Howdy!

Hello everyone... welcome to my little corner of the internet! My name is Haley Droogsma. I am so happy you're here. To kickstart our connection, I want to get you acclimated to my blog, business, and self, what to expect, and how this passion sparked and grew into what it is today.

About the Blog

Be prepared for all sorts of discussions surrounding agricultural and Western communications practices, my thoughts and learned experiences, and how those should fit into your business. Any communications you release, digital or not, have strategic implications. My primary goal is always to grow your business outcomes.

While agricultural marketing strategy will be the primary topic I share with you, my full-time agvocacy never takes a second off. If anything, it will surge when I have such a sweet soap box to hop on! With that, you can expect anything under that sizable umbrella, from legislative takes and information to articles about my lovely customers to professional features and their recommendations to improve your business. As I've mentioned, my primary goal is always to grow business outcomes and make life easier for agricultural and Western professionals.

Within the near future, I have articles highlighting some marketing tips for bull sale season, dissecting the controversial House Bill 119, along with a feature from my lovely friend and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Beth Blevins. So keep an eye out for those as they concern you and your work.

About the Business

Now that I've told you all about this blog and what you can expect to see coming down the pike, I want to share with you all a little bit about this business, my background, and how it all came to be. It is not only an income stream but a major passion of mine as I get to serve salt of the earth people through work that I love and enjoy.

I have been freelancing communications work for agricultural businesses since my sophomore year in high school when I had a bit of a lightbulb moment. I grew up in Billings and for years I had been involved in communications work. I won my first graphic design contest when I was twelve, creating the logo for our elementary school t-shirts that year. I kept chugging along through two years of yearbook club during middle school and joined Business Professionals of America in high school. That's where the communications hobby really grew for me. I entered all sorts of photography, graphic design, presentation management, and video production events and had resounding success at state, regional, and national levels. I couldn't seem to get enough of it all!

Cowboy professional has been the attire for as long as I can recall!

With that, my agricultural upbringing was an entirely separate passion. I grew up helping with family dairy and beef operations, traveling with my dad to farms and ranches across Montana, shadowing his work for WinField United and Croplan Genetics, and helping his customers during harvest, all gaining me a diverse immersion in this industry from a young age (+ an unnecessarily large knowledge base in forage sciences and enteric fermentation!). I was taught, for as long as I can remember, the values of this industry, why it's important, and the necessity to remain dedicated and appreciative to those who produce the all the food we eat and clothes we wear, no matter where they come from.

During high school, administrators would announce our BPA wins over the intercom after every competition. Shortly following a big year at State BPA for me, my sweet friend, Macee, had heard about my success and approached me during class to see if I'd help her family ranch develop a logo. Sparks were flying in my mind! I'm not sure how I hadn't thought to combine these two areas of work that I held so dear, but it's safe to say that the rest was history.

Palomino princesses, Annie Christensen, Macee Lawson, & Andrea Pearson rocking my first ever piece of freelance work on their super slick caps at Griffin Land & Cattle in Billings, Montana.

Since then, I have been hard at work running down this dream that fills my cup every day. I finished high school orienting as much of my BPA and class work around agriculture as I possibly could all while freelancing more agricultural communications for nearby farms and ranches.

Upon graduating high school, I bussed over to Bozeman, where I am now, to study Business Marketing and Agricultural Business. My studies at Montana State catalyzed my advocacy, involvement, and professional career. Throughout my college experience, I dedicated many hours to the lovely Collegiate Young Farmers & Ranchers and Collegiate Stockgrowers clubs as a media officer which lent me many opportunities to succeed.

I also worked a lot during school. I worked for our Montana State University Farrier School for some time and was later hired by the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, where I am still working today. Apart from these regular jobs, I continued to plug away freelancing for many producers in the greater Gallatin Valley region. I also worked for great businesses and organizations from the Northern International Livestock Exposition, to Montana FFA, to our Montana State University Rodeo team.

It has been such a blessing to give back to organizations that shaped me throughout this journey as well. Raising money for Montana 4-H through Swingin' HD t-shirt sales, helping plan and judge the Agricultural Communications event at Montana State FFA, donating communications help to my church and its auxiliary programs, and other volunteer opportunities are all at the core of my business values in strengthening Montana agriculture and serving those who played a major part in making me who I am today.

About Me

Although my work and business is at the very core of who I am, there are a few other bits and pieces that make me, me. I want to make sure you all know who you're working with when you chose to do business with Swingin' HD.

Another major hobby for me throughout my life has been music. My grandma is my biggest musical inspiration. She used to travel the Hi-Line in a band, playing piano, alto saxophone, and drums by ear, eventually learning to read music, and later giving this gift to my mom and uncles to share with our family. Growing up, I learned to play piano, alto sax, ukulele, banjo, and guitar while singing in church and messing around with a few other instruments along the way. In my free time, which isn't in much excess these days, I love to play all the 70s country classics and write a few tunes of my own.

Like any good Montana kid does, I also love the outdoors. I enjoy hunting and fishing of all kinds from clipping barn pigeons with the Red Rider to more big game animals to fishing in our backyard or high up mountain lakes. I feel very favored to grow up surrounded by Montana wilderness and try to take advantage of it as much as I can. I also enjoy hiking from time to time, but try to pack something out on as many of my mountain ventures as possible whether it's sheds or loins of some variety.

Another personality trait of mine is my Bobcat fandom. I have been a die-hard Montana State fan for as long as I can remember. My great grandpa was ranching in Phillips County when our great land grant was first established. He wanted so badly to attend and learn but couldn't afford to leave the ranch. I take a whole lot of pride in how far our family has come through generations of working tooth and nail, all to get me to a point where I can pay for college myself and graduate from our College of Agriculture. So it's only natural that I cheer louder than everyone else in the stands!

Central to all aspects of my life is my faith. None of this could be done without God’s help and guidance. I give Him all credit for any and everything that I’ve been able to achieve and for the blessings that are riddled throughout my life. This is my ultimate reason for waking up every morning, regardless of how all other aspects of life come and go. I do my best to serve others through Him every day as best as I can.

Finally, the biggest blessing of them all that affects all of the aforementioned parts of me and my work is my people. The people I come from and those that I share life with now are about as good as they come. From the line of generations that came behind me in agriculture, to my big, beautiful family that I am so lucky to be part of, to my friends, to the hard-working, honest men and women of the agricultural and western industries that I serve through my work every day. They say you become who you surround yourself with. Not to toot my own horn, but I have the best tribe any gal could ever dream up!

Great Grandpa Bob Blue throwing loops in the pen!

Thank you!

Thank you so much for being here. I encourage you to click around and familiarize yourself with all the things I dip my toes in, people and operations I get to work for, and ways I can serve you and your business!