Before eHarmony there was Hoard's Dairyman

I'll admit it for I am very guilty of my own pre-"e" days when I was searching for The One. At a young age a lot of the magazines that littered my dad's desk were farming/dairy based mags. Seeing I loved to read anything available I would pick-up the magazines to read about the latest technology with milking parlors or a new way to handle a displaced abomasum.

Soon I learned that whenever they did an article about a farmer, they ALWAYS included age and location. From then on I started to grab all magazines possible....Hoard's Dairyman, Progressive Dairy, Country, Holstein World, etc. to check out the latest crop of elgible bachelors. It was a great pre-screening process cause when you do a write-up about the farmer you typcially include the stats of the farm. As in, number of acres, techniques used, herd head-count and so on. Pop in a picture to show him by the livestock or tractor and then I know which breed of animal and implements he preferred.

My list was a bit particular:

Holstein
1,000 acres
300+ head
John Deere
Chevy
Age: 25-33
Owner (or co-owner)
Uses technology
Belongs to at least one association

I continued this tradition throughout college - it wasn't hard to go into the Dairy Science Dept. reading room and gather up the magazines. But I found that the habit soon waned off once I moved away from the farm life and lacked the subscriptions. It is also awkward seeing boys that I actually knew from my collegiate days in there. But I have a feeling this may start-up again seeing I'll be located back on the farm for awhile and yup, still single! Yeah, there may be technology to do the screening, like eHarmony, but I prefer to do my market research the old school way.

I think I'll make it my new morning coffee break habit.