[Music] - It's the International Year of the Woman Farmer.

This week on Inspire, we celebrate Kansas women in agriculture, exploring how they're transforming the industry and strengthening communities across our state.

We're gonna learn a lot.

It's a story of resilience, leadership, and legacy.

Next on Inspire.

[Music] Inspire is sponsored by the Raymond C. And Marguerite Gibson Foundation.

And, by the estate of Ray and Ann Goldsmith.

[Music] Hello.

Welcome to Inspire.

It's another great day here with our lovely co-hosts, Daniel Norwood and Leslie Fleuranges and, of course, you.

2026 is the international year of the woman farmer, and Kansas voices are leading the way.

- Women are leading in a new era in agriculture, balancing tradition, innovation, and sustainability.

- Today, we're featuring two women who are making their mark and shaping the future of farming.

Welcome, Kenley Carpenter, Jackson County Cattle Rancher, and Debbie Lyons-Blythe, Flint Hills Cattle Rancher to Inspire.

Thank you both for joining us!

- Thank you.

Thank you So I would like to know how did you get started in farming, actually cattle ranching for the two of you.

And I wanna know, how do you stay passionate about it?

'Cause I know it's like you don't get any real sleep, you're up early at the crack of dawn.

How do you stay, you know, invigorated and enthused about what you're doing?

I'm gonna start with you.

- Okay.

So I grew up on a cattle ranch near Manhattan.

Always knew I wanted to be involved with cattle.

Really enjoy cattle and enjoy the lifestyle of being raised on, in a rural area, right, and working with cows.

And so I knew I wanted to do that.

So I chose to go to Kansas State University and major in Ag Journalism.

- Wow.

- And yeah, so I got to do a little bit of radio, a little bit of work in that, but I really missed the cows and I really wanted to get back home.

So, and I met this guy in college, right?

That happens pretty frequently.

Sure.

But we settled on his family's land that was homesteaded in 1890.

Wow.

And yeah, so it's a, a pretty heavy legacy, pretty, pretty important responsibility.

And we do have farming operation as well as a cattle ranch and have raised five kids there.

Oh my gosh.

And I don't know how you maintain your excitement and your enjoyment, but one of the big things is I don't do the same thing every day.

- Yeah.

- Right?

So every day is different.

Every day is really a joy to work with my family and be out where I love the land.

The Flint Hills is gorgeous.. And I get to be a part of it every day.

- Yeah.

I love your office.

You have the perfect office.

Kenley, what about you?

- I, same thing.

I grew up on a cattle ranch with my dad, and ever since I was a young girl, I just started following him around, helping him do chores.

And I guess there was never a question of what I wanted to do.

I went to community college for two years.

I came home and I just knew that that's what I wanted.

I did venture slightly untraditional and I married a guy from town that has no cattle experience.

And so we are kind of the non-traditional, he works off the farm and I am 100% hands-on with the cattle every day.

I would have to 2nd that no two days are the same.

There are seasons that are the same, you know, during the summer we're in the hay field and during the fall, we, we fall calve as well.

So that's what we're doing.

In the wintertime, you're doing chores, in the spring you're calving again.

But no two days are the same.

This morning, we had a flat tire on the tractor, and so we are off fixing that, and then we are coming here and doing this, and then tomorrow it's going to be something different.

And that's always exciting to me that it's never the same, and I get to be outside every day.

Some days it stinks, the weather is not cooperative, but I wouldn't change it.

I get to see the beauty of Kansas every day, and I truly love that.

- So tell me, what is the difference between farming and having a cattle ranch of, you know, so you say that you're really cattle ranchers, but you also farm.

Is there a difference?

- Go ahead.

There is a difference.

Farming is your traditional row cops, your, your corn, your soybeans, your wheat, whereas cattle ranching is we are producing those cows, we run a cow calf operation.

So we have the mama cows, we let them have their babies, and then we kind of get those calves up to a certain weight, and then we sell them at the market.

Whereas Debbie also runs a few of those, but then you have a bull production as well... - So we have a pretty big cow herd these days.

It seems bigger but what's going on right now, but we also farm a little bit of the area in in the Flint Hills is not a big farming area actually, but we have some fields then that grow corn, wheat, milo, soybeans.

Some of that we do feed to our cattle, so that is the opportunity to feed through what we grow, but some of that is also sold in the cash market or the, the, you know, commodity market.

- Well, you mentioned about, like, because they always talk about the Flint Hills was not suitable for farming- Right.

... because of the limestone and so forth, but you actually grow what you feed your cattle.

Will you elaborate on that?

- That's pretty common in my area.

So we grow hay specifically, which is just a grass that you cut at the peak of its nutrition and dry it so that you can feed it to the cows in the winter, right?

So they get good nutritious grass.

The grass in the Flint Hills is really an amazing grass.

Yeah.

I mean, for so many reasons but it is of zero nutrition in the winter.

So we could not be a fully grass finished operation in the Flint Hills unless you are putting up hay and things like that because to keep them out on the grass in the hills, it would not be very nutritious, right?

Okay.

So it's very important that we work with a nutritionist.

Oh.

We actually do a cattle nutritionist to figure out exactly the mix of the different grasses that they need to have, and then if we need to give them a vitamin, a mineral supplement as well.

- So we're talking about the importance of the cow because they can eat things that we can't eat.

Yes.

And you were referring to some “cattle candy” earlier before we went - On the air.

I did.

So we grow, we rotate between either corn or a sorghum silage and we grow it and we chop it kind of, like you said, at the peak of its nutrition when it's green, we chop it and it looks like confetti and then we pack it in a huge pile and it sits there and it ferments and it has this very sweet kind of syrupy smell to it.

And that's also something that we supplement during the winter to our cows, so that way they get the proper nutrition that they need.

Another key thing I'd like to point out is that the winter going into the spring is when a lot of our cows are having those babies.. So making sure that those pregnant mamas are getting the proper nutrition that they need to help us in the calving process.

So- - Well, I know that there's no typical day.

But can you take us behind the scenes a little bit so our viewers get to kind of see what a day would be like on your ranch?

I'll go ahead and start with you.

Okay.

- Yeah.

So this morning we are nearing the end.

We are spring calving, so that means that our cows will calve in the spring before they go to stay in the pasture all summer.. So we're having babies right now and I have two of my sons are full-time on the ranch and helping me out.

My husband also works off the farm even though it's his operation and his legacy, family's legacy, he, he works off the farm during the day, so I have been the one on the farm all the time.

But our two grown sons are full-time on the ranch and we have another boy who's part-time on the ranch and two daughters.

- Okay.

- But the two daughters are, are don't live on the ranch anymore, but my boys all do.

So they got up early this morning and we're tagging calves.

They have to find them that are young and firstborn.

We try to identify them because we have more than 500 calves every year, so we put a tag in their ear.

We want to make sure that tag matches who the mama is, so we can always keep that pair together, right?

If we move them somewhere.

Right.

So after they've gone through, we may have 30 in a morning to tag so they'll get that accomplished.

Then because the grass isn't growing right now, and like she said, we'll feed in the winter, so we are mixing up sometimes a silage mixture, sometimes a grass hay mixture and supplement with a vitamin or mineral.

So we spend the rest of the morning feeding all of our cows and taking care of all that.

Then in the afternoon, we may have to do some, some health checks.

There may be some that are not feeling good, that they need treated.

In fact, I just came back from the veterinarian this morning.

I took a calf to the veterinarian that was not feeling well that needed some help.

- Yeah.

- But our veterinarian is a part of our team and, and we are always working with our veterinarian to make sure that we're doing things right.

And then sometimes I take off to come and talk to... and then in, again, in the evening, we'll go through the cattle, look for new baby calves and just have everything accomplished before dark.

- Okay.

And Kenley, we want to hear about yours in just a minute, but right now, we need to take just a short break.

Farming is changing and women are at the heart of that change.

Coming up on Inspire, we'll learn more about the changes that are on the horizon.

Do stay with us.

[Music] [Music continues] [Music continues] - So what does the future of farming look like?

Well, we're about to get a few ideas from our guests, Cattle Ranchers, Kenley Carpenter and Debbie Lyons-Blithe So okay, I have to ask, when I go into the supermarket and I see chopped meat or, you know, and it says “grass fed”, I'm thinking, "Oh, that's a good thing."

But you're feeding grass anyway, aren't you?.

Like what is the deal?

Why are people doing that?

Is that a false claim or is that a just a marketing thing?

- It's not a false claim, but I would say it definitely is a marketing.

It's really just, I think a way for people to know that what we are feeding our cows is wholesome and it is a natural thing that we are taking, like you said, something that grows that we cannot eat ourselves and we are feeding it to our cows.

- Okay.

So then I just have to go back before, because before we started filming, we were talking about, and I was shocked that you called grass or hay-.

... protein.

- Yes.

- How is that?

'Cause when I think of protein, I think of what it is that you are bringing to the market, which is actually the beef itself-.

... or the chicken.

So can you explain that?

- It's just an incredible way of the cows are able to take that grass and it's got, it's a surprising amount of protein in it that we can't eat and we cut it at the height of its nutrition level and we dry it down and then we can feed it to our cows later on during the winter.

And it's just a great way to utilize what we already have.. - I think one of the neat things about this is that you two women are willing to speak about this to educate the rest of us.

And that is just so important.

I do want you to say about, tell about your day though on the, on the farm on the farm/ranch.

- It depends.

Are we starting at midnight of the day because- Yes, let's start at midnight.

So to back up slightly, my father and I run what we consider a custom calving operation.

So other people bring us their mama cows and we take care of them and we assist them with having their calves.

We also do that with what we call first calf heifers, so first time moms that don't know what they're doing.

And so at my house, I have a barn and we have there's 30, 20, there's probably 70 heifers that we have shut up in a barn.

And my dad and I take shifts every three to four hours and we are checking those moms to make sure that they are having their calves, that they don't need assistance, making sure that if the weather is cold, we get those calves up, we get them warm, make sure they've nursed.

So my mornings kind of start at 3AM.

I get up, I check heifers, I go back to sleep.

I have two children.

I have a five-year-old and an almost three-year-old.

So my mornings, my dad normally starts feeding.

I get the kids up, get them going, take them to grandma is our daycare.

And then I come home and I get started on same thing, we're checking the cows to make sure nobody's having calving difficulties.

We are tagging any babies that have been born so we can identify what mom they go with.. Then we spend the kind of afternoon feeding the cows a mixture of the hay or the silage.

Then we're, if we have time, we might fix some fence.

There's always projects to do on a farm that's never ending.

Like I said earlier, we had a flat tire on the tractor- Yeah.

... and so we had to stop and we had to fix that first thing before we could finish feeding.

And then it's back again checking them before dark and then at dark at nine o'clock I do the, the kind of evening check and then my dad takes the midnight shift and then it's getting two kids fed and through the bath.

And I have a slightly unique experience in the fact that my husband is a firefighter here in Topeka actually, so he is gone for 24 hours at a time.

- Oh my - Goodness.

So there are times where I have to be full-time mom and I'm only available from eight to five and then I need to be going and getting my kids.

Yeah.

And so I'm very blessed that my father and I are a team and we definitely help each other out and he is very understanding.

He loves his grandkids, of course.

And so there's some days where those are my only available hours.

And then there's other days where I work until it gets dark.

So it's truly, every day is different and it's unique and I love it.

- So how do you have a balance?

Because I would think day in, day out with no real breaks for, you know, other things, how do you manage that, you know, family time, farming time.

It's not like you all can take a spring break, so- ... How does that work?

And I'll start with you, Kenley.

- One way that I personally have found is I'm a huge audiobook person and- Ah.

... the hours that I get in the tractor on the four wheeler, fixing fence, whatever, that's when I can kind of unplug and unwind, and that's when I get, I get kind of me time.

And I'm, I'm still working, but it kind of gets me some time away.

Other than that, it's ... I do feel like there is some flexibility.

Yeah, spring calving season is really difficult, but then there's other times where it's a rainy day, you kind of go out and you do your chores, and then I can come back in and I get to work on stuff in the house.

Or like I mentioned with my father and I, he can go and he can take vacation for a week and I stay behind and I keep track of all the cattle.

And then on the reverse side, my husband and I and the kids, we can go take vacation.

He stays behind.

And it's, I think definitely just kind of having that village around you and it's, it's very hard to do by yourself.

I would agree with that.

But just, it's easy to find that balance when you have a great team that you work with.

- Wonderful.

- But you know, the thing about farming and ranching is that it's not a job, right?

It's our life.

Yes.

It's not even a lifestyle.

It's our life.. So I spent a lot of time with five kids in car seats going to pastures to check you know, check cattle out in pastures.

I can cut hay with two babies in a car seat at, on the floor of the tractor.

Wow.

It works just fine.. You bring your family with you.

Many times our kids talk about how they would be playing in the barnyard while dad and I would be working cattle and, and checking on them off and on.

But we take picnics.

You know, we, we try to do things with the kids because this is our life.

Yeah.

Right.

And we have the total responsibility to, to do it.

Oh, I love it.

- So we mentioned the beginning that there's, there's innovation going on and farming.

Can you talk a little bit about what innovation is actually going on and, and what percent, if you have any idea of women, of women that are really farming since, you know, we probably think that it's all a, a man's world, not necessarily a women's world.

Kenley, you have any thoughts?

- I don't know if I could throw a number out there on the percentage, but I will say that I work at a livestock auction once a week, and when I started, I was about 15 years old sorting cattle.

And at that time, I was the only woman that was in the back that was actually hands on working with the cattle.

And since I've started, I have seen more and more women come into that field of work and I don't want to say outwork the men because that's, but they seem to have just a different drive, a different energy, a different passion.

I'm very stubborn, so I would agree that I have that same drive.

Innovation wise, even just something as simple as a cell phone, I feel like has helped us tremendously.

I don't know about you, Debbie, but we use our cell phones all the time.

I'm constantly texting my dad, you know, "Hey, this cow had a calf over here.

Can you check her?

This calf doesn't look good."

I can take pictures.

He can call me and say, "Hey, I'm over here in this field and I'm broke down.

I need you to come get me”.

- So that's one thing.

Another my husband actually, I'm going to put a plug in here.

He has started a drone business.

Oh, yeah.

And so him and my brother-in-law, they have drones and so they are using those to spray crops to, we've talked about spraying cattle.

We haven't had to do it yet, but that is an option.

Yeah.

And just, it's just amazing what technology can do for us.

- And Debbie, you were like "Farm Mom" of 2012.

Yeah.

- That's an honor.

Yes.

That's an honor.

It was a crazy honor.

Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

Well, tell us how that happened.

Well, so first I want to say that women have always been involved in agriculture.

Yeah.. They have always, if you want to follow the Santa Fe Trail that's, is in Council Grove and further west towards Santa Fe, New Mexico they don't have statues to the men pioneers on the trail.

They have the Madonna of the trail statues.

Wow.

There are 11 of those.

Wow.

Women have always been involved in agriculture.

Sure.

They just haven't been as visible- - Right.

... and - They haven't been as upfront, Right?

Until it was about the 70s that a woman could not get a loan for agriculture herself without her husband's signature.

Couldn't do anything.

Things have changed.

Yeah.

Things have absolutely changed.

My mom did a lot of breaking that glass ceiling, I believe.

She was very much one of the first women in the 80s to do a lot of those jobs and so that has opened it up for me.

Right.

So I believe there are a lot of women involved in agriculture involved and I, I would say probably if I were to give a number, it would be more of the case that I would say the majority of farms and ranches have a woman involved.. I can't say how many women are the head.

Right.

But they all have women involved.- Yeah, fantastic.

And so the farm mom thing came about because that's an American Agriculture Women is what that, that program was put together and it was nominated and set up.

And my kids actually nominated me as well as my aunt nominated me.

Yeah.

And so it was just a really cool opportunity for me to kind of get some opportunity to travel and speak to different groups and talk about women's role in agriculture and the fact that I'm proud to be a mom, raising kids- Yeah.

... on a - Farm - And ranch.

Yeah.

- But, but you're, you're doing so much now to even, to, to let the general public know where their food comes from, what's going on and how important it is.

- Well, so in the '60s, we used to just grow the food and just say, eat it, here it is for you, right?

Now we're getting all this pushback.

All people are wanting to know information.

And so at first, I would say when I first started blogging and trying to connect with people in the early 2000s, it was like, oh, do we have to answer these questions?

- Yeah.

- Yes, we do.

Yes.

People want to know where their food comes from and they feel so much better- - Knowing those things.. So the people, the farmers and ranchers of today, especially the younger ones like Kenley, are more interested in, in sharing that information.

And I think that that's become just a big part of farming and ranching in any, any operation.

Thank - You.

Well, on behalf of my family, which had a big old pot roast last night- ... I want to say thank you for all of the work that you do day in, day out.

Super out.

Yeah,thank you.

Debbie, Kenley.Thank you so much for being on our show today and for the ways that you are making impacts and your role of being women farmers and farmers in general and ranchers in general, the, the way that you are taking that on, we honor you here today on Inspire.

Coming up a few closing thoughts, so please stay with us.

[Music] [Music continues] [Music continues] - we're back with Debbie Lyons-Blythe and Kenley Carpenter to wrap up our discussion, but ladies, this is a, a big year.

It's the “International...” please go ahead with that.

- So it's the International Year of Women Farmers.

- Okay.

- So the UN every year designates certain groups that they wanna highlight and this year, some of the highlights are the international year of the women farmer because they wanna highlight that and- Right.

... and bring recognition to women as well as supply them more resources, right, a- around the world- Right.

... I think is the key.

The, another part of that, that the UN is representing this year is the international year of range lands and pastoralists.

Oh.

So that's a global term for cattle ranchers.

- Oh, - Right.

Okay.

Raising grass.

I love it.

So that really intersects for me.

Sure.

And I've been a part of a couple of events that we've been talking about those, those two representations and just focusing.

So I think one of the things that we need to know is in America, we are really good farmers and ranchers.

Yes.

Men and women.

Yes, yes, yes.

And women are very well respected and appreciated in America compared to other countries.. Oh, right.

Definitely.

So there are countries, third world countries specifically that maybe the women are taking care of the farm and ranch where it's a farm probably in that situation that it's, it's day-to-day living.

Yeah.

And it's difficult.

And they've got political issues and there's things that are happening there.

So the UN has designated this an international year so that we can focus on all of the women around the globe that are involved in agriculture.

- You know, and you were talking about your, your dad and how wonderful that is, but let's go back to your mom for a little bit.

Because, you know, the, the glass ceiling that she came through- - Yeah.

- I mean, to be with the Kansas Livestock Association, that's big doings.

- Yeah.

You know?

My mom is Jan Lyons and she was the first woman president of the Kansas Angus Association.

Ah.

The first woman president of the Kansas Livestock Association- Wow.

... and only one of three national presidents that were women for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Wow.

So she did have trouble getting connected.

Right.

There were men that said, "Why is she in the room?"

- Wow.

- But I don't have that anymore because she broke that glass ceiling.

I feel perfectly accepted when I attend any of those meetings.

When I use my voice to stand up and speak in the legislature I try very hard to connect with my state and federal legislators to talk about agriculture.

I feel perfectly respected and very welcome.

Awesome.

- Well, let's talk about opportunities for women in farming and ranching future forward.

What does that look like?

- I think just reaching out to other women that you may know and they would have resources.

I think the Kansas Farm Bureau personally was huge for me in getting started on more of the leadership aspect.

I was always involved in agriculture, but just more of the hands-on.

And I did a leadership Kansas Farm Bureau course and we kind of went throughout the state and we toured different ag operations and just really how to become connected and how to, like you said, voice our, our opinions and our concerns at the state level and at the federal level and make sure that legislation that's getting passed is helping us farmers and ranchers.. I would say the Kansas Livestock Association is another great way to really get connected and stay connected.

Okay, - Great.

So this has been amazingly informative and I'm so glad we did this because it's not something I would have thought of doing otherwise.

So thank you so much for all you do.

Thank you for raising our cattle.

This has been a great opportunity for us.

And unfortunately that's all the time we have today, but we want to thank Debbie Lyons-Blythe and Kenley Carpenter for joining us today on Inspire.

And you can watch this program again at watch.ktwu.org.

- And if you're inspired to learn more about our guests, find out what's coming up on future shows and get access to additional content, be sure to visit our website at ktwu.org/inspire.

- Inspiring women, inspiring and celebrating women who continue to keep Kansas and the world's agricultural traditions alive and well, inspiring you.

On KTWU, we thank you for watching.

[Music continues] [Music continues] Inspire is sponsored by the Raymond C. And Marguerite Gibson Foundation.

And, by the estate of Ray and Ann Goldsmith.