Sandra Mathieson, DVM, SimmentalBreeder, Film Maker, and Agricul-tural Educator, Bellingham, WA

My older brother was active in FFA.I was a farm girl in the 60s with a dreamto be in FFA. The problem was, thereweren’t any girls in FFA. There neverhad been. By tagging along after mybrother, I got to know the FFA Advisor.

In the years prior to high school, I pestered and begged him tolet me into FFA someday. I must have worn him down, becausein the fall of 1970, my Freshman year, he allowed me to take agclasses and join FFA. It opened up the door and two other girlsfollowed me that year.

There was a great deal of prejudice toward girls in FFA. Thenext four years were difficult, I had to go “above and beyond” toprove myself again and again. And I did. One of my highlightswas teaching the boys how to castrate calves on my farm andsome of them got nauseated.

I enjoyed the judging contests and going to the state conven-tion. There are still banners (dusty!) hanging in the Ag/FFAclassroom with my name on them. I made many new friends forlife and learned a great deal in spite of the challenges. One ofthe things I learned was to persevere. There were a couple timeswhen I felt it wasn’t worth the battle, but in general, I keptworking to prove and improve myself. I am proud to have beenpart of FFA’s history during that somewhat turbulent time ofchange when girls first emerged as an active and importantforce in FFA. During their high school years, both of my daugh-ters were both active and successful in FFA at the same school Iattended. FFA had a positive influence in their lives as well.

I have a herd of Simmental and SimAngus cattle in Belling-ham, WA. My first Simmental sired calves (two) were born in1975. MFS Sunshine 1G became the foundation for my herd; shelived to be over 20 years old and adopted an extra (abandonedtwin) calf in her last year. I still have a few of her ancestors.Simmentals remain my favorite breed.

Tim Ishee, Simmental Breeder andJones Junior College Instructor, Laurel, MS

FFA made a big impact on my lifeand the life of others. My Dad, who wasan outstanding Ag teacher and multi-award winning FFA sponsor, passedaway several years ago and was myhero. My son is named after him. He

would be so proud to see the cattle that we have been blessedwith since I started my FFA project so many years ago. I boughtmy first cow with my own money at age 13. This cow started mycattle S.O.E.P. (supervised occupational experience project)with the FFA, which led to the Simmental cowherd I have today.

Also, I was able to pay for my college tuition with the steersthat I showed and sold through my FFA project. My college edu-cation, in turn has allowed me to teach, and hopefully inspire,over 2,000 college ag-science majors.

Little did I know, that when I was in the 9th grade learningthe FFA Creed and giving it in a speech, that I was getting pre-pared for my future. I have given cattle selection seminars andspoken in front of thousands of cattlemen. In the last few years,I have given cattle judging seminars in Costa Rica, Guatemala,Mexico and most recently Colombia, South America.

My FFA record-keeping project with my cattle turned into abusiness for me. We have just completed our 29th year of A.I.work, which has yielded some truly outstanding cattle. We havesold bulls to cattlemen in Montana, Oregon, South Dakota,Wyoming, Texas and in the Southeastern states with a lot ofbulls to Florida. We typically do not produce enough bulls to fill meet our customers needs. We have also sold live cattle,embryos and semen into seven foreign countries.

20 October 2010

Billy Moss, Simmental Breeder andretired Ag Education Instructor,Athens, GA

I retired after 31 years of AgriculturalEducation service, spent five years as aclassroom teacher and 26 years as theArea Livestock Teacher in North Geor-gia. In this capacity I worked with andassisted local Ag Ed teachers in their

Animal Science programs. I also was heavily involved withGeorgia’s Junior Livestock program, serving as Co-Chairman ofour state’s Steer and Heifer shows. I also taught adult educa-tion classes in livestock production in North Georgia countiesand helped establish Georgia’s Bull Power Group, now servingas its Program Coordinator. Bull Power is a marketing Groupthat develops Angus, Simmental, SimAngus, Balancer and Here-ford bulls and has a sale the first Friday in November. Igraduated from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tiftonand the University of Georgia.

My first encounter with Simmental was in 1971. I was aherdsman for a Donalsonville farm that had 300 commercialHorned Hereford cows. The owner and myself along with Dr.Dan Daniel, who was then Head of the University of Georgia’sExtension Animal Science Department, went to Denver to pur-chase some Horned Hereford bulls and we saw some Simmentalbulls on display from Bar 5 in Canada. Included in that groupwas LaCombe Achilles, one of the early bulls to arrive inthis country. Instead of coming home with Hereford bullswe came home with Simmental semen. I’ve beeninvolved with Simmental cattle ever since .

FFA was a very important part of my life. I attended asmall school and the only electives the school had wereagriculture and home economics. Boys took agriculture andgirls took home economics. Now, there are just as manyfemales in Ag Ed across this country as males. I had anexceptional ag teacher whose name was John Hawkins —a classroom teacher for 42 years. Some of his accomplish-

ments included having 35 State Team Contest Winners, fiveState FFA officers, 17 students who went on to become either agteachers or county extension agents (when a student followsyour footsteps that’s one of your greatest accomplishments).Five different times, he was named High School Teacher of theYear by the student body. His students dominated livestockshows across Georgia winning numerous championships and hewas named to Georgia’s Agricultural Education Hall of Fame.

He was a teacher who inspired students with his subjectmatter knowledge along with hard work, spending nearly everyafternoon making home visits. He once told me that as an agteacher when you make home visits, “you should always gothrough the house and not around the house.” In other wordsget to know the parents and don’t just go straight to the steeror heifer pen. He also told me that before leaving the homealways have something good to say to the student even if youhad to brag about a “licey ole hound dog!” In other words,make the kid feel good about himself! A unique thing about agteachers across the country is that they are nowusually the only school employees who canvisit students at home. This gives them agreat opportunityto have a positiveinfluence on thelives of kids.

Photos of FFA participants courtesy of the National FFA Organization.

October 2010 21

Michael Dikeman, Ph.D., Professor of Animal Science, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

I became a member of FFA andenrolled in vocational agriculture as asophomore at Fort Scott High School.My teacher and advisor, Milton Kohrs,was a great person. Our primary pro-gram while I was in high school was

“Safety” and our chapter was recognized as having the secondbest program in the nation at the National Safety Congress inChicago in 1960.

There were no female FFA members at that time and FFAmeant ‘Future Farmers of America’. Mr. Kohrs inspired me torun for State FFA Officer and I was elected Reporter. He inspiredme to go to college and pursue my interest in agriculture. Ireceived an Honorary National FFA Degree in 2000, for my con-tinued enthusiasm for FFA as coordinator of all Kansas StateFFA Career Development Events for 20 years. FFA was and is animportant of my life. ◆

Gary Briers, Ph.D., Professor, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

I’ve been associated with FFAsince entering college in 1969. Inother words, my FFA connection andour ASA connection are about thesame age! As a high schooler, I wasnot involved with vocational agricul-

ture or FFA. I did, however, grow up on a beef cow-calfoperation and am a product of agriculture.

In the early1970s, we began using Simmental-cross (allthat was available in southeast Texas then!) bulls. The calveswere outstanding. I was too busy doing other things tobecome involved with vocational agriculture and the FFA!But, the agriculture teacher at my local school — Navasota,Texas — singled me out even though I wasn’t one of his “agboys,” but because I WAS an “ag boy,” and took me to TexasA&M University to meet his mentors — professor in agricul-tural education at the “big school” only 25 miles away indistance, but light years away from me personally. I wasencouraged and even recruited by these professors and I wasoff on a wild adventure that’s lasted more than 40 years.

I graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in agriculturaleducation, certification as a Texas teacher of vocational agriculture and of biology, with a wife now pregnant withour first child. I then entered graduate school at TAMU. I co-taught a senior-level class that was designed for prospec-tive ag teachers and FFA advisors. In July, 1972, I took a jobas teacher of vocational agriculture and FFA advisor atSweeny High School, Sweeny. Life is strange, but teachingagriculture, advising the local FFA chapter, coaching FFA teams, assisting students with FFA degree and awardapplications — priceless!

A couple of years later, I’d finished my master’s andteaching was wonderful, but I was still in awe of those pro-fessors in agricultural education at Texas A&M. During mythird year of high school ag teaching/FFA advising, I appliedto Iowa State University for summer school — with the ideathat I would check out several universities and decide if Iwanted to pursue a doctorate in agricultural education. Iaccepted Dr. Harold Crawford’s invitation to come to IowaState and earned my doctorate in 1978. But, in spring 1980, aposition opened up at Texas A&M, and I was selected as anew associate professor of agricultural education — rightback where it had all started. Thirty years later, I’m still thereas I try to learn with the newest crop of prospective teachersof agricultural science teachers and FFA advisors.

My son was born in 1972. In the 1980s, he was ready toenroll in high school vocational agriculture. We found a youngSimmental cow with a young heifer calf; breeder would keepthe cow until she rebred as the calf was just a few weeks old.Twenty-five years later, I have a herd of about 90 full Fleckvieh,fullblood Simmental cows. My 79-year-old dad still manages theday-to-day operation of the cowherd.

And, it’s gone international! I’ve had tremendous experi-ences traveling, teaching and meeting people in Russia,Norway, Armenia and Germany among others.

My FFA ties and production agriculture ties brought me toSimmental and the American Simmental Association. I now sellheifers and steers to FFA members; so Simmental brings meback to FFA. It’s a great relationship.

I interact with thousands of FFA advisors and tens of thou-sands of FFA members annually. I don’t EVEN want to try toestimate the total numbers over these 40+ years. FFA and ASAhave been important to me — personally, professionally, family-wise, socially, intellectually, internationally. I can’t think of amuch better combination. Can barely wait for the next 40 plusyears of FFA and ASA — FFA members and advisors and Sim-mental cattle and breeders!

Photos of FFA participants courtesy of theNational FFA Organization.

22 October 2010