Carolina Journal; Interview with Tom Trantham - SC Dairy Farmer

Tom try them. Is the farmer from Greenville dairy farmer from Greenville who became quite well-known nationally because of the farmer to Farmer effort in helping the farmers of South Carolina come to grips with the tremendous drought the past summer and I know the Senate is passing a has passed a resolution thanking the farmers of America Mr. trans them. It was an extremely important year for the farmers a difficult year but important in the sense of the outpouring of love on the part of so many people. Definitely. Cynthia Garrison invited me down for this resolution which was quite an honor for a small fairy farmer in Greenville. But I think he being much aware of the wonderful thing that's taken place in this nation today of the the people the cream of America has responded to a tremendous problem that we have and the outpouring of their hay and and little retard people send in small amounts of money to help in the transportation all in the huge conglomerates shipping using their trucks for shipping and stuff it's it's just an all around American thing. And

today farming because of the kindness and the considerate of the American farmers throughout north and Midwest and south and everywhere. It was a wonderful thing. I think the nation really needed it. And I think that the nation will benefit from it. I think the not only the farmers are receiving a blessing today of uniting together but I think the nation has been made aware of the family farmers role in this country. The end result of this is many farmers were able to hang on the Senate resolution as a way of saying thanks from the South Carolina Senate on behalf of the South Carolina farmers to all most of the states in America that responded but let's go back to 1986 in that drought you were on the edges of calling in the auctioneer and closing down your farm once and for all. And that's that is for sure my family we've already discussed it. It was a very low point in my life I don't think that ever I have really accepted a

failure situation in my life and I think at this point I was facing just that as far as I was concerned. I was having trouble of how to face my family and not only the creditors and people with money but just to be able to look my own family in the face was becoming a quite a difficult. And I didn't there was positively due to the farm crisis prior to the drought was the low farm process that we were receiving the lack of parity at the farm level. We already had a tremendous crisis and the drought was the kicker. The thing that was going to knock us off and that is why the other farmers in America responded because they themselves knew of their own situation of the crisis we have. And they saw the drought on top. And I think Mr. Polly one of the farmers at first call he said he had hay in his barn and he had the excess amount of hay and he said he just didn't feel like seeing another farmer fall under when he failed that he could do something. And he got only

out of his easy chair and made a phone call that night and through the networks it got to me. And then the phone calls started coming from that point on thousands of them. And 41 states has actually been involved in some way or the other in this entire thing. Here's South Carolina safe now because of the recent precipitation form of snow. Well to guarantee our spring crop would also not only hay has been brought into this area but also a businessman in Colombia for an organization called farm and they call me in and to help distribute this spring seed for spring hay Lage well over seventy five thousand dollars was raised by the businessman in Colombia here. And so that's you know not only will put more back into the soil but it will entice the growth of this spring hay ledge. And in April I think you're going to see a lot of farmers busily harvest in the spring Haley that we

have because the donated hay is is pretty close to fed up. And so we do have a lot of winter layoff so there is quite a process ahead of us yet. But I feel like my sales I'll be milking cows next year because of this. Was it enough snow that would equate to the amount of rainfall you need to make you feel green again. From what I understand the Department of Agriculture Nala we were kind of about short 11 inches and subsoil moisture was the real problem because the top soil moisture the top moisture is fun for immediate use but in the spring of the year if we were to have a I know other two or three week drought we could actually lose our spring hay ledge. But with subsoil moisture the plant then draws from the subsoil moisture. Now this is no different than running the rain out of an inch of rain a lot of it would have left the soul. But the snow seems to hold in mail slow in penetrate deep into the soul so that I don't think that we could have asked for a more

healing thing than the snow that the farms are saved because the Senate resolution is one way of saying things but South Carolina farmers someday might have to go to the aid of farmers in other states and the turnabout would indeed be fair play what it's all about. Yes I know. I hope I never help anyone because of a drought I hope there's some other way for us to show our appreciation and and this is one way but the Michigan farmer that sent us thousands of loads of hay they have faced a drought. I mean a flood excuse me and this flood we have rallied and I know the lice count in the Greenville area over twenty four thousand dollars has been sent to the Michigan farmer in return for their flood. So like I said it's just an American thing and I thank the American people at this point. I have a closer feeling I know before you hear some about the Yankees or they answer that another but now we holler The Yankees are coming and they're bringing us.

Thanks so much stuff rather than a Greenville dairy farmer and began the farm to farm an effort which resulted in saving so many farms. Thank you. Tom try them. Is the farmer from Greenville dairy farmer from Greenville who

became quite well-known nationally because of the farmers of Farmer effort in helping the farmers of South Carolina come to grips with the tremendous drought the past summer and I know the Senate is passing a has passed a resolution thanking the farmers of America Mr. trans them. It was an extremely important year for the farmers a difficult year but important in the sense of the outpouring of love on the part of so many people. Definitely. Cynthia Garrison invited me down for this resolution which was quite an honor for a small farmer in Greenville. But I think he being much aware of the wonderful thing that's taken place in this nation today of the the people the cream of America has responded to a tremendous problem that we have and the outpouring of their pay and and little retard people send in small amounts of money to help in the transportation all in the huge conglomerates shipping using their trucks for shipping and stuff it's it's just an all around American thing. And

today I'm farming because of the kindness and the considerate of the American farmers throughout north and Midwest and south and everywhere. It was a wonderful thing. I think the nation really needed it and I think that the nation will benefit from it. I think the not only the farmers are receiving a blessing today of uniting together but I think the nation has been made aware of the family farmers role in this country. The end result of this is many farmers were able to hang on the Senate resolution as a way of saying thanks from the South Carolina Senate on behalf of the South Carolina farmers to all most of the states in America that responded but let's go back to 1986 in that drought you were on the edges of calling in the auctioneer and closing down your farm once and for all. That's that is for sure my family we've already discussed it. It was a very low point in my life I don't think that ever I have really accepted a

failure situation in my life and I think at this point I was facing just that as far as I was concerned. I was having trouble of how to face my family and not only the creditors and people with money but just to be able to look my own family in the face was becoming a quite a difficult. And I didn't there was positively due to the farm crisis prior to the drought was the low farm process that we were receiving the lack of parity at the farm level. We already had a tremendous crisis and the drought was the kicker. The thing that was going to knock us off and that is why the other farmers in America responded because they themselves knew of their own situation of the crisis we have and they saw the drought on top. And I think. Mr. Polly one of the farmers at first call he said he had hay in his barn and he had the excess amount of hay and he said he just didn't feel like seeing another farmer fall under when he failed that he could do something. And he got only out of his easy chair and

made a phone call that night and through the networks he got to me. And then the phone calls started coming from that point on thousands of them and 41 states has actually been involved in some way or the other in this entire thing here in South Carolina. Safe now because of the recent precipitation form of snow. Well to guarantee our spring crop would also not only hay has been brought into this area but also a businessman in Colombia for an organization called Farm. And they call me and to help distribute this spring seed for spring hay ledge well over $75000 was raised by the businessman in Colombia here. And so that's you know not only will put more back into the soil but it will entice the growth. This spring Hale age and in April I think you're going to see a lot of farmers busily harvest in the spring Haley that we have

because the donated hay is is pretty close to Fed. And so we do have a lot of winter layoff so there is quite a process ahead of us yet. But I feel like my sales I'll be milking cows next year because of this. Was it enough snow that would equate to the amount of rainfall you need to make you feel green again. From what I understand the Department of Agriculture and although we were kind of about short 11 inches and subsoil moisture was the real problem because the top soil moisture the top moisture is fine for immediate use but in the spring of the year if we were to have a I know other two or three week drought we could actually lose our spring hay Lage. But with subsoil moisture the plant then draws from the subsoil moisture. Now this is no different than running the rain a 10 or 11 inch of rain. A lot of it would have left the sole But the snow seems to hold in male slow and penetrate deep into the soul. So that's I don't think that we could have asked for a more

healing thing than the snow that the farmers received because. The Senate resolution is one way of saying things but South Carolina farmers someday might have to go to the aid of farmers in other states and the turnabout would be fair play what it's all about. Yes I know. I hope I never help anyone because of a drought I hope there's some other way for us to show our appreciation and and this is one way but the Michigan farmer they sent us thousands of loads of hay. They have faced a drought. I mean a flood excuse me and this flood we have rallied and I know the lice count in the Greenville area over $24000 has been ceded to the Michigan farmer in return for their flood. So like I said it's just an American thing and I think the American people at this point have a closer feeling. I know before you hear some about the Yankees or this or that or another but now we holler The Yankees are coming and they're bringing us Hey thanks so much John drive a Greenville

dairy farmer and began the farm to farm an effort which resulted in saving so many farms. Thank you for.