Country Lifestyles
Cowboy Culture – Writing is Tough
By Clay Reid
Well, as you see by my headline, it’s another hard day for Clay as a writer. Writing is tough, and it’s even tougher when you’re stupid. No, John Wayne did not say that; big Daddy Reid did.
You can believe it, too. Being old doesn’t help either. If anybody has ever read any of my musings (I think that’s a word anyway), then you know that almost every deadline, I push to the very limit. Not out of meanness or spite—it’s just out of pure forgetfulness and stupidity (I know that’s a word).
Most every written article by me is done at 4 a.m., in my underwear, at my computer, after I had been awoken in the middle of my sleep by the article God is screaming at me, “Get up dummy, it’s your deadline day.”
I must drive poor Mrs. Crabtree crazy. She will even send me texts reminding me a few days before to try and help her “Ten-second Tommy” out. Sometimes it works, but most times, it’s something only the article Gods can do.
Well this month’s article was no different, well sort of anyways. You see I woke up, and of course it’s in the same manner and all, but just like always I was able to hurry through some scribblings and scratched together an article, barely making it safe at home plate.
The only thing is that nowadays the play can go under review. Well, that’s just what happened. My call at the plate was reversed. Now I know you’re sitting there with a puzzled look on your face wondering how I can mix in a baseball metaphor with an article screw-up.
Well, let me tell you how. After writing my article, I was soon headed out west as I prepare to defend my title as the New Mexico State Champion Coyote Caller. I had a smile on my face with the satisfaction of knowing that I had completed one more Flintstone-style writing and was in the clear for another month. That’s when Mrs. Crabtree pulled the rug out from under me just as I pulled into the middle of nowhere in New Mexico.
TEXT: Clay did you get my email? You wrote that article in February.” Are you kidding me? I sat down and wrote pretty much the same dang article I wrote in February about my horse “LE and Stupid.” I could not believe that I scrambled out of bed almost killing the wife, rushed into my office, painfully chicken-pecked on the computer for an hour and half, for absolutely nothing.
To read more pick up a copy of the December 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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