I am a city girl, that much is for sure. But I have always been fascinated with the country life and most notably, life on a farm. I haven’t had much experience seeing an actual farm in person, so when I got an invite from the Missouri Beef Council (click here) to participate in their Missouri Farm Tour, I said yes of course. Last Friday, I piled into a small bus with a few other farmers, members of press, associated partners, and bloggers and we spent the day visiting three farms in the not so distant area.
Today, I’m participating in the @BeefCouncil #MoFarmTour. We will learn more about the “farm to plate” process. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/TdTRsdNYUD
— Danyelle Little (@TheCubicleChick) October 18, 2013
Our first stop was at Rick Rehmeier’s Farm, located in Augusta, Missouri. Rick’s farm is a pork and grain farm, and it was the first time I saw a hog in person. As we toured the farm, Rick told us about how he and his farmhands take care of the hogs from birth onward. Rick was very passionate about his farm and the daily operations of the business. Being as how I had never visited a real farm up until that moment, I had no idea how “scientific” farming is. Rick told us about how almost every aspect of the farm is marked and detailed.
Here’s a pic of the little piglets. They were excited to see us 🙂 #mofarmtour @BeefCouncil pic.twitter.com/yc4Mrk1Zw4
— Danyelle Little (@TheCubicleChick) October 18, 2013
Now I will say, visiting a hog farm is not for the faint of heart. The smell was major! But the piglets were cute and the farm and it’s rustic charm more than made up for it.
Next, we visited Bill McClaren’s Farm in Pacific, Missouri. Bill is a third generation farmer and raises cattle. But before we had our tour of both of his farms, we ate lunch in the Haue Valley Winery Barn (click here), located on Bill’s farm. It was built to host events like parties, weddings, and receptions. Our lunch was prepared and donated by the folks at Franklin County Cattlemen Association, and while we ate, we were given a presentation by Missouri Dairy Farmer, Rick Scheer of Scheer’s Dairy Farms.
Having lunch in a barn at Haue Valley Winery. Loving this space #hauevalley #mofarmtour @BeefCouncil pic.twitter.com/6VPOkhl0Y1
— Danyelle Little (@TheCubicleChick) October 18, 2013
Fabulous beef sandwich for lunch today. Thank you to McLaren Farms & Franklin County Cattleman Assoc. #mofarmtour pic.twitter.com/HmfEDTK8ox
— Danyelle Little (@TheCubicleChick) October 18, 2013
Mr. Scheer told us about how robotics play a huge part on his farm. Through technology, he can find out within minutes which of his cows are ill or may have issues. They also use robotics to milk cows. This was fascinating to me! Rick is also a third generation farmer, and talked of using old school methods with a new school twist.
Scheer’s Dairy Farm uses robotics to ensure health/safety of their cows & milk; learning a lot about the science/tech of farming #mofarmtour
— Danyelle Little (@TheCubicleChick) October 18, 2013
Next up, was a tour of Bill McClaren’s farm, and we got to take a ride out on the land to actually feed the cows! Bill has two farms, so we also got in our bus to visit his other cattle farm which was about 10 minutes or so away from Haue Valley.
Time to play with some cows 🙂 @BeefCouncil #mofarmtour pic.twitter.com/8YBZtgV91S
— Danyelle Little (@TheCubicleChick) October 18, 2013
This farm tour taught me so much, but most importantly, made me understand how hard farmers work to provide the food we eat. I used to take for granted the items that were offered in our local grocer—not anymore. Farmers are the backbone of the food supply, and I am very thankful to them for what they do!
Special thanks to Taylor and Beth at the Missouri Beef Council for being great hosts and for the invite to the event. I enjoyed the Missouri Farm Tour. 🙂
Leave a Reply