Country Lifestyles
Pam Blanscet Schenk’s Story of the Sesquicentennial Wagon Train
By Judy Wade
“I was one of five women who rode horseback or in the wagon every day that the wagon train moved,” Pam Blanscet Schenk said about her trip with the 1986 Sesquicentennial Wagon Train that zig-zagged its way across 3,000-plus miles of Texas celebrating the 150th anniversary of the state’s independence from Mexico.
“I was in Jacksboro working in my uncle’s ice plant when I heard and ad on WBAP radio about the wagon train. I thought, ‘That’s the closest thing I’ll ever get to living like it was 100 years ago,’” Schenk recalled.
Frances Johnson told her about Betty McGaha, who was outfitting a wagon in Henrietta, and Schenk was able to join her and her driver and horse wrangler Randy Chadwick for the journey. “My plan was to ride my mare Roxy and pack my other horse Bo with my supplies. I got a pack saddle and panniers and learned how to balance the load and pack everything,” she explained.
Her plan didn’t work out quite the way she thought it would. “I found out Roxy was pregnant, so I took my dad’s big thoroughbred, Duke. That didn’t make my dad too happy,” Schenk related.
Schenk is 5’ 1”, and Duke was a conservative 16 hands, or at least 5’ 4” at the withers, so saddling and mounting proved a challenge for the cowgirl every day, but she managed. However, Duke proved to be a challenge several times. “During one of our ‘practice wagon trains’ before we actually set out, we were camped on the Ross Ranch in Jolly. A pump jack started up, Bo and Duke spooked and Bo got a rope wrapped around my leg,” she recalled.
To read more pick up a copy of the September 2018 NTFR issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
By: Martha Crump
Most cattle producers can tell you quite a lot about balancing cattle diets for energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals based on the specific needs for their herd and type of operation.
A key factor, and one that is often overlooked, is that how your animals perform is also directly affected by their water intake.
Now many of you may already be thinking “well of course water is necessary, anybody knows that!”
In many years, as September marches into October, we are beginning to experience some return of rainfall. But as many of us know, that is not always the case. Often we are still experiencing hot and dry weather, and water supplies are dwindling.
When we find ourselves experiencing those types of fall conditions, it is critical to not only understand the daily water requirements for cattle, but also the impact that the quality of water can have on herd health and development.
To read more, pick up a copy of the October edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By: Annette Bridges
A friend and I were recently talking about our husbands. She made a comment that I felt also perfectly described me and my hubby.
“He slows me and I hurry him. I’m sure that is why we do well together,” she said.
“Precisely!” I thought. Why?
Because when two different worlds collide, it can be magical.
No matter what those two different worlds are- a man and a woman with very different personalities, beliefs, or backgrounds, two partners with contrasting passions, strengths, or talents, or when a country boy marries a city girl.
To read more, pick up a copy of the October edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
Watauga, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, is known for its rich history as a railroad stop, but over the course of the last year, one teen girl has put it on the map for agriculture as well. Emma Harvey has lived in Tarrant County her entire life. Despite being highly involved in her local 4-H chapter, she still felt there was more she could do. In the spring of 2023, she stepped up to the plate to take over the title of Tarrant County Teen Miss Agriculture USA.
“It all started when I put in an application for the teen title here in Tarrant County,” explained Harvey.
The Miss Agriculture USA program is a national non-profit, age-inclusive pageant program that offers both competition and non-competition titles to women dedicated to the promotion of agriculture.
Read more in the October issue of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available online and in print. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive NTFR in your inbox each week.
Photo by Hannah Claxton.
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