Writing my own introduction will most definitely be the most difficult blog to create.  I typically do  not like to talk about myself much.  I would much rather discuss ideas. In my upcoming blogs I will share my ideas, reflections, and experiences.  Until then this one will be a little bit about me.

I have lived in Southeast Nebraska most all my life.  I am the fifth generation on the family farm.  I sometimes think it is cool that I am out here working  on the same farms that my great-great grandparents worked on.  When sweat drips off of me and onto the same ground that my predecessor’s sweat ran onto, I think that is something really special that probably only other multigenerational producers would understand.

I grew up like a lot of rural farm kids.  Helping dad around the place.  I can remember riding on the hay racks while they baled idiot cubes.  I even rode with dad in the tractor doing field work, and when I got tired or bored he would roll up his jacket and I would lay down on the floorboard and take a nap.  We have always had commercial cattle to and I always loved the new baby calves.  I guess you could say I was born into it.

As I got a little bigger I started helping on the farm.  Instead of riding on the hay racks I was loading them.  I even started walking beans when I was a short little fella.  Mom would put a blaze orange hat on my head so they didn’t lose me out there.  We didn’t have FFA where I went to school but I was very active in 4-H.  I started showing what ever cattle my grandparents gave me.  Man, I did have a blast.  As I got older I started showing steers.  I guess that is where I got bit by the cattle feeding bug.  One project that really had and impact on me was the Catch-A-Calf program at Aksarben.  I also purchased my first Angus heifer, with help from my parents of course, when I was in high school.  That was the start of my Angus herd.

After college I really wanted to come home and farm.  My parents thought otherwise.  I had a job in a feedlot for a while, and then in a feed mill.  Words can not express how much I hated punching a clock and having a supervisor.  Lookin back on it now it was good for me.  It lit a fire in the pit of my stomach that  I will be successful at what I am doing today, so I never have to go back to that life.

So what am I doing today?  I am still trying to get the Angus herd built up to what I want it to be.  I have also added Maine Anjou to the mix.  These two breeds are a great fit for me and the type of cattle that I like to breed.  I have been using AI since 1998, and just last year I started using ET.  I run some commercial cattle with my parents .  In 2001 I convinced them to retain ownership and collect the carcass data. I’ve been doing it ever since.

A few years later I started buying cattle and co-mingling them with ours.  In 2005 I built my own feedlot.  I got to build it on family land, so all I had to do was get the materials and do the work.  I got funding from the Enviromental Trust, to build a Vegetative Treatment System for the run off water.  So I began feeding and back grounding, cattle here at home.

I help my parents farm.  We raise corn, wheat, and soybeans.  All no-till these days, so no more walking fields for this guy.  We also raise some alfalfa and grass hay.  This is a good fit for me since I use it to feed cattle.  I remember my great grandfather telling me the best way to market your grain is to walk it out on four feet.

I have been lucky enough to be selected to participate in some outstanding leadership programs the last couple years.  The Nebraska LEAD program has made a huge impact on my life and development.  It is a two year program that touches on  all sorts of varying aspects such as communication, sociology, public policy issues, cultural understanding, economics, and natural resources.  One huge highlight of being in the program is on the second year we get to go on a international travel study.  My class went  to South Korea, China and Hong Kong.  This summer I also got to participate in NCBA’s YCC program.  I would highly recommend both.  I learned so much from each of them.

I am currently serving as a Regional director for the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association.  I really enjoy it.  You never can really have an appreciation as to what an association such as NC or NCBA do until you get involved. They fight so many battles on so many different fronts for  beef producers everyday.  Urge your friends to join, we always welcome the support.

So why did I join this blog?  Last year when the market turned south and everyone was upset I sat next to this old timer at an auction barn.  He told me there was no use in complaining about the markets because we all got to where we are because of the cattle business.  I think I have had some success in the cattle business and I feel this is one way I can contribute back to it.