Staff writer
“Why do I make videos? Because I can,” Derek Klingenberg said during a presentation Thursday at the Butler County Conservation District Annual Meeting where he gave a talk similar to the one he gave Feb. 10 in Nashville.
Klingenberg was invited to speak to a group of American National Cattlewomen before the Cattle Industry Annual Convention and NCBA Trade Show.
There he shared his videos “What Does the Farmer Say?” and “Ranching Awesome,” and told guests how he created his videos, but most importantly why.
“For the first time in history farmers can make a video and share them with the world and never leave the farm,” he said. “There are a lot of farm people sharing and talking about their operations. I plan on making more videos to promote the industry, and because they’re fun.”
He said his talk was less aimed on how he created the videos, and more about the impact they have had. In Nashville his crowd were mostly older rancher wives who had never seen the videos.
“They got a good laugh when I duck-taped the hay bale in ‘Ranching Awesome,’” he said. “They had a lot of question about how I got started.”
He said unlike the group of young 4-Hers that asked for his autograph Thursday night, several women at the conference wanted to have their picture taken with him. But Klingenberg was not the only YouTube farming celebrity in attendance in Nashville.
While there, Klingenberg had a change to finally meet the Peterson brothers, fellow farm parody video producers.
“We had not met yet and figured out through social media that we were going to be there at the same time so we set up a meeting,” Klingenberg said.
He also had a chance to sit in on several informational sessions including one that discussed research to make cattle more efficient eaters, what families want out of beef, and how to cut different steaks.
Since uploading “What Does the Farmer Say?” Oct. 29, it has had over 4.5 million views and has created a media storm around Klingenberg ranging from local newspapers to a live interview with a news station in Tasmania, Australia.
“After doing all the live interviews I realized something,” he said, “that I was camera shy. Put me in front of a live camera and I freeze up.”
He even received a call from a Hollywood producer looking to follow him for a reality series.
“She was a producer for the Kardashian show,” he said. “I asked my wife who that was, and once she stopped laughing we thought about it and figured we probably better pass.”
He said this has given him a great opportunity to educate people on what family farms and the people who run them are really like.