Killing two birds with one stone: no matter how cliché it sounds, it's a great feeling when it happens.

Becky Mosbacher did just that when she organized and kept the record books for her family farm, near Fults, Ill. in Monroe County. Her efforts won her the Illinois FFA Star in Agricultural Placement.

Plus, she was the first female to win the Star in Ag Placement, which was instituted in 2001 as a way for students to showcase entrepreneurial skills in agriculture.

For three years, Mosbacher kept detailed records on her family's 400-acre operation, which includes beef cattle, hogs, corn, soybeans, hay and straw. The backbone of her recordkeeping involved the straw business. On top of selling straw, the Mosbachers also purchase, bale and resell straw from neighbors.

Becky Mosbacher won grand champion commercial heifer at the Monroe County Fair Beef Show, July 24, 2008. Mosbacher named her Sophie because, "She just looked like a Sophie."

With two sisters and two brothers, Mosbacher comes from a big family. The entire family helps out on the farm, which her father started in the mid-1970s. Aside from the straw business, the family also sells feeder calves.

This fall, Mosbacher began coursework at Murray State University, in Murray, Ky. She's majoring in agribusiness, and though she would like to farm out of school, she's not sure how realistic that is.

"I'd like to farm, but the possibility of that happening right out of college may be slim, unless I marry into it," Mosbacher notes. "The biggest thing is the money. You have to have a lot of capital or a good loan to get started."

She says she may have to take on another job and build up a farm on the side. However, don't expect her to settle down in a high-rise city apartment.

"I won't be able to live in town, I know I couldn't stand that," Mosbacher says.