Farm & Ranch

Cowboy Culture – By Clay Reid

Published

8 years ago

October 15, 2016

NTFR

By Clay Reid

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a coyote hunter. I have been my whole life and it’s a passion that was soaked into my soul from an early age.

Back in the day, you see, they used to have a bounty on the coyote in these parts, and every night my dad would haul me and my mom out with him to shoot coyotes off the baits that he had set up. Later on in years, he graduated to hunting them with greyhounds.

At one time he and his best bud, Bobby Dovel had around 32 greyhounds stacked up back behind the meat market that Bobby owned in Electra called Dovel’s Meat Market. It was wild and reckless fun and being able to hunt with the likes of Lewis Blair of Dundee, Texas, and many other old timers hooked me to coyote hunting pretty quickly.

Since those days I’ve tried to master my craft of outwitting the smartest and most adaptable of creatures called the coyote.

I’ve done pretty well at it over the years and managed to win three state championships as well as many other championships in Oklahoma and Texas as a coyote caller.

To read more pick up a copy of the October 2016 NTFR issue.

Farm & Ranch

Hazards of Backyard Poultry

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

NTFR

By Barry Whitworth, DVM

Having backyard poultry is a popular agriculture enterprise. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 0.8 percent of all households in the United States have chickens. People keep chickens for a variety of reasons with table eggs being one of the more common reasons.

Unfortunately, some of these poultry producers are not aware of the hazards that come with keeping poultry because many times they carry pathogens but appear healthy.
Chickens are carriers of several zoonotic diseases. These are diseases that can be passed from animals to humans. According to a recent survey in Pennsylvania, a majority of backyard poultry producers were aware of the dangers of avian influenza. However, this study also revealed that far fewer producers were aware of the risk of possible exposure to Salmonella and Campylobacter.

The lack of knowledge about the hazards of raising poultry likely contributes to the continued issues of Salmonella outbreaks associated with backyard poultry. In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,072 illnesses of Salmonella linked to backyard poultry, and 272 of those patients required hospitalization. Oklahoma reported 43 individuals with the disease.

To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.