Would you like to walk my cows in those loafers?

I'm not sure if it is that time of year for insurance and bank salesman to make their rounds but I have seen quite a few of them lately on my travels.  I was recently dropping off supplies and product (by product I mean semen but i feel product is more politically correct) at one of my customers dairies and I see this man walking towards me in a suit and loafers carrying his coffee and dodging manure spills in the drive.  The best part is I'm sure they guy thought they were mud holes..Ha!  Naturally he walks up to me and asks if I work there....negative ghostrider.  I explain to him where he can find the owner and he starts on his trek down the drive walking on tip toes.

I can't help but think to myself...what exactly does a producer think of a salesman at first impression that comes walking up in a suit and shiny loafers?  Being in sales quite a few years and calling on the lovely people I can tell you first hand that they rarely stop what they are doing to listen to your sales pitch.  Many times I have walked cow pens with these guys or hopped in the tractor and talked while spreading a round of manure.  Are you really gonna walk cows in those loafers?.....some may.

So here is my question.....should we be prepared attire wise for whom we are trying to approach?  Do farmers and ranchers immediately make a decision of your product or if they even want to speak to you by what you are wearing that day?  Should insurance salesmen ditch the suit and come in jeans and boots?  I thought this was a great question because I see so many salesmen show up all fancy to a cattle facility and I think....What really are you going to do?

I would love some input from producers who encounter these fancified salesmen to know if it makes a difference on listening to their pitch or if you don't even noticed or care how they are dressed.

Have a great week and stay tuned because I will be attending my first ever World Dairy Expo!!!

Warrior Dash and Giveaway WINNER!!!!!

This past weekend I did the all amazing Warrior Dash in Grand Rapids, MI.  I did this same race last year and it was so much fun we decided to do it again.  Well....this year was quite a bit tougher.  Last year I had no problem completing all the obstacles with ease....this year not so much.  I had no problem with most all of them except one.  There was a bunch of floating boxes in the water that you had to climb over and there were four sets of them.  The first was no problem until you jumped off the first set of boxes and found you could no longer touch!!  Try pulling yourself up onto a floating box while everyone behind you is trying to grab on because they can't touch.  Needless to say it got quite chaotic.  With that said I encourage everyone to try this race....it is a BLAST!!!

 

The group of us after the race

 

My friend Ashlee and I showing off our warrior faces!

 

 

My favorite part of the whole race.....the Ginormous Turkey leg!!

 

 

On to the important part.....And the WINNER IS.....

 

Dirt Road Dreamer

 

Send me an email with your contact information and address and your Departed Swag will be on its way!! Thanks to everyone who participated and stay tuned for the next giveaway!!

 

Enjoy!



GIVEAWAY!! #WorthTheFight

If any of you read my blog post yesterday you got to get a little preview of Cody Canada and The Departed's new single Worth The Fight that will be on their new album ADVENTUS that is released November 13.  You also got to see a few examples of why my passion for agvocating the Ag industry is Worth The Fight. 

This whole thing got started by Carrie Mess having an idea to incorporate agvocating Ag by showing what we think is Worth The Fight with promoting The Departed's new single and seeing if bringing the two together could bring new followers and support to Ag.  Well I must say I believe she accomplished her goal!  The response was overwhelming and the support from The Departed was amazing!!  On twitter we used the hashtag (#) #WorthTheFight to promote the blog posts and to show what we fought for and by mid day The Departed had shared all of our posts on both their facebook page and twitter.  It was neat to see the comments from people such as "we love to see all your farming friends supporting your single".  I had more traffic to my blog in just that day yesterday than I think I have since I started blogging.

Now onto the Giveaway.....

Since I was thoroughly impressed with Cody Canada and The Departed's support and sharing our posts and tweets I want to share a little Departed merchandise with you!!  How exciting is that?  Since their new album will be coming out in November I will be giving away their current album This Is Indian Land.  I purchased this album the day it was released and let me tell you it is kick ass!  I may have every single album that Cross Canadian Ragweed ever released and Cody Canada is by far one of the most talented people you could meet.  He could play the spoons and still make a kick ass album.  Along with the album you will get their awesome trucker hat.....who doesn't need one of those?

All you have to do to be entered in the giveaway is....

1.) Become a follower of the blog and leave a comment that you follow or if your already a follower comment you follow

2.) Share this giveaway on either twitter or facebook.

The winner will be announced Monday September 17.

Good Luck!!!!

Cody Canada and The Departed + Agvocating = Dynamic Duo

While many of you may already know I am one the biggest red dirt music fans ever if not the number 1 fan!!  I have many favorite bands but one of my ultimate favs would have to be Cody Canada....while I loved him in Cross Canadian Ragweed he is just as amazing in The Departed!

The Departed currently released their first single to the Texas country music scene for their new album coming out November 13 called ADVENTUS. The single is called Worth The Fight and you can listen to this awesome song here!

This song has a great title because it reminds me in some ways why I love agvocating and why I do what I do. Sharing my passion for agriculture is definitely "worth the fight".  While fighting isn't really the motive behind my agvocating but sometimes these debates can get heated.  When you are passionate about something and emotions are involved sometimes you find yourself getting defensive and wanting to fight back.

I have grown so much as a person since I started blogging and sharing my story just by connecting with some of the best agvocates in the industry.  They have taught me how to be a better listener and to try to find a connection with people that share a different view than you.  This will enable the start of a conversation and help to get a better understanding of their concerns instead of just getting into a heated debate and solving nothing. 

Another great lesson learned is to stop trying to create divisions within the industry and to support all sectors.  While attending the AgChat Foundation Advocacy Conference in Kansas city I heard many great statements that really hit hard and made me think about my actions such as "United
We Stand-Divided We Fall" quoted by Michele Payn-Knoper and "If people are eating they are supporting agriculture" quoted by Mike Haley.  There are many choices out there and we should support all choices even if they aren't our choices. 

These great lessons have helped me grow as as agvocate and help me show the truths about agriculture to all those who will listen.  I recently had someone tell me thank you for my blog because it connects them with the correct information and they don't have to sort through all the articles out there and they are able to stay current and up to date on what is going on in the industry.  Those comments are what make it "Worth The Fight".

Now go support The Departed, listen to their single, and buy their album when it's released!!

Enjoy!!!