Kellie Gregorich - Farm Strong

Today we welcome Kellie!!! She has a passion for agriculture and is FARM strong!


My name is Kellie and I hale from the eastern part of Iowa! I grew up on a small cow/calf operation. We’re a start to finish cattle farm so I got to see every aspect there was to raising cattle. We raise around 60 Shorthorns, Herefords, and I just purchased my first Miniature Herefords. We used to have more, but because it’s just the two of us, I work full time, and dad is 60, we’ve cut back to make things easier.

Agricultural has always been a part of my life. It means everything to me. If I’ve had a bad day, a day on the farm can take away all the worries, concerns, and bad feelings. Ever heard of ‘runner’s high’? Well I have ‘farmer’s high’. It’s been in my blood for generations. It’s something I thrive on and enjoy doing. Most women don’t get excited about feeding calves, having a bottle calf, grinding feed, or raking hay, but this one does. Farming will be something that I do for the rest of my life. In 3rd grade we had to draw what we wanted to be. I drew “Farmer Kellie”. Someday I hope to be a full time farmer and make 3rd grade Kellie’s dream a reality.

A typical day for me is advocating for agriculture. I am a board member for the Iowa Women in Agriculture, member of Iowa Agri Women, member of American Agri Women, and writer for my own blog on what really happens on the farm. Once I’m done with that I go to work on the farm. As most of you know, there never is a typical day on the farm. We go from grinding feed, hauling manure, sorting cattle, feeding calves, planting crops, harvesting crops, and picking the eggs from the chickens. Every day on my farm is an adventure.

My favorite thing about living on the farm is the environment. That sounds funny doesn’t it? The fresh air, the wind through my hair, the smell of my tractors exhaust, the cows bellowing, the smell of fresh cut alfalfa, and many other great things that others don’t ever get to experience. It’s such a relaxing and comforting place to be. It’s all mine and it’s my favorite place in the entire world. My family knows that if they can’t find me, I’m out in the pasture petting my cows.

One thing I wish people would understand about is animal rights. I’m going to make this short and sweet. Our animals are our livelihood. They feed our families. Animals that are better cared for bring more money to our home. We treat our animals better than our children. Why would we treat our animals poorly knowing that we get less money? Think about that.

I’m farm strong and am loving my life as a women in agriculture! If your interested in learning more about my life and what I do, please follow me on instagram, facebook, twitter, and on my blog!

Thanks Kellie for a great feature! Be sure to check out her blog!!!

Are you FARM STRONG? Tell us about it by becoming the next feature!  E-mail us a foafeature@gmail.com

The Fuhriman's

Today we welcome Emily Fuhriman. Emily and her husband live in Utah. This hard working couple enjoy life on the ranch; tending the cattle, horses and the land!

We live in Grouse Creek, Utah. It's in the upper most north west corner of Utah. It is an hour every direction from cell service and paved roads. Our nearest neighbor is over the border in Nevada about 8 miles away. We live so far out that they just barely got a phone line and internet ran in here last year.

My husband and I both work for Simplot Livestock in Grouse Creek, Utah. We run about 1500 head of cattle, mostly Angus, Brangus, and Charolais cross cattle. During the spring, summer and into the fall our cattle run on private and BLM ground in the mountains near Grouse Creek and during the late fall and through the winter they winter out on the desert in Pilot Valley near Montello, Nevada. So our job is brand, doctor, gather cattle and trail to different feed areas, fence, and so on.

We use to have a full time horse training business in Idaho. When the economy caused the horse market to slow down we started day working more and taking other jobs that would let us stay horseback. Then we found out about a ranch job with Simplot last year we decided that sounded like a nice change. It's a great job, in an awesome location and we get to work together everyday still.

A typical spring day for us would be gathering pairs off the spring pasture, branding calves and turning them out on the summer range. Summer days are salting, pushing cattle out of a grubbed out area into an area with more feed. All fall is gathering the summer range, weaning and shipping calves, preging and culling cows then trailing cows to the winter range in Nevada. Normally during the winter all of our cows are turned out on a winter range and calve out there. This winter, because we had such a dry summer last year, only 500 head went to the winter range and we kept about 700 in Grouse Creek to feed hay to through the winter. This worked in our favor because we have a couple work horse teams, so we hook a wagon or sleigh everyday and feed our cows by hand and then saddle a horse to ride through and check the new calves.

Our favorite part about the lifestyle we have is getting to work together everyday, living in a remote area, and being able to make a living horseback. We can still train a few outside horses and in the summer we get time go show our horses and pick up at rodeos. We are very lucky and neither one of us could ever imagine doing any different.

One of the things that people don't understand about working and living on a ranch is that, yes we get to ride our horses everyday, live in the mountains, but it's a hard life. It doesn't pay much, we live a long ways out, you can't just run to the store for a gallon of milk, summers are hot, winters are cold, you may not see another person for a week, if you run your truck off the road in the winter, there is a good chance another truck won't come by till the next day, and sometimes you have to be here everyday for weeks or months to take care of the animals that you are responsible for. Not to many vacations. Sometimes ranch jobs are short term, you never know when you have to pack up the whole house the next day and move.

Thank you Emily for this great feature! You can follow the Fuhriman's on their blog.

Are you passionate about your way of life? Do you enjoy working with the land and animals? Then we need your story! No blog required - all are welcome to be the next FOA feature!! Contact us at foafeature@gmail.com!