Farmers are True Environmentalists

Today is Earth Day. The one day a year where people reflect on what we can do to help protect the Earth and the environment.

Some may say, "I'm going to start recycling," or

"I'm going to be more conscientious about the amount of water I use," or

"I'm going to change all the light bulbs in the house to the energy efficient ones."

These are all great things to start doing and there are many more you could do to help protect the Earth's natural resources. Adam and I have put all of the above practices into place in our home along with many more to help preserve the land and environment for generations to come.

As farmers we also have a much larger obligation to fulfill. We are caring for many acres of land and it is our job to protect and preserve it, so that one day our children will have the option to farm it if they choose to do so.

Farmers don't take one day out of the year to think about the Earth and the environment. It is something that is constantly on our minds and we are always looking for ways to improve our farming practices to better the environment. We practice soil conservation to prevent erosion. Our crop rotation practices replace nutrients back into the soil with the leftover crop residue. GPS technology is utilized to minimize chemical application and the amount of time the tractor is running. On our farm we utilize larger equipment to be more efficient with our time spent in the field. This improved efficiency reduces emissions from our tractors.

The Case IH tractors we use on our farm have Tier 4 engines and utilize diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology. This technology recycles the diesel exhaust produced by the engine. This reduces the amount of diesel needed to fuel the tractor, reduces emissions by almost 90% in particulate matter, and allows for a 50% reduction in nitrogen oxides emitted.

The South Dakota Corn Growers Association and Corn Council has put together a series of videos titled, "True Environmentalists." The videos below share the story of how farmers protect our water by keeping the soil clean and how we implement soil conservation practices.

The True Environmentalists site also has several more facts and videos about how farmers are true environmentalist and the other practices farmers put in place everyday to preserve the land. Take a moment to visit this site and learn more about all of the practices farmers put into place to protect our most precious resources.

What things will you implement or change in your lifestyle to help conserve our Earth?

The topic of pink slime doesn't belong in a food toxicology lecture.

You never know when you will need to be an advocate for the Agriculture industry, but today I had the opportunity to share my knowledge in my toxicology class. Food toxicology was the lecture topic discussed today. There were several things brought up with food production processes; which included the topic of pink slime, the use of hormones in food animals, food borne illnesses, food handling practices, transgenic foods, the carcinogenic agent found in charred meat that has been barbequed, and food allergies.

All of these issues are related to Agriculture and my feathers were ruffled when misinformation was being presented to the class. When the use of hormones in meat was brought up I addressed the class and tried to convey that beef animals are not constantly pumped with steroids to produce an animal that contains the most amount of meat possible. I'm not sure the points I made during the lecture sunk in with the professor, but I visited with him after class and did my best to provide him with factual information about one of the topics discussed and that was the issue of pink slime. He thought my points were valid and also agreed to listen to the facts I have about the other topics discussed at a later time. After listening to the facts I gave him, he is now giving me 5 minutes of the next class lecture to discuss the process of pink slime with my classmates.

I'm excited about the opportunity to share my passion for Agriculture with my classmates, and set the record straight about this topic. I'm not entirely confident I can cover all of the important points in five minutes, but I'm going to try.

In the past few weeks we have been bombarded with the issue of pink slime in the media. This topic has left many consumers wondering if the ground beef product they purchase at the store is safe and what the process actually entails.

I will provide a few quick facts about this product and some links from fellow bloggers and other resources to give you additional information.

• The title of "Pink Slime" is the name the media has given to this product to make it seem unappealing to the consumer. The actual name of this product is lean finely textured beef (LFTB).
• LFTB is a safe, and nutritious product.
• This product is not a "filler" it is 100% beef.
• It is not a "waste" product or what would be sent to a dog food processing plant. LFTB is the trimmings from cuts of roasts, steaks, and other cuts.
• The process of obtaining the LFTB involves putting the trimmings in a centrifuge, heating it and spinning it to separate the fat from the meat.
• The process of centrifugation changes the texture of the beef and results in a product that resembles finely ground beef.
• The resultant product is 95% lean.
• LFTB is treated with either citric acid or ammonia hydroxide to reduce the pH of the meat to inhibit bacterial growth. This technique is used in several other food manufacturing processes and it involves using a fine mist of ammonia hydroxide. The meat is not soaked in household ammonia as the media would have you believe.
• If LFTB is not used then 13 pounds of meat from each beef carcass will be wasted.
• If LFTB is removed entirely from our ground beef supply, then we will need an additional 1.5 million head of cattle to keep up with our demand for ground beef.

This video from the American Meat Institute gives the consumer the facts about LFTB.

I learned a lot more about this process by doing a small amount of research. It takes very little effort to find out the facts about food processes and where your food comes from. I encourage you to seek out this information, find the facts and start conversations with the people who actually produce your food. Producers want to bridge the gap between the farm and your fork, and we are more than willing to help you become a more educated consumer. The important thing to remember is that you do have a choice when it comes to purchasing your beef. You can buy it directly from the producer, it can be natural, organic, grass fed, conventionally raised, and now due to the inaccurate representation of LFTB in the media you can purchase your ground beef without it.

After doing all of this research I can say with 100% confidence that pink slime is not a topic of discussion for a food toxicology lecture. I will be presenting these facts and more to set the record straight on LFTB to my class on Wednesday. I would appreciate any additional information and facts you may have on this topic that I can include in this discussion.

The information from this post was found from several of the links below. If you would like additional information on this topic please visit these sites to learn more.

For a more detailed post about the process of obtaining LFTB visit the Food for Thought Blog.

Is Pink Slime Dangerous to Consumers?

An article from USA Today

Opposing View: LFTB is 100% Beef

From Beef is Beef

Get the facts on Lean Beef Trimmings

An article from Times Record News

'Pink Slime' is not Based on Facts

Posts from Crystal Cattle

Do you have questions about pink slime?

Things you should know: pink slime

Posts from Buzzard's Beat

Hyvee, Pink Slime (LFTB) and Stupidity

The Countdown is On

There are 14 days, 14 hours, and 14 minutes until The Rock the Parkway Half Marathon on April 14th. I see this as a good omen because fourteen is also my favorite number. Things are lining up for this race, now all I can hope for is good weather and that I have prepared myself enough for my first half marathon.

You may be wondering how I decided to take that leap and sign up for a half marathon? Believe me, I was skeptical about whether or not I could run this far, the most I have ever ran at one time before I started training was 4 miles. A friend of mine, Bit Vo, is a marathon runner, and she said this race is a really good one for beginners and that we could train together over the course of the semester. We decided to sign up for this race, and we have been training since mid January for it. One of the things Bit told before we started training is that 13.1 miles may seem like a long distance, but you don't go out on the first day and try to run 13.1 miles, you build up to it. This journey has been a true test of stamina and endurance, but I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and I will eventually get there.

I don't know if we are crazy or gluttons for punishment to try to train for a half marathon while school is in session. Honestly, I was skeptical about committing to signing up. I just didn't see how I could possibly fit in a workout routine in with studying for exams. Now that we are almost to the race day I don't think I could have survived this semester without an exercise routine. Running has been an awesome stress reliever, it has been a great way to break up studying sessions, and I look forward to the time I get to spend running with my friends.

Don't get me wrong, keeping up with my running schedule has been challenging. Waking up early on a Friday morning to run 3 miles has not been an easy thing to do, but when you have someone to hold you accountable it makes it a little easier. It is also great to go on the long runs with a friend, you keep each other motivated and the run goes by a lot faster. If you are thinking about running a race and are hesitant about signing up because you are worried about the time commitment, I'm telling me you CAN do it. It is possible with a crazy work or school schedule. In order to make it work you have to have a plan, and schedule time for the runs. Yes, other things may get pushed to the back burner. However, if it is important to you, then you will find time for it, and when you cross that finish line it will be worth it!

I really wanted to get a Team Beef jersey to wear for this race, but I went to order this jersey from the Team Beef website, and I could not locate how to order it from the Team Beef store. I asked a few friends who have them, and they said orders are only taken a few times a year. Maybe I can get one before my next race. If anyone else has any advice on how to get my hands on one of these I would appreciate it!

Well I'm off to run 4 miles for today's training. Tomorrow will be the long run of 10 miles, then next Saturday I will attempt to run 12 miles, then the next week is the race! Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted on how it went!

Putting the "Pharm" in the Farm Show

This past weekend was the Western Farm Show in Kansas City, Missouri. If you are unfamiliar with what a farm show is, I will describe it for you. A farm show is held in a large exhibition hall and it is a conglomeration of everything Ag. Several Ag companies come here to promote their products and services. There are equipment dealers, tractors on display, livestock chutes, fence companies, clothing retailers, seed companies, chemical companies, Ag magazines, GPS technology and tutorials, mowers, etc. In essence, if it is related to agriculture then it is on display at the farm show.

I have been going to farm shows since I could walk. It was a family event when I was a kid and one that was usually a lot of fun. We got to climb up in the big tractors and pretend like we were driving them, and we had fun at the displays that were catered to children. I have had the pleasure of going to a few farm shows with Adam over the years as well. Attending this event as an adult is not as much fun as it was when I was a kid. To provide a proper comparison for you, the farm show is equivalent to a woman taking her husband shopping at the mall. Usually after 30 minutes the husband has found a bench to sit on as they wait for their wives to return from snagging all of the good deals in store. The farm show is a farmer's mall, only the stuff for sale has a much higher sticker price than any article of clothing I could ever buy. A farm wife can usually go through everything in the building in about 30 minutes, but it takes the husbands at least a few hours to make it through all of the aisles of displays. They stop and chat with everyone and see what freebies the companies are handing out. They acquire a few more hats for their collection and bring home a bag full of goodies from this event.

My attendance at the farm show this year did not involve following my husband through the rows of farm machinery and sales booths. I attended the farm show as a pharmacy student and my fellow classmates and I were putting the "pharm" in the farm show by promoting Generation Rx and the Prescription Take Back program. Our booth was on display in the Health and Safety Round-Up exhibit of the farm show. In this section of the arena people could get hearing tests done, learn about farm safety, disaster preparedness, etc.

Generation Rx is the term used to describe today's youth who are using prescription drug medications to get high. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, every day approximately 2,500 young people between 12 and 17 years of age abuse prescription painkillers for the first time. America's biggest drug problem is not on the street...it's in our medicine cabinets. In fact, prescription medications abuse is the second leading cause of accidental death in the United States. More Americans abuse prescription medications than cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined, and an astounding one in five teens abuses a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime. (Taken from www.pharmacists.com) Our goal at the farm show today was to educate youth, their parents, and the elderly about the dangers of prescription medication abuse and what they can do to prevent it.

The students and faculty from UMKC were able to visit with a number of kids and adults about this issue and also how easy it is to confuse things that are safe to eat with things that can cause harm and be poisonous. We had a game set up at our booth comparing items that are safe to ingest with items that are not. The display showed how difficult it is to distinguish between the two when they are in unmarked containers. A few examples of the items being compared were sweet tarts and Tums antacids, Excedrine pills and Hot Tamales, maple syrup and motor oil, and caffeine pills and Spree candies.

Ethan, Rachel, Alaina and I in front of our booth.

A participant who was trying to distinguish

between what was a poison and what could be

safely eaten.

Rachel visiting with a couple about how easy it is to

confuse something that is safe to ingest with something

that is not and why it is important to keep medications

out of children's reach and in their properly marked

containers.

The Generation Rx display that Rachel and Alaina worked

very hard on. They did a great job, and the board provided

a lot of quick facts for people to see when they stopped by

our booth.

Adam even took a turn at the game.

Rachel, Dr. Cochran and I.

The Future Farmers of America

These are the faces of the future farmers of America. Yes, they may be young, but they already have a passion for Ag that is bigger than the sky. Blake is 7 and Bryce is 11, they are our neighbors and they live on a farm as well. On their farm they raise crops but they do not have any livestock. Bryce has a Holstein bucket calf named Buster, but other than that they don't get to be around cattle very much. Bryce and Blake just LOVE cows and enjoy the opportunity to get to be around them. They come over to our house every so often and tag along with Adam as he is doing chores and checking cows. This afternoon Adam took them over to see the new baby calves and then they came back over to our house to see the steers and heifers.

Blake and Bryce posing for a picture as they climb

over the fence.

The boys trekking through the mud as they

check out the steers in the pen.

Adam warming up to the steer so the boys can pet it.

Bryce letting the steer smell his hand.

Bryce petting the steer.

Blake getting close enough to pet the steer.

Blake petting one of the steers.

Blake and Bryce watching the silage come down

from the conveyor belt.

Bryce and Blake watching the silage come out

of the Harvestore silo.

The boys leveling out the silage in the wagon.

The boys looking on as Adam finishes filling the wagon.

Bryce and Blake are from an Ag background, but raising cattle is an aspect of Agriculture they are not exposed to everyday. They ask a lot of questions and we enjoy answering them. We also enjoy the opportunity to teach them about cattle and this part of our farming operation. It amazes me how interested Bryce and Blake are about raising livestock. They absolutely love the cows and seeing the baby calves. It is great to see this passion in someone so young, and the fact they would rather be outside messing with cows instead of inside playing a computer game.

I hope Adam and I are passing on our passion of raising cattle by sharing this part of our operation with them. We hope Bryce and Blake keep their love for cattle and Agriculture as they grow up because they are the future of the industry. Their passion and excitement for cattle and Ag is contagious and it makes us want to share what we do with everyone. Bryce and Blake are the future farmers of America. As long as they keep up their passion and curious spirit for Ag, then I'm not worried one bit about where the future of our industry is headed.

Don't Cry About It

I love raising cattle. I love calving season, even though the weather is sometimes not the best. Just seeing those newborn calves running around, tails straight up; it's an awesome feeling. I love checking cows in the summertime when the grass is green and they are out grazing in the big pastures. I love seeing the calves grow throughout the year and seeing that what we are doing is really working. I love picking out heifers to keep and add to our herd. I love selling calves. Really, who wouldn't? It's the paycheck for a whole year of work.

I left out one important part of the cattle process. Weaning. I do NOT love this. It is my least favorite part of having cattle. I guess it's because I'm a softy. Weaning is when we separate the calves from their mothers so they can be put on a feed diet and eventually be sold. The calves go from nursing their mothers to eating a grain based ration that consists of corn, protein, mineral, silage and of course hay. The first week or so after they are weaned can get pretty loud outside. The calves are bawling, or 'crying' if you will, for their mothers. They have never been separated from their mothers for this long. This may seem mean, or inhuman, but it is part of the process. By this time, the calves are weighing 600 to 700 pounds and are nine to ten months old, so they are ready to be on their own. The cows have to be weaned from their calf so they can get in shape to have a new baby in a few months. After a week or so the calves quit 'crying' for their mothers, and the the process of growing them really starts to pick up.

The heifers all lined up at the bunk eating their dinner.

Once we pull the calves off their mothers they are brought to a big pen at our house. This pen has a long row of bunks where they eat. We start out by feeding them square bales of hay and and a certain type of feed that has medication in it to prevent sickness. We feed them square bales in the bunks to get them used to eating in a bunk line. They have never done that before. We then switch to a corn and protein mixture with mineral. At this time we add corn silage. As you have read in previous posts, corn silage is the whole corn plant ground up. This has a very high feed value and is also very high in energy. The calves just love it, especially on those cold mornings. They will remain at our house until it is time to sell. The rewarding part about this stage in the process is that I get to see the calves everyday, and I also get to see that all the hard work we have done throughout the year has really paid off.

Raising cattle takes a lot of time, money, and patience, but you don't have to cry about it.

Thanks for reading,

Adam

The calves are fed this pellet ration twice a day until it is

time to switch them to the corn ration.

Remember the making hay while the sun shines post? Well

all of the hay we put in the barn is now being fed to the calves.

Putting a round bale of brome hay into

the hay feeder for the calves to eat.

Pharmacy Fact Friday

The bathroom is the worst place to store medication.

Yes, it's true. The room with a "medicine cabinet" is not an ideal place to store medication. In order for drugs to work properly in the body they need to be stored in an environment where they will be chemically stable. The bathroom is a poor place for medication storage because there is increased moisture, increased heat, and an increased level of bacteria. All of these things can contribute to the breakdown of the chemical structure of your medication and reduce the effectiveness and potency of the drug.

Follow these steps from Medline Plus to ensure your medication is stored safely:

• Keep medication out of children's reach.
• Always keep the medicine in the original container.
• Don't leave the cotton plug in the bottle, this can draw moisture into the container.
• Check the expiration date each time you take a drug. Replace the medications that are out of date.
• Never use a medication that has changed color, texture, or odor, even if it is not expired. Throw away capsules or tablets that stick together, are harder or softer than normal or are cracked or chipped.
• Ask your pharmacist about any specific storage instructions.

The kitchen is a good option for storing your medications. When choosing a cabinet in the kitchen you want to pick one that is NOT next to the stove, sink, or dishwasher. Medications should also be stored in a cabinet that cannot be reached by children. It is a good idea to put your medications in a cabinet you open every day. When you open the cabinet to get a bowl or glass you will see the medication and it will serve as a trigger to remind you to take them.

If your medications are currently stored in the bathroom take some time to transfer them to a better location. As you are doing this look over your prescription bottles and over the counter products to ensure the medication is not expired. If you find medications you no longer take or are expired read this post to learn how to properly dispose of them. This post discusses the importance of proper drug disposal and it talks about the prescription take back initiative. This program is sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration and local law enforcement. The next prescription take back day will be held on October 29th from 10AM-2PM. To find a location near you click here.

That concludes your third Pharmacy Fact Friday! Have a great weekend and good luck cleaning out your medicine cabinets!