Life after cows.

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Agmoos

Anatomy of a dairy exit and dispersal. Community support softens sting.

More than a few families can relate to this story and others are examining the fork in the road to see which direction their family farm businesses should take. Farmers are aging, and discussions are being had around kitchen tables all across Rural America about the future, whether to expand and modernize, exit, diversify, or stay the course. Even as farm families persevere in these difficult times of steep losses and low commodity prices, some are making the tough decision to exit dairy production.

These decisions are rarely easy, particularly when cattle values are down and next generation career paths are uncertain — or evolving away from the farm. The future doesn’t always follow a plan even when there is a plan. It is a tough economic time to sell a herd, a life’s work, and to send the next generation of cattle and children off to new pursuits, pathways, careers, lives…

Bittersweet. Thankfulness shines through in this video where end makes way for beginning … Whether living it or leaving it, the steps forward are grounded in faith, and a whole lot of love.

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8

By Sherry Bunting, Farmshine, Nov. 4, 2016

HANNA, Ind. — “It’s not like a death, but in a way, it sort of felt like that, at first,” said LuAnn Troxel a few days after the herd dispersal of 215 lots plus calves and embryos at Troxel Dairy Farm on October 20. “The first cow started selling, and I was concentrating on that, and then I got busy, and before I knew it, the last cow was selling. But when I saw the big semi-truck back in for the largest load, that’s when it hit me as final. They are leaving.

She was quick to add that her “heart is so thankful for what we have and for all the people who came out to support us. The auctioneer was right, these cattle are the future, and our son Rudy did an incredible job with the genetics. Young dairy producers who purchased some of these cattle will have some valuable animals to work with, and that feels good.”

Sale day dawned rainy and cold, and the community came out in large numbers, with over 70 registered buyers. Many came for morale support and to enjoy the hot chili and baked goods provided by their church family with a free will offering raising $5000 for the Harvest Call Haiti Dairy Project.

Dr. Tom and LuAnn Troxel had made the decision to exit the dairy business a year ago. Certainly the cattle would have brought more a year ago, than they did a month ago amid October’s downturn in what had appeared to be a recovering dairy market, burdened further by a rapid decline in the beef market that often softens dairy cattle market values.

The sale consisted of over 100 grade commercial cows and another 125 registered Holsteins of all ages, and about a dozen Jerseys. Son Rudy had developed the registered herd in his four years of full-time employment on the farm.

Registered cattle with genomic numbers ranged $1800 to $2200 with not many lower and a few higher. The average for the full sale — including unregistered grade cows and the younger heifers over three months old — was $1453.

The top sale was Lot 62 MS McCari Nomi 57900-ET. The fresh 2-year-old with a GTPI of +2525 sold for $5500 to Russell Springs, Kentucky through Max Dunseth of Holstein USA. Her Mogul daughter — a calf born July 24, 2016 and with a GTPI of +2600 — was the second-high seller of the day at $3800.

Dunseth purchased a load of cattle for various orders, and the largest volume buyer purchased 34 cows, both registered and grade, on order to Illinois.

Other volume buyers supported the sale, including Andrew Steiner of Pine Tree Dairy. With Pine Tree genetics in the young registered herd — and several sale offerings descending from the Rudolph-Missy family — Steiner said he was looking for protein, and remarked on the quality of the cattle. He and his wife Julie took 14 head home to Marshallville, Ohio.

The balance of the cattle sold locally to the many in-state buyers. Several neighbors said they were there “to support the Troxels” and came with plans to buy one or two good cows from “some really good people.”

Young dairymen from nearby Indiana counties purchased for their young dairy herds. One from Elkhart called two days after the sale to say how well the nine cows he bought are working out for him and how “really nice” the animals are.

The Troxels’ niece, 10-year-old Anna Minnich, brought her checkbook and bid on several Jerseys. She had lost her Jersey cow Elegance at calving in September and ultimately purchased one of the Troxels’ Jersey cows named Utah as a replacement, along with two calves from the same family — Utopia and Unique. Anna plans to show them next year.

A local heifer grower purchased some registered heifers, and another buyer purchased two for himself and an additional registered heifer with great numbers to donate to the Mennonite Disaster Committee heifer sale, showing how people in this industry want to give back.

“We had quality animals, and they sold for what the market would bear,” said Dr. Tom, with a smile, when asked how he viewed the sale outcome. “I am glad they did not have to go to the livestock auction.”

Last fall, just eight buyers attended the small string sold ahead of this year’s complete dispersal. “One cow that we didn’t sell last year brought $400 less today,” LuAnn observed. “That gives you a true indication of the strain we are all under.”

But despite the strain, having more than 70 registered bidders, and such an attendance from the community, helped soften the sting. Dr. Tom is well known to the community as a large animal veterinarian who operated the dairy as the second generation on the farm, with LuAnn a prominent dairy advocate.

“To know people were here and that they cared about the cattle did insulate us a little,” LuAnn added. “We could not have gotten even these prices for this many cattle on just the market, alone.”

Many connections were made between articles, ads and social media that resulted in buyers no one expected. The buyer from Illinois taking 34 cows was one example. A college friend of her daughter-in-law — both having no farm background but marrying into farm families — saw the note about the sale on Facebook, and her husband bid online. In fact there were some cattle in the sale that lit up the online Cow Buyer computer and had ringmen and order buyers on their phones taking bids. Courtney Sales, LLC managed the sale.

“The decision was made and we kept with the plan to move forward and trust God to work out the details,” LuAnn added.

While farms have to have money to make things happen and get by, LuAnn expressed what many dairy farmers feel, that “while money is necessary, it is not the primary motivator or we would have exited the dairy business a long time ago,” she said. “Family is huge in this. Most of the time dairy farming is good for families, but these tough downturns do put a strain on families. We are blessed to have worked together and to have raised our family here on the farm.”

Having all four boys come home for the sale and hearing them talk, reinforced that sentiment.

Each of the sons took in the sale preparations and the emotions of the sale day differently, but the bottom line was in saying goodbye to a piece of who they have become. While the farm and veterinary practice go on, the cows are leaving and they were central to life on the farm.

“I have to believe that what we have done for 33 years has been beneficial to our boys, but also to the 30-plus high school kids we’ve employed here over those years,” LuAnn acknowledged.

Certainly true as they have all stayed in touch over the years and some came out to the sale.

“We tried to make our dairy something that people felt good about, where kids could learn how to take care of an animal and have it be something that they remember fondly, that they could work here and develop into responsible young adults with the confidence that comes with knowing and doing something that is bigger than yourself,” LuAnn related.

She will miss the girls that have most recently milked for them up until the sale. “They were laughing and talking about the different cow personalities and wondering how it will be for them at their new homes. All of this life around the animals just adds to the richness of the dairy experience and why this is such a compelling lifestyle.”

There are so many aspects to a family’s decision to exit the dairy business. First comes the realization of the next generation’s plans for their own families’ futures. Next comes the actual sale planning, which can be very time consuming, so much so, that the emotional weight of saying goodbye to the animals is not top-of-mind.

In addition to coming out to buy cattle and be supportive, some sale attendees indicated they are facing similar decisions and wanted to see how it all works. Others had read the articles and just wanted to be there. Still others knew they wanted to bring a few of the Troxel girls home to their farms.

As the Troxels adjust to life after cows, LuAnn notes that other producers, who have been through this process, have encouraged her to “hang on to find the blessing in this decision.”

At the moment, she still has 20 calves to feed, and there are six dry cows to calve. While they sold all of the registered animals of all ages, plus the grade milking cows, they kept the grade dry cows and unregistered young stock to sell later as fresh or springing heifers.

“It is strange to walk out and see just one or two cows,” LuAnn said with a hint of emotion. “But we have heard from some of the buyers. And that’s good. It’s good to know they appreciate our cattle.”

In fact, buyers repeatedly complimented the family on sale day about the quality of the cattle as they paid their auction bills and backed trailers in to load.

“They did look good,” said LuAnn, not in a prideful way so much as satisfaction for having raised good, productive, healthy animals that will work for their new owners the way they worked for the Troxels.

“There’s no time to dwell on it,” she said. “The boys were all home and they are leaving today. Then we help move Rudy and his family to Wisconsin for his new job with Genex-CRI.

“We knew all of these changes would be coming. It is just strange for it to be so quiet here. The challenge will be the transition from going a million miles an hour to having it just stop,” she explained. “First, we’ll take it easy, and then, we’ll get at it. Next week the vet calls will need to get caught up, and then we’ll need to figure out what our new normal is, and that will take a little time.”

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Honor and humility, rights and responsibility… earning what they have done for us

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Agmoos

On this Veteran’s Day as our nation faces a time of unrest and divisive labeling, let’s take time for personal reflection, responsibility and humility as we honor them.

This day is dedicated to American Veterans of all wars who have protected our freedom and serve as courage and light in what can be, at times, a dark world.

This time of honor began as Armistice Day, tracing back to the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when an armistice, or temporary stop of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War, then known as “the Great War.”

In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day.

When I found, a few months ago, my grandfather’s scrapbook from 1945-46 — his time of active duty as a U.S. Army Air Corps Airplane Engine Mechanic in Okinawa — I am moved by the stark black-and-white truths of war and peace, of ordinary work co-existing daily with supreme sacrifice.

We owe a debt of gratitude to our Veterans throughout our nation’s history. It is a debt that we cannot adequately repay. But we can try — by shifting our focus from the rights their service has protected, to the personal responsibility in which those rights live and are secured for future generations.

Tom Brokaw, author of “The Greatest Generation“, wrote: “A common lament of the World War II generation is the absence today of personal responsibility.”

Brokaw also makes this observation in the book: “There on the beaches of Normandy I began to reflect on the wonders of these ordinary people whose lives were laced with the markings of greatness.”

Throughout the conflicts our Veterans have endured, we find in them a humble sort of pride in something bigger than themselves that underlies their sacrifice.

I pray we come together as a grateful nation.

In reflecting on and honoring the sacrifices, tribulations, triumphs and resilient transitions of our Veterans, I think of the famous words of President John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”

Young Americans throughout our history answer this call — selflessly. They are our Veterans, and Thank You is not enough.

In the words of Private James Ryan standing over Captain John H. Miller’s grave as depicted in the movie “Saving Private Ryan”… Tears in his eyes, he said: “Everyday I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge; I’ve tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that that was enough. I hope, that at least in your eyes, I earned what [you] have done for me.”

For me, today is a time to reflect not on the rights our nation’s Veterans fought for — or what I think I am entitled to, deserve or desire as an American — but rather the personal responsibility and humility with which we can come together and earn what they have done for us.

Please join me.

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Below, found between the pages of Papap’s 1945 WWII photo scrapbook. And in boxes, more photos and volumes of letters, news clippings, AP engine models, engineering homework and so many things he and gramma saved that I’ve yet to read through.

The people have spoken, let the healing begin

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Agmoos

By Sherry Bunting, Market Moos, Farmshine, Nov. 9, 2016

In the words of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) just moments before President-Elect Donald J. Trump gave his acceptance speech in the wee hours of Wednesday morning after Tuesday’s stunning presidential election: “This is the most incredible political feat I have seen in my lifetime. Donald Trump heard a voice out in this country that no one else heard. He connected in ways with people no one else did. He turned politics on its head.”

“This is unlike anything we have seen in our lifetime,” said CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer.

As election results came closer to finalizing Trump as the winner Tuesday night, along with evidence that the Republican majority would remain in the U.S. House and Senate — the global financial market futures tumbled lower in overnight trading.

But as the sun came up Wednesday morning, four hours after Trump’s acceptance speech, the reality of a President-Elect Donald J. Trump began to set in, and traders began to realize the positive things such as job-stimulating corporate tax cuts, reversal of burdensome executive-branch regulations, and the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

Just 13 hours after the election was called, Wednesday’s Stock Market rose steadily, and the Dow Jones hit a brand new record high at +310 settling +256 on the day.

Business news analysts started the morning reminding the public that 2000 new regulations had been formulated and implemented during the Barrack Obama administration — most aggregious may be the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS).

In addition, analysts referred to Trump’s pro-economic growth plan as “very solid,” and with a Republican Congress, can be put into play. This, along with re-evaluation of trade agreements, has U.S.-based businesses thinking positively about a different future from the status-quo future they had braced for and which was built into the pre-Election levels in the financial markets.

As one business analyst put it: “Small businesses have been hungry for Trump-economics, and small businesses have been feeling the full weight of the 2000-plus new regulations and Obamacare.”

That includes farmers and ranchers, who — together with the ‘rust belt’ blue collar workers — helped swing states and formerly Democratic states add to the Republican candidate’s lead.

On ABC News, commentators noted “Rural America is more important than we thought.” On other news stations, the term “flyover land” was used to describe locations of folks who voted in-force and why the pre-Election polls were so wrong.

Yes, Rural and Middle America voted, and the demographics showed those votes for Trump came from a more diverse demographic than one might imagine in terms of race, gender and other factors with which the media and political pundits attempt to pigeon-hole We the People, as voters.

Most telling were the exit polls, that 89% of Americans interviewed after voting said the need for change was their most important election issue and that led to decisions of more people than expected voting for Donald Trump.

Political analysts note that the election was very decisive as even in the urban areas, core constituencies consolidated around Rural America and the blue collar workers of our country.

Still, as they examine “what happened” to their wrong pre-Election predictions, the mainstream media characterize Rural and Middle America repeatedly using the condescending term of “uneducated.” They will have to think some more to grasp what the people have said, as they have spoken at the ballot box in this historic election.

In fact, much of the weight for healing rests with the mainstream media and their persistent focus on our differences and demographic ‘slots,’ that tend to incite unrest.

Looking at the election results, take for example my home state of Pennsylvania. The Keystone State’s diverse people rejected the status quo and voted for a change. It was the first time Pennsylvania has voted for a Republican candidate since the senior George H. W. Bush in 1988. In fact, the map of results depicts it.

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, a humbled President-Elect Trump said: “ It is time for us to come together as one united people… I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all Americans. This is so important to me.

“For those who have chosen not to support me … I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country,” said Trump.

“As I’ve said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family.

“It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people — and serve the people it will. Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream…

“The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer,” Trump said.

In her concession speech, Secretary Hillary Clinton encouraged her supporters to “keep and open mind” and “give him a chance to lead.”

President Obama encouraged the nation to come together because “we are all on the same team as Americans.” He said his administration would follow the professional example set by his predecessor George W. Bush in the “peaceful transition of power that is the hallmark of our democracy and which we will show the world in a few months.”

Among the first orders of business for the Trump administration appear to be the repeal and replacement of Obamacare and to deal with executive orders such as WOTUS, along with work on current and future trade agreements and incentives to keep jobs in the U.S.

But even more important will be the necessary work to heal this land, that the exchange of ideas is healthy and as the pendulum swings between them, we realize what drove this election was the desire to look inward and resist to some degree the push for globalization and the global structure in which Americans lose autonomy, identity, independence.

A few personal thoughts:

My grandparents, Ace and Dot Jacobs were married nearly 70 years until in death they did part. My grandfather, a WWII veteran, was a devout Republican, my grandmother, a seamstress, was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.

Papap knew better than to discuss politics, and yet he did not make his votes or views a secret.

Gramma would have been upset by this election outcome because she longed to see the first woman president and she detested Donald Trump. She was here to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. And she knew where I stood on the Republican side, ultimately supporting Donald Trump. We talked of it a few times, rationally, before she died in July.

If two people — who would view yesterday’s outcome so differently — can be happily and lovingly married nearly 70 years or be loving grandmother and granddaughter for over 50 years, there is hope that we as Americans can come together and solve our problems despite our differing political views.

It is crucial that we stop slapping labels on each other’s points of view before hearing where it truly comes from and what is being said. And in articulating views and courses of actions, we can take greater care to get to the issue and avoid the hyperbole that fuels this divisive labeling.

In short, this election was not about all of the negative labels the press list for us… It represented how the little folk of all races, religions and creeds did exercise their vote to make substantive change in the course of this country and in repudiating the elitism that has persisted for so long.

It would help if the media and the pollsters stop criticizing folks without college educations. Granted, I never did achieve my college degree, but I got two-thirds of the way there, and I — like many who voted for Trump with or without a college degree — work hard every day with integrity and compassion and should not be characterized as uneducated and angry as main traits.

I am hopeful at Trump’s words that he will reach out to those who supported Hillary Clinton for their guidance on the healing course of the future. I am hopeful that our nation’s leaders will never again take the little folk who work quietly in the background for granted.

We all need each other.

Like the differences in our American landscape from sea to sea, and everything in between, each of us have differing backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, hopes, dreams, aspirations, and other context for our lives.

We may be surprised by the positives that can come after what has been such a negative election process this year. Can this catharsis be the point from which to move forward?

Together, we make America great. Together, we make America good. Together, we make America home.

Leaving boots in the mud to seek new ground on Tuesday

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Agmoos

Editorial Comments by Sherry Bunting, Farmshine, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016

flag19 Agriculture is at a crossroads, and so is America. But the choice of paths that lie before us are neither clear nor direct.

When we go to the polls on Tuesday, it will be with mixed thoughts and emotions.

As the mainstream media analyze and over analyze every breaking news story, every “narrative,” every campaign “spin,” every poll, every issue that they deem important, there is much that gets left on the cutting room floor — important issues that no one really talks about, and yet they are harbingers of our future.

What they don’t talk about – of course – is agriculture. What they don’t talk about is the backbone of our economy, the original resource from which all other facets of the economy are made possible.

Take, for example, Hillary Clinton’s speech to financial institutions, where she said she dreams of one world, one economy, without borders. When pressed on that issue, her response was to say that, ‘Oh, that speech! I was talking about the energy economy, a worldwide energy grid. I want the U.S. to be the renewable energy super-power of the world.’

A convenient response to a concept that should give us all pause — in and outside of agriculture.

In talking with farm folk who volunteer for missions or projects in third-world countries where helping to establish indigenous agriculture practices and infrastructure is deemed so important, it hit me: We will be that third-world country — maybe not in my lifetime – but nevertheless that is one path on this crossroads if we do not take care to protect our farms and our farmers. Not only is their stewardship of the land vital to regional food security, but they are the place-holders for the essence of our liberty as a nation. Private property rights and ownership are the keys to our freedom as a nation, as a people.

Globalization is happening at a rapid pace. Running parallel to globalization is market concentration as mergers and acquisitions put more and more power into the hands of the few when it comes to food and agriculture. And then those ‘too big to fail’ entities are being sold off to foreign nations, like China, who already owns, according to the Department of the Treasury, $1.24 trillion in bills, notes and bonds (about 30%) of the over $4 trillion in Treasury bills, notes and bonds held by foreign countries.

That, my friends, is the auctioneer’s gavel on our national debt. True to form as a businessman, Donald Trump is talking about the national debt. Hillary Clinton is not.

Exports are said to be necessary for all agriculture commodity markets, especially dairy, and while I believe exports are important, they are not the end-all, be-all – except to the multi-national companies that view us as though they are on a satellite in space counting their dots on the globe: production units or consumption units, bars on a graph, slices on a pie-chart, numbers on a sales report, quarterly statements to shareholders.

In these third world countries I referenced earlier — where the good folk of the USA help farmers establish themselves — one of the first realizations is that when we throw cheap food at them, through exports, they have difficulty getting their own agriculture established to have the food security we Americans enjoy and truly take for granted.

Think about that for a moment. Are we not in danger, ourselves, of going down a path that could leave us food insecure?

The trade agreements that give our farmers market access to foreign markets also give our domestic market away to foreign imports. The give and the take are contrived and uneven. Winners and losers are made, created.

There is nothing fair or free about world trade because nations are losing the ability to care for and protect their own – particularly the U.S. – and we don’t even realize it. We are focused on the tantalizing allure of what we can sell … so that we are blinded to being sold-out.

The magician’s trick. Watch the elaborate thing I am doing with my left hand while I fool you with my right.

Many of these trade agreements are not free and fair trade, but rather a march forward to globalization, where the World Trade Organization and the United Nations become a higher power than our own Congress, our own President.

We saw just a tiny inkling of this, firsthand, when Congress quickly repealed the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) last March, and when the administration lifted the ban on Brazilian beef in August, and when the first boatload of beef hit Philadelphia, via JBS, just three weeks ago, followed by a rapid downturn in cattle prices here at home.

We’ve already seen foreign interests, namely China, purchase Smithfield and Syngenta, to name a few. This week, the Dallas News reported that a team of Chinese bankers and a Chinese dairy are considering a possible takeover bid for Dean Foods, our nation’s largest milk bottler that handles 35% of the raw farm milk produced in this country.

What does this have to do with Tuesday’s presidential and congressional election? Plenty.

You won’t hear Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump talk about agriculture, specifically, but listening to their differing outlooks, overall, a few things are clear and have helped me make my choice for next Tuesday.

For me, voting for a third party candidate or writing in a name like John McCain (as previous candidate and Ohio governor John Kasich did) is not an option. Neither is it an option to write in Mickey Mouse or to leave that part of the ballot blank.

Folks, this is serious. This presidential election – for all of its circus acts – is no circus. This is our future. This is the future we are handing to our children and grandchildren. I, for one, cannot trust it to a candidate who has spent the past 30 years in the political realm as a profitable public servant, and has wasted so much of that time on her own agenda with such disregard for the rules others live by as to again be under investigation.

I will vote between the two major party candidates based on what I know about their outlook on the future along with what my gut tells me about the investigations into their pasts and what it says about what they could or would do with the power of the Presidency in the future.

Neither candidate lives like we do out here in middle and rural America. But, at least one of the two candidates lives outside of the political realm.

We are governed by career politicians embroiled in endless self-perpetuation. The more paralyzed they are in their elected offices, the more power is diverted to the longstanding and quite powerful bureaucracy whom are elected by no one.

Everyone complains about the gridlock inside the beltway, like nothing ever gets done.

Wrong.

Plenty of work is getting done in Washington D.C., it is just mainly the work of career bureaucrats that exercise more control and make us weaker, tearing at our moral fabric, eating away at the base of our economy, ripping through our roots, and chipping away at our freedoms.

There is a power- and land-grab underway in this country. Most all agriculture commodities are at prolonged below-breakeven prices while the political elite is poised to push yet another trade agreement, the Trans Pacific Partnership, into the mix.

Meanwhile, we have a hammer of political correctness keeping us in our place, not daring to be free thinkers. Many voices are silenced as the economic and moral decay are inextricably linked.

Take, for example, the way we accept how the government imposes ridiculous rules on what our children can eat for lunch at school. All things are connected so that local communities cannot even feed their children the way they see fit. Those rules, incidentally, create winners and losers. And in so doing, the voices of the affected are silenced.

We have a runaway EPA with the implementation and flawed interpretation of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) legislation that threatens to create a second wave of land-grab after the market pushes a first wave of farmers off the land.

And then there is the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) and their silver-tongued Wayne Pacelle. He is campaigning for Hillary Clinton. Her animal rights agenda dovetails with the candidate and Democratic Party’s obsession with climate change — right down to the livestock and dairy cattle on our farms.

There is so much more I could say, but to summarize, consider this: Who better to tackle over-regulation, unfair trade agreements, national food security, a vital agriculture, family farms and small businesses besieged by a labyrinth of complexities foisted upon them by a government run by self-perpetuating career politicians and ever-present, accountable-to-no-one bureacrats than a business man — a man that for all of his faults, at least does not live and has not spent 30-plus years operating in the self-perpetuation of the D.C. beltway.

We need to break free of the career politician mentality and breathe fresh air and common sense into the mix as well as to toss a bit of our sensitivity and political correctness to the side to break the cycle we are in and alter the path down which we are being led.

For all of his faults, Donald Trump is the only one of the two less than optimal choices we have in this election that fits that description.

Even on immigration reform, he is the one to have the best chance of getting it done. Only after our border is secured will our divided nation have a chance to come together with compassion for the illegal workers who are here today, working hard, making a contribution and raising their families that were born here. I have listened to Trump on this issue, and I get it. He is leaving room for that conversation after the border is secured and the estimated two million illegal immigrants that have committed crimes are properly dealt with. He will consult the American people on the next move after that first important move.

Election after election, candidates promise to shake things up, bring about change, bring people together, work for the people, protect our country.

Meanwhile, the beltway fills with sludge and slow-motion sets in to the point where boots are stuck.

Instead of standing fast, I’m leaving the boots in the mud, these bare feet are seeking new ground next Tuesday.

Ag Moos

Monthly Archives: November 2016

Life after cows.

Anatomy of a dairy exit and dispersal. Community support softens sting.

Honor and humility, rights and responsibility… earning what they have done for us

The people have spoken, let the healing begin

Leaving boots in the mud to seek new ground on Tuesday

Anatomy of a dairy exit and dispersal. Community support softens sting.

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