Name: Cody Salmon, age 13
Family: Dad and mom, Bruce and Nicki Salmon; brother, Tate Salmon
Clubs: Everton/Valley 4-H and Boone County Beef Club
Awards: Cody won Youth Division, Arkansas Beef Ambassador, February 2009; Showmanship in Junior Division at the 2008 Boone County Fair; Cody's steer, Thumper, was Grand Champion at Boone County Spring Show, 2009 and was judged in the top four steers at the Arkansas State Fair 2009.
What do you like the best about living on a ranch?
"It teaches you a lot of responsibility – taking care of my calves, making sure they're fed and washed and I help in the hay, too. I cut, I can bale and I can rake. About two years ago I started doing everything."
Were you raised around cattle and agriculture?
"We were always raised around cows and calves – all my life."
How many head are you, yourself, responsible for?
"Really, just the two show cattle I've got in the barn, and then we have three others out in the field that are ready to have calves that I care for, too."
If you had to pick one person that you'd like to be like in agriculture that you have seen, who would that be?
"Probably my dad – and my pawpaw."
What one thing would you change about ag if you could?
"That the cattle market would always stay high."
What do you see as your future in agriculture?
"I'd like to become a cattle judge. I'd also like to raise beef cattle on a place of my own."
If a person came to live with you for a while, not from the farm, how would you convince them that this was a life that they'd like to have?
"Well, like I said, it teaches you a lot of responsibility, and I think it's kinda cool looking, all the land and stuff. In the city they're all confined. You have more freedom out here. And you can ride your 4-wheelers out here, too."
By Jack and Pam Fortner
