OFI 1792: A Profit Of Negative $29 Due To Predators | FFA SAE Edition | Kayla Rossi | Soroco High School FFA | Re-Cap Episode

On tomorrow’s episode I am featuring another student from Soroco FFA in Northwest Colorado.  The stories that come out of this mountainous cattle country are so interesting.  And our guest happens to be cousins with and have the same last name as previous OFI guest, Kayla Rossi.  So, it seemed like a natural fit for today’s re-cap episode to replay the interview I did with Kayla, talking all about how predators were a challenge for her SAE project in this wild area.

Kayla’s original show notes are below:

I love to talk about people overcoming problems through perseverance on this show.  I’m not sure that I have ever found an example of that, that is more illustrative of what can be done than today’s episode.

Kayla Rossi is a National Proficiency Finalist in the category of diversified livestock production this year.  And to look at what she is currently doing and what she has already accomplished might make you think that it has been easy.  If that is the case, it is only because she makes it look that way.

Kayla raises her livestock on her family’s ranch in the high country of Northwest Colorado.  This brings challenges that many of the rest of us never have to deal with including harsh winters, drought, and predators.  In 2019, as Kayla was really getting ready to hit her stride in her herd of cattle, a herd of goats, and a flock of sheep she had a major predator loss.  That year her profit, or lack thereof, on her lambs was negative $29.

She did not allow this to stop or discourage her, however.  She made adjustments and persisted.  Today, after serving on her chapter and district’s officer teams she has found herself as a national proficiency finalist and with some other, big goals.  She is hoping to become a state officer in Colorado and to spend her first year out of high school serving the FFA throughout her state.  Then she plans on going to school and competing in livestock judging while pursuing a degree in agricultural business.  When she completes this part of her life she wants to carry on her family tradition and eventually raise her own cow/calf herd.  She has a great vision, and I am eager to see where she takes it!
SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Funny Farm

HIGH SCHOOL: Soroco High School, Oak Creek, Colorado

MASCOT: Rams

FFA ADVISOR: Jay Whaley

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR KAYLA ROSSI:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Soroco High School website:

Kayla’s FFA Advisors’ Email Addresses: jwhaley@southrouttk12.org

Soroco High School’s Telephone Number: 970-870-3799

Support FFA 

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

• Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and ensure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
• Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
• Farmers, ranchers, and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“Because American farmers are able to provide for so many of us, they give more and more of us the freedom to pursue goals and livelihoods beyond growing the food we need to survive.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack 

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