Kansas Dairy Farmer's Manure Mural Born Out of a Labor of Love for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs
From red and yellow cheese curds in Kansas City, to Missouri-based Shatto Milk Company producing their Chiefs red velvet milk, dairies were busy gearing up for the big game serving up Chiefs-themed products for fans to enjoy.
Shatto Milk Company created a winning tradition with their red milk, an item that is only available when the Chiefs are in the playoffs, and now, as the Chiefs try to finish out the season with a Super Bowl win.
In Kansas, one dairy farmer had a different idea. The morning after the Kansas City Chiefs took home the AFC Championship title, Rob Leach, a dairy farmer located in Linwood, Kan., went about his daily chores on the farm. One of those chores included spreading manure from his dairy onto nearby crop land.
“As I was driving out to the field with the manure spreader, I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if I can write the number 15 on the field?’”
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For those who don’t follow the Chiefs, 15 is the jersey number for Kansas City’s star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.
“I really just wanted to see if I was even capable of doing it,” Leach says. “The number one was obviously easy to write, but when I got to the number five, it started to get a little tricky. If it didn’t turn out right, I thought ‘Well, I guess I can always just cover it up.’”
With no GPS equipment, Leach freehanded the second number of Mahomes jersey and was happy with how it turned out. However, he realized his manure artwork was spread a little thin.
“I had to go back over the numbers with a second layer of manure so you’d be able to see it more clearly. It would have been a lot easier if Mahomes number was number 11!”
Once Leach was satisfied with his ‘crappy creation,’ he took to Facebook to see if anyone nearby with a drone could take a picture of his masterpiece. A stranger responded, drove out to Leach’s farm, and flew a drone 400 ft. above his field. Here were his results.
Later that day, Leach shared the picture on social media, and the response was amazing.
“I had a lot of friends and family share the picture to help cheer on the Chiefs, but we also had a lot of our farm friends from all over the country who shared it as well. And they don’t even like Chiefs!” Leach says.
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One person who hasn’t seen the manure mural is the star quarterback himself – Patrick Mahomes. However, Leach hasn’t ruled out the possibility of him seeing it just yet.
“We live about 50 miles from the Kansas City airport, and we’re almost in a direct flight path to Phoenix, Arizona where the Super Bowl will be played this year,” Leach adds.
While Leach is hoping Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs can bring home another Lombardi trophy this year, he knows winning against the Philadelphia Eagles won’t be an easy feat.
“Win or lose, I’ll still have to go out and spread manure the next day,” Leach says. “I just hope this brings them a little extra luck.”
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