Editorial / Opinions

I am thankful for long weekends and old friends. Over Memorial weekend I headed south to see my friend, Tina, who moved to Bentonville, Ark., after we graduated from high school. Over the years we have kept in touch taking turns driving back and forth to spend as much time together as our busy lives will allow.

Many years ago, when I was teaching at a university and coaching the livestock judging team, I took my students to a local purebred cattle farm where we were going to practice on several classes of animals the owner had selected for us. As the students quietly evaluated the four heifers in the first class and took notes, I noticed that two of the animals had been clipped by the owner in preparation for an upcoming show. Since this was one of the first workouts of the year for this rookie team, I wondered how many would notice the fresh haircut when we got back to campus.

"EPA can not stand for END PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE,” by far my favorite quote by Senator Roy Blunt during the 2012 Missouri State University Collegiate Farm Bureau Agricultural Forum.

There is a lot going on in my life; I went to Washington D.C., and met with the staff of the Congressman in my district, Steve Womack. Steve was home on recess so we spoke with his staff member, a young lady who knows the electric coop business. As complicated as the government is no one person could do or know all the things needed for his district.

One of the reasons I enjoy farming so much is that I get to make decisions that impact my profitability several times each day. One of the major drawbacks to being a farmer is that I must make decisions that impact my profitability several times each day.

"EPA can not stand for END PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE,” by far my favorite quote by Senator Roy Blunt during the 2012 Missouri State University Collegiate Farm Bureau Agricultural Forum.

It’s tornado season again in the Midwest. Actually, it’s tornado season year-round in my part of the world, but right now the storms are much more numerous, frequent and intense. Tornados activate different senses for different people. For some, fear is the primary feeling. Others experience tension, angst, elevated heart rate and blood pressure, increased sense of hearing, optical illusions as they gaze into the western sky, or all of the above. For me, the tornado warning brings on the smells of kerosene, oil cloth and canned peaches.

Has anyone ever touched your life in a positive life changing way? Is it possible to repay them? Or maybe the only way to do so is pay-it forward?

Who invented the combine? Hiram Moor did in 1834. I thought it was a man named McCormick who founded International Harvester Tractor and later also a truck company. Anyhow, Google can straighten it all out. The reciprocal mowing machine was a great invention. It replaced the sickle which many people called, “The Missouri Back Buster.” It had a crooked handle and you swung it two handed. That was what farmers used to cut wheat, rye, barley and hay with before the mowing machine.

As I was browsing through some obscure news stories last week, I stumbled across one from San Francisco that both interested and infuriated me. It seems that our government (you and me, the taxpayers) recently spent more than $200,000 of our money to transplant a single shrub from the path of a proposed superhighway to an undisclosed plant sanctuary where, mind you, tens of thousands more dollars will be spent to assure it lives the rest of its life in secret safety.