If your July issue of Indiana Prairie Farmer hasn't arrived yet, you don't have to wait to find out who the 2011 Indiana Prairie Farmer and Purdue University College of Agriculture Master Farmers are. Complete details about each winner will be in the magazine.

Here's a thumbnail sketch of the first two winners. Plaques were presented to the winners this week during the special evening program of the Indiana Farm Management Tour. The program was held at Vincennes. It was the first time the two events have coincided and worked to support each other.

Jim Day, Salem- this cattle producer from Salem, and his wife, Marilyn, have set the pace for leadership and the beef industry in their community for years. Word finally reached the judging committee through an excellent application submitted by his daughter, Pam Hawes, and the committee was quick to agree that Day deserved the award.

He's on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Bull test Evaluation Program, and a big believer in this effort as a way to improve the cattle industry. He buys his bulls form the program when the auction is held after each group of bulls has been grown, weighed and analyzed at the station, located at the Feldun-Purdue farm near Bedford, Ind.

Day operates several hundred acres, most of it hay and pasture land. He also practices soil conservation measures where he raises corps. He and one hired man, with him for more than 20 years, take care of 300 cows, organized into two separate herds and three groups. He sells cattle grade and yield out-of-state.

Congratulations to Jim Day!

Bill Schroeder, Freelandville- Although his 60^th birthday is long past, he maintains a vibrant farming operation with his two partners, sons Brian and Kent. They have adapted every precision farming technology that they believe makes sense for their operation. Right now, they concentrate on commercial corn and soybeans, although they have raised specialty crops and even livestock in the past.

Schroeder is well known in business circles for his efforts in helping the local co-op first merge to form Grower's Co-op, then later merge again into a much larger co-op- Ceres Solutions, serving west-central and southwestern Indiana. He also is on a national advisory committee for the Land'O'Lakes Co-op.

He has served on most boards in Knox County, and in nearly every possible position of leadership in the small town of Freelandville. When people need a job done or good advice, they know to come to Bill and his wife, Jean.