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Category: Riding Herd

by Lee Pitts

I’ve learned a few things from cows and cowboys over the years, such as . . .

Good veterinarians are hardly ever on time.

It doesn’t pay to be a tightwad when it comes to buying a horse, vaccines, a  good cow dog or feeding the replacement heifers. Buy the cheapest bulls and you’ll sell the cheapest calves.

Never let the lady from Pooch Pampadours, the local sheep shearer, or the gardener give you a haircut. You’ll either get fleas, your hair will look like a topiary poodle or it will take a year to grow out.… Read the rest

 

by Lee Pitts

How can anyone on earth say something derogatory about an animal that produces milk, filet mignon, cheese, ice cream, hamburger and leather while at the same time they are mowing weeds, producing fertilizer and reducing fire danger?

I’d imagine when you mention the word “cow” to city folks the animal they think of is a dairy animal. They may even have a coffee mug with the familiar Holstein color pattern on it.… Read the rest

 

by Lee Pitts

My first experience in commercial agriculture was as a six-year-old sharecropper when I turned one of my mom’s tiny flower beds into a radish ranch. My cash crop consisted of two rows planted way too close together and I waited impatiently for the first green sign that my crop would not fail. I can remember to this day the pride I took in harvesting my first radish. Despite the fact that no one in my family liked radishes, they raved about mine.… Read the rest

 

“Feed Our Crops to Feed Ourselves” is the theme of the 12th annual New Mexico Sustainable Agriculture Conference being held Wednesday, December 16, in Valencia County.

New Mexico State University will host the free conference from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the UNM-Valencia Campus Student and Community Center, 280 La Entrada Road in the Tomé area.

The conference will provide practical information for everyone from large-scale producers to home gardeners.Read the rest

 

I’ve never joined a fraternal club like Rotary or The Elks because I was afraid I’d leave the room for a bio-break and in my absence I’d be put on a committee. I credit this lack of commitment as the reason for my charm and sanity. Believe me, it’s no coincidence that the word “committee” comes very close to to the word “communism” in my well worn Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
I’ve covered countless conventions where big wigs walk around with those long flowing tails of colorful badges dragging behind them that indicate all the committees they’re on.… Read the rest

 

Veggie Wars

Twelve months ago this intrepid reporter went undercover to investigate the “seedy” underbelly of the vegetarian movement. At great risk to myself, I might add. I dread to think what the veg-heads might have done to me had my real identity as a carnivorous cowboy been discovered. I visited carrot chat rooms, shopped at “Veggies for Less” and “Tofu Are Us” stores, and gagged down vegetarian lasagna, tofu turkey and eggplant meat loaf at vegetarian restaurants, just to bring you this exclusive story.… Read the rest

 

 

Cattle Drive.

I dont get it: cattlemen couples spend 51 weeks a year slaving away on the ranch and what do they do for their one week of vacation per year?

 They go on a ranch tour, of course! Talk about a busman’s holiday.

Ah, there’s nothing like a tour of other ranches to get away from it all. I don’t know why ranch couples do this. Do they ride the chuck line, seeing the country through the window of a bus and eating one beef barbecue after another at ranches that would appear to be very much like their own, just to see how the other half lives?… Read the rest