I was asked a while back if I considered myself to be a Farmer or a Rancher.  I must have really had a blank look on my face when I was asked that question, as the person that asked paused for a moment than clarified it a bit for me. What really is the difference? I was told way back when, that a Farmer wore a ball cap and a rancher wore a cowboy hat.  I know there must be more than that! 

 I have never really thought of myself as a farmer or rancher.  Sure, we raise livestock and poultry but have never really thought of the title.  I have thought of us as consumers, producers, providers - but never a Farmer or Rancher. Then I really got to thinking.  Is it a good thing or a bad thing?  

We raise livestock on our pastures as well as leased pastures nearby.  We help to maintain the vegetation of the land to keep down the fire hazards as well as to nourish our animals.  There has been some question as to supplementing our animals with hay.  Some people seem to think that feeding hay is a bad thing.  Why?  What is hay but grass or pasture that is cut, dried, baled and stored for a later day to use.  The perception is that if you claim that your animals are grass fed that if you feed anything else it is a falsehood. There are some producers that claim that they are the only grass fed operation in the county.  At first I was pretty irritated that they made that claim.  Then I realized that it was simply a play on words and that eduction was my goal. Most people that raise livestock work very hard to grow grasses to supply feed to their animals.  Most livestock have the ability to graze pasture as well as blackberry and starthistle, oak trees and brush.  Ours also get our fruit that may have fallen from our trees. 

The nutrition of the animal must be met with the importance just as the nutrition for the consumer.  To produce a quality product for the consumer, the product it self must meet the same criteria