NFL player getting a taste of farm life

Jul 08, 2020

Drew Forbes is keeping busy on his in-law’s farm while waiting for the season to start

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

At least one National Football League (NFL) player has taken to working on a farm as part of his routine in preparation for the upcoming season.

Drew Forbes, a 6’5”, 308 pound offensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns, would usually be back in Ohio around this time working out with teammates and team staff before training camps officially open on July 28.

But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bonne Terre, Mo. (the town’s name is French for “good soil”) native is balancing his football duties with work on his wife Emily’s family’s cattle farm in the community.

While on the farm he’s been tending to cattle, hauling hay bales and operating equipment.

Farming has been “my second job right now,” Forbes told team reporter Nathan Zegura on an episode of his show Working From Home. “It’s a whole new world to me – waking up early and getting all this (work) done. It’s opened our eyes to a simpler way of life, but we love it.”

Another football player is used to life on the farm.

Lachavious Simmons, a 6’5”, 315 lb. offensive lineman for the Chicago Bears, grew up on his family’s farm in Selma, Ala.

While waiting for training camps to open, Simmons has been back on the farm lending a hand and lifting weights.

His farm upbringing gives him an advantage over other players vying for his spot on the roster, he said.

“I think I’m a guy who can compete on the first day in (camp) because I was born on a farm,” he said after being drafted in May, Sports Illustrated reported. “I’m a blue-collar guy who grew up on a farm, throwing hay bales (and I’m) disciplined. I feel like my hard work, it can match anybody’s.”

Simmons and Forbes aren’t the only NFL players to spend time on farms.

Check out this list of five NFL players who have farming connections.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.