Very Short Interview No. 1

*Warning to Vegans and PETA enthusiasts this is an interview with a beef cow farmer*

I've always enjoyed the view from our farmhouse, which is the neighboring field of cows. MOOOO!

 

Growing up, these neighbors both owned the land and operated a diary farm. One of my fondest memories as a little kid is going up the lane with my grandmother to the neighbor's barn and getting to milk a cow (the modern way, where you milk by hand just to get it started and then hook up the milking machine), and then being able to dazzle my classmates back home in South Florida about "what I did on summer break" because milking a cow is pretty darn cool.

Today, there are still cows in the field across from our house and the land is still owned by the same neighbors, but they don't run their dairy farm anymore. They shut down the whole business, which was one of the largest dairy farms in the region. If you're not familiar with dairy farming, it's a lot of work, more than crop or beef farming or anything else I can think of, so be happy for those neighbors who finally get to entire the retirement they worked so hard for. Anyway, since their land was already setup for cows, they rent their land to a local beef farmer. That's Frank, and that's who I interviewed.

I was really excited to both meet and interview Frank A. (last name withheld so you won't google him) because I hadn't worked with him yet but my family has and despite my knowledge of moo cows (my cousins had dairy cows too) I know next to nothing about beef cows, and as a landowner it is worth finding out if I'd benefit more from renting to crop farmers or beef farmers.

Interview typed out questions and answers. C for Christie and F for Frank.

C&F Introductions to each other.

C: So, these are your cows right?

F: Yeh, I rent the land from Bob N., but these are my cows.

Note: I withheld the land owner's last name as well for his privacy but it's the neighbor I talked about in the introduction.

C: They're beef cows? Right? Not milk cows?

F: No, not milk cows.

Note: I wish I'd ask if you can tell by looking which kind of cow it is!

C: What kind of yield do you get on your cows, each... yeeear?
F: Oh, I got about 850 last year. I change the bull each year. I trade him in though when I buy the new one. I got some real good ones, a buddy of mine takes them up to Colorado for the testing and everything. He called me this year and said he didn't think he'd get a good price for the bulls so I bid $5,220. The other fellow didn't want to pay the extra $220 so I got him. A few days before the bull was supposed to get here, he called me and said they could only take the bull as far as Kentucky. I asked the driver to call me when he got there so I could meet him. He called me at 10:30 the day he arrived so I headed out but I went south to Evansville first and got all turned around, and when I finally got in the driver told me the right highway to take back, but it was the windiest road I ever drove on so I pulled over and went back to check on the bull. He was laying down but doing fine, and kind of looking like he just didn't have his sea legs. Had to keep him in the shed when we first got back, so we'll see how he does.
Note: Cool to learn that bulls are basically traded in like when buying a new car and considered an investment, like a new piece of equipment that is supposed to improve profits. My team used the bidding trick in the global strategy game when we bid $5,002 and outbid others who put in $5,000. I don't know how often cows are harvested, so I defaulted to a per year measurement. But I was looking for how many cows are sold off so I tried to clarify in my next question.

C: How many of your cows can you sell each year?
F: Oh, I sell the calves. But I wait and sell them in February when the price is higher.
Note: Whoa, does this make him a veal farmer? There are about 5 calves in the herd at this field. And I didn't know there was a harvest season for cows that drives the prices down. Corn is similar, we typically store our corn in our silos (not all farmers have silos) for later sale and what we can't store we sell right away after harvesting. Overall, spreading our sales out protects us from the risk of the fluctuating sale price of corn.

C: How many cows do you have?
F: 'Bout forty, but I have three different locations where I have them.
(F pauses and gestures to really far away at the end of the field)
Black cows are really hard to spot, but you wouldn't think it. They get up back along the trees and just blend in. Whenever I come out to check on my cows, first I have to find them. Sometimes I just wait a bit and then the one with the white face turns and then I've spotted them!
(C squints)
C: Whoa, they actually do blend in. The tree trunks look black too in their shade!
Note: The cows have a good amount of land to roam, in search of yummy grass for their non-stop eating, so even if they were purple I think finding them would definitely be a pain in the butt. I lose track of my pink golf ball on the golf course, I'd never find a cow.

C: Do you live close by? To check on all those fields...

F: (chuckle) 11 miles up the Rio Grande where it turns south.
Note: He's clearly lived there forever and knows everyone in the town, so it's so obvious I'm a non-resident when I ask where he lives.

C: How long have you been doing this?

F: (chuckle) Since 1983.

Note: This is clearly since before I was born, hence the chuckle at my asking about his experience.

C: Have you always been a farmer?
F: No. I wanted to move out here to have more space. We had 3 acres in the city, but not much you can do on 3 acres. You can't hunt or hardly do anything. Some neighbors let me farm their land, started with weed trimming, they didn't want to be bothered with it, and went from there. See (gestures to center of field) I tried to grow some grazing crop out there for this year but it didn't take in time, I wanted them to have it to graze on, but it looks like it didn't grow. I've done hay some years, but not the past few. I do feed 'em though up at the barn.
Note: It is planting season now but it's been really rainy, posing various problems for growing crops.

C: So you also have to come out and feed them? They're kind of skittish, if I walked too near the fence I noticed it, but when Brian had his truck out here, as soon as they heard the sounds of his truck door opening and closing they all came up to the fence and stared. I'm guessing you use a truck? They did eat up all the yellow weed flowers the other day, so they took care of that!
F: Yeah, I come out and feed 'em. They know when it's feeding time. Oh, they eat constantly. They've about eaten everything in there.  When I come up, they know it's me, but if there's a stranger or I bring someone else with me, it's real funny how they do, they know it and won't come near.

C: How many years can a heifer have calves?
F: They have one about once a year.
Note: Not what I meant to ask, I'll try again.

C: For how many years?
F: 18 or so.
Note: That's also not what I meant, I don't know how to say it, so let's get awkward.

C: Is there a cutoff time for them to have babies? Like, I'm at an age where adult women like to constantly tell me "You better have children before it's too late" because of aging. Do cows have that?
F: Well I run mine up to 18 or so but you're probably only supposed to maybe up to 10 or 12 years.
Note: That's what I was wondering, sorry for the awkardness.

C: Nature is pretty much for the same for everything then.
F: Just like adult women, some are better mothers than others. One winter a came up, knew a heifer was about to drop a calf. She dropped the calf before I got there and when I showed up she looked at me like "I don't want nothing to do with this," wouldn't nurse it and walked away from the calf. I had just had a knee replacement but I had to pick up the calf and carry it back to the barn. We gave it milk and everything and I carried it back out to her. Well, she kicked at the calf, she really didn't want nothing to do with it. So I took her up on up and that was the end of that (Note: he killed the bad heifer). Others I got, they're the babysitters, you see the calves hanging around them all the time. They got a special sort of moo or however they do, means danger.

C: So when one heifer rejects her calf the babysitter cow will nurse it?
F: No, she'll only nurse her own.

C: So she only nurses her own but really is the babysitter, just watching the other kids to make sure they don't get into trouble... or danger.
F: (nods)

C: Do you slaughter them yourself too?
F: I used to do my own butchering, not anymore. Usually in winter, cut them up and hung it up in the shed. Now I give them to a guy, he does everything.

C: Was it too costly with all the FDA regulations? Don't you have to kill them with a special machine and everything?
F: Not for your own butchering, there aren't. I was running out of time, just not enough time to do everything, so now he takes care of it. Less mess too. And people get all fussy about it.
C: There aren't FDA regulations if you do your own butchering?
F: My butchering was just for the land owners and such who wanted to try fresh beef.

C: Oh, does the fresh beef taste really different? I would think so...
F: I gave some to my sister and told her go to Kroger's and buy the beef patty there too.  Fry them both up, each in a different skillet and pour it off into a container. The one from Kroger's about a quarter inch -
C: the fats from the skillet?
F: - yes fats and water.
C:  How did yours do?
F: Nothing!
C: It didn't have any fat drain off?
F: Now she says she can't eat hamburgers from the store or at a restaurant, she says it doesn't taste as good as fresh.
C: I bet it does taste better, fresh caught fish back home can't be compared to the store or restaurant.
F: My wife and I think the restaurant tastes the best.
C: (puzzled expression) ... why?
F: Because we didn't have to do all the work!
(group laugh)

End Interview Notes

I know these questions weren't the sorts of questions we were supposed to ask about what we might encounter on the journey of entrepreneurship, but formal questions like that would have been out of place in this setting. Also, I can infer from his answers what type of challenges he encounters and I did find out that he is the entrepreneurship model of "falling into it." 

I was really excited about everything I learned by talking to Frank. My reflections are built into the interview transcript since they were reactions I had to his answers as we were talking. I hope you found it interesting too to learn about local, small scale beef farming right here in your backyard of Indiana!