From the milking barn to everywhere

I've been fortunate to connect with people from all across this great nation...and the world...over the past eight some-odd years via the social media platforms I use. And it's not unusual for me to wonder where a particular tweet, Instagram photo, or Facebook post I send from my dairy farm might be viewed.

So this afternoon I put it to a highly unscientific test.

Request for Locations
I tweeted/Instagramed the following while milking cows this afternoon and decided to see how many different places my photo could pop up.

Twitter can connect this dairy farmer in a milking barn in Alabama (spoiler:it's me) with someone in ___.

Reply or quote RT to let me know! pic.twitter.com/3Ss9EPnbSP

— Will Gilmer (@gilmerdairy) March 5, 2017

I made this in our milking barn in Lamar County, Alabama, and I'd be interested to know where you are viewing it from.

A post shared by Will Gilmer (@gilmerdairy) on Mar 5, 2017 at 12:44pm PST

Response Data
I received roughly 100 replies between the two platforms over a four hour span, and I've mapped the locations I was given. Blue pins correspond with Twitter replies, and red pins with Instagram.

locations of international responses

locations of North American responses

locations of local responses

Analysis/Takeaways
1) I had no idea anyone in St. Kitts would see one of my posts, much less participate in this little experiment.
2) Responses were primarily North American, and all but one were from the Northern Hemisphere.
3) Participation was much greater east of the Mississippi River.
4) Local responses were primarily received via the Instagram post.
5) I get bored and fiddle around on my computer when I get home from the Sunday afternoon milking if it has run too long for me to make it to our church's evening worship service.

5 years and 20,000 tweets later...

March of 2009 was a big month for me. It was the month I left my 20's behind and said hello to 30, embarked on my two-year AFBF Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee adventure, and welcomed my baby daughter into the world.

I also tweeted for the very first time:

It may take a little time, but I plan on using Twitter to keep folks regularly updated about the goings-on at Gilmer Dairy Farm...follow me!

— Will Gilmer (@gilmerdairy) March 11, 2009

I didn't have great expectations for Twitter at the time, or at least not my usage of it. The thought of sharing short bursts of farm info was intriguing, but I didn't think you folks would find my tweets as interesting or useful as my blog or my farm's Facebook page. Once I figured out that I could post real-time updates via text on my Razr v3 flip-phone, though, both my follower count and my own interest began to rise. I upgraded to a smartphone within a couple of months, and my new-found ability to interact with other Twitter users while in the milking barn or in a tractor cab encouraged me to tweet even more frequently. 

So now here I sit, five years and a little over 20k tweets later, and I wonder what kind of impact I've made. As I stated in my very first tweet, my goal was to let you know about life on my family's farm, and that still remains the primary focus of all I do online. There are other farmers that interact with and influence far more people than I do (give 'em props), but there's nobody else that does it exactly like me and I'm pretty dang proud of that. I might not have posted or tweeted a single thing in the last five years that has helped shape your point of view on food or farming, but I've had fun trying!

Whether you follow me on Twitter, regularly read this blog, watch my farm videos on YouTube, or "like" our Facebook page, I sincerely want to thank you for taking the time to learn more about me and my family's dairy farm. I continue to welcome your comments and questions, and I hope my social-sharing style helps you feel more connected to both your glass of milk and to the farmer keeping a steady hand on the udder. 

Looking back at 2012

I hope everyone had a happy and blessed Christmas season and has gotten the new year started off on the right foot.  I was able to take a little more time off than normal, making one overnight trip to the in-laws before traveling down to Jacksonville a week later to watch Mississippi State play in the Gator Bowl. Now I'm back in the swing of things and looking forward to a productive year, but first I thought I'd give you the obligatory "Looking back at 2012" blog post.  

My son & his classmates inspecting a baby
calf during a springtime farm visit.

We probably milked fewer cows this past year than we did at any point within the last ten. With good beef prices and a not so good "milk income over feed cost" ratio this past Spring, we decided to sell a higher percentage of our cows for beef than what we typically do. As a result, we've had fewer cows milking but we've also extended our forage supplies. We should start getting  our cow numbers back up to normal within the next couple of months.  The past year also saw us breed some heifers with "sexed" semen for the first time, and all-told we had an average year for forage production.

Off the farm, I found plenty of things to involve myself in.  I helped coach my son's t-ball team this Spring and continued teaching a Sunday School class at my church up through late Fall. I was elected to leadership positions on my state's dairy policy and promotion committees, and I served as a voting delegate at the annual meetings of my regional dairy checkoff and national dairy cooperative. I even made my first ever trip to New York City in November. And, of course, my family made time to attend several of Mississippi State's athletic events over the last 12 months.

The number of you following along with my craziness on this blog or through social media outlets continued to grow, so I guess I must be doing something right. I had a lot of fun using Twitter this past year, managed to make and upload a handful of farm videos, and my farm's Facebook page saw more activity and engagement than ever before. I didn't blog as much as I have in years past, but my posts on hormones in milk, traditional vs. organic milk, and rural America's relevance ended up being three of my six most-read posts ever.

Big thanks to my family, employees, friends, peers, milk drinkers, dairy lovers, and all of you readers for the positives that came along in 2012. God has truly blessed me to be in the position I'm in, and I'm happy to be providing you with high-quality milk, food for thought, and hopefully an occasional smile.

So here's to 2012, and my 2013 be even better for all of us!

"Vacationing" in Auburn

After a long week on the farm, I'm "vacationing" down in Auburn. Actually, I've been invited to participate in a discussion about social media and agriculture at the 2010 National Extension Technology Conference. I'll be talking about the how's and why's of "telling my story" and engaging the public about modern agriculture by using tools like this blog, my Twitter account, the farm's Facebook page, and my YouTube channel.

The session I'm participating in will wrap up around 10am tomorrow. Afterwards I may take a little time just to tour around the Auburn campus, which by most accounts is really nice (but it ain't no Mississippi State). Hopefully things will work out to have lunch with one of my old high school friends who now lives in these parts (check out his blog!). I'll be heading home early afternoon, doing my best to avoid the rush hour nightmare from Hwy 280 all the way through to downtown Birmingham.

Even though two days does not a real vacation make, the break from the farm will give me a chance to catch my breath and get a little rest. I'm gonna need it, too, because we're going to be running just as hard as the weather will allow this week.