Today we celebrated Agriculture and Strong Women

The dreaded alarm clock went off at 6:30am and I immediately checked in on the morning news, Facebook, to discover that not only was today National Agriculture Day, but we were also celebrating International Women's Day. Huh? I thought as I rubbed my eyes, rolled out of bed and made my way to the shower to get ready for a day at the office. It was as I was diffusing my hair (this contraption thing I use to get the ever so popular curly/wavy effect), that it occurred to me why these two holidays are celebrated on March 8th. After my daily contribution of depleting the ozone layer, a.k.a. putting hairspay in the hair, I turned back to the wealth of knowledge social media site, Facebook, to announce what had just occured to me while beautifying myself for a day in an office cubicle. My Post:

While continuing to enhance my beauty I thought about all the women that work in agriculture; how strong and independent they are. I'm fortunate to have such dignified ladies to look up to. That only validated my post! While putting on the final touches, eyeliner and mascara, I realized where my thoughts from this post originated from......

My cover photo on Facebook, see this site really is resourceful! Fortunately I was one of the early adapters that jumped on the timeline wagon and the above photo is my first-ever cover shot. Several friends commented on the photo (by the way, thanks!). After all it is me showing my favorite cow, Miley. Anyways, it was my mom's comment that gave me the initial spark for this status announcement.

"Always raised my girls to be strong women. Who knew MSU was doing the same thing."

Now for clarification: I can't think of a more true statement. Both my mom and dad raised us to be strong women. The second sentence translates from girls to heifers and from women to cows. Miley, pictured above was a successful show heifer back in her show career days. I couldn't have ended my junior career on a better note. Miley went on to raise a calf and won the cow/calf show at our Junior National Hereford Expo last July. She's now a strong, independent cow raising calves in the pasture. That's the definition of a strong woman in the bovine world!

To end here's a few things that pushed us ag girls to be strong women:

•  You must put others before yourself.
• This translates to you must feed, rinse, brush and blow your heifers before you come in to eat breakfast or dinner.
• Summer is only a few months out of the year, live everyday to the fullest
• This translates to the fact that when I started learning to drive the tractor and rake hay, we didn't have an enclosed cab. However, we need hay for our cows so therefore stuck it out sweltering in the heat and humidity. No need for purchasing tanning bed minutes like those city girls!
• If you want to play with the big boys, you need to work with the big boys.
• On a fun note, this translates to if you want to play hard you must work hard and be willing to get up the next morning to feed your cows!

Hands down this was the best way to be raised and to this day I continue to do all of those things listed above. Except for the fact we now have an air conditioned cab for raking hay! All the sweat, frustration and teamwork that comes with a farm developed three little cattle girls into strong women that continue to be passionate about the cattle industry play a role in the agriculture.

N.Starr