Shed Some Light On This: By-Products Of Family Farms

A few weeks ago, while scanning through the news online, I came upon an exciting little blog spot written by celebrity writer, Perez Hilton. I know you're thinking he was probably describing Miley Cyrus' 18th birthday party or the dress Jennifer Aniston wore to the latest award show, but you might be surprised to learn what Hollywood is saying about us these days. I shared his blog post entitled, "No Such Thing As Veganism?" a few weeks ago on the BEEF Facebook Fan Page and I was so excited to see how many of you passed it along. The blog is all about the many by-products that beef cattle provide for all of us, even vegans, on a daily basis.

Of course, you already know the list and can probably list dozens of beef by-products off the top of your head -- cosmetics, candles, chewing gum, air filters, brushes, pharmaceuticals, anti-freeze, chalk, matches, shampoo and conditioner, emery boards, basketballs, baseballs, belts, boots, deodorants, adhesives, etc.

Anyway, I was sharing this story during my speech at the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association's (SDCA) Annual Trade Show and Convention yesterday and encouraging producers to help make this message viral, when an audience member raised his hand and asked me, "Amanda, have you ever considered compiling a list of the by-products of a family farm?"

That's a darn good question and one I plan to answer today, with your help. Let's put together a comprehensive list of all the positive things that result from families living on farms or ranches. For your participation, I'm giving away a new Stanley spotlight! Using a randomizing program, I will select one winner from the comments section below. So, shed some light on this topic and share your positive by-products of life on the farm!

New from Stanley, it’s the Dip-It, Drop-It, Dunk-It Spotlight. It’s the size of a regular flashlight, but it’s up to 5X brighter than standard LED spotlights and runs for up to 10 hours with ultra-bright light. The game-changing feature, however, is that it is waterproof (not just water-resistant). Drop it in water and the light shines and floats for easy retrieval. Or even take it under water down to 6 ft. to explore what’s below the surface. It's durable as well and can be dropped from heights of up to 10 ft. and goes on shining. The MSRP is $59.