Baxter Black

I had just finished bein’ on an extension program in the Herington, Kansas, sale barn. I was standin’ in the auction ring afterward, tryin’ to answer a few questions and shake hands with the local stockmen. My veterinary lecture, as usual, had been more humorous than informative.

Who would like RFDtv off the air? Or U.S. Farm Report?

Have you ever been drivin’ a set of pasture cattle down the lane, and then you notice them stringin’ out longer and longer, driftin’ over into the ditches along the side till pretty soon you’re a half-mile ahead of the lead steer?

It’s a pairing I never thought I’d see. Chip and Al. Al was a cowboy I worked with for 10 years. He was an example to lots of the young buckaroos. He was 25 years older than me. We met one spring when he was in a cow camp on the Brown Place in North Fork, Nevada.

The editor of the Delmarva Farmer made the observation that Americans as a whole have reached the Age of Agricultural Ignorance. This stage in our civilization is a direct result of the lack of “kids growing up on the farm.”

Picture this: a panoramic background, the green Okanogan Valley, pines and quakies with contrasting colors of a splendid autumn.