OFI 1019: A Late Start, Reinvested Profits And A Farm Business | FFA SAE Edition | Luke Millay | Meade County High School FFA
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INTRODUCING LUKE MILLAY:
In spite of growing up on a farm, Luke Millay did not join his high school’s FFA chapter until his sophomore year. During Luke’s freshman year he was sure that he was going to be an engineer in the future, and he didn’t see a reason to join. However, towards the end of the year, he was more exposed to the things going on in his chapter, and he decided to give it a try. 
That was all it took for Luke. Today he is serving as his chapter’s president as well as his region’s. He has his eyes on the next level as well. And, during this time he took the cowherd that he had been growing on his family’s farm and turned it into a great, direct marketed, livestock business.
At the time that we recorded this interview, Luke had already established “Millay Meats”. He had done this by being gifted a cow/calf pair and a heifer when he was younger and always retaining heifers to grow his herd even more. As he got involved in the FFA, needed supervised agriculture experience, and became more sophisticated he developed this business. He credits reinvesting his profits right back into the business for his success.
Today Luke has 20 cows giving him calves every year. He is keeping those calves over the winter after weaning them, and then he is finishing him on his farm. He is direct marketing beef to people in Louisville, Kentucky, and in Clarksville, Indiana. He also started doing the exact same business model with pigs. Currently, he has over 50 pigs on the ground that will be finished and direct marketed.
Luke is looking forward to college next year, but he wants to keep this business going. So, true to form he is reinvesting his profits into the business. He is purchasing larger feeders for the pigs and automatic waterers so that if he is gone for a period of a couple of days due to being at college the animals are still taken care of.
The FFA is absolutely an incubator for future entrepreneurs and great ideas. Luke is the proof!
SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Diversified Livestock
HIGH SCHOOL: Meade County High, Brandenburg, KY
MASCOT: Green Wave
FFA ADVISOR: Noel Pack
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR LUKE MILLAY:
Click on the picture below to be taken to the Meade County High School website:
Luke’s FFA Advisors’ Email Address: noel.pack@meade.kyschools.us
Meade County High School’s Telephone Number: 270.422.7515
FFA LINKS:
Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)
Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000. In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants. With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.
REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:
- Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world. FFA is providing the needed education, training, and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and ensure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
- Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation. The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
- Farmers, ranchers, and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:
“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue
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