Photo from SCFB Facebook page

Photo from SCFB facebook page

My exact reaction!

Polled Cow

Polled bull calf

Horned heifer calf

Last night we had the Central District Young Farmer and Rancher meeting.  We all had fun mingling, catching up with friends and meeting new folks.  Of course because all of us are ages 18-35 the topic of children came up including the wild and crazy things that they do.  Of course me expecting baby #2 everyone always ask what we are having.

Well it's official we are having baby boy #2!  He should arrive mid to late March and that will then make our house 3 to 1 in favor of the boys.  Now William & I were blessed with a boy first so we have never had the quiet life people talk about they experience with girls.  Our home has been full of sand, dirt, and Tonka trucks for the last 4+ years now.  Some of the folks last night at our meeting offered us their congratulations and their prays...both which we accepted gratefully (because God knows we need them).  :)

We discussed how the boys differ from little girls in their mannerisms, activity levels, and obsessions.  As we discussed and reminisced about these things I was reminded of a boy I picked up a while back and read...once I found out we were expecting boy #2 I read it again...

Enter & Win It!!!!

Please accept my deepest heartfelt apologizes for the untimely posting of this blog. I realize that over a month has passed since I updated and finished my recap. However I promised that I would do this so here we go!!!!

The main session of the conference on Saturday was the Enter & Win It!!!! Session. In this session multiple people spoke on how to enter the three YF&R Achievement Award areas and WIN them. I loved this session. It gave great insight on the award areas and we heard from people who had successfully completed each area.

We will begin with the Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award. This award is designed for those individuals who receive most of their income from traditional production agriculture. The coolest thing about this award is if you win on the state level you win a TRUCK, plus a trip to represent SC at the American Farm Bureau Convention!! Kevin Satterwhite and Bo Norris spoke on the process. The first step is filling out the paperwork. The application can be tedious however if you work on it throughout your application year and conquer one section at a time then you will be more confident in your answers. Also make sure everything on your application is true. Remember the judges are looking for what you have done and your future plans. Once you have submitted your application it will be reviewed by a panel of judges and three finalists will be selected. If you are one of the three finalists then a photographer and judges will come out to visit your farm. This will be your opportunity for the pavement (application) to meet the road (your operation). Both Kevin and Bo suggest that you not get caught up in the fact that someone is coming to visit. Do clean up around the place but you don’t have to drop a ton of money on new landscaping and such. It is also key for everyone interested in applying to know that neither of these guys won on their first try. If make take you a few years to win but each time you gain some more knowledge about the process. Bo stated that he had been trying to win for a while and that each year he gained more knowledge however he didn’t give up. You might need to take a break and reevaluate your application but you don’t give up.

Next Carrie and Brian Dalton spoke on the Excellence in Agriculture Award. Carrie and Brian won the state competition a few years back and went on to win the national competition. This award is designed for participants who do not earn the majority of their income from an owned agricultural operation. Contestants will be judged on their involvement in agriculture, leadership ability, involvement and participation in Farm Bureau and other organizations (i.e., civic, service and community).

The top three state winners will be selected from the written applications as state finalists. The finalists will then be required to present an oral presentation during the SCFB Annual Meeting in Myrtle Beach during December. The application and presentation scores of the three finalists will be combined and the highest total score will determine the state winner. Carrie gave us a humorous insight to how they won the EA award. Her suggestions include keeping copies of the application in various locations and jotting information down as it occurs to you. She also encouraged us to sit down as a family and go over the application and goals with one another. Brian prepared all the spouses in the room that doing such can become an addiction and soon you might be tired of the process but he promised the rewards are worth the hard work. Carrie suggested not applying until you felt you had a top notch application.

We ended the session with the discussion meet competition. I spoke on this event. I have a few suggestions that I feel are at the heart of winning this competition…

1) Get a copy of the questions well in advance
2) Read articles, blogs, and websites for news
3) Discuss the questions with trusted and knowledgeable family and friends
4) Prepare your opening and closing statements prior to the competition
       a. These should be PERFECT
5) Read over and understand the scoring rubric
       a. Know where the majority of the points are given
6) Remember this is a DISCUSSION NOT A DEBATE!!!
7) Tell your story…this is your industry and you have a different idea from the next so make sure that you are expressing yourself and all will flow

Overall the theme was to keep trying even if you don’t win the first time out. I personally competed in discussion meet contest 5 times prior to winning. If you have any questions please feel free to contact any of the above mentioned individuals. We are all happy to help you out. I hope to see every area jam packed full of contestants and GOOD LUCK!!

Good Morning Everyone!


It has been a while since the SC YF&R conference and I have yet to update you on the whole thing. I am sorry! So here we go.

Saturday was a great day for expanding your horizons and digging into the meat of our daily lives. We began the morning with a delicious breakfast and concurrent workshops. William and I attended the Pesticide Credits with Jay while many of the wives attend the Spouses Workshop. Jay’s Workshop focused on resistant weeds across our state. Many benefited from the ability to renew their certifications.

I must say that I should have attended the Spouses Workshop. They made Cookies on a Stick! Which yes men I realize that may not sound exciting but they were SUPER cute. Basically you mix up some cookie dough (or use pre-made), cut them to the shape you would like, insert a sucker stick and bake. Then decorate however you would like. After the decorations have dried you arrange them as you would a flower vase. Super cute idea and everyone seemed to have LOTs of fun!

The next two workshops were about Economic Development for Rural America with Greg White and Beef Cattle Profits with Brian Bolt. These workshops were also concurrent so William and I attend the Beef Workshop.

Brian gave many great ideas about better management practices and finding that niche market in the beef industry. He also brought out some good points about selecting bulls for your herd. For example if you are a commercial cattlemen marketing your calves at weaning to the local sale barn then why are you worried about carcass data??? Weaning Weights and birth weights are all that you will deal with. As a trained livestock judge I had never streamlined EPD’s that way but it makes sense. Thanks Brian for such a great session.

After a quick coffee break we attended the Enter & Win contest workshop. Former winners from each of the three YF & R contest spoke about how and why you should enter those contests. My next post will detail that workshops event so that everyone can benefit from the great resources that were provided.

After finishing up the contest workshop we had a wonderful luncheon with guest speaker Trent Loos. Trent is a rancher from Nebraska who spends 200 days a year on the road advocating for agriculture in America. Trent gave us some great tips on spreading our message while reminding us we need to ensure that it is a message filled with facts and the truth. Again the take home message was TELL YOUR FARM STORY, whether on a plane trip across the country, in the grocery store or through social media put a face on American Agriculture.

The afternoon continued with more concurrent sessions on CAMM Credits and Grain Market updates. I hate to admit it however we did not attend those sessions. We took that opportunity to nap and do a little shopping since we didn’t bring the little man along on the trip.

That evening kicked off with an Awards Banquet honoring the Photo Contest winners and the state YF & R committee. Reggie Hall gave us a report on the wonderful happenings within SC FB Promotion and Education department and Gary Spires gave us an update on legislative happenings. It was a great way to get updated and stay on top of concerning agricultural issues. Our conference ended with a Dessert cruise on the Spirit of Charleston. The food of course was wonderful and plentiful.

I encourage each of you to pack your bags and get ready for the 2011 SCFB YF&R Conference at the Westin Resort on Hilton Head Island January 28-30, 2011! I hope to see you there!

With over 180 people registered this was the largest YF & R Conference on record!  Newberry County led the pack with 14 participates.  We began the weekend on Friday with a welcome reception.  The food was great and the opportunity to network was wonderful.  Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones was a great way to begin the conference. 

SCFB President David Winkles addressed the crowd and the opening session and opened the floor for questions.  It was an intereactive session allowing members to air concerns about upcoming legislative activities and media attacks.  President Winkles address each question individually.   It was refreshing to see that even though we are young we were respected enough to recieve answers that were straight-foward.  The evening ended with various groups heading out to enjoy the Charleston night life.  Stay tuned and learn about Saturday's happenings!