I had the most amazing visit yesterday with a good friend and near the end of the conversation I mentioned the first sale to be held this Saturday at our newly constructed livestock center and how I was feeling both nervous and excited as the day grows near. She reads my blog so I told her about the link to the facility called Burley Fields Livestock Center. "Why that name?" she asked. "Why not something with your name in it?"
Immediately tears came to my eyes as my thoughts went to the origin of the name, my family. My ancestors and generations of people like them, making a living off the farm in the burley fields. Now if you're not from Kentucky, odds are you did not grow up on a tobacco farm. There are several states with tobacco producers, including Tennessee and North Carolina, but up until a decade ago most farms in Kentucky produced tobacco, no matter how large or small the farm.
Tobacco and beef production is my heritage on both sides of my family. Income from these paid for my college education, made farm payments, and purchased farm equipment. Now my memories have little to do with money, but I do want to acknowledge the positive financial impact the tobacco industry had on the small Kentucky communities and the people. My greatest memories of being a member of a tobacco producing family include pulling tobacco plants from the bed and listening to Papaw talk about his days as a teenager and making me wonder how much he embellished the stories, taking very wet mud from the setter wheels and both throwing and smearing the mud balls on whoever was riding with me, listening to my Daddy sing wonderful old gospel songs as he drove the setter, and going to the barn every afternoon after school to strip tobacco to make sure we got it on the sale floor the day after Thanksgiving, reading the writing of Mama, Nanny and Papaw on the cardboard covered walls of the barn from twenty years earlier, Nanny making sure we had lemon drops in a jar in the room when we stripped tobacco, and my Papaw making me re-do the hand-tied leaves every time until I got it right. We worked hard, but 90% of the time we had fun along the way too.
The tobacco crop brought the family together, three generations, working to get a quality product to market. Those many hours of work gave us time to talk, hear the stories of my grandparents and parents, and kept us close. This is the second year that we have not had a tobacco crop and I can say that I really miss the routine and the family time it gave us.
However, our children share our same love of livestock industry and over the years that has replaced our "tobacco time" and we have shared many hours at our own barn and at many livestock shows. Since 1999 our family vacation has been attending the week long American Junior Chianina Association National Junior Heifer Show and hauling cattle and kids to a different location in our nation and visiting with some of the best people in the world and making new friends while the kids have learned more about the beef cattle industry, developed leadership skills, and formed life-long friendships.
So when it came time to name the facility that we had planned for nearly 3 years before breaking ground, it was clear that the name had to include the basic crop that had provided for many generations of our family. Since we are embarking on a new adventure it's important to remember what brought us here, the hard work and many hours family members and neighbors spent with the crop, especially if we may never grow another crop of tobacco. So when you hear the name Burley Fields Livestock Center, you may not have the connection we do but I hope you will appreciate our desire to continue the farming heritage of our ancestors.
The Kentucky Proud Elite Breeders Sale will be held this Saturday, April 21, featuring market lambs, goats, and pigs from 22 Kentucky breeders. These animals will make great 4-H and FFA projects so make plans to attend. Show of sale animals begins at 9:00 a.m. with educational program beginning at approximately 11:00 a.m., followed by the sale at 2:00 p.m. The educational program will provide 2 hours for Kentucky 4-H livestock certification requirements. For more information follow this link: http://www.kentuckyproudelitebreederssale.com/
Our formal open house will be scheduled for a later date as we near the completion of the meeting hall of the facility.
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