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I Believe

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Last Updated on Friday, 17 February 2012 12:11
Written by Jennifer Womack
In the coming week, FFA chapters across Wyoming will celebrate National FFA Week with a unified national theme of “I Believe.” It’s a fitting choice plucked directly from the National FFA Creed that begins with the words, “I believe in the future of agriculture with a faith born not of words but of deeds, achievements won by present and past generations of agriculturalists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us from the struggle of former years.”
    The National FFA Board of Directors designated National FFA Week in 1947. The week always runs Saturday through Saturday, encompassing Feb. 22, George Washington’s birthday. FFA chapters across the nation are encouraged to celebrate the week by educating the public about agriculture, hosting teacher appreciation breakfasts, holding events like “ag Olympics” and volunteering for community service projects in their area. Plans for celebrating the week are as numerous as the FFA chapters that carry them out.
    As I think about FFA Week 2012 from a Wyoming FFA Foundation standpoint, we, too, have much reason to celebrate. FFA’s presence in Wyoming is growing. In my mind, that equates to a growing ability to positively influence young leaders and encourage them to reach new heights. Casper recently added CY FFA, the state’s newest chapter. We’re proud to see other relatively recent additions in Evanston and Upton and an additional chapter, bringing the total to three, in Cheyenne. I recently had the chance to see the Upton FFA Chapter in action and was quite impressed with these young people and their advisor, Mr. Shane Bucholz.
    Growth in FFA expands the number of Wyoming students positioned to gain a better understanding of agriculture, consider career goals before heading off to college and develop skills that will prove beneficial lifelong. Among FFA’s numerous strong points is the ability to mold the program to an individual student and his or her goals. FFA members have access to countless opportunities and numerous resources to help them reach them get where they want to go.
    Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to meet several individuals who’ve benefitted from Wyoming FFA’s offerings. Among them are mechanics, welders, bankers, businesspeople, attorneys, college educators, ranchers, medical doctors, teachers, writers and more. Without exception, those with whom I’ve visited have been thankful for the experiences gained through FFA. Whether it was participating in the Agricultural Mechanics competition or researching ag-related topics for Extemporaneous Public Speaking, the skills they developed proved beneficial lifelong.
    If you have the opportunity to attend an FFA event in your community in the coming week, I encourage you to take a minute to visit with the agricultural educator in your community. Beyond challenging our students in the classroom, these dedicated professionals encourage our young people toward self-improvement. The FFA advisors I know have a special ability when it comes to seeing a student’s potential and presenting beneficial opportunities.
    Also, don’t miss a chance to visit with Wyoming’s FFA members. Whether you hear about their projects, the upcoming Wyoming FFA Convention or their chapter’s latest community service project, they have some really great stories to share. In just the past year I’ve seen Wyoming FFA members launch businesses, master career skills, grow gardens to help with the school lunch program, build memorial playgrounds, add learning opportunities to their agricultural education classrooms, help community members in need and so much more. They’re some of the most driven people I know!
    Jennifer Vineyard Wo-mack is executive director of the Wyoming FFA Foundation and a freelance writer. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 307-351-0730.
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‘New Year’s’ Resolutions

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Last Updated on Friday, 17 February 2012 12:11
Written by Jennifer Womack
I’m putting pencil to paper, making plans to have a better me by this time next year. While Main Street America is slimming down and heading to the gym (at least they were two weeks ago) to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions, my thoughts are elsewhere. With calving just around the corner, our annual diet of “too busy to eat and too tired to care” will soon arrive. Plus, long handles and coveralls are in style in northeast Wyoming this time of year so we have until May to address that weight loss item on our “to do” list.
    As for my 2012 goals, now that it’s Jan. 19, 2012…..
    1. Stop procrastinating.
    2. Do things on time.
    3. Editor’s Note from Christy: Submit your column on time (Editors, they think they can change everything, even your New Year’s Resolutions!)
    4. Cow records, cow records! This step will first require that I work through my negative feelings about spreadsheets.
    5. Spend more quality time with Chris and the kids, experiencing the kind of family bonding one can only enjoy while cleaning the barn, plowing snow and working cows.
    6. Let the kids drive more, transitioning the conversation from, “Chris, I’m stuck again,” to “Dad, I got the pickup stuck.” Around here this winter, at least so far, you’d have to get pretty creative to get anything stuck.
    7. Organize the shop. This is Chris’ favorite item and he loves it when I join him in the shop and point out, “We need to clean this place up. Wait here while I go get my label maker.” His next move is always toward really busy or really hard to find.
    8. Ride my horse more and the office chair less!
    9. Get our kids more involved in 4-H and the many opportunities it provides young people. Joshua is still a year away from becoming a full-fledged 4-H member, but the older kids in their club decided he needed an office anyway. As chairman of the calling committee it’s his job to call the members and remind them about upcoming meetings. Chris and I will be adding minutes to our phone plan in preparation for the week our little talker will now be spending on the phone each month.
    January is the perfect month to review your goals, both personal and ranch-related. Without a clear map of where we’d like to be both personally and business wise, it’s hard to chart the steps that will take us there. As earlier sunsets and colder weather force us to spend a little more time indoors, it’s the perfect time to give some thought to where you’re heading, where your ranch is going and the goals you have in mind for your family in the year ahead.
    Jennifer Vineyard Womack is executive director of the Wyoming FFA Foundation and a freelance writer. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 307-351-0730.

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Rhythm-N-Cows

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Last Updated on Friday, 17 February 2012 12:11
Written by Jennifer Womack
It’s 6:50 a.m. and we’re off to the catch the bus. Listening to Tim Lorenz and the Morning Brew on KASL radio out of Newcastle, it’s a fairly calm and quiet commute. The boys might have a morning wrestling match or duke it out over who gets to ride in the front seat, but it’s a pretty even routine.
    Heading back home once they’re dropped off, it’s time for me to feed the heifers and the few remaining calves. While listening to the remainder of the KASL morning program, I catch the news, hear what’s for sale on tradio and sometimes hear the livestock markets. I even hear about “important” research taking place across our country. Just this morning, as a matter of fact, I learned that you’re more likely to die in an accident if you wander around the world with headphones hanging out of your ears. They know this because when they arrive at the scene of some wrecks, the deceased sometimes still has headphones hanging out of his or her ears. Hating to miss an opportunity to put this newfound wisdom to use, I shared it with Bryce when he arrived home from school. I felt it was important for him to know that the risks to his health from earphones reach far beyond the immediate threats from his parents.
    He doesn’t listen to headphones much these days, and we’ve always kept it to a minimum since it drives us both crazy. Bryce is instead opting for the pickup radio, or is that “sound system?” At 3:30 p.m. the calm morning routine for the ranch pickup comes to a screeching halt. It quickly morphs into a three-quarter ton, fire engine red, radio-thumping pasture-cruising machine, complete with a Hydrabed toting a round bale. The once empty and dust collecting CD player is loaded with bass-thumping CDs like “Jock Rock.” I turned it on the other morning and looked around wondering if I was at a pep rally instead of in our yard.
    Folding the back seat up, Bryce puts his dog Bailey in the back and rolls the window down so she can catch a little breeze. And, they’re off! As “off!” as you can be in second gear that is. He uses every last ounce of daylight before returning to the buildings. If he wasn’t less than a mile from the house, I might fret about the diesel he’s burning.
    Being able to hear Bryce feeding the cows, whether it’s the hum of the engine or the thump of the radio, from a pasture away does provide some peace of mind while he’s learning to drive. Plus, the cows seem to like Bryce’s noisy approach and the time he spends scratching their heads and prolonging the chore. I think they look forward to seeing him for more reasons than hay, perhaps the shear entertainment value.
    Joshua opts to stay in the yard and play with the dogs, having not yet acquired a taste for cruising the pasture while listening to loud music. His day will come, and a decade from now Chris and I will be out in the pasture wondering why the cows no longer come when we honk the horn or yell, “Come boss.”
    We’ll have to expand our musical collection, remembering they’re more in tune to the thump of the bass these days.
    Jennifer Vineyard Womack is executive director of the Wyoming FFA Foundation and a freelance writer. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 307-351-0730.
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Dirt Road Nonsense

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Last Updated on Saturday, 07 January 2012 13:32
Written by Saige Albert
Nashvillians, my word for people who live and work in Nashville, have spent quite a little time this past year singing about the whimsical side of country roads. Their tunes include talk of traveling with the windows rolled down, singing your favorite country song and yackety, yack, yack, yack….
    Don’t get me wrong, I like the wide expanse between our home and nearest chunk of asphalt, but let’s be realistic. I think it’s high time some of us who live along dirt and gravel roads suggest some true-to-life lyrical content for a “Dirt Road Anthem.” If I were to write a song about country roads, here’s what I’d highlight…
1. If a car is perched atop a hill, the driver is just looking for a cell phone tower. If they’re in a draw bottom, they’re probably broke down and in need of help.
2. Traveling with your windows rolled down only works about one month out of each year. The rest of the time it’s either super cold or pretty dusty.
3. Watch the flow of the neighborhood cows. When traveling in the dark it’s nice to have a clue where the cows are and where they aren’t.
4. For our dogs’ sakes, limit the amount of stuff you send us via FedEx and UPS. It’ll cut down on traffic, plus they feed our dogs every time they pull in the yard. Given the recent arrival of a new and larger kennel (might not have needed these if the delivery visits and treats hadn’t been so frequent as of late) and heated dog beds, we’re a little suspicious that our dogs have joined the online shopping craze.
5. When the county puts down those car counter strips, do us all a favor and every time you cross them stop, back up and drive over them at least one more time. We’re convinced numbers matter and around here we call it our “get gravel” plan.
6. Allow extra time when traveling in a storm and on the opening day of antelope season.
7. Biggest vehicle gets the right-of-way.
8. If you’re coming to see us in the springtime, arrive early and leave late. Ice is your friend.
9. Watch out for the Schwan’s man. He’s out there, and no matter how good we are at resisting ice cream at the local grocery store, we can’t resist the guy in the big refrigerated truck who is willing to conquer our road in all kinds of weather. There’s no limit to where these guys will venture to hock a tub of ice cream!
10. At the end of Wyoming’s many of dirt roads, you’ll find some hardworking folks who truly appreciate life in America and its numerous freedoms. They might even invite you in for a cup of coffee and a tub of Schwan’s finest!
    Here’s wishing you a wonderful 2012! May Wyoming’s dirt roads connect your farm or ranch to strong markets, a growing understanding about agriculture and our way of life, and a growing interest among young people to preserve our customs and traditions. See you on the county road!
    Jennifer Vineyard Womack is executive director of the Wyoming FFA Foundation and a freelance writer. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 307-351-0730.
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Wyoming Christmas

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Last Updated on Saturday, 24 December 2011 08:50
Written by Jennifer Womack
With Christmas just a few days away, we’re settling into our winter routine. The cows are sorted into their wintertime pastures, the snow moving equipment is on standby and the horses are fuzzy with winter hair. The Womack boys have a sled tied to the four-wheeler, noisily making their way across the ice and sagebrush. With Joshua perched atop a pile of manure freshly raked from the barn and heaped in the sled, they’re multi-tasking.
    While some Wyomingites may be busy dreaming of a white Christmas, I’m perfectly okay with Christmas sunshine. You definitely won’t find me wishing for a Christmas rain like the one we had in 2010. Whatever weather Wyoming brings our way, the Cowboy State is no doubt a great place to spend the holiday.
    Like many ranching families across Wyoming, our Christmas day will begin with a family trip out to check water and feed the cows. We’ll throw our ice skates in the back seat of the pickup and stop for a little fun along the way. The ice is particularly good on our ice skating pond (also known as the stock tank overflow) this year. The boys and I tried it out just yesterday and found we have more room to skate and it’s a little smoother than last year. One still must dodge the clumps of grass and an occasional piece of driftwood. If Joshua ever gets to skate on groomed ice, he’ll probably be an instant Olympian. This is his second year on ice skates and he somehow manages to laugh while recovering from his numerous spills.
    This is also Bryce’s second year ice-skating, but he had a bit of an advantage. When he was younger we lived closer to smooth concrete surfaces and he and I decided to teach ourselves to rollerblade when he was about seven. That, too, was a painful, yet memorable, experience.
    While we were skating yesterday the boys asked where I learned to skate. I never really learned to skate, but managed the art of standing up while wearing ice skates. To Joshua, who spends most of his ice skating time lying flat on his back on the ice, standing equates to pure talent. Throw in a stop and a turn and he can’t believe our audience is limited to a few curious cows peering over the bank.
    When I was in school, each fall students at Sundance Elementary School looked forward to a visit from the local fire department. Their appearance at our school meant temperatures had dipped low enough to create our annual ice skating rink. They’d spray the large smooth area with water from a fire hose and benches would be placed at the rink’s edge. Come recess time, we’d all race out to the playground to strap on our skates. I recall the skating rink being filled primarily with girls while the boys raced down a nearby hill on inner tubes from the local tire shop. As spring rolled around we’d make our way indoors looking more like we’d been to the swimming pool than the ice-skating rink and the teachers would call an end to our slippery fun.
    Fast forward 20 years, and I know the Womack boys won’t remember what was in their stockings on Christmas morning 2011. They will, however, remember the trip to the ice skating pond, a short break from feeding cows. I hope they remember it fondly enough that they bring their own children and grandchildren here for a similar Christmas tradition. Just in case, I think I’ll save our growing collection of ice skates in various sizes and maintain a steady supply of hot cocoa in the kitchen cupboard.
    May your Christmas 2011 be laced with memories and your 2012 filled with countless blessings.
    Jennifer Vineyard Womack is executive director of the Wyoming FFA Foundation and a freelance writer. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 307-351-0730.
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