Off-farm Income

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING TAYLOR WHITEHEAD! The amount of responsibilities that farm kids have heaped upon them always amazes me.  What amazes me more is how they step up to the challenge so well.  We all know that the legal age you become an adult is 18.  But for farm kids I'm sure the average age of actually being capable of being an adult is much younger than that. In today's interview I am going to be speaking with one of these "farm kids".  Taylor Whitehead is only sixteen years old and just beginning her junior year of high school.  However, the responsibilities that she has been given throughout her life really make it seem like she is a completely independent adult already. For the bulk of Taylor's life she has been milking cattle before and after school.  Her family just sold their milking string, so now they are raising dairy heifers and she works on the farm in that capacity.  All of those years of working with the dairy cattle and having that responsibility helped her develop the ability to take ca

SHOW NOTES Thanks for joining me for another bonus episode about rural crime.  Here are all the links to the stories that we profiled this week. Photos Of Grape Thieves In Kings County, California Tip Of The Week Buy a locking mailbox to protect one of the most vulnerable areas of your farm. Where The 2nd Amendment Does Not Exist https://www.farminguk.com/news/thieves-steal-50-sheep-from-dorset-farm_56365.html https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/crime/farmer-turns-detective-to-track-down-tractor-gps-thief https://medicinehatnews.com/news/local-news/2020/08/19/drug-treatment-court-coming-to-medicine-hat/ https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1324741/france-news-horse-attacks-mutilated-torture-animal-cruelty-police-investigation-loire Rural Crime In The U.S. Story sent to me on Facebook by Brandon Pacheco of Hanford, CA - https://www.facebook.com/KingsCoSheriffsOffice/posts/171793934460360 https://www.hpj.com/livestock/reward-offered-in-winnsboro-cattle-theft-case/article_9b037c9a-e21c-11ea-bff7-e7269943

SHOW NOTES If you are the type of person who wants to continue to grow, better themselves and continue achieving at a high level than you have people in your lives who push you.  These folks aren't necessarily even personal acquaintances.  They are people in your industry who set the standard that you try to live up to. In today's episode I am having Tim Hammerich back on the show.  Tim first appeared on the show in episode #129.  When we recorded that episode we were both relatively new to podcasting, and we were two of the few podcasters concentrating on the agricultural space.  Since that time I have been lucky enough to get to know Tim personally, and converse with him about thoughts and ideas in business.  One thing has remained true for the entirety of our relationship, and that is that Tim is one of the people in my industry that pushes me and helps to get better based on the standard that he sets. Today we are going to catch up on all the developments in Tim's career, his podcast and his efforts to

SHOW NOTES: Off Farm Income's Website: www.offincome.com INTRODUCING KAITLYN ELLIOT! I am so excited about this interview with Kaitlyn Elliot.  It has everything!  Family Tradition, Complete Vertical Integration (Production, Processing, Value Adding and Marketing), and extremely innovative marketing methods. Kaitlyn Elliot graduated high school in 2015 but is still participating in FFA through her high school chapter while she takes classes at the University of Kentucky.  Kaitlyn's family has been growing sorghum for four generations, and she has partnered with her grandfather to grow and produce products from their land's sorghum. Kaitlyn owns and operates "Poorhouse Sorghum."  She grows her own sorghum, completely chemical free starting in the spring and going through the summer.  Then she harvests her crop and processes the sorghum into syrup.  But she does not stop there.  Then she bottles her syrup and also makes sorghum barbeque sauce. Once she has an inventory of product she starts marketing.  Sh

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING BREANNA THOMPSON! How big a part of your community is your local FFA Chapter?  In today's episode we will speak with a student who lives in a community in which the FFA chapter is central. Breanna Thompson was inspired as a young girl to join the FFA because she already knew the FFA advisors and was seeing what the FFA was doing in her community.  It was exposure like this that led her to begin her own cattle herd while she was in the 8th Grade and just getting started with the FFA.  She had her father take her to the auction, and got her own buyers number. Then she bought her first cattle. Today, as an incoming sophomore Breanna is already an FFA veteran.  Her thoughts about the FFA and agriculture have evolved.  She brings up a very good point during the interview about what she sees and feels when she goes into the grocery store.  Looking at all of the different agricultural products that are abundantly available and priced reasonably makes Breanna swell with pride in seeing just h

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: It's in the news again.  The Treasure Valley of Idaho, where I live, is getting more and more expensive to buy a house in or rent a house or apartment in.  Reading this article made me think of the chase that so many people are on that puts them in tremendous debt trying to buy a house and causes them to live paycheck to paycheck to make their house payment or rent payment. In today's episode I want to look at how lucky all of us are that we love and value the rural lifestyle.  We will examine just how easy and stress free the rest of our lives can be when we "escape" from the city or urban area to a wonderful, small community that suits our values and costs very little to live in. Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:   Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING ASHLYN QUINN! What if your student has a passion that is not related to agriculture, they want to be part of the FFA and they want to combine the two?  Is there a way to get it done? Our guest today, Ashlyn Quinn, did exactly this in a rural part of Illinois.    In the Illinois FFA there is a proficiency category of safety.  Through Ashlyn's work as a lifeguard, she was able to incorporate her job working as a lifeguard at the local YMCA with her time in the FFA.  This led her to win an Illinois State Proficiency Award in this very category. Ashlyn is done with high school now, and she is on to studying statistics and natural resources at Carl Sandburg Community College in Galesburg, Illinois. SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Safety & Agricultural Education HIGH SCHOOL: Monmouth Roseville High School; Monmouth, Illinois MASCOT: Titans FFA ADVISOR: Jason Kilburn CONTACT INFORMATION FOR ASHLYN QUINN: Click on the picture below to be taken to the Monmouth High School Ag. Departme

SHOW NOTES Thanks for joining me for another bonus episode about rural crime.  Here are all the links to the stories that we profiled this week. Tip Of The Week What if somebody breaks into the house part II Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.khou.com/article/life/animals/dream-catcher-stables-riding-charity-horse-trailer-stolen/285-af58cd33-7e35-4259-aa99-cf3c94d981ce https://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-news/6-arrested-in-sweep-targeting-violent-crime-in-rural-georgia/KA3M6SHKYNE7LKDHVW654ZZHGY/ Where The 2nd Amendment Does Not Exist https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/18644947.wiltshire-farmers-police-faced-lockdown-rural-crime-rise/ https://www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/18642113.denbighshire-residents-warned-drones-may-used-target-items-farms/ Chalk One Up For The Good Guys https://www.cantonrep.com/news/20200808/pet-advocate-indicted-for-felony-animal-abuse-theft Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:   Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  There is no question that I am going to become a trapper by necessity.  Foxes have absolutely decimated my chickens on multiple occasions.  We have lost our entire flock before, replaced it and lost several more chickens after that.  We started hatching our chicks as replacements, and after we had 12 chicks hatch another fox came in and killed several of our chickens.  After that, all of our eggs had to go to customers, so we haven't put any in the incubator since.  Then, a fox killed our rooster.  So, now we are waiting on those 12 chicks to start laying and for the rooster that is in that bunch to start fertilizing eggs so we can start incubating more. I have been relying on catching the foxes when they are hunting our chickens and shooting them.  To that end, I have done alright.  I have shot about ten fox in the last two years.  But, there is a fundamental problem with that method, and that is I have to wait until

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS: ADVICE FROM ALICIA TOMLINSON: DO GOOD WORK: Alicia was very clear on this.  It does not matter how well you market or how much people like you.  If you do not make a good product, people are not going to buy it.  Alicia was careful to say that she does not strive for perfection, because that is unreachable.  But, she does strive for "excellence!" DEVOTE THE TIME: Alicia talked about her late nights at Kinko's, printing out materials at 1 or 2am.  You have to put the time in up front, to reach the point where it all pays off in the long term. BEST BUSINESS ADVICE THAT ALICIA TOMLINSON HAS RECEIVED: FAIL: I thought a lot about what Alicia said here.  Originally she told me that you should not be afraid to fail.  I changed it to just "Fail."  Everyone is going to fail in some way or another along an entrepreneurial venture.  So, go fail!  You are not going to figure things out until you see what does not work.  You can can call this a failure.  But you can also call it a learning experience

INTRODUCING KARLI CHILDERS! In the case of today's guest "starting from the ground up" is more than just a cliché.  Karli Childers has literally done this. Karli is currently studying to be a landscape architect at the University Of Kentucky.  Back in high school she started her first business, "Karli's Cute Creations Floral Design & Landscaping".  And she started at the very bottom, literally, pulling weeds.  There was no landscaping job that Karli was too proud to take to help get her on her way, and to get her out working in the soil and with plants.  This is what she loves to do! Karli illustrates a very good lesson in his episode about achieving goals.  Yes, mindset, commitment, dedication and hard work are all very important when it comes to achieving goals.  Karli points out another important factor as well.  She talks about figuring out where you want to end up, finding out how other people got there and then following those steps to achieve that goal.  It sounds simple, but so many people do not d

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: Hello everybody.....it has been a whirlwind of a week since our last Tuesday edition episode.  So much has happened that I literally forgot that it was Monday today when I recorded this. In today's episode I'll catch you up on: A very special birthday A new podcast that I am hosting called The Pioneer Tour Podcast The Big Sky Football season being canceled Why baseball is not the same A look back at how I define retirement through the eyes of a guy who repairs boat motors Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:   Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING DANIEL MCDONALD! I don't have strict rules for the length of my podcasts.  I let the conversations take me where they take me, and if that means that an episode goes on for hours, then that is fine.  With that said, I have come to notice a pattern.  FFA episodes normally take 20-25 minutes, Friday episodes 45-50 minutes, etc. In today's FFA interview I speak with our guest, Daniel McDonald, for almost an hour.  There were simply so many rabbit holes to go down in this interview that I could not help myself.  I wanted to explore each and every one of them. Daniel and his family farm in North Carolina under the name "McDonald's Brothers Farms".  Just the discussion about how farming gets done on the other side of the country was fascinating enough for me to ask about for hours.  We talk about swamps, snakes and alligators.  If that were not enough we get into Daniel's families hobby of competing in tractor pulls.  Something that Daniel is excelling in himself. Daniel is done with high

SHOW NOTES Thanks for joining me for another bonus episode about rural crime.  Here are all the links to the stories that we profiled this week. Tip Of The Week Have something to lock your firearms in at your house, if for no other reason than to give yourself a chance to wake up before arming yourself in the middle of the night while you are unlocking the container. Tip Of The Week What If Somebody Breaks Into The House Rural Crime In The U.S. https://news.wsu.edu/2020/08/06/small-towns-highest-risk-intimate-partner-violence/ https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2020/08/05/texas-family-searching-for-answers-after-granddaughter-s-horse-shot--left-for-dead Where The 2nd Amendment Does Not Exist https://www.farminguk.com/news/suspected-dog-attack-kills-seven-sheep-in-cheshire_56255.html https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/crime/mental-health-anguish-linked-to-rise-in-rural-crime Chalk One Up For The Good Guys https://yallpolitics.com/2020/08/06/ag-theft-investigation-leads-to-recovery-of-stolen-trac

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  I have a list of businesses that I like to revisit and get different perspectives from different business owners on.  The business of manure spreading is on that list.  There is a wide range of complexity in this business.   Everywhere that anyone raises livestock there is the need to deal with manure.  If you live in the Northeast you might just be dealing with small farmyards.  A tractor with a bucket and a PTO driven manure spreader might be all the equipment you need for your business. And then there is the Midwest and all of the cattle on feed plus the massive fields of crop ground that are there.  To run a manure spreading business in this region you need big equipment and a lot of it. In today's interview I get to speak with Chadd Schmidt, one of the owners of 4 Bar S Inc.  4 Bar S is a manure spreading and pen cleaning business that Chadd's parents started in the 1980's.  Today they are running top of the line

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS: Autumm and I bought a farm that is in between a larger city (Boise) a medium sized city (Meridian) and a small town (Kuna).  We are right in the heart of the "rural/urban interface."  "Farming The Interface" has its plusses and minuses for sure.  In this episode we break down the pros and cons of farming in this area. We realize that like us, many of you will choose properties in this type of area.  Whether it be to keep your current job, stay close to families or not uproot your kids from their school.  We have some ideas on how to successfully interact with the city people coming through your area, your new neighbors who do not understand agriculture as well as some creative marketing ideas for your farm products. Please contact me with any questions, feedback or suggestions: LINKS: All of these links are to scholarly articles.  I could not find much information written from the perspective of somebody who is actually on the farm and working with their neighbors. Rural-Urban Interfac

INTRODUCING JENNA COLES! Why wait until "tomorrow" to start pursuing your dreams?  There is always another tomorrow, but there isn't always another opportunity to pursue that dream that you have.  Sooner or later, life will get in the way and make it much more difficult for you to go after that. Our guest today epitomizes what all students in the U.S. should be.  Jenna Coles is just beginning her sophomore year of high school, but when you hear her speak you will think that she is already in college.  Jenna knew at a very early age that she wanted to have her own Youtube channel, and she knew that she liked to cook. She started putting this all together at an early age, and by the age of 15 she is now the star of her own Youtube channel, Jenna's Kitchen!  Jenna creates delectable dishes for her viewers and sells her wares in her local community.  Since she has been making videos since she was 8 years old, she is a very good speaker already.  Every student in the U.S. should be experimenting and looking for

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: Hi everyone....a quick episode this week as Autumm, Hattie and I are up in the Sawtooth Mountains enjoying some well deserved R&R as well as Idaho's beauty.  I know you want to know what this title is about, and all I can say is you have to listen to find out! Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:   Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters

INTRODUCING ERIC SCHAFER! When it comes to achievements for FFA students, there should be a separate category for "son or daughter of FFA advisor".  Each time that I interview a student who has a parent who is also their FFA advisor, they are achieving great things. In the case of today's episode I am speaking with a student with a ton of talent and the work ethic to go with it.  Eric Schafer's FFA advisor is also his mother, and he counts himself as very fortunate in this fact.  When I asked him how long he had been in the FFA, he answered that he was basically a lifetime member, already. Eric is achieving great things in agriculture as well as the FFA.  He his row crop farming at home as well as raising cattle and hogs.  He is serving as his chapter's vice-president at school, and at the national level he is competing in the national agriscience fair with his sister in animal systems.  All of this has led him to win a state proficiency award in diversified agriculture and a gold award at the national lev

SHOW NOTES Thanks for joining me for another bonus episode about rural crime.  Here are all the links to the stories that we profiled this week. Tip Of The Week Report all thefts to the sheriff, no matter how minor you think they are. Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.kmvt.com/2020/07/22/police-several-hundred-head-of-cattle-stolen-from-declo-ranch/ https://www.tsln.com/news/asdasda-381/ Where The 2nd Amendment Does Not Exist https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/18601750.viewer-discretion-advised-eight-ewes-killed-livestock-attack-near-pwllheli/ https://www.agriland.co.uk/farming-news/almost-15000-cattle-stolen-in-ni-in-just-4-years/ https://www.horncastlenews.co.uk/news/crime/police-warning-farmers-about-wave-rural-crime-hitting-lincolnshire-2927140 Chalk One Up For The Good Guys https://www.thefencepost.com/news/hill-county-man-sentenced-to-total-of-37-years-in-prison-for-cattle-theft/ https://www.bakersfield.com/news/breaking/kcso-s-rural-crime-investigation-unit-arrests-man-tuesday-o