The Kansas City Star has a video on their website, This Sow is Protected, which shows family farmer Scott Phillips inside his hog barns.

Phillips explains to viewers how his sows are protected from the weather and fighting, and emphasizes that each animal has adequate feed. The video shows Phillips inside one of the stalls used on his farm, and explains that if the sow was not in a stall designed like his, the sow could lay on her pigs, killing them. The inside of the barns were extremely clean, as were the pigs.

Please take a few minutes to watch this video and get a better idea of what the inside of a hog barn looks like. In California, voters are being asked to ban the use of stalls like the ones seen on this video. As you can see from watching this video, the animals are clean, content and comfortable.

I have to admit that I really didn't feel like doing chores tonight. I don't know if it was the flu or something else, but my stomach was doing a whirl. However, the reality was that I had to go check on some cows that were due to calve and to feed them and our sheep. When I got to the pasture I needed to repair some fence, move the cows to fresh grass, fill the water tank with fresh water and make sure the cows and calves were healthy and happy. Sometime during the afternoon one of our cows had calved and that meant I needed to check it out to make sure it was healthy. Finally after making sure the new calf and mother were o.k. I got to go home and rest.

That is how it is with those of us in animal agriculture. We put the health and comfort of our animals first. Whether it is going out in bad weather, putting our animal's health ahead of our own or spending the entire night with one our animals, we all go the extra mile to make sure they are well cared for. I would bet that most livestock producers know their veterinarian better than their own doctor. In fact, I have my vet on my cell phone and I have no idea what my doctor's number is.

The bottom line is that those of us in animal agriculture are in the business of raising wholesome, safe food, but we also view ourselves as the caretakers of those animals in our charge. We make sure we go the extra mile to make sure they are well-taken care of and comfortable no matter the cost to our own comfort.

The promotions sub-committee of your AFBF YF&R committee has just returned from the 81st National FFA Convention and what a busy week it was! There were around 50,000 FFA members in attendance and the air in Indianapolis was electric with excitement.

We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about the importance of telling the story of agriculture and what are the most effective ways of doing it. It's easy to get down when we are working hard to stand up for our industry and it seems there is someone around every corner ready to knock down those of us that have the responsibility of feeding this nation and the world. But while I was at the FFA Convention, none of those thoughts came to mind. These FFA members are excited about being involved in an agricultural organzation and spending time promoting their organization, communities, and industry. A speaker at the general session that we attended told the members that they would have to produce twice as much food as their parents are. There is no doubt these young agriculturalists will meet this challenge head on with enthusiasm and conviction

The next time you hear that kids today aren't interested in agriculture, don't want to work hard, or any other kind of nonsense like that, take them to a county 4-H show or FFA meeting. They will feel re-invigorated like I do right now and know that our industry will be in great hands.

Do you know what the word Foodie means? Foodie is a term used to describe the growing number of consumers who continue to influence the food grown by America’s farmers and ranchers. As farmers and ranchers, the majority of our time is spent caring for our animals and land while focusing on producing the safest and most abundant food supply in the world.

Our industry spends a lot of time trying to engage consumers, but how much time do America's farmers and ranchers spend focusing on trends in food consumption or marketing? I know I spend very little time focusing on this.

FoodiE-News Blog and the FoodiE-News newsletter are about highlighting trends in food consumption and marketing and is a great way for farmers and ranchers to stay informed about consumer food trends. There are a lot of great articles in the FoodiE-News Newsletter and on the blog. One article that caught my eye on the blog was about the USDA's latest food pyramid for kids.

Take a minute to visit the Foodie Blog and learn more about what Foodies are and how they think!

You can also subscribe to FoodiE-News by sending your name, email address and affiliation (if any) to: foodienews@fb.org.

I have seen the figure that one farmer can feed 143 people.

Agriculture has changed so much through the years! Only about 50 years ago my grandfather plowed his fields with a team of horses!

Now, only this many years later our tractors have GPS, climate control, cup holders, even a spot for our i-pod! Talk about comfort!

If I went back 50 years and told my grandfather how we would be farming today he would not believe it. He wouldn't even be able to imagine all the technology that we have available to us!

This gets me thinking. What is agriculture going to be like in another 50 years? In the past it took all day to work 10 acres, now only an hour. In the future are we talking minutes?

I think about this two-fold. Technology is wonderful; it makes life so much easier! Well, easier until the computer has a glitch! But, on the other hand, is all this technology going to eventually put humans out of a job? I am sure in the future there will be un-manned tractors that will be able to do our jobs.

Gone are the days of old farmer John seen in overalls and a piece of straw in his mouth. Move over for the man OR woman that is techno-savvy keeping up on the latest trends to be the most efficient.

I can't wait to see how many people one farmer can feed in 10, 20, 50 years from now! I wonder how our grandchildren will be farming in 2058.

If there is an un-official holiday in my home state of South Dakota, it is the opening day of pheasant season.

This Saturday, October 18, at 12:00 pm Central Time, friends and family who have gathered from all over the country, will step into the fields in search of pheasants and fellowship. They will assuredly find both.

As a kid growing up, we always had hunters out for opening day. I can remember how exciting it was to hang out with them for the weekend. We got fed plenty of candy over the weekend from the grateful hunters. We had hunters from near and far. Some of our best family friends have been made through pheasant hunting. In the 1950s, some hunters from Indiana stopped at my grandfather's place and asked if they could hunt pheasants. My grandpa asked if they knew the difference between pheasants and livestock. They said they did and they continued to come back to our family farm for almost 40 years. They even made a special trip back to South Dakota when my grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary because of the friendship that ensued from hunting together.

Now that I am older and have kids of my own this tradition means even more to me. While my oldest, who turn six in a week, isn't old enough to hunt, this will be his third trip to pheasant camp. Sharing a tradition with your son that you grew up with fills a father's heart with pride and sears memories into your mind that time can't erase.

With a ratio of 14 pheasants per person residing in the state, this year's hunt should prove to be another great one. While there is a limit on how many pheasants you can shoot, there is no limit on the fun that can be had at pheasant camp for young and old. I hope everyone has the opportunity to share traditions like these with their children.

On Tuesday, October 14, The Oprah Winfrey Show will be discussing how animals are raised on farms. The show is called "How We Treat the Animals We Eat." On Oprah's website, it says the show will cover what "cage-free" and "range-free" really means.

If you go to the message board on the Oprah website, you can see first hand some of the comments from viewers about what they hope to see on the show. One viewer commented the following: "I cannot tell you how grateful I am that the Oprah show is covering this! Like the puppy mill show, this will CHANGE THE WAY WE TREAT ANIMALS! There are numerous atrocities happening in factory farms all over the world right this minute and it's time we stand up for the animals that cannot speak for themselves and change the way business is done!!"

American farmers and ranchers care about their animals and work hard to produce a safe and abundant supply of food for our country, and other countries. And we do this on fewer acres than ever before.

Tune in to Oprah on Tuesday, Oct. 14 and see what she has to say about how we care for the animals we raise. Also, contact the Oprah Show and let them know how we do care for our animals. If the message boards are any indication to what her show will be about, it's going to be up to the farmers and ranchers in this country to tell the accurate version of our story!

To view a preview of the show on Youtube, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MERL2E5YCsA

With many state conventions coming up it means that many young Farm Bureau members are thinking about the contests that the AFBF Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee sponsor.

The Excellence in Agriculture contest is the newest of our three competitions, which also includes the Achievement Award and Discussion Meet, but it is no less exciting. This contest was developed for members that do not derive the majority of their income directly from production agriculture but still play a very important role in our industry. For those that farm or ranch part time or those involved in agri-business, this is a great opportunity for you.

This contest lets you show off your knowledge of agriculture and some of the issues we are facing along with displaying your Farm Bureau and community involvement. And as always, the winner of this contest at the AFBF Annual Meeting in San Antonio will drive away with a brand new Dodge Pickup.

Participating in these contests is another great way to get involved in the Young Farmer and Rancher Program and the committee is looking forward to another great year of competitions. Good luck to all of the contestants. See you in San Antonio!!

Well, we all know that the HSUS is a mastermind at marketing and getting people hooked by promoting their "interest" in the care of dogs, cats, and wildlife. As we know, many don't know that they are truly against animal agriculture as a whole.

Today our daughter, Addison, came home from kindergarten with a newspaper called, KIND News, in her backpack. It explores the definition of kindness and the care of cats, dogs, and wildlife. It caught my attention immediately as we went through her folder as I noticed the website, www.humanesociety.org/kids at the top of the paper. My fears were answered shortly as I looked at the bottom of the front page of the paper and saw that KIND News is a publication of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). I was shocked that something from HSUS made it home with my daughter. I can't even remember what I said, but Addison asked me what was the matter. I told her that the people that wrote and printed the newspaper thought it was wrong that we raised pigs. She was shocked. She asked why did they think that. I told her that they didn't think we took care of our pigs. She continued to be amazed. She said "How could anyone think that. We take care of ourselves, our fields, and our pigs. Who would do it if we didn't. We take very good care of them."

I am so glad that my daughter knew that this was a big deal, but am very sad she has to deal with it as a kindergartener.

I have emailed both her teacher and the prinicpal to find out if every student received a publication from HSUS (I already feel like I know the answer) and how they received the publications. I politely voiced my concerns with them and told them that HSUS essentially wanted to put my family out of business and that I was devstated that Addison had brought something home from HSUS. I haven't heard back from them yet and I don't think I will until Monday since it is a Friday afternoon, but I am anxious to hear back from them.

I know we talk about it all the time, but I am reminded every day why it is so important to tell our story to everyone and anyone especially our children and their educators.