What God has to say about agriculture....

Today in church enjoying my sunday watching my grandpa and his best friend sing in the choir and watching older folks sing there little hearts out made me feel so blessed!! I have had a some what hard church life...my pastor that has been around since I was a baby last year had a relationship with a teenager across the street and needless to say I could say more but that is not what I want to talk about!

While I was sitting in the old pew and thinking off all the people that sat here and what there legacy was a question popped in my head... What is God's thoughts about my favorite subject agriculture. In the Bible agriculture has been mentioned many times!! God always talk about how HE is the Shepard and we are is his flock (nother word for a large group of sheep). And there is many more references. 

The Bible says that originally work was good and pleasurable.  We know this because when the first man, whose name was Adam, was created by God, he was given work to do.  The story goes this way:  “God blessed them (that is Adam and Eve) and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’  Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that hs fruit with seed on it.  They will be yours for food…God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Gen 1.28-31).’  This shows that in the creation of the world work was good.  It also shows that the basis of work was originally agricultural and not mechanical or even technological. - Dr. Luke

Let’s summarize these results as they are so important to all of mankind and specifically to all of mankind.  First, the ground is cursed.  Second, through painful toil you will eat of it.  Third, this will be for all of the days of your life.  Fourth, the ground will produce thorns and thistles.  Fifth, work will be hard, that is by the sweat of your brow.  Sixth and finally, you will return to the ground from which you were formed. 

Wow, this is hard.  But it is also true is it not?  Work is hard, long and painful.  Especially this is so for people doing agriculture work.  Even for farmers with very good and modern equipment this work is hard.  The ground constantly produces thorns and thistles which threaten crops.  I have never met a farmer who said, hey this work is easy, come join me.  They all say farming is very hard to do and there are many obstacles. - Dr. Luke

I find these exerts I got from the internet really interesting, and I God loves agriculture just as much as I do. So... AMEN!! Happy Holidays! 

Pork Powerhouses - Midwest sows on the rise

The 25 largest U.S. pork producers grew by 84,000 sows this year, according to the 2011 Pork Powerhouses exclusive report.

As I began to read this I was completely intrested in this article. I have not been around the Swine Industry or really know a whole lot. My first exoerience was on a 3,000 head of farrow to finsh CAFO farm! I LOVED IT! I got to wear special clothing and a special mask since I am exposed to other livestock animals ( the mask and clothing helped protected me from exposing any dieses or anything speical the hogs might of had to my livestock), needless to say it was amazing! Anyhow the pork producers are doing amazing things with there operations!

In a operation you want to have the best possible weaning weight, characteristics and market weight possible. For hogs the target market weight is 275, two years ago the weight was 255 and two years from now they expect the target market weight will be 285 of lean muscle cream of the crop hogs! To me that is amazing but not so much of a suprise because as agriculture continues to grow so will the quality of livestock animals!


Overall, the mood among the big producers is extremely cautious. Corn priced as much as $8 a bushel means slim profit margins. Smithfield continues to downsize its sow herd, and will take 30,000 more sows out of production on the East Coast by the end of the year, says Joe Szaloky, vice president of business development and planning. The company has already cut 39,000 sows in the past year (42,000 worldwide).

“At the end of the conversion we will have the same pounds of pork and 30,000 less sows,” he says. “There will be an increase in average daily gain and a decrease in mortality and cull rates.”

The pink represents the exerpts I took from the article from agtoday! Needless to say the Swine world is lookin up!

PEST

Yes, we always have plenty of pest and it is not just that annoying person in your life but they are real live bugs. Many pest have taken over what seems like the fate of agriculture or crop production!! And at the same time we are doing are best to keep the enviroment and safe.

The farm bill of 2007 states the importants of the these pest and how the farm bill needs to touch base on all the important parts of agriculture. In the last 10 years they have been able to reduce pesticides about 40 percent. A small but big step, goverment programs as well as educational programs need to fund programs the teach this subject.

An idea I discussed with my friends is the areas around where we live. I asked them to take a look this spring and during the summer seeing what kind of pest are bothering the area around them (crops). As I continue to research this I will be posting more information as well as questions, thoughts and idea for myself as well as other to endeavor!!

Artifical Insemenation!

One of my favorite topics to talk about. Yeah for most teenagers its kind of awkward to talk about the reproducitve tract of livestock but since I have been around it I am pretty open. Anyhow, what the heck is artifical insemenation? Artifical Insemenation is placing of the semen into the reproductive tract (near the cervix) of a female besides natural breeding.

Some humans who cannot or are having trouble having children AI (think of John and Kate plus 8, or the 20 kids and counting show). Most of what happens could poetenially be very dangerous to humans where they have multipule children where as for livestock its not quite the same amount.

Pros :

Technicain Artifical Insemenated my Reserve Grand Champion Sheep with semen from the Grand Champion Market Lamb at the Indiana State Fair in 2009. Yeah, it was 2 year old semen but from the outcome of other lambs I am extremely excited to announce that she will be having a set of twins!!

 

Cons:

Artificial insemination can be limiting if the proper resources are not available, so there are some disadvantages. A.I. requires specialized knowledge, trained individuals, and the time required to properly execute an effective A.I. program is considerably more than with natural service. The extra help and time can often mean added expense.

 

-The Dairy Industry uses AI VERY MUCH!!

-The USDA reported nearly half of all dairy females in the U.S. were bred using A.I. as early as 1970.

- According to the University of Mississippi, only about one in six beef cattle breeders use artificial insemination in their current breeding program today. However breeders still use AI very much in their operation to obtain a growing demand for Enconmic Traits like weaning weight, market weight.

Agriculture is Everything

          It real early in the morning, say around 5 o’clock, farmers all over the world get up and begin there day supplying the world with products and services we need to live.  Not only is it 5 o’clock but its also snowing, or its going to be another hot day, possibly chances of severe storms, dose that stop them? No way! As the world continues to grow, so dose the supply and demand needed to feed human civilization and livestock. Those producers don’t hit the snooze button for 10 more minutes, they can’t have sick day and no matter what the weather is like, they still get up and go to work because they know how important they are to the lives of millions.

            Driving down the road in a little small town, where I live, looking out the window I notice a field of green tall stalks of corn. It is summer time and I love to watch the things growing that were planted back in the spring. To think that out in that field is the livelihood of many, and all the products that will comes from those acres of hard work and tillage. But Mother Nature has no mercy on these fragile crops and washes away the entire field and the hope of a good harvest, that person that planted that food, kept checking to make sure there was enough moisture and nutrients see’s their hard work washing away before their eyes but yet, you see them out there looking forward and finding a way to make the most out of disatereous conditions.

            School has started, and FFA actives already have begun, SAE trips, State Fair work days and let alone if you have a 4-H project you are pretty tired but also extremely pumped for this year in FFA. August, very first FFA meeting, friends and faces you missed over summer sit across from you from a long table that you would sit at home eating supper with your family. All talking about things that interest you and the hopes and goals you have this year in the FFA Chapter. Agriculture is one of our favorite words, and you could recite the creed frontwards, backwards, side to side and upside down if you really wanted to, because you know that is a important part of being an active FFA member.

Agriculture is a dangerous occupation, which most people don’t know, between heavy machinery, working with thousands of chemicals and not well-tempered livestock. Society dose not realize how dangerous it is to be a producer. Many farmers, ranchers and operation workers want to get everything they can from whatever they are producing.  

This is a article that I wrote back to MY local Newspapers about CAFO farms!

CAFO Farms

                In reference to the letter written about the Concentrate Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) I am here as an Agriculture Advocate, 4-H’er, FFA Member and part of a voice for the farmers currently harvesting and working to produce quality output for our community.

                Every great civilization began because of agriculture; it started with production of crops, livestock and gaining of land. In my English class I wrote a report about Roman Agriculture, while researching I came across something I did not already know about operations. During the Roman Empire “latifundia” (also known today as CAFO) where very common due to the growing population of the empire, however their operations were not as structured and didn’t have any rules or regulations that protected that animals, people and environment.

 January of 2010 I spent the day at the Farm Show in Fort Wayne with my grandpa, we sat through a presentation about new laws, regulations, procedures that operators of CAFO farms had to follow. Not only did this structure protect the people around these farms and the animals but also the environment. Farmers in America supply 75% of the Nations wildlife habitat. And why would they want to ruin the environment when they use the land to produce quality crops and livestock for our community?

Today the average American farmer feeds 155 people a day, in 1960 the average farmer fed only 26 people. Corporate farms account for only 3% of US farms and 90% are family ran and owned. The importance of these CAFO farms are most important today because in 2050 the population will be eight times it is today and farmers will need to produce more food in the next 50 years than produced 10,000 years ago combined with how much they produce today in less land. Agriculture employs more than 24 million American workers (that is 17% of the work force). 89.19 percent of farms in Kosciusko County are family operated and owned. From the time you have taken to read this article the population has grown by 200 more people and tomorrow by 200,000 people.

CAFO farms are not harmful to our community and country; they are simply an innovative, safer, securer way to produce quality livestock. I have had first-hand experience on a CAFO farm, at first I was too skeptical but once I was educated I became aware they were not bad. These farms are people’s livelihoods, and every single day they are out there working until the job is done right, once the winter comes unlike me they don’t have snow-days. My family does not make our living from farming but from my own experiences I have seen the passion and drive producer have to feed our community, I applause them for that because farmers our my heroes they feed my soul. Kosciusko County is blessed with agriculture in our community instead of slandering it we should support and educate it.

Background Information

My family doesn't make our living from farming but yet we still live on one and I work on one a lot bigger than our small one at home. We have 18 chickens, 4 steers that we use for meat! My family doesn't have land for crops but we live around many feilds.

My favorite part of this lifestyle would be the hardwork and outcome I recieve from doing chores and taking animals to slaughter. I love knowing that we bought these steers for the well being of my family which extends out to my aunts and uncles, cousins, less fortunate people we give meat to. This is something I would like to further my career in! Agriculture makes the world go round! Everything relates back to agriculture one way or another!

A Little Bit About this Blog

This blog is something I thought I could utalize to get the good word about agriculture, and teach others about the importance as well as letting people know my agriculture story.

“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it’s liberty and interests by the most lasting bands” - Thomas Jefferson

 

Agriculture is SO important and we need to protect and educate it, instead of slandering as well as not giving it the chance. My community is VERY blessed to have agriculture in it.

• Export sales to more than 20 countries account for 15% of annual sales revenues.  Maple Leaf Duck Farms
• Indiana is #1 in Pepermint Production
• One of the world's biggest egg factories can be found near the Hoosier city of Warsaw.
• 50 laying houses on 20 farms 100,000 cackling white leghorns lay 22 million eggs a year

Needless to say AGRICULTURE is IMPORTANT! Working on a Sheep Operation and having agriculture experience has taught me so much! Now it is my time to help!