In her youth, Laura Stobb grew up around cattle—her grandparents’ herd, specifically. When she was ten years old, Laura bought her first heifer, and her passion for beef production blossomed into an entrepreneurship supervised agricultural experience (SAE).
Laura—from the Milaca FFA chapter in Milaca, Minnesota—now owns thirty cattle for her beef operation. She also owns 80 acres of land to produce hay and let her livestock out to pasture. Though she raises some steers as feeder cattle, Laura said she wants to improve her herd’s genetics and market her cattle as breeding animals.
“I really love everything about raising cattle,” Laura said. “And that’s something that I’ve always enjoyed and a passion I’ve shared with my family.”
As the head of her beef operation, the FFA experiences that helped Laura with her SAE were livestock judging and farm business management. She also branched out into leadership, serving as her chapter’s president.
Laura said looking back, she was proud to have made a jump and started following one of her dreams early on, starting her beef operation and purchasing her own land. For FFA members wanting to make the jump, she said to talk to as many people in the industry as possible.
“There’s no one person that I’ve ever wanted to model my operation off of,” Laura said. “But rather, I look at all the different ways that people raise cattle, and I see what’s out there and what I like and what would work for me. Also, not being afraid to take risks.”
While Laura is pursuing her passion for working with animals, she attends Saint Cloud State University for a different profession— “I am actually one of the non-traditional Star Farmer candidates because I am currently going to school for nursing,” Laura said.
Her goal is to work as a registered nurse in surgical care while also improving the genetics of her herd and expanding her business’s customer base, staying in touch with the agricultural industry.
She is the daughter of Tammy Gallagher and Jeff Stobb. Her FFA advisors are Douglas Olson and Leann Piertzak.
Interview by Corryn La Rue.
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