You came from somewhere to get here.

So, I'm a Risk Manager for a 200,000 head feedlot, I do things like trade futures, create reports, attend management meetings, help with forage procurement, market cattle and dabble in ration mixing. But, before this girl became a behind the desker on a daily basis, I was a hard workin', glove totin', calf pullin', bale tossin' Queen.

My heart lies in the cow-calf industry, that's where I got my start. I was born and raised in Ohio where I found my first love, the Black Angus. For those of you who aren't aware the CAB (Certified Angus Beef) was developed and stationed in Wooster, nestled in the green rolling hills of Eastern Ohio and just a hop, skip and a jump from where I grew up. We had a grain crops farm as well as a cow-calf and feeding operation.  All of my family lives in the same county (some even the same road) and we always got together as often as possible.

Although, I do love the vast openness of the Southern prairies, being able to see miles upon miles away, and lets face it... cows, I greatly miss the towering trees and grassy hills of southern Ohio.

Fall time is my favorite back home because of the crisp air and changing leaves. I miss the festivities and the food (I love food.) Each time I watch a Buckeyes game playing in The Shoe I get a little more homesick. I want to play corn-hole and drink homemade apple cider from my family's orchard. I want to wear a hoodie, race through a corn maze then sit by a bonfire (for anyone living in a hole, fires are banned out here due to lack of rain.) I miss being able to just call up my sister and go shopping, watching the game and having dinner with my Dad every Sunday, my nephews growing up and Pearls and Pumps Extravaganza (you have to be a Cyrus woman to be apart of that.)

But, I made a commitment and I wouldn't change my life now for anything not to mention I found the most amazing cattleman in the world, but from time to time I sit here and contemplate the reality of buying a personal jet to go back whenever I would like... you know because that's feasible.

Well I'll get off my memory lane mope and get back to work, but just remember it's ok to be homesick, it doesn't make you week or insecure it just means you were raised with love.

- Affectionately, Tornado Aly