Although only 26, Martin has years of experience after having helped his Father on the farm when he was a young teen. He knew he wanted to be a farmer when farming became a lifestyle and not a hobby. Years later, Martin is active on and off of the farm, working to inform both those within and outside of the ag industry.
Family
In the middle of a burglary trial in a small West Texas town, the 19-year-old defendant is asked by the district attorney if he was in town the night the crime occurred. On the front row of the courtroom, invested but not attached to the case, sat a local attorney and his young daughter. When the defendant responded, ‘No,’ the girl stood up and in a loud, confident manner said, ‘He’s lying!’”
The Balance of Farm and Life
The alarm goes off. Annette swings her feet off the bed and places them into her work shoes. She walks into her kitchen and makes a pot of coffee for her husband Mike. Annette calls for her trusted dog, Jackie, and walks down to her barn. She hears a faint cry in the distance and smiles in relief. As the barn door opens, a new kid goat is spotted laying in the hay.
A couple of cowboys were riding the canyons off the caprock in West Texas before daylight to bring in cows and calves for a full day’s work of branding. As the cowboys sat on top of a hill looking out over the canyon, the sun slowly crept above the horizon. Warm oranges and golds filled the early morning sky.
Tom, Dan, and Ben Griffin graduated from Texas Tech University like their father, and are the fifth generation to manage a portion of the family ranch in Borden County, Texas.
Returning to the farm meant living out a life-long dream for Jeremy Brown. Yet, it was risky. He had a dependable desk job, but that wasn’t the life he wanted. Brown not only continued on the legacy of being a fourth generation farmer; he also attended college at Texas Tech University.
After graduating from Texas Tech in 2009, Braden Gruhlkey had to make a tough choice: would he be an ag teacher, or would he pursue the difficult and risky lifestyle of being a farmer?
Spurs scraping against the porch steps, Cooper swipes off his hat and shuffles his way inside his simple ranch home. Kissing Holly on the forehead, he scoops up his baby girl and says a silent prayer of thankfulness for the life he feels blessed to live and the dream he gets to live daily.
Being in the dairy industry is all Brad Bouma has ever known. Little did he know, he would soon play a major role in what is now one of the quickest growing milk companies in the country.
Born and raised in Burkburnett, Texas, Keith Easter said he is a rancher/farmer or vice versa. While […]
As a daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother of farmers, Dean Huffaker has her fair share of experiences. “We had one little irrigation well, and we had to water through ditches,” said Dean Huffaker as she recalled a lifetime of farming that had not been talked about in years. Over the years, she has seen many changes in farming, but one thing that has not changed is the families themselves.