Editorial / Opinions

In the old Mayfield rodeo arena in Goshen, Ark., in the early 1970s I met Norman Bryant. He had a neat smile, more of a grin that said, “Hey, I’m a nice guy and I hope I can be your friend.” He never lost that smile and I really came to appreciate him.

I had the occasion to spend a couple of days and one night in a large, mid-western city last week. It doesn’t matter which city because, in my mind, they are all the same.

There is no doubt that many of you will agree supporting youth in agriculture is a valuable thing for our future. These youth already have an interest in agriculture and we’ve got to keep them excited and passionate about it.

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to several cattlemen’s meetings all across the Midwest and South, and I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. Like-minded people, getting together to learn, share and visit is something that is truly American and I can honestly say I learn something about cattle at every meeting. Last week, I learned something about people, too.

Do you like the new look of Ozarks Farm & Neighbor so far? We hope you like our new and improved design. You’ll notice that OFN got a makeover from front to back. It’s been years since our paper was redesigned so we hope you’ll agree it was time for a new look. We strive to bring to you an interesting, informative and aesthetically pleasing publication about livestock production in the Ozarks.

Well Pat and I got home from a long road trip. We were gone for a week and saw lots of the Country. I noticed that some good western folks were helped out a lot by the heavy rains in September. There is plenty of hay rolled up from here to the Rockies. While driving west to New Mexico, we saw many acres of wheat pasture coming up too.

A little over a year ago, I traded in my old lawn mower for a state-of-the-art, new mower that I concluded, considering my advanced age, would be the last one I’d ever have to buy. It is a zero-turn machine that has a 60-inch cut and sports a 28HP engine. When it was delivered by the machinery dealer, that I’ve dealt with for years, I reminisced that the new mower’s price tag was more than I paid for my first tractor so many years ago.

Do you like the new look of Ozarks Farm & Neighbor so far? We hope you like our new and improved design. You’ll notice that OFN got a makeover from front to back. It’s been years since our paper was redesigned so we hope you’ll agree it was time for a new look. We strive to bring to you an interesting, informative and aesthetically pleasing publication about livestock production in the Ozarks.

A little over a year ago, I traded in my old lawn mower for a state-of-the-art, new mower that I concluded, considering my advanced age, would be the last one I’d ever have to buy. It is a zero-turn machine that has a 60-inch cut and sports a 28HP engine. When it was delivered by the machinery dealer, that I’ve dealt with for years, I reminisced that the new mower’s price tag was more than I paid for my first tractor so many years ago.

It’s true what they say that you learn something new every day. That really is the case for me every time I leave the office and head out to visit a producer in the Ozarks. No two farms operate exactly the same way and what works for one farm may not work for another. As you may know with my job farm visits are normal and I truly enjoy it each and every time.