As a young farmer, I dreamed of raising super-excellent crops to feed our dairy cattle, especially since I had very limited acreage. A couple years after I started farming here, I had a dairy analyst in to mate my dairy cows. The man also did a little part-time farming on the side.

News flash! It’s hot again today. You know what? I’ll bet you a dollar it’s gonna be hot again tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that, and the … all the way up to about Sept. 22.

For the last year and a half, I have worked part time as a waitress. Initially, it was to earn extra cash and get ahead on my loans. Little did I know it would totally change my perspective on advocating for the dairy industry.

The CEO Corner contains editors’ compilations of business insights and analysis of current news, which they have tailored for the dairy industry. The column inspires million-dollar dairy business owners to think like CEOs in other industries do.

“What would you do differently?” This is a question we were frequently asked after completing construction of our new dairy facility. While you may spend months or even years planning out a new project, you won’t know what you’ve missed until you’re in full-fledge operation.

For some reason, our collective addiction to feed additives and precision feeding has come so far that we tend to ignore some of the basics. We have the ability to add anything we want to any mix and dial in our intakes three places to the right of the decimal point, but what good is all of that if you are mixing the wrong ingredients in the first place?

I tend to gravitate toward movies that delve into the “human condition,” those telling a story about individuals navigating through the challenges of life. No horror movies for me, science fiction either.

Animal care is a big deal to dairy farmers. If cows aren’t happy, they don’t produce as much milk for everyone to enjoy. Which is why farmers spend a lot of time and effort making sure their cows have the right nutrition, environment and veterinary care.

Recently, I saw a picture of the new male trend in fashion. The two men were wearing high heels, long coats and dangling earrings and jewelry. Their man buns looked liked women’s fashions 50 years ago. What is this world coming to? I was suddenly glad I grew up in a world where there was no blurring of the genders.

A dodgy-looking drifter in a visor hat gives Kevin Costner a tiny lime tree and insists, “This one is for free.” Kevin Costner stares at him blankly and then epically states: “Nothing’s free in Waterworld.”