with 1,000 head of Angus cows and running more than 10,000 head of stocker cattle. Then I worked with the university equine program at Fayetteville where I learned more about horse nutrition and reproduction than I ever thought was possible. I worked in the feedyards of West Texas where I saw and helped to feed more than 225,000 head of cattle in less than 3 months. Then I moved on here to Stillwater where I have taken a dive into the Animal Science program and learned so many things, including all about meat harvest and how to produce quality stock. Then I had the best experience of my life in the Big Horn mountains of Wyoming where I gained an appreciation for adequate rainfall after having to irrigate pastures and hay crops all summer. There I got to spend several weeks horse back in the mountains moving cattle and learning invaluable experience about range management. And I even managed to make some great new friends (Yes, this means my wacky English friend Katy Jane). Whew, it's been a journey, but it's just begun!

Now in my last semester of college at one of the best animal science programs in the nation, and still learning new things everyday, I find myself looking for my next opportunity. Will I go straight to work in a feedyard or ranch operation? Or can I find a way to make it one more year in school to learn more about ranch management? I guess we shall find out in the next few months. Until then I hope to keep networking and making new connections with people whom I can share my story of production agriculture.

Want to advocate Animal Agriculture locally?

Over the weekend, which included lots of studying for upcoming exams, and interesting idea came to mind. With the increasing accessibility of social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, why not try to start a dialogue with members of animal rights groups PETA and HSUS to find out what they as individuals think about Livestock Production. We all know that the national organizations have expressed and acted upon their stances against livestock production. These organizations have endless resources at their disposal and use them to lobby against Animal Ag. But what do the supporters in our local areas think on these subjects?

I got to looking around and found that each state chapter of the HSUS has a Facebook group where local supporters communicate and share their ideas. So I decided to join Arkansas' group in hopes of opening up a dialogue with local supporters to find out if they know about HSUS' stance against animal agriculture. How do they stand on the issues? Do they know the stories of livestock producers in their areas? Did they know that agriculture makes up 25% of their states' economy? I want to find out why they support animal rights groups and let them know my story of animal agriculture.

No one likes to be told that they are wrong with the opinions and involvement with groups. I sure don't! And with all of the mud slinging on the issues, many people have lost sight of what the disagreement is all about. So why not use the social media sources that are available to us so start a dialogue with those in our area. Find out what they know about livestock production.

Individual people will not "abolish animal agriculture" like HSUS and PETA preach in their mission statements, but talking with their supporters and members will help you find out what they disagree with and might even help you to inform them about our role in producing the food and byproducts that feed and clothe people all around the world. You never know when you will get in touch with someone that will make a difference, but every person is important.