Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

National Ag Week: Grace City native publishes book, 'A Rancher's Hands'

Children's story teaches ethical ranching practices

Victoria Vollmer learned much from her formative years growing up on her family's ranch, the Circle V, three miles north and three miles east of Grace City just inside Eddy County.

Namely, the virtues and rewards of hard work and dedication, and good stewardship of the land and animals entrusted to her parents, Jason and Veronica, and her siblings, Joseph, James and Vanessa.

Growing up participating in 4-H, she presented various animal species in the show ring, but maybe her biggest pride and joy was showing her home-grown beef cattle.

So, she decided to share the specifics of that life with the world, in story form.

"Ranching has been a part of my life ever since I was born," she says. "My family started out ranching with a shared registered black Angus herd of McCumber genetics in 1997, with only 50 head of cattle. We now have 250, and 20 of them are my own."

Victoria, a 2017 Midkota High School graduate currently studying Elementary Education at Valley City State University, officially became a published author February 20 with the release of A Rancher's Hands.

The 28-page children's book became available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the AuthorHouse.com website, and Vollmer received her first bulk order of books Thursday, March 10.

"When you're asked what you want to be when you grow up when you were in elementary school, I was the kindergartner that wanted to be a published author when I grew up. . . and now I am."

"Basic needs fulfilled"

The overriding theme of the book Vollmer wishes to impress upon her readers is the importance of animal welfare in the ranching industry, as it relates to the small family-owned farming operation.

Vollmer says that A Rancher's Hands "perceives a clear message on animal welfare to not only children, but also to adults."

"As a soon-to-be elementary teacher, the main effect I hope to have with it is to educate. Since it's a children's book that doesn't go into a significant amount of detail, I designed it to help give readers a general idea of what we do and the practices that happen," she said.

The pages of the book detail humane practices that ranchers exhibit with their stock, such as:

• "A rancher's hands help to groom and clip cattle when they need it, just like you do when you get a haircut."

• "A rancher's hands carefully pour out medicine to give to cattle, just like a doctor takes care of you!"

• "A rancher's hands patiently care for all their animals, big or little on the farm."

She says that the philosophy of animal welfare draws upon what are called "The Five Freedoms," which are:

1. Freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition - by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor.

2. Freedom from discomfort - by providing a suitable environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.

3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease - by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.

4. Freedom to express normal behavior - by providing sufficient space, proper facilities, and the company of the animal's own kind.

5. Freedom from fear and distress - by ensuring conditions that avoid mental suffering.

"Being a rancher, there is a lot of negative views out there," Vollmer says. "Not a lot of people understand all the things that we actually do for our animals because the negative is always portrayed more than the positive.

"Ranchers have no days off, and are always wanting the best for their animals."

Vollmer concedes that being able to attain all five freedoms at all times for all animals is impossible, and not everything will always go according to plan, and, "things aren't always in ranchers' favor."

"I take pride in the cattle that we have, and try to provide as much of the Five Freedoms of animal welfare as possible," she said. "Right now, we are thick in the middle of calving season, which is always my favorite time of year. Every time we have a successful calf born, I always thank God for all the things our cattle provide for us."

Her advocacy for ethics in animal care was also on display when she competed and won the Angus Queen and Princess titles for the North Dakota Angus Association, and later became Miss North Dakota Agriculture in 2018-19.

"I went to different states and various events to promote agriculture, which is a huge part of our state, and speak of my passion for it," she says. "It was from there that I knew I wanted to continue to make an impact and be one of the voices in this industry, but I just wasn't sure how."

How it came together

Victoria says she was inspired to create the book as a final project for one of her VCSU classes.

She drew upon her artistic background to create watercolor illustrations for the book, as well as to produce the editorial content.

In high school, Vollmer took several art and photography classes, and participated in 4-H static events.

Inspiration came from her mother Veronica's pictures of cattle, along with her own experiences with the medium.

"For the art, I used watercolors to help portray my images and found it useful to showcase colors this way," said Vollmer. "I always liked [that medium] because I liked the challenge."

After a bit of trial-and-error with getting her colors to match, she eventually decided on her final cuts for the book.

"Redoing them helped me to realize that my book had a lot of meaning to me, and I hope it would to someone else," said Vollmer.

"It wasn't even in the back of my mind that I should actually pursue publishing it for the public until I showed my family," said Vollmer. "They really enjoyed it, and supported me in pursuing my dream."

Vollmer contacted a local neighbor and teacher of hers, Kay Topp, who had written a book with her husband that was distributed through a Christian publishing company.

"She discussed with me their process on how they wrote their book, which I thought was awesome because I never knew that they had written one," she recalled.

So, Vollmer showed Topp the rough draft of the book, and according to the author, "absolutely loved the idea."

From there, she gave Vollmer the push to look into going through local publishing firms, but the young writer had bigger ideas.

"I wanted to go further into this and make sure it would be looked at in other states, so I went online to look for other companies, and ended up deciding to go with AuthorHouse," she said.

Present/future plans

She currently is a student teacher at Harvey Elementary School, and plans to graduate from VCSU in May with a middle school endorsement, along with a coaching certificate.

As for her future as an author, Vollmer is keeping her options open.

"I want to do another book called 'A Farmer's Hands,' that discusses practices farmers do, and other children's book ideas discussing where food comes from, 4-H, and other agriculture practices," she said.

A Rancher's Hands is available on amazon.com or the Amazon app for $29.99 (hardcover), $20.99 (paperback) or $2.99 (Kindle). It can also be purchased at barnes-andnoble.com ($20.99, paperback; $2.99 NOOK), and AuthorHouse (same hardcover and paperback prices; $3.99 E-book.)

"I'm looking at trying to get them into local bookstores, and hope to have this accomplished soon," Vollmer said.

She concluded, "My book may not cause an impact on some, but I hope to enlighten those that don't understand that there is beauty and great pride in the things we are willing to do for our animals."

 
 
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