Courtney Bartenslager

I think one of my greatest achievements is being able to manage a team and to see where they really grow. I have a really talented team, and it's been, you know, I've been there almost 3 years, so it's really a fun and fulfilling experience to get to watch them grow as employees and leaders within our company, and, you know, be able to come up with creative ideas, and to step outside their comfort zone, just in the little bit of time that I've been a part of this team. I think it's probably working with my team, and then just seeing them continue to improve and grow. I also have to mention my grandmother, who in the 1980s, which was the middle of the farm crisis when things were extremely expensive and it was really hard times, my grandfather passed away, and so she really stepped up and was the sole farmer, head of the farm, for my entire family. If she had made the decision to just say she couldn't do it, I probably wouldn't be here where I am today. I wouldn't probably be involved in agriculture if my grandma hadn't done that. When I think of influential women, I think of her, and how she kind of paved the way for me to be able to be involved in this today.

I would say it's definitely the most fulfilling role, I think, that you can be a part of in doing something in the agriculture industry, because you're still able to be involved like I was growing up on the farm, but maybe I'm not able to be out there every single day, you know, working with cattle or the land like maybe I would like to be, but it's still a really fulfilling role to be a part of, because you're able to help those producers across the country improve their livelihoods, right? And, like, to be a small part of that. And it's exciting, too, to me to, like, help put together a strategy and plan, and to look at the numbers, and to see if the decisions we made and the plan that we put together was successful or not based on the analytics and the numbers, and then also to see when we're looking at the sale reports of if the cattle sold for what they should, right, if we helped that producer achieve the goal that they wanted. I'm not sure I have the work-life balance piece exactly figured out, but I'm trying to do the best I can with that, and also still be, you know, a great mother, and wife, and also just being able to spend that time where I can, you know, and when I'm at work, I'm at work, and when I'm at home, I'm at home.