![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/ColumnHeader_WhosYourFarmer.jpg?resize=350%2C134\" "\\"Column")
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What brought you to the area?<\/strong><\/span> I\u2019ve lived here my entire life.<\/p>\n How did you get started in agriculture?<\/strong><\/span> When I was about 15 years old I started buying beef cattle. As I got older I started working for different farms and different farmers around the area while I continued growing my beef cattle on the side.<\/p>\n What is a typical work day like?<\/strong><\/span> Typically six days a week on the dairy farm we milk the cows every 12 hours. We start about 5:30-6:00 and it generally takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Some mornings I bottle milk. There\u2019s always a fence to be fixed or hay that needs to be bailed and animals that need to be checked. If a store needs a delivery I\u2019ll do that. I have part time help with milking the cows and my wife helps with milking during the evening. I stay in the hay fields working. Sunday we try to do your basic chores. Stop about dark.<\/p>\n What do you like best about working on a farm?<\/strong><\/span> Working outside and working with the animals. Being your own boss. I\u2019d say just complete freedom, even though I have to get up early every single morning I really do look forward to it. If I wasn\u2019t doing it for myself I\u2019d be working for someone. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve always done. I wouldn\u2019t want to work inside a building.<\/p>\n What are you most proud of this year so far?<\/strong><\/span> The success the dairy has had. It was a pretty risky venture because it hadn\u2019t really been done yet. We opened three years ago and the farm has really grown since then.<\/p>\n What are you most looking forward to this season<\/strong><\/span>? Every season we have different things going on, so I really just look forward to every day.<\/p>\n Funniest\/strangest thing that has happened on the farm lately:<\/strong><\/span> Found a cow in the pit where the milking is done.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your favorite vegetable?<\/strong><\/span> Butterbeans.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your favorite insect?<\/strong><\/span> Cricket.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your favorite music to listen to while digging in the ground?<\/strong><\/span> Merle Haggard.<\/p>\n Ever dug up (or found) anything strange\/interesting\/valuable?<\/strong><\/span> An arrowhead.<\/p>\n Name an uncommon vegetable that people should try:<\/strong><\/span> I\u2019m more of a livestock man.<\/p>\n Is there anything you\u2019d like to see change about the way food is consumed in our community?<\/strong><\/span> Well, I could talk about that for a long time. I think it\u2019s good for consumers to have an option. And to know the hands that produce it.<\/p>\n Name one piece of equipment you could not live without:<\/strong><\/span> My tractor.<\/p>\n Tell us one thing you\u2019ve learned that you didn\u2019t know when you first started farming:<\/strong><\/span> Milk comes out of the cow at about 99 or 100 degrees.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/BrownPhoto.jpg?resize=300%2C299\" "\\"BrownPhoto\\"")
What do you do on rainy days?<\/strong><\/span> Whatever the weather is we work with it. We continue to work; it doesn\u2019t matter about the rain. Of course all the dairy work is done indoors; the field work would be the only thing affected.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/brown-family-dairy-milk.jpg?resize=300%2C210\" "\\"brown-family-dairy-milk\\"")
Tell us one thing about farming that most people probably don\u2019t know:<\/strong><\/span> Most farmers truly do love what they do. You have to because there\u2019s not enough money in it if you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n