Tis the season

 

Tis the season ... but not the holiday season.  It's meeting season!  Today we went to the Michigan Milk Producer's Association Leader's Conference. 

 

One of the speakers showed the picture above on her last slide while she took questions.  I whispered to Kris, "That doesn't look like one of our cows."  (She's much burlier than ours.)  Kris said, "Because none of ours have maps?"  I looked again and saw she had the world map photoshopped onto her!  I hadn't noticed.  One of the audience members made a joke about it to the speaker and she did a double-take and said, "I never noticed that before! I've been using that slide forever!"  I was glad I wasn't the only one.

 

Other notes from the meeting:

 

A company wanted to sell milk in China and made it very Chinese - label in Chinese, Chinese-type marketing, everything.  And it flopped.  Apparently the Chinese public wants American and European dairy products with a Chinese label slapped over the other languages.  That way, they know that it's coming from another country.  Buy local isn't popular everywhere.  Glad it is here. 

 

Our general manager was going through sales slides and pointed out that Hurricane Sandy will affect dairy prices this upcoming season.  Due to the displaced people, fewer people will be buying cheese, butter, and milk for holiday gatherings.  No hurricane here in little Michigan, but we're all affected. 

 

A fellow farmer introduced himself to me and said, "I know you worked off the farm first ... why did you want to farm?"  I told him about how we wanted to own our own business, we liked the lifestyle, and we wanted to raise our children somewhere we'd see them all the time.  He agreed, and said he loved his life on the farm for all those same reasons.  The only difference is that we've seen both sides and got to make a choice.  A lot of people farm because their parents farmed and they know it's what they want to do from the beginning.  Both of the ways of life would have been nice, but we just picked.  So far, it's been a good pick.

 

Remember the Pure Michigan gift bag?  The winner, Meghan, sent me a picture of herself wearing/eating/displaying all the gifts at the same time.  PURE MICHIGAN!  Even though she lives in Texas.