When David Rogers was in junior high school, he really didn’t know what he wanted to do for a living. Although he had grown up on a farm and was raking hay by the time he turned 10, he still had some reservations about farming full time.That all changed when, as a ninth-grader, he and a friend entered an FFA corn growing contest.”I had always liked working and feeding cows, but I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” David recalled. “Then, me and one of my buddies had a corn crop together, and I decided I liked farming.”Whether it was the financial rewards or just the pride in producing his own crop, that experience was the turning point for young Rogers. After that, he never looked back. David continued to work with his father, Bob, and brother, Stan, throughout high school. And after earning a degree in agricultural economics from Auburn University, he came back to his family’s Cherokee County farm determined to make the most of the land’s resources.Today, David, Bob and Stan work about 900 acres, including more than 500 acres of pasture and close to 300 acres of pine trees. They also have a 250-cow beef herd as well as a profitable wheat straw and hay business. Though it takes all three partners to keep the farm running smoothly, David is responsible for making many of the decisions related to the production and marketing of their commodities.”I am in charge of equipment maintenance, the vaccination and breeding programs with our cattle and our fertilizer program with our hay fields and pastures,” David said. “I also stay on top of cattle market issues, so we will know the best time to buy and sell cattle for our farm.” In addition, David helps maintain the farm’s fences and catch pens; he manages the family’s timberland; and he solicits customers for their hay and wheat straw business.This hands-on involvement in the family farm operation earned David and his wife, Wendy, the title of 2002 Outstanding Young Farm Family in the beef division.David attributes much of his success as a cattleman to the farm’s breeding, vaccination and marketing programs. “We buy all of our (clean-up) bulls from reputable purebred producers, and we use EPDs (expected progeny difference) when selecting bulls,” David said.David is responsible for selecting the bulls and scheduling the reproduction cycle of the cows–which shortens the farm’s calving season. Stan, however, does the majority of the artificial insemination work, David said.Herd health is important to the farm, and it’s David’s job to ensure the cattle are vaccinated annually and wormed two or three times a year. He also preconditions his calves before sending them directly to a Nebraska feedlot or selling them in truckload lots. To ensure he markets his cattle at the right time, David monitors cattle prices weekly, using the Cattle-Fax newsletter and the Internet.Not all of the family’s land, however, is suitable for pasture and hay. So, when David returned home from Auburn in 1991, he began looking for ways to better utilize the farm’s resources.”We had land that was real steep and wasn’t really suited for growing grass,” David recalled. “It was highly erodible and had lots of rocks. Those places we put in trees. The best land is in hay fields, the second best land is pasture and the number-three land goes to trees. So we utilize everything.”To offset the cost of planting pine trees, David applied for cost-share assistance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also signed up for a landowners assistance program with Bowater Inc., (formerly Kimberly-Clark). “They have a registered forester who comes out and looks at the land. He helps us make plans and decide when to market timber,” David said.In addition to planting pine trees, David, Stan and their wives invested in a different kind of forestry in 1999 after David saw a presentation on walnut trees at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Ga.”We have 150 of those genetically improved walnut trees–or super trees,” David said. “It’s kind of our retirement project.”Although it will take about 35 years for the veneer-grade trees to reach maturity, David said they are expected to be worth about $5,000 each.Meanwhile, David has plenty to keep him busy. When he’s not working calves or feeding cows, he usually can be found harvesting or delivering hay and wheat straw. “There’s always a good market for horse hay and wheat straw,” David said. “Square hay that doesn’t have weeds will bring a premium. We sell most of the hay in the Atlanta area where people have boarding horses because the land is so expensive they can’t grow their own hay.”David said most of their wheat straw–which they cut on neighboring farms after the grain is harvested–is sold for erosion control.As for the future, David said he would like to increase the size of his cow herd and continue to convert unproductive land to pine plantations.”This year, we have grass everywhere. The hay barns are running over with hay, and I would like to have some more cows,” David said. “But two years ago when it was a drought, that might not have been so good. I’d like to see us have about another 100 cows. I believe we could handle that all the time with the land we have.”Perhaps David’s biggest goal, however, is to someday leave the farm to his son, Wesley. Wendy, who teaches special education, said the 18-month-old already is taking an interest in the farm. “On weekends and summers, and whenever I have breaks, Wesley and I go and do whatever David is doing,” Wendy said. “We ride in the tractor, and we go feed cows. I think Wesley was a month old when he went to feed cows for the first time. We try to do as much as we can together. He enjoys it. Tractor is one of the words he uses a lot, and Daddy is his hero.”