Brownfield

Birdsfoot Trefoil and Quackgrass

I googled henbit to confirm its spelling yesterday and found a really good weed identification website.   

I took agronomy classes in college and was on the FFA Grains Judging team in high school.  I even helped coach the grain judging team when I was student teaching high school agriculture.  I remember studying those faded weed pictures.  A study guide like this one would have come in handy.

I do wonder, though, who came up with some of these names? Why call it Birdsfoot Trefoil?  Hairy Beggarticks is a name that makes sense to me, but Cinquefoil and Quackgrass have me perplexed. 

How many of you can tell the difference between Wild Onion and Wild Garlic growing your pasture today?  If you are having difficulties, click here for help.

Henbit

It is called henbit and it is a familiar site in farm fields across the Midwest this time of year.  The purple flowers of this winter annual are a sure sign that planting season is right around the corner. I've probably been asked one thousand times "What is that beautiful purple flower?" This former corn field along Highway 179 in Moniteau County, Missouri, is now a fertile bed for the purple-flowering member of the mint family.   It won't be long before soybeans replace henbit in this farm field.

Happy 40th Birthday, Pam!

You know the names and recognize the voices of many if not all of the Brownfield broadcast team.  There are so many others behind the scenes that quite frankly, without them, there would be no Brownfield product.

Pam Smith is with the Internal Technologies Group (ITG) at Learfield.  I cannot tell you how many times I've called Pam on her cell phone from a hotel room or convention center or press room in some city far away because I couldn't figure out how to do something that I needed to do to send a report back for broadcast or for the website.  Always patient, Pam listens calmly and walks me through whatever technological issue I am having.   I have interupted family time, friend time, sleep time and even vacation time and she has never let me down. 

Today is Pam's 40th birthday.  She has been with Learfield for half of her life.  She is the very essense of this company.  Without Pam and others in ITG working behind the scenes, I would be lost. 

I walked back to ITG this morning to deliver her birthday card.  Surrounded by black balloons with an RIP sign behind her head and a big black birthday cake on the counter in front of her, Pam was doing what she does best.  She was on the phone, walking someone through a technical problem.

The strongest stone in the structure is in the foundation.  Pam and others in ITG, Accounting, Engineering, Clerical, Reception, and all of the others that are not in the public eye are the foundation of Brownfield. 

We should throw a party for them every day!

FFA blogs

While in Indianapolis last week, I visited with Kelly Horton, Andy Armbruster, Jim Walker and Bill Stagg at the National FFA Organization headquarters.  The main subject of our meeting was "new media."  They are keeping up with the times, as you would expect.  The National FFA Officers are already blogging and have been for some time.  After our visit to headquarters, I did a little googling to find out what other FFAers are blogging about their experiences in this organization.  I am sure there are many more, but I stumbled across the Ohio FFA website and found the Buckeye State FFA officers are blogging.  Does your FFA Chapter have a blog?  If so, I'd like to hear about it.

Farm broadcaster's thoughts on Paul Dana

It's been a few days since my last post. We're one farm broadcaster short on staff right now and with so many exciting things to keep up with in agriculture, I've decided that sleeping, eating, and spending at least some time at home with my husband is more important than blogging. I promise we'll get back up to speed soon. If you know of any promising ag broadcaster-types, send them my way.

In the meantime, the ag industry and the racing industry suffered a great loss over the week-end. I'm going to let Gary Truitt, Brownfield Farm Broadcaster, tell about it in his own words:

As a farm broadcaster you get to interview a lot of different people, from farmers to political leaders, to researchers. Once and a while you get to interview someone outside of the food and fiber industry. Such was the case for me when I first met Paul Dana. He was the driver of race car sponsored by the ethanol industry. I quickly discovered he was more than just a race driver but a very intelligent businessman with a passion about this renewable fuel. To say he single handedly got the IRL to switch to using ethanol as a fuel would not be an overstatement.

His death this past weekend in an racing accident is not only a loss for the racing community but for the ag community as well. He understood the ethanol industry and its importance to America and to agriculture. Having lived just a few miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway I have had the chance to meet many well known drivers. For the most part they did not impress me much. Paul Dana was different. The best way for us to honor his memory is to make sure ethanol realized the potential Paul saw in it.

Thanks, Gary, for sharing your thoughts.  I know a lot of folks will miss Paul Dana.

Inside D.C.

Steve Kopperud writes "Inside D.C." for us on the Brownfield website.  I met Steve when he was President of the American Feed Industry Association.  He is now a lobbyist.  Yikes, I know, the "L" word.  But he's a one of the good ones.  If you're looking for some good reading about what's happening in Washington, D.C., might I suggest you check out Steve's blog on our website.  He updates about every Friday. 

Spring comes in with fury

Happy National Ag Week from all of us at Brownfield.  Looks like Mother Nature had her own plans to call attention to Springtime.  Jerry Passer, Brownfield's livestock market reporter headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is telling us the winter storm moving through Nebraska and the Dakotas is having a major impact on livestock operations.  The Swift plant at Grand Island is dark, and National at Dodge City will not kill second shift.  He says some plants no doubt have trouble getting starters in the morning, as there are interstates closed in South Dakota.

You can listen to Passer's livestock market reports on an affiliate radio station and read his commentary in our daily email newsletter, Brownfield's Agriculture Today.

Meet Tyne Morgan

An internship should be an educational experience.  It is an opportunity to build a skill set and fine tune those skills that you already possess.

Tyne Morgan is the Brownfield intern in the Jefferson City newsroom.  Tyne is a sophomore at the University of Missouri, majoring in Ag Journalism.  She has a long list of credits to her name, including her current role as Missouri Farm Bureau Youth Ambassador.  She and Tom were both in Washington, D.C. with Missouri Farm Bureau this week.

Yes, an internship should be a learning experience.  Tom tells me that he learns something new from Tyne every day.  She's been a great addition to our team.  She has great pipes for radio, is not afraid to ask tough questions, and she is truly a team player.

Pie for Pat

It's St. Patrick's Day and the entire team is back in the newsroom today.  Perhaps it has something to do with a Learfield potluck event scheduled for noon.  We like food.  Brownfield Promotions Coordinator Lane McConnell brought in a beautiful cherry pie.  Anita Vanderwert, Account Executive Extraordinnaire suggested that perhaps we all just look at it instead of cutting into it because it is so pretty.

None of the rest of the Brownfield broadcast team was as ambitious as Mrs. McConnell.  I will not show a picture of Tyne's tortilla chips or John's six gallons of starch-based deli salads. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Salute to the carnivore

I'm so glad someone wrote this article.  Jason Cannon, Managing Editor of the Clanton Advertiser does not have a vested interest (or so it seems) in the cattle business or the beef industry, but he "gets it."  He understands that the U.S. food supply is the safest in the world. 

I'll admit it. I don't fully understand what mad cow disease is. All I really know is that once they find it in a cow, you'll hear about it for the next few weeks and expert after expert will tell you what a horrible disease it is.

Even though state agriculture and health officials Friday stressed that the infected cow posed no threat to humans or other animals, that won't stop the country's herbivores from lashing out against the practice of eating cows.

Cannon talks about BSE without the emotion that so many non-ag journalists seem compelled to add to the story.  And, as I mentioned before, he "gets it."  He has no plans to give up life as a carnivore.

Because of the way beef is processed - without brain and nervous tissue - mad cow infected beef making it to the market place is even more unlikely. The guidelines for cattle feed are just added precautions.

I have absolutely no intentions of altering my diet due to this case of mad cow. In fact, now that the weather is beginning to warm up, it makes it even more likely that I'll fire up the grill - and beef is my prime choice of grilling fodder.

Oh, and one more thing, why in the world do intelligent people call it Mad Cow Disease?  You do know that this name was invented by the brain trust we know as British tabloid journalism.   I'm sure they've never been between an Angus cow and her calf.  Now that, my friends, is a mad cow.