2015 Year End Review: Agvocacy

I’ll be repeating myself just like last year but is anyone else wondering where 2015 went? So somehow it’s that time again for my 2015 Year End Review, first taking a look at my agvocacy efforts. This was a big year and yet a very quite year on the blog. The biggest change and achievement was moving here to Guernsey Dairy Mama. I officially kicked off the new site on June 1st to celebrate June Dairy Month and now six months later it is finally starting to feel like home. A huge shout out to Becca of Jumping Jax Designs on helping make the transition smooth and painless, she has seriously been a life saver and I highly recommend her for any of your design needs. Combined with my old site The Oregon Dairy Farmer’s Daughter, I published 27 posts this year. When I launched Guernsey Dairy Mama I added some guest blog posts to highlight my favorite combination of this life; dairy and motherhood. These guest posts were the most viewed posts on my blog this year, be sure to check them out.

1. How to Keep Farm Kids Clean by Krista  of The Farmer’s Wifee
2. Hypothetical Kids by Carla of Truth or Dairy
3. Lessons Taught by Cows by Freynie of Royalty Ridge
4. Moms Just Ask for Help by Laura of Heartwood Farm
5. Attention Young Moms by Diane of A Farm Wife

Of my own writing I did celebrate a fun milestone this year, Five Years of Blogging! I have so enjoyed having a space as an outlet for my thoughts and to connect and share my story along the way is just an added bonus! My other two top posts for 2015 were Choosing Robotics for our Dairy and Christmas Tapioca Pudding. My personal favorite post this year was a little piece I wrote about finding an outlet for you passion in Love Your Job.

While my own writing and agvocacy took a back seat here on the blog, my agvocacy in the real world has kept me busy.  I traveled more this year than I think I ever have in one year’s time frame. I am currently enrolled in two leadership programs and kicked off the year with phase one of the Young Dairy Leaders Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. YDLI is a national program that is a year long commitment to expanding our skills as leaders of the dairy industry. The first phase was focused on personal development and my favorite part was networking with our large class  and making friends and connections all across the country. I need to sit down and write a post on my experience, as I am looking forward to completing the course in February. The second program is right here at home through the Oregon Dairy Farmer’s Association’s Young Dairy Leaders class. This program has really opened me up to how much our stories and connections are needed on the legislative level, an area I thought I would never play in! I’ve now spent two full days in Oregon’s capital and traveled to Washington DC to meet with our representatives there. I’ve really enjoyed learning and digging in deeper to the issues that are important right here at home in Oregon. These two programs have given me a chance to play a bit of catch up, as I feel I didn’t really take advantage of the many opportunities available in the dairy industry for youth. I didn’t think I would end up back on the farm, so gaining more skills to expand myself as a leader in this industry has been an amazing opportunity this past year!

The travels didn’t stop there and at the end of April I again joined AgChat Foundation for their Northwest Regional Conference, this year it was held in Spokane. The quick conference was a nice escape for myself and my birthday treat. I enjoyed seeing friends I had met before, meeting new people and even snuck in a farm visit to see one of the Ladies we had sold to a farmer that has now become a friend.  On the farm this year we’ve been focused on researching and getting all the pieces together for our robotic facility, so we even traveled for work this year. We’ve now visited every robot farm in the Northwest and even ventured to the Midwest in early May. That’s another post I need to get written, are you noticing a trend for this year! I love to travel, so I have thoroughly enjoyed all the opportunities this year has brought!

Wisconsin Guernseys, AgChat NW Regional Conference with Krista The Farmer’s Wifee, Logging air miles, Visiting Carla Truth or Dairy in Michigan

While my blog found me absent I really enjoyed my interactions on social media this year. For some reason I just found it so much easier to be able to quickly post on Facebook and Instagram. And I am all about quick and easy! With two busy boys and a farm the quicker and the easier the better! I doubled my following on Facebook this year and have really enjoyed the messages I get from followers. And on Instagram a picture is worth a thousand words, what easier way to share my story! With 384 posts and almost 24,000 post likes it’s been my faster growing platform this year. While I hope to get back to regular post writing, I really do enjoy the social media world.

2015 was a whirlwind of a year! With the plans for 2016, I have a feeling I will be double feeling the same sentiment this time next year. I am really looking forward to the next year and the changes it will bring to our farm. And hopefully I will be able to document them here with more regular blog posts. I hope 2015 has been a good year for you, I so appreciate all my readers here! Cheers to 2016 and a happy, healthy and prosperous year for all!