Ranch life at Sandhill Farms

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend spring break at Sandhill Farms, a Hereford seedstock operation in Haviland, Kansas. Sandhill Farms is owned and run by the Schultz family, of which I attend Kansas State University with Tyler and Courtney, who are both studying Animal Science.

The Schultz Family. Such wonderful people! From L-R: Courtney Schultz, Brooke Warner (nee Schultz), Travis Warner, Tyler Schultz, Georgie Lawrence, Kevin Schultz and Vera Schultz.

At this time of year for the Schultz's, the calving season is coming to an end just as sale season is beginning! There is a lot of preparation that goes in to the Sandhill Farms annual production sale, selling bulls and females as well as commercial hereford and black baldie heifers. 

As I mentioned, it is bull sale season and the week started off with a short trip to Claflin, Kansas to attend B & D Herefords and Beran Bros. Angus bull and female sale.

Bull Sale Season!

The sale was held as a video auction where cattle were shown on a pre-recorded video and auctioned off accordingly. 

Rather than bringing the cattle into the barn, they were displayed on these television screens.

Some of the commercial cattle on the TV screens up for auction. The black baldie is a popular cross in this area.    

Days were spent checking cows that were due for calving, sorting through bulls for semen testing, vaccinating cows and sorting and tagging sale heifers. I also had the opportunity to go to the local sale barn as well as ride around with Kevin and Tyler, showing bulls to clients and learning about how they evaluate their bulls. Almost every day consisted of three jumpers, thermal underwear, a pair of gloves and a cold Kansas wind, but it was great fun!!

Moving some of the sale bulls.

This is what they call a semi in the US. The height of the crate from the ground is adjustable to allow for variation in slope when backing up to a chute, which I thought was pretty neat. 

This is Courtney guiding her grandfather Ron Schultz in to the chute before loading bulls.  

These corrals are portable and are a common sight about Kansas.

These are some of the Sandhill Farms commercial sale heifers on offer in the upcoming annual sale. I  caught them at feed time!

I went to the weekly cattle sale held in Pratt, Kansas and watched the sale of some young cattle. I was astounded at the money that young heifers made or at least for those that I saw being sold. Cattle prices are very high in the US at the present with the cattle population at a low since the 1940's. Young black baldie heifers with an average weight of 859 lbs (390 kg) brought US$1308/head. 

Young black baldie heifers at 839 lbs (390 kg) were making roughly US$1300/hd.

    At the beginning I could barely follow the auctioneer! Have a listen to this!

                        

               

I found the set up of the sale barn interesting. It was like I was sitting up ready to watch a movie at the cinema....only not. 

I got the opportunity to take so many photos on the beautiful Sandhill Farms property as well as see some American wildlife! Here are some of my favourites.

The heifer paddock at sunset.

This is an old American barn on the Sandhill Farms property.

My first sighting of an Armadillo!

This skunk didn't stink...which is rare so I'm told.

        

Driving on the wrong side of the road in a pickup!

A couple of the many calves born this season. These two were just chillin'.

It isn't called Sandhill Farms for nothing.

The sunsets. They were just beautiful.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience an American ranch this past week. The Schultz's are a wonderful family who run a very neat seedstock operation. It will certainly be one of my favourite experiences and memories to take back to Australia with me!

The K-State Legacy Sale - Bull & Female Sale

Last Friday, March 7th, Kansas State University purebred beef unit held their 37th Annual Bull and Female Sale comprising of Angus, Hereford and Simmental cattle. As part of the Livestock Sales Management class that I have been taking this term, the students were involved with the sale and the events leading up to and after the sale.

The 2014 Livestock Sales Management Class 
(Photo courtesy of Impressions By Brittney)

The sale is held to coincide with Cattlemen's Day, of which, this year was the 101st annual event. Cattlemen's Day included a trade show held in the Weber Arena in addition to information sessions that ran throughout the day. Some of the sessions included topics such as the 'Future of beef export demand' and the 'Cattle industry outlook'.

Dr. Dan Moser answering some great questions about Estimated Progeny Differences (EPD'S) at The Legacy Sale booth at the Cattlemen's Day trade show.

The trade show held in Weber Arena, with a live stream of the information sessions that were held in the lecture theatres.

From the 61 bulls that were offered, the averages are as follows:

• 35 Angus bulls/ US$4150
• 16 Simmental bulls/ US$3656
• 10 Hereford bulls/ US$3550

(The Stock Exchange, 2014). 

Salo! Salo! Salo! 61 bulls, 4 elite heifers, 17 females and 5 ranch horses were offered for sale.

I have a short video of the auction. I have to admit that I wasn't quite prepared for the 'entertainment' that the ringmen brought even though they were just doing their job. To all of my Australian friends - it's worth the watch to see how it is done in America!

And of course, what is a K-State event without Willie? Willie the Wildcat is the K-State mascot and he even made an appearance on Sale Day.

Willie the Wildcat, KSU Mascot made an appearance at the sale. 

FFA. Can we do it the Aussie way?

Since arriving here I have heard so many stories beginning and ending with 4H and FFA. Here it seems that it is just a part of everyday vocabulary. Most Aussies would have probably been flat out to have heard it at the very most let alone know what it may stand for. I know I was one of those people. This past week was National FFA Week, so I thought I would interview State FFA officer, Miss Elizabeth Allen and ask her all about it. Elizabeth is currently studying at Kansas State University and has been a member of the FFA for 5 years, beginning when she was 14 years of age. This week she has been travelling many miles to be in a different part of the state of Kansas each day to recognise National FFA Week 2014.

With history back as far as 1928, the National FFA Organisation has certainly become a strong traditional organisation that involves youth in agriculture. It was originally founded as FFA, Future Farmers of America, however, the name was changed to National FFA Organisation to recognise the diversity within the agricultural industry. With almost 580,000 members across the country and FFA chapters in 18 of of the 20 largest U.S. cities, I can understand why this organisation is so well known among my peers here in America (National FFA Organisation, 2014).

As part of high school, students have the opportunity to take agricultural studies, just as most students do in Australia. However, in addition to this, students can join the FFA which means that they participate in crew development events and supervised agricultural experience, which are proficiency based activities. This is then combined with classroom and laboratory hours to provide a rounded agricultural education.

Meet Elizabeth Allen, she is a very talented and confident young lady that exudes a passion for agriculture. When I asked her if we could chat about the FFA so I could learn more about it, she was more than willing to help me. 

Given that the majority of the people I have met in the last month since I have been here in the United States, are members of the FFA or similar, 4H, there has been many a question thrown at me asking if there is any similar organisation in Australia. Which makes me ponder the question myself...Why don't we have the FFA?

There has been much talk, particularly through social media outlets discussing education as a solution for bridging the gap between the city-country divide. The FFA and 4H runs through the veins of the people of my generation here in America. I saw a neat picture on social media describing FFA: It is Travel Experience. Work Ethic. Marketing. Boardroom Confidence. Preparing American agricultural enthusiasts for success. Most importantly, I have learnt that it is also tradition. We as Australian's are very fortunate to have a similar discipline and work ethic instilled in us, as part and parcel of being raised on the land, just like our American partners. But can we be doing more? I mean, for those children who are not as blessed as those who have had the opportunity to be raised on the land.

This picture was circulated on social media last week. I thought it was a neat way to describe FFA.
(Unknown author). 

I've given it some good thought about the things that we may do that are similar to these organisations here in the U.S. and I can't help but question whether us Aussies have been missing out on a golden opportunity to actively involve our youth in agriculture. Don't get me wrong, there are some very new and fantastic programs and initiatives that have kicked off in Australia for youth in agriculture. However I think that we could certainly learn from our American counterparts. The principles of FFA seem to be something that Australia could apply to create our own youth programs for agriculture. It is associated with school here in the United States, which is a fantastic idea, given that some students are not off the land and may find it hard to get in touch with agriculture outside of school. Elizabeth mentioned in her interview about schools that have students that are not predominantly from an agricultural background that have recently adopted the FFA program, which has to be a benefit to not only the students but also the future of the industry. 

I have been very very fortunate to be involved with some great local organisations that have allowed me to thrive and hopefully pursue a career in an industry that I am incredibly passionate about and for that I am very thankful. But what about those that don't live on the land? How do they get their start?? These questions have been raised before. However, has there been an answer to them? One cannot wake up, click their fingers and say, 'Today I am going to start a tradition'. It won't work like that. It starts with small steps and becomes something that people feel passionate about eventually giving it the strength to become tradition over generations. I feel as if we are missing an identity in agriculture that unites the youngsters in agriculture. For me, learning about these organisations, really gets the thought process going and how we can perhaps do something like this, that who knows, may start a tradition that defines our agricultural history in many many years to come.

While this is only a small introduction to FFA, I would strongly encourage that my fellow Aussie friends learn about it. Keep your ears open for it. It crops up more than you realise once you know about it! For all we know, we may be able to have the FFA, the Aussie way!