Season 2 #2 – Cows are Just Adorable

Welcome to NFB Newsline Tennessee Presents, the show that keeps you informed on blindness issues, up to date on innovations, and brings you engaging stories from people like you. Now, on with the show. Yes, we know the truth.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of NFB Newsline Tennessee Presents. March has definitely roared in like a lion, but today we're not going to really talk about lions and roaring. What we're going to talk about today is cows. Big cows and baby cows. Lots of cows. Sit back and enjoy this interview I did with someone who's known to several of us, Jason Barber. I have to stop and think about his name because Jason is a cattle farmer, and I tend to want to call him Jason Farmer. My guest is Jason Barber, the farmer. You're not a barber now, are you, Jason?

I'm not an actual barber, no.

Okay, just make sure we've got that straight.

Even though I do cut my own hair.

Cows are just adorable. Anyway, start by telling us a little bit about yourself.

Well, thanks for allowing me to be part of this. I actually live in southern middle Tennessee. Longtime resident here in Bedford county, which I'm about 50 miles southeast of Nashville. Lived on a farm basically all my life. That's all I've really known, even though I did started it to. I'm sorry. In 1991, began a career as a firefighter at the Bedford County Fire Department until the late 90s. While on the department, even myself, as well as the chief and captain noticed me driving at night. The fire truck. Said something was going on with my eyesight. There was no known vision history in my family as far as diseases. I did have a great grandmother that was blind, but it never was anything that was to be monitored, so to speak. Fast forward ahead. Had some tests run with the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, and I guess you would say in the late 90s, early 2000s, that's when I was basically told I was diagnosed with the retinitis pigmentosa. And that was kind of a. Okay. Not knowing really anything about the condition other than it was just a hereditary degenerative disease that was going to get worse. It was at that point in time, there was no cure or no treatment for it. So I just more or less started the. The journey of taking on the condition and making the best of it the best way I could. I had to actually give up the career firefighter because of my condition. We were a very, very small paid department, so basically anybody that was on shift had to be in a position to drive a fire truck. Still an active member of the local Volunteer fire department here in Unionville, where I'm located. I actually hold the rank as an assistant chief just for the fact grown up in the fire service and been around it ever since the, the Unionville Fire Department actually started here in 1982, 83. So it's just one of those things that I've got accustomed to. And even with the condition and I can't drive a fire truck, I could still contribute with not being on a bragging type deal. But I've got years of experience and public relations has always kind of been my thing. So they kept me on board as a more or less as their public relations guru.

Jason and I had a discussion. I asked him, you know, questions about the farm and he told me about how long it's been a family farm. So tell about that Jason.

Well, our farm was purchased by my ancestry and 18, I think December of 1866, which that puts me, if I did the math correctly, I think I'm an eight generation farmer. So it's been in our family all these years and it's other than the fire service, I guess you'd say farming has been in my blood longer than anything because I as a, a kid, back in the early days, the home that I lived in wasn't basically on our farm. So I was there all the time. And then my grandfather, he was, if you want to call it, he was more than a grandfather to me. He was kind of my mentor slash hero. I would spend all my time I wasn't in school. Biggest part of the time I was with him growing up, he was an older gentleman, he was very, very independent and that set me up to do things in the fashion I do now as independently as possible. You just didn't tell him that he could not do something because he would do anything. Lay in every word to show you that he could and prove you wrong. And I'm that away now, even with my vision. My wife always laughs at me, but I just like, I refuse to be beat. If there's any way possible for me to find a solution and do things on my own, I will. In 2000, when we seen that there was an issue going on with my site, we had already kind of started thinking about our future and how things are going to progress. We didn't know at that time if it was going to be. I was going to lose it completely in five years, 10 years, 50 years. There was just no time frame. In 2020 my dad did pass away and August 27th of that year. And that's when you know, the reality kind of gave you a gut punch and said, okay, it's, it's me now. It's nobody else. There's no dad, there's no grandfather. I have no, no children of my own. And so basically, you know, how am I going to do this? You know, I'm losing my sight and how can I continue this paradage that my ancestors started, you know, 150 plus years ago. As I said earlier, fortunately pre planning is in my blood, meaning my dad and I both were always planners. We like to have contingency plans. We like to know, okay, if this happens, where we're going to go. So we had already started setting our farm up, putting up new fences, corral gates and such as that to where it, if something did happen to him. I could operate and manage my herd pretty much by myself in a safe manner. So we kind of knew what was going to happen. So luckily before he passed away, we had everything set up to where we could maneuver or I could on my own. Now with that said, I don't do everything by myself. I mean there's just obviously with anybody that's visually impaired, you're going to have to have assistance doing something. If I call somebody and ask for help, they absolutely know that I've done everything that I can do and I really need help. So never had the lack for somebody not coming. They've always been there for me.

What are some of the modifications that you've had to make for your lower vision?

Well, honestly it's crazy to say, but good vision or bad vision, the farming modifications or whatever, it kind of went hand in hand meaning, you know, we put up extra fencing to where I could instead of being out. And I'm trying to paint a picture for people to understand. I mean, you're in a great big field and, and you're trying to get your herd up to working station where you can vaccinate or whatever. Well, it's difficult enough with two or three people to get the herd up. So we went ahead and put fences up to where I could funnel my cattle to where I needed them and make them a lot more controllable to where I could do it on my own with an ATV or utv. Then once I get them in my pen location, I guess you would say have funnels. And then I did put up a new corral system to where I could get them in a very isolated area. If necessary, I can stand outside that area and you know, take some type of a flag or whatever and herd Them where I need them without even getting in the. Into the animals. Luckily, for the most part, all my livestock are relatively tame. I've got one or two that can get kind of crazy every so often, and they can make you a little nervous being around them. But I know who they are. I spoke at a conference in Atlanta this past March, an agrability conference. Agrability asked me to speak at a session and somebody was asking me, well, you know, okay, if you can't see, how can you get around your farm? And how can you do this? Or how can you drive a four wheeler? How can you drive a tractor? And I said, well, you know, it's not like I was just dumped on this farm two weeks ago. I'm fixing to be 54 years old. And I've literally been on that farm ever since I was able to walk. So I know about every inch of that farm. A lot of the fences I either repaired over the years or I built myself. And I know about every ditch, every pond, every hole there is around there. So, you know, it's like you've heard the term, I know this place like the back of my hand. Well, that's. That's exactly what it is.

What are you seeing for your future of doing some of the things that you have to do on your farm?

Well, I'll answer that with this. For the longest time, my mom even figured into this equation. So even though she didn't help a lot on the farm aspect of it, she was a big help as far as for transportation purposes. For me, even if dad wasn't available and I needed something, she would do it. You never know, you think you have it bad. You know, even though I've got poor eyesight and it'll deteriorate and you think you have it bad, but when you lose your support group such as my mom and dad, and the reason I say that is in 2000, and I'll give you just, I guess on a spiritual aspect, give you a bit of a testimony. Valentine's Day of 2018, my mom and dad were. And myself, we were going out for Valentine's dinner, taking my mom out. And we was in Shelbyville on the square. And there was an Italian place there that she always loved to go. So that's where we wanted to go. We were on the square in Shelbyville and got to the crosswalk. Well, typically I stay with my mom and just kind of. And my dad was always the leader. He always would go ahead of us. Well, that particular day he decided to kind of walk with Mom. So I went on ahead, got to the crosswalk, of course, there again, this is my town. I know it very well. And I got to the crosswalk and I listened for traffic and looked out of my peripheral and went across. And I knew they were behind me. Well, just as I got to the other side and stepped up on the sidewalk, I heard what I would call a tire bark. Just kind of a type thing. And I'm like, what the heck was that? And I turned around and to my surprise, my mom and dad were both laying in the middle of the street. There was a pickup truck come around and literally mowed through them in the crosswalk. And needless to say, it killed my mom right there. I mean, she didn't officially die until the next day, but I've been in the emergency services long enough. I knew when I got back to them, they was both unresponsive. Nothing. And I knew, I could just tell by her respiration, it wasn't good for her. My dad, I thought he was gone. Course it seemed like an eternity, but he finally woke up. And of course, anybody that knows me around here, my nickname is Duck. I've had that name since back in the mid-80s, through the fire department. And my dad woke up and he was like, doug, what happened? And I knew then I'm like, okay, he's, he's back with me. He's not gone. This leads into answering your question. So pardon the story, you know, I was like, okay, mom, obviously she's not going to make it. So my focus shifted to taking care of my dad. I had already known that if something happened to my mom and dad, they had both in 2015, willed me the family farm. They wanted me to have it because I had been on it all my life. My sister in law was attending a cross country meet with my niece. Jesse got to speaking with one of the parents there and this is just how, this is how God just. It's just crazy how he puts the right people in your path at the right time. Eileen Legault. They were just random conversation. And Jesse asked, Eileen said, what do you do? And she said, I work for the University of Tennessee in the Department of Agriculture. And it was like, oh, that's cool, you know. So, you know, what exactly do you do? She said, well, I work with a division of agrability. And what's agrability? Well, agrability is a program. It's in about 13, 14 states in the country that their. Long story short, their mission is to have farmers that are disabled find a way to keep Them farming and doing what they love to do, no matter their disability. And of course it automatically threw a red flag up. And she's like, really? You know, and she said, have you ever been to Bedford County? And of course Eileen said, well yeah, I've been through there and I've talked to the ag extension person there. So she told Eileen a little bit about me and my little bit of history and we'll fast forward into, I guess it was probably September, October. Eileen came out and met with me along with the local ag extension person and another gentleman. And I never knew anything about any sort of assistive technology. Didn't even, never dawned on me. Well, Eileen and them said, well let's, let's, I'm going to put you in touch with the people vocational rehab and let's see what we can do to help you. Of course, for everybody this was a learning curve because you just don't see someone who's visually impaired, legally blind or whatever working with cattle. I mean you see people and hear people that are like vegetable farmers or orchards or do stuff like that. But you know, someone actively working with livestock, it was just unheard of. I had to more or less sell what I was trying to do with vocational rehab because I just never have heard of this situation. And they're the ones that's responsible for helping you get the assistive technology and fund it. They want to know how much money I was going to make and how much this. Now I want the. Well, it's, it's farming. There's no way I could tell you how much money I'm going to make because it's just, it, it's ever changing and it's not about making money. For me it was a passion and it was trying to keep our 155, 56 year old farm going. And, and at that time my dad was still living, but I did tell them his condition and just didn't know how long he was going to be around. So to answer your question about how did I prepare, that's when the journey with assistive technologies came into play and it was a trial and error. I mean we tried certain assistive technologies that just we thought would work. My main hurdle on the farm, I can do most anything. But all my cattle have identification ear tags with numbers in. Well, obviously it was just where I couldn't see the number. That was fine while my dad was here because he could read the numbers for me. So we tried different assistive technology. Some of them you would think would work, but it just Wouldn't work for me in this application. So I think that's how I work so well with agrability Vocational Rehabilitation, the STAR Center. That's the organization that comes out and evaluates and makes recommendations. I think they think quickly that, you know, I'm not the type of person that takes no for an answer. I'm going to, if this made, this device may not be designed to do what you need to do, but they seen that I was researching and trying to find my own answers and not have them do it all for me and we, we continue even that, that relationship today, trying to find solutions. And if I find something that, that they might not even know about, then I share that information to them too. So I mean it's. You're helping more people doing it that way. So as far as planning, that's where I'm at, you know, just developing and coming up with assistive technologies. Told my eye doctor here a while back. I said it's, you know, God is all into this because I said as the condition gets worse, the technology gets better. So as my vision deteriorates, the technology is getting better to help me keep doing it.

So did you ever reach a solution to read the ear tags?

Yes, there's, there's no 100% surefire way that I've had to work with it, but the, the primary ones that I've had and this was just on a whim, you know, finding out it'll do it. The Seeing A was my first semi successful attempt to, to get my air tags red that done very well. And then, and it's not something I have to do on a regular basis so I could just kind of work with it and do what I needed to do. But I guess one of the biggest game changers that I that really moved forward, still not perfect, but we're getting there is the Be My Eyes. When they introduced the Be My AI when they put artificial intelligence into that and I tried it one day I thought because I follow and you're probably familiar and your listeners probably are. Sam Thv of the Blind Life, he actually did a review one day and was talking when AI came out with the in the Be My Eyes application. And when he said that I thought, well, I'm just going to see how this works. So I downloaded the Be My Eyes app and I was on my farm one day just around riding around my herd and I thought I'm gonna see if this will work. So I had a cow, I don't know, three, four cows standing in front of Me. It took the picture and it processed it. And not only. I mean, did it not just tell me that number of that tag. I mean, it told me that there was a black cow to your left, you know, a red cow to your right. One cow is looking at you. There's three cows laying down on the ground over to your right. And it was just. There's. It appears to be the fall of the year because the ground is kind of brown with leaves laying around off the trees, and people laugh at me, but it even recognized a pile of cow dung.

Oh, that's funny.

I mean, it. It was crazy. I just couldn't believe it.

Like, I. I could just see you. Like, come here, Bessie. Let me stick this phone in your ear.

I mean, it was. It just. It was amazing what it would do. And, And. And then I started. Well, I said, okay. And it's kind of what I said while ago. I know what this thing is designed to do, but I want to know what it can do. So I. It. I had it not only just recognizing tag numbers, it would. I could pull the dipstick out of tractor and it would tell me how much oil on the dipstick. It would read it for me. Medicine bottle. Of course, it would read the dosage and stuff like that, but if I draw the medicine up in a syringe, it would literally tell me how much metal I added. I mean, how much medicine I had in that syringe. Was it perfect? No, but, I mean, if you can't see at all, it was a game changer. To give your listeners a little bit of insight on that, I created a YouTube channel. It's called Farming Blind with Duck. And I thought, you know, people even around here that know me ask me all the time, well, how can you do this and how can you do that if you can't see? I said, well, I think the best way of me to do is just show them how I do this. I even had one. One time that I was video and I was putting up a fence, and I said, this is how I do it. And I literally started steepling, taking the hammer, driving it into a tree, and I was looking at the camera. I was not even looking at what I was doing. I could tell by the sound and the feel of the hammer and how it was driving in, how I was doing it. I wanted to give people the opportunity to see how it can be done. That's a shameless plug on my YouTube channel. I promised my dad knew my passion for the farm and knew how much it meant to me as well as the rest of the farm, the ancestors, that I would keep going as long as I could.

How many cows do you have right now?

I've got. I think I just counted that up. I've got 17. No, I'm sorry. 16 mama cows, two large bulls. And then I've got probably seven calves that have been born in the last month and a half. And then I probably got another five. So I've got about 12 calves. I sell my cattle, obviously my. The calves, whenever they get of the right size and age. But my primary income is high bail, bail hay here on the farm. Square bales, small square bales, and I sell them. And that's probably my biggest money maker. And when I say that now that's my biggest money maker, but I don't mean it's big money. It's probably one this. There's not a lot of money in farming.

When you're not wrangling cattle and you're not keeping. Keeping all those volunteer firefighters in line, what do you do with your time?

Well, you know, it's funny you should say that, because farm farming is my spare time. After my. My dad passed away in 20, my wife, she said that. She said this farm was my. She always called it my coping tool. Meaning that was my therapy. If I had had to have some time to myself, that's where I would go. And my grandfather did the same thing. He lived about five miles from this farm, but he would. Every day, almost like clockwork, you could see him come by the house, going to the farm, and then that evening you see him coming back through, going home. It's just. He just spent all of his time there. So, you know, I'm kind of a boring person, I guess you'd say. I don't. Just don't get out. It don't take much to entertain me. That's the good thing about the farm here. I'm the kind of the. A lot of the historian because this same farm, my great grandfather as well as my uncle and. And my grandfather, they run a. A country. A general store on this farm. The building still exists now. And they run a peddler wagon out of this back in the 19. Probably in the 30s, I'd say in 1930s, 1940s, and it was J.B. barber & Sons General Store. So back in the day, that was Barbertown, I would always think called it Barbertown because that's where people come to get their stuff.

You had an interesting family history there. That's really cool. Good segue here if you were speaking, you know, to a group of people, what would be the one main point, one philosophy, one thing you would like to share and leave people with?

Well, my grandfather. I've always tried to use this terminology a lot or that I guess you'd say cliche or thing. He would always say, it's not the things that can't be helped that bother me. And I say that in a fashion that when he. He coined that term. When I was a baby and my parents lived with my dad. Parents, they lived there for a while when I was a baby. And my mom would apologize to my grandfather because I'd cried half of them. And he would look at her and he would just say, it's not the things that can't be helped that bother me. Meaning that boy couldn't help crying at night. He couldn't help it. Just part of it. But if there's something that you. That you do that can be helped and you still do it, that bother you, does that make sense? I try to.

That's grown. I like that.

You know, if it's. It's. If you can't help it, then. So it's just like the eyesight. You do, do, do. I get discouraged and. And upset and mad at something when I can't do it. My wife gets on to me all the time like that. But if I can't do something, it. And if I can't figure it out on my own, it just. I get so upset in myself. And she's like, look, you can't see, you can't help it. And I said, I know, I know, but it's not, you know, if I lose my independence when I have to.

Ask for a ride, I feel terrible. They're like, well, don't feel bad because you sure can't drive. So that's something that, you know, I can relate to. If you need somebody to give you a lift somewhere, you just need somebody to give you a lift somewhere. Because I think if I got caught out driving, they'd do more than find me.

Well, that's what my wife tells me a lot. She's like, I don't like asking. And when people offer to help, I won't say I refuse it. I just said, now, you know, I'll let you know. And she. She kind of throw it. It's funny, she kind of throws it back up at me. She said, you know when you're always wanting to help people? And I said, yeah. She said, that's a blessing to you, ain't it? Yeah, I said, I like that. I just like to help people. She says, well, when people offer to help you and you don't let them, you're almost depriving them of that blessing. So. So, you know, I hate it when she's right. You know, if I leave a patch of grass, so be it. It'll be there later. You know, it ain't. It's not that big a deal. But I too, take pride in, in the place and trying to keep it looking as neat as I possibly can. And, and with, luckily, with the help of a lot of assistive technologies, I've been able to pretty much accomplish most any of my goals that I, that I need. And if I need help, I do go out and ask for it. But, you know, it's just. And there's a lot of things that people probably wouldn't even think about being considered an assistive technology. It's like I have a, A level, a big level where I hang gates and put up fence posts and stuff like that. If I'm building something, you know, it's like, obviously if anybody knows the level, it's got a bubble that you look at to see if it level or not. Well, if you can't see the bubble, then how do you know? Well, I, I purchased a level that. It's a digital level and it beeps and it tells you when it's level. So, I mean, that was when I, when I found one of them and just that was before any of this assistive technology, you know, with the Star Center VR and all that. It's. I found it on my own. I. I just wonder. They make a level that beats. And sure enough, they did. And I was like, that was just like, give me a whole, because I love to build things.

Before we close, how can we Find you on YouTube?

The YouTube channel is Farming Blind with Duck. For sure. Subscribe to the channel, drop me a comment and just let me know where you're from, because I love meeting people. I've also got a Facebook channel, Farming Blind with Duck. I don't maybe necessarily use the word inspire, but I like to know that I can possibly encourage someone and let them know that, you know, where there's a will, there's a way. I use the scripture and believe it was Proverbs 16, 9 that, you know, a person will pick your path, but God leads their step.

I always bring up, you know, that's the importance of networking with people. That's what at first prompted me to start doing NFB Newsline Tennessee presents is that I want to share people's stories and hear from their voice what they've done with their lives, what they want to do, some of the ways they've made modifications and sometimes just really interesting aspects that, you know, you wouldn't think about. Oh, blind farmer never thought about that.

You want to know something or need something. It's, you know, everybody knows somebody, meaning I may not have the answer, but I might know somebody that knows somebody that has the answer.

It's, you know, sharing and knowing and learning and growing. Our affiliate president made a statement. There's no better time to be blind with all of the advancements that have been made and what's continuing to happen.

Well, that's what I was saying a while ago. That just shows, you know, that as the condition gets worse, the technology gets better.

Jason, thank you so much for joining me. It's been a pleasure. And you know, cows are just so stinking adorable. That's just, like fun to talk about cows.

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