Among various issues in the United States today, one that is repeatedly brought to my attention is the idea that the agriculture industry is filled with bad people that don't care about their animals or the land and only do what they do to get money.

I'm here to tell you that those statements are false and anyone mildly involved in the agriculture industry will tell you that.

I have grown up on some form of a farm my whole life. We raised chickens, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, turkeys, and rabbits.

I was always out helping with the animals feeding them, watering them, petting them and just spending time with them. It's something I loved to do.

I loved my animals but I knew that we raised them to either sell them or slaughter them for their meat.

Some like to say that raising animals just to kill them is awful and that we farmers and ranchers must not love our animals if we are able to do such things and still sleep at night.

The truth is farmers and ranchers love their livestock.

These animals aren't raised in tiny pens their whole lives. Yes, they are behind fences, but other than that they have fields to roam and shelter if they need it as well.

Farmers and ranchers work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the entire year.

The animals they are raising are what they use to feed their families (and the world) and also support themselves.

That means they work to keep these animals healthy.

That includes going out in below-zero temperatures to break ice so their livestock has water, helping a mama cow deliver her calf so that they both can survive, fixing a fence in 100-degree heat so that no livestock gets out and causes an accident, and it's also dealing with the losses such as losing new born goats to the winters chill but having to move on because that's just part of it.

We don't beat our animals; if they are all scarred, they aren't going to be worth as much. Also, not all livestock is killed; some are used for breeding, which is a natural thing we don't force it upon them at unnatural rates.

Some livestock like dairy cattle doesn't have to be killed to get their product that they are needed for.

I could keep going; I have a lot more to say on this topic.

However, I'm going to leave it at this, the agriculture industry is full of people including farmers and ranchers.

These people are some of the most caring, compassionate, hard workers that I have ever met. I too hope to have my own farm or ranch some day. If you don't believe go talk to a farmer or rancher ask them about their operations and their feelings towards their livestock, those animals mean more to them than most people realize.

So don't be so quick to judge farmers and ranchers just based on what you see on social media take the time to go find out for yourself how they really are.

"Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, and most noble employment of man."

-- George Washington