Pennsylvania Farm Show Extravaganza!

Well y'all it's been a couple days since my adventure to Pennsylvania, but I have been taking the past week to recharge and actually have a break!  It seems like since I got out of school in December it's been a whirlwind of activity!

After my flying fiasco to and from Ohio, I was less than excited to board yet another plane to Harrisburg.  Amazingly, I was able to get there before Katie or Demi with only minor delays and no hassle at security!  Upon arrival, Katie and I met up and were assigned a dorky Nissan Sentra for a rental car - what a good time we had laughing at our little car!  Poor Demi must have acquired my luck for flying and had routine delays throughout the day and wasn't scheduled to arrive into Harrisburg until 11 that evening.  Thus, Katie and I headed out to find our hotel and a bite to eat.  Thanks to Google, we settled on a very authentic Italian "ristorante" for dinner.  Our dining experience was completed with a dracula looking waitress and a family yelling match breaking out in the kitchen! (LOL!)  After dinner, we ventured out to explore the night life.  We had a great time dancing and I'm pretty sure we gave the good people of Harrisburg a laugh at the cooky Texans dancing their butts off!

Demi arrived safely and we bedded down for the night and prepared for a long day ahead!  Saturday morning was opening day for the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the nation's largest indoor farm event!  We were to be stationed in the "Today's Ag Barn", where we would be talking with consumers about our cow calf pair and different feedstuffs used in cattle rations, including some non-traditional ones!  We had lots of interesting discussions throughout the day and befriended the barn hands who were helping us.  We convinced the two barn hands that, upon closing, we would help them take the cattle out to the tie outs (what a bad idea that was!).  However, before that, we attended a very informative session on veal, something which I have very little experience in.  I even got to taste some at lunch, and despite my worst fears and preconceived notions, it was actually pretty darn good!

Veal Training with Robert Supancik

So, back to helping the barn hands with the cattle.  First up was the cow calf pair, of which I willingly took the calf.  That was fairly uneventful, other than the subzero walk across the parking lots to the tie outs!  Next up were the dairy cattle.  Unfortunately for me, someone had put my cow's halter on backwards, with the lead on the left side instead of the usual right.  She was being a pain when I tried to put it on correctly, so I decided to leave it and figured it shouldn't be too much of a problem.  Boy, was I WRONG!!  She drug me, took me in circles and was an overall pain in my butt all the way!  30 long minutes later, we arrived at her stall, panting, and I gladly put her away.  (Come to find out the next day, these cows had never been on a halter.  Thanks guys!)

Dairy cows are not my favorite

Day two was much the same as the first day, save for one man telling us about his pet raccoons (weird).  We were interviewed by Dave Williams, and somewhere out there (I have yet to find it), we were on RFDTV, as well as American Farm Country Radio!  We were able to connect with some media interns and did an interview with them about their ideas on the beef industry. See that here!  We also had the privilege of meeting with the PA Secretary of Ag and the Governor!

Secretary of Ag, Mr. Greig seated left, Me, Demi, Katie,
Governor Mr. Corbett standing right

This was such a cool trip and I am very excited to share it with you!  And my return flight home was eventful as always (including one missed flight and another long day).  I hope that y'all will check out the Beef Ambassadors at http://beefambassador.com/ or on our Facebook to keep up with our adventures!

Until Next Time Y'all!

Alicia

Talking with the Secretary of Ag, Mr. Greig

Beefy Adventures!

It seems like every time I fly, I could write a novel about my adventures. In fact, it gets to be somewhat of a game for my friends to “See What Will Happen to Alicia this Time.”  From routine cancelations to security convinced I am the red-headed terrorist, I have plenty of stories!  Of course, being a National Beef Ambassador, I have the opportunity to fly plenty this year!  These past few days, I have been in Ohio for training with Certified Angus Beef, and this might be the most exciting flight adventure yet!

I left Tucson bright and early on Monday morning, headed to Cleveland with a layover in Dallas.  Upon arrival in Dallas, I come to find out my Cleveland flight had been canceled and I was rebooked to leave in 20 minutes to Chicago, then catch a flight to Cleveland.  Fortunately, the flight to Chicago was delayed, so I was able to make it to my gate and grab a quick bite to eat.  When I got to Chicago, I enjoyed a five-hour layover before boarding my plane to arrive in Cleveland relatively unscathed.  Being able to see my team (and maybe the fact they brought me a steak dinner) helped to erase some of the stress from traveling!

CAB Headquarters

The next morning, we attended a very informative training hosted by Certified Angus Beef pertaining to branded beef.  I certainly felt very special to be in the same class as CAB interns and members of the Junior Angus Board!  We had some awesome food and even were able to take a personality test – which I very much enjoyed!  After the day was over, we headed out to Columbus to our hotel.  For dinner, we found a Hibachi grill, which was very exciting (including the flirtatious couple at our table!). 

The Ladies

Wednesday morning, we made the short drive to Select Sires for a private tour of their facility.  It was so incredible to be able to tour one of the largest bull semen distributors and learn about their company!  At one of their facilities, I had a good laugh at the Jersey bulls; I wasn’t aware of how small they were and how incredibly aggressive and talkative they are!  I think I will stick to our sweet beef bulls!  Upon conclusion of the tour and picture taking (of course!), we headed to the Port of Columbus Airport.  This is where things really took an interesting turn……

We saw off two members of our team, Kalyn and Will, before sitting down to lunch outside security since Katie (our lovely chaperone), Rachel and I were on the same flight and Demi had driven.  Shortly, Demi received a text from her mom telling us that someone had been shot at the airport!  This caused a ripple of unease, but we figured that the news was just behind.  No, they were not.  As we walked Demi to her car, there were police blocking off the entire second level and reporters swarming.  At the time, all we knew was that the police had shot and killed a man.

As Demi left, Rachel and I headed back into the terminal and passed through security easily to meet with Katie and wait a few hours for our plane to arrive.  Typical of my flights, the plane was delayed an hour, and had me concerned I was going to miss my connection to Tucson in Denver.  Sure enough, we were late getting to Denver, but my Tucson flight was canceled anyway, so I spent the night with some terrific cattlewomen in Denver who hosted me for the evening!  I would be on the first flight in the morning to Phoenix, and then have a connection to arrive in Tucson.  So here is the scary part – I was able to get on and check out more about the shooting and found out the man had been acting suspiciously and tried to buy a plane ticket, before wielding his knives against police.  We were right there when all this happened!  I would be willing to bet we were checking in the same time he was trying to buy a ticket.

Real Snow! Typical Southern Girl

So, here is to another adventure and I fly out to Pennsylvania tomorrow morning!  Cross y’all’s fingers for no more delays or excitement!!