The Global Warming, Sustainability, Carbon Sequestration, Methane Hub bullshit is alot like Racism, the only ones giving it mouth to mouth and trying to keep it alive are the ones profiting off of it. Let it die!! We had an election, there’s a new sheriff in town. Stop validating this garbage. God didn’t screw up when he made cows, they are doing exactly what they were built to do. Brian’s right about what he says in this post, and it’s disgusting that our industry is so gullible and naive to allow these corporate elites to play Us the way they have. We need our fellow ranchers and consumers to stand up and push back. Look at what happened to the fake meat fad, packers invested 100s of millions, investors did the same and they lost their shirts. I hope all this Methane, Efficiency mumbo jumbo explodes in their face just like the cell cultured beef did.
Let’s get back to ranching and building moma cows and stop being distracted by all the shinny objects and “easy money”. If United States Cattlemens Association, NCBA, LMA, Common Ground Summit, Farm Bureau and RCALF want to save our industry and keep young producers on the land lets cut all the bullshit smoke and mirrors and lets roll up our sleeves and tackle the real issues facing the industry.. Maybe instead of calling it Common Ground We can call it Uncommon Ground. Maybe instead of having it in a cozy expensive hotel conference room We can have it out behind the OK corrals or on the street in front of the bar. We could get down to the nut cuttin and solve some issues. We are running out of time.
Here is the original Facebook post and photo from Brian Palmer: The grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to the American Angus Association (AAA), while framed as an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in beef production, can be viewed through a broader lens as aligning with the goals of meatpackers and major buyers like Walmart to further vertical integration of the beef supply chain. Many are upset about accepting the methane agenda concerning cattle, but this may be just a small, but critical part of a broader initiative. Who needs MCOOL when you control the whole show?
Here’s how the pieces connect:
1. Bezos Earth Fund Grant Goals
The grant supports the use of “climate-smart” genetics and data systems. It aims to reduce enteric methane from cattle by selecting and promoting lower-emission animals using genomic tools. The initiative is presented as a “climate solution” within the beef industry.
2. Vertical Integration Goals of “Big Beef”
Packers (like Tyson, JBS) and retailers (Walmart, Costco) want more control and predictability in their beef supply. That includes:
Vertical integration lets them ensure uniformity, certify environmental claims, and minimize their risk.
3. How the Bezos-AAA Grant Advances Vertical Integration
-Centralized Data Control: The AAA’s data (through AGI) becomes more essential. If AAA controls methane or carbon scoring tools, then anyone who wants to market “climate-smart beef” must play by their rules.
-Shifts Genetic Control Upstream: If low-methane traits are required for climate certification or premiums, then only bulls from approved (possibly corporate-aligned) programs will qualify.
-Creates Gatekeeping for Markets: Packers and retailers may require
“Bezos-certified” climate genetics — effectively locking independent ranchers into certain programs and away from traditional autonomy.
-Meets ESG Demands Without Changing Packer/Retail Operations: This pushes the burden of emissions reduction onto cow-calf and seedstock producers — not Amazon operations, Walmart trucks or JBS plants.
-Helps Justify Exclusive Sourcing Programs: Walmart and others could require “climate-certified beef,” only available from select vertically integrated or semi-integrated networks (like 44 Farms, Five Rivers, etc.).
4. Strategic Feedback Loop
-Retailer/packer says: “We’ll pay a premium for beef with a lower methane footprint.”
-AAA/AGI says: “We have the indexes and tools to score that.”
-Ranchers must buy into those tools (literally and figuratively) or risk being shut out of top-tier supply chains.
-Outcome: Greater control over genetics, data, and market access migrates away from the independent rancher toward vertically integrated beef systems.
Final Thought:
The Bezos Earth Fund grant may be marketed as sustainability, but in practice, it institutionalizes a framework for top-down control of the cattle industry. It positions big retailers like Walmart and meatpackers to mandate genetics and management practices under the guise of climate accountability — and leaves little room for independent voices that don’t align with the “approved” system. Don’t forget, your mandatory EID tag in the process!
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Every month when it comes time to reflect and write my "just a note", I always want to start by saying, wow this month flew by, perhaps some day things will slow down.
June was full of miles spent on the road and in the saddle. Denio BBQ and play day is always an annual event for our family. BobiRose got to meet the Walla Walla Washington rodeo court. Cole competed at the Lovelock ranch rodeo too.
There have been some record setting horse prices set in the area. Perhaps the horse market is tied to the cattle market.
The meadows are lush and cutting hay has begun along with allergy season. We have seen quite a few fawns, baby quail and other wildlife in abundance this year. The allotment's grasses seem to have dried up earlier than usual this year. Both Cole, my dad and I are on our local Volunteer Fire Department where there is a burn ban in effect.
Over the past nearing 9 years, the Nevada Rancher
Magazine has been honored to have Jennifer Whiteley as our staff writer. It saddens us that this will be here last edition. We know Jennifer will continue on to do amazing things.
I hope your equipment a/c never quits, your pivots dont get stuck, fires arent started and your cattle graze effectively.
-Enjoy this issue, Ashley
• Pg 6- Dealing with Shrink in Cattle
• pg 8- NV Cattlemen's Scholarship Recipients
• Pg 10- History of Modern Rodeos
• pg 16 Cowboy Pastor's Wife Column
ON THE COVER:
Photo by Kaycee Mulder Photography at the annual Sean Miller Memorial Ranch Rodeo in Lovelock, NV. Pictured is Clay Stremler and TJ Thompson.
Frank Aguirre
December 30, 1935 - June 2, 2025
Frank "Patxi" Aguirre passed away peacefully on June 2, 2025, surrounded by his beloved family in Reno, Nevada. He was 89 years old.
Born on December 30, 1935, to Basque immigrants, Guy and Angela Aguirre, Frank spent his childhood in Ryndon, Nevada the second youngest of eight children: Pete, Angelo, Margie, Hank, Guy, Albert, and Doris. Frank told many stories of those early years, including getting into mischief with his siblings, attending school through grade 8 in a oneroom schoolhouse, and working on the railroad tunnels with his dad. They had no running water or electricity, and his daily chores included hauling water, coal, and wood. Frank treasured those formative years exploring the beautiful creeks and hills of Northern Nevada. This love of the countryside, especially fishing with his family, persisted his whole life.
Frank graduated from Elko County High School in 1954 where he played football, basketball and city baseball. He met the love of his life, Louise Paoli, in confirmation class at church. The two were married in 1957 and went on to build a life centered around family, faith, and friendships. Their 68-year marriage was filled with family dinners, get-togethers with friends called "the group", and countless sporting events with his kids and grandchildren.
working on cannons and aircraft surveillance radar. He was employed full time by the Nevada Guard in 1957 rising to the rank of Master Sergeant. In 1963, Frank went to work for the Humboldt District Water Commission, developing lasting friendships with local ranchers.
Frank was one of the founders of Builders Mart along with his wife Lou, and worked as the manager until his retirement in 1992. Frank was known as a businessman who hated to turn down an opportunity to help others, whether it was by donating goods, sponsoring a team, or sitting on a community board. He was loved by his employees and customers because of his caring nature and dedication.
Perhaps one of Frank's greatest joys was coaching baseball - especially when it meant spending time with his son, grandsons, and countless other young athletes in Elko Little League and Babe Ruth Baseball. He coached for over five decades from the late 1950s through 2005 where his practical advice helped kids navigate their lives. Frank was an avid Yankees fan until the day he died. He developed a friendship with Lefty Gomez who golfed and gambled in Elko, that led to two trips to the World Series in L.A. and New York with his close friend, Dan Bilbao.
After high school, both Frank and Louise worked for Gulf Oil Company. Frank joined the National Guard and trained to become an electronics technician
Sherrie Johnson
January 22, 1969 - May 29th, 2025
Sherri Leigh (Nelson) Johnson finished her battle with cancer and entered fully into the presence of the Lord on May 29, 2025. Born January 22, 1969, to the late Cedric and Lois Nelson of Carson City, Nevada. Sherri grew up in Carson City and loved telling stories about playing with all of her friends who either lived “down the street” or “around the corner.” She attended Carson High, where she competed on the high school rodeo team and took pictures for the yearbook. This cemented a lifelong love for photography and the rodeo and ranching world.
Sherri met Warren Johnson at the Jordan Valley Big Loop in 1990, and they were married in Washoe Valley, Nevada, on July 17, 1993. They raised their 3 children to know and love the Lord on cattle ranches in Nevada, Northern California, and Eastern Oregon. No matter where they moved, she always reminded people that she was from Nevada. Together, they lived a love story full of adventure and wellmade memories.
Above all, Frank's deepest devotion was to his family. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He is survived by his wife, Louise; his son Tony (Pam); his daughter, Angela de Braga (Joe); grandchildren Felicia DeWald (Jon); Thomas de Braga (Shay); Justin de Braga (Kammie). He also leaves behind great-grandchildren who adored him dearly; Leander and Adelina DeWald; Gaizka de Braga; Kase, Wacy, Kreece, and Wyatt de Braga; and baby girl de Braga coming soon.
Sherri enjoyed road trips with her family, watching her children compete in 4-H, sports, and rodeo, playing softball, dancing, loud music, canning, gardening, sewing, weaving, paper crafting, raising animals, and of course, photography. She was very patriotic and decorated her house like it was the 4th of July all year long. She was immensely proud of her children and their accomplishments. Her husband and family were second only to her Lord and Savior.
Known as “Mama Johnson” to all of her children’s friends, Sherri’s home was always open. She was always ready to feed people, share advice, or have someone stay the night. She loved deeply and generously.
Sherri is survived by her husband, Warren, of nearly 32 years, children Randi Johnson, Warren Clayton [Mercy] Johnson, and William [Lindsay] Johnson, her siblings Steve, Stacey, and Shauna, and many nieces and nephews. She leaves an enduring legacy of faith.
By Heather Smith Thomas
Dealing with Shrink when Marketing Cattle
Cattle have a large digestive tract, holding many gallons of feed and fluid. Body weight may vary, depending on whether the gut is full or empty. This will de-pend on time of day, how much the animal has eaten or exercised, or how far it has been hauled. Morning weights, when cattle are relatively empty because they’ve been resting during the night instead of eating, are generally less than midday or evening weights when the gut is full, unless cattle were held off feed before weigh-ing.
Shrink is often misunderstood by cattlemen and buyers— especially the draw-backs to cattle health. Cattle always do better (staying healthier, and bouncing back more quickly after transport and sale) if they are not excessively shrunk during this stressful time.
Studies at Kansas State University and University of Arkansas reported that steers gathered at daybreak from pasture and placed in holding pens without feed or water shrank at the rate of 1.25% of body weight per hour during the first 2 to 2.5 hours, and 1.61% of body weight during the next 2.5 to 3 hours. Cattle shrink a lot at first, especially if they are sorted and moved around in corrals. They defecate and urinate more when nervous, and empty out fairly quickly.
Mature cattle carry nearly 30% of their weight in the gut (and bladder), and may lose a lot of weight quickly if held off feed and water for 24 hours or if they pass a lot of manure and urine in a short time, as when exercising or excited. You can figure loss of 8 to 10 pounds per defecation or urination; a gallon of fluid weighs about 8 pounds. Shrink losses of up to 10% of body weight are not uncommon in cattle held off feed and water for 24 hours, and in some circumstances shrinks of up to 18%.
Julie Walker, Beef Specialist, South Dakota State University, and Reid McDan-iel, Feedlot Specialist (SDSU) offer tips to producers when marketing cattle. “Shrink is generally divided it into two types,” says Walker. “Gut fill is one type. For re-search purposes we often hold cattle off feed and water for 12 hours or overnight, to reduce fill in the rumen. Whenever you start moving or handling cattle and they don’t have access to feed or water, this type of shrink starts immediately,” she says.
WHY CATTLE SHRINK
Dr. A. L. Schaefer (Lacombe Research Cen-tre, Lacombe, Alberta) worked on several studies addressing the problems associated with shrink. “A number of years ago the meat scientists told me they were seeing muscle shrink and dark cutters (with meat being dark, firm and dry), and wondering what was happening with these cattle. We realized that transport and handling cre-ates such a novel environment for cattle that they are adversely affected by this stress,” he says.
Cattle are prey animals and their survival tactics are to fight or flee from preda-tors (short-term stress events). They are not programmed to handle things like being gathered and sorted, weighed, held overnight in pens without feed, loading or un-loading, or long truck transport. The “fear stress” experienced by cattle in these novel situations can be every bit as detrimental as physical stress. Cattle sent to slaughter often experience several hours of transport, after which they are held in pens overnight prior to slaughter—and typically lose 6% or more of their live and carcass weight. They often display degradation in meat quality parameters such as pH, color and marbling score.
“We started to measure some of the stressors. At that time, part of the attitude in the beef industry was that it was just gastrointestinal tract water being lost—that shrink is just a loss of fluid from the gut. Many people actually thought shrink is good, to get it out of there so the buyer doesn’t have to pay for useless water,” says Schaefer.
“This perception is far from the truth. Over the years we did studies to look at the composition of fluid loss. We did total dissections of slaughtered animals, com-paring the ones with greater shrink with those of lesser shrink, to see where the weight loss was coming from. We learned that about half of the weight loss was from the GI tract and about half was actually from muscle tissue. There can be loss of muscle in finished animals, resulting in a reduction in carcass yield and quality,” he says.
“Then we looked at the various kinds of physiological insults, and it makes sense. Animals lose their muscle sugar (glycogen) and become hypoglycemic (with low blood sugar and low muscle sugar). They become dehydrated and lose intersti-tial water (fluid outside the muscle cells). The meat scientists found that when the animals lost this fluid from the tissues their meat became tougher. The shear forces (pressure needed to cut a steak) and taste (as determined by food tasting panel) changed dramatically,” he says.
“It’s similar to grapes versus raisons. When grapes lose water they become rai-sons (smaller, thicker, and chewier). The muscle tissue lost a lot of the positive ions, particularly sodium and potassium. These cattle break down muscle because they are trying to free up the carbon on the amino acids, so the carbon can be used to make more glucose—to counteract the loss.” These are survival mechanisms the body has evolved, to survive in times of stress and feed/water deprivation.
“There is a chronology and time frame to all of these changes, depending on how far the cattle are transported, etc. These are the kinds of insults we were seeing in cattle suffering from shrink, and this explained a lot about why there was a weight loss—and why that weight loss was so important. It was partly muscle and not just urine and feces,” says Schaefer.
“The other type of shrink is due to fluid loss within body tissues (tissue shrink) and this starts at the same time but is more severe when cattle are off feed/water for a long time—such as a long transport or prolonged cattle working. An example would be if the rancher gathers cattle today out of the pasture, works and sorts them, puts the calves on a truck and sends them to a sale barn—and they didn’t have feed/water or didn’t like the feed/water. They may not eat or drink for 24 hours or longer,” ex-plains Walker.
If they have no way to replenish fluid loss over an extended period, they be-come dehydrated, with fluid loss from muscles and other body tissues. “This type of shrink takes longer to resolve than fill shrink; water in the tissues is harder to replace quickly. With fill shrink the animals can eat/drink and be right back to normal. Tis-sue shrink takes longer, and how long depends on how much shrink has occurred and how long the animals were off feed/water,” she says.
“The expected amount of shrink (gut fill) when handling/moving cattle can vary from 2% to 15% of body weight,” says Reid. “I’ve heard reports of cattle leav-ing Georgia and going to Iowa feedlots and losing 15% on the road,” he says.
Walker says shrink is estimated in terms of hours spent on the truck, but most producers think in terms of miles, rather than hours. “An Oklahoma study estimated that cattle shrink 3% in the first 100 miles, and about .5 to 1% shrink for every addi-tional 100 miles,” she says. It’s most dramatic at first, and then tapers
off, on a long trip.
Reid says many things play into how much shrink the cattle experience. “This varies depending on their hydration and feed status before they get on the truck. How they are handled beforehand has a huge effect,” he says. It also makes a differ-ence whether they were on lush green pasture or dry hay just before they are worked or hauled.
Walker says most buyers do a fair job of assessing shrink and predicting how much a certain set of calves might shrink. “If a group of calves are sold at the farm, or go through a ring at the sale barn, the buyer puts a pencil shrink on those calves in his mind, to adjust them back to compare with calves that have been off feed or came into the sale barn the night before and refused to eat/drink,” she says. Pencil shrink is an equalizer.
Reid says shrink has to be estimated correctly by the buyer. “If you don’t get it right, and pay weight ends up being very much off from actual weight (calves that actually weigh a lot less when they show up) you essentially went down the highway throwing out money. If real-life shrink is very much more than calculated shrink, you will never regain that money.”
Newly weaned calves (and their mothers—if a person is selling open cows right after weaning their calves) suffer the most shrink because they are too upset and
stressed to eat or drink. Giving them a chance to adjust to weaning and be more relaxed and back on feed can greatly reduce their stress and shrink.
“Typically older cattle have less shrink than feeder calves, because of their body composition. Cull cows typically have less shrink than finished steers and fin-ished steers have less shrink than weaning calves, under similar conditions,” says Walker.
It also makes a difference whether you are backgrounding cattle or putting them into the feedlot for a finishing program. “There is a clear relationship regard-ing health and shape of the cattle,” says Reid. “If they leave the farm and are on a truck for 18 to 22 hours, this is quite stressful. This is not as common in our part of the country, where most cattle are fairly close to the feed yard. Shrink involves loss of hydration and if they arrive at their destination too dehydrated, they may get sick.” They don’t bounce back, and the stress of long transport (and this much shrink) hinders their immune system.
“If cattle come in looking gaunt, and it’s been hot in the truck, we try to get water and feed into them before we do anything to them, for at least 24 to 48 hours,” he says. They need time to recuperate before being subjected to any additional stress.
Walker says the number of cattle on the truck has an impact. “If you overfill or under-fill (not a full load), this puts more stress on the animals. Ideally, you want to load that truck as close to capacity as possible, without crowding, to reduce shrink,” she says. If they are overcrowded, or just a few rattling around in there, they are more stressed.
“Every time we add stress to these animals, we increase shrink. Environmental conditions such as very hot or extremely cold adds stress. Handling procedures, and previous diet are also factors.” Lush green feed, being mostly water, goes through the tract rapidly, whereas hay—especially grass hay—will stay in the gut longer.
“Preconditioning calves (already weaned and not stressing over where mom is) can also make a difference, and having the calves bunk broke. Some people try to manipulate diet to try to reduce shrink, but the main thing to do is make sure the an-imals have a balanced diet and their mineral/vitamin needs are being met along with their energy and protein needs.” There’s no magic formula or silver bullet to reduce shrink, but having the cattle on drier feed just before shipping can help.
Reid says that when you compare effects of handling cattle and shipping them, versus simply holding them off feed and water, the handling/shipping has a larger impact on the amount of shrink. Low-stress handling cattle is crucial, to help reduce shrink.
BY MARTIN PARIS, NCA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Nevada Cattlemen’s Association Announces 2025 Scholarship Recipients
The Nevada Cattlemen’s Association Research and Education Committee is pleased to announce six scholarship recipients this year. The NCA would like to congratulate Courtney Hummel of Reno, NV and Lauryn Marshall of Eureka, NV for being selected as the 2025 NCA Scholarship recipients; Braden Sorensen from Fallon, NV, and Ian Livingstone from Wells, NV, for being selected as the 2025 Marvel- Andrae Scholarship recipients last; and, last but not least, Billy DeLong of Winnemucca, NV, and Kerstyn Countryman of Washoe Valley, NV, for being selected as the 2025 Walt Leberski Memorial Scholarship recipients.
The Nevada Cattlemen’s Association annually awards the NCA scholarship to a first-year college student beginning to pursue an education within the agricultural industry. This award is open to all Nevada high school graduating seniors planning to attend a junior or fouryear university and majoring in an agricultural-related field.
The Marvel/Andrae Scholarship is targeted toward students either going into their first year of college or already enrolled in college and working towards a degree in agriculture economics, agriculture business, or the animal/meat science fields. We would also like to recognize Agri Beef for their continued support of the Marvel-Andrae Scholarship program. The NCA greatly appreciates our partnership with Agri Beef and thanks them for their continued support of students pursuing careers in agriculture.
This year marks the second year of awarding the Walt Leberski Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship is open to graduating high school seniors, or students already enrolled in college or a trade school. Again, this scholarship is intended for students who are obtaining a degree to hone their skills for the betterment of agriculture.
All three scholarships are awarded to exceptional students who work hard, excel academically, and work to represent agriculture in a positive way. We thank all the students that applied for these scholarships and are confident that they will all be strong future advocates for Nevada’s ranching and farming communities.
NCA Scholarship Recipients
Courtney Hummel recently graduated from Galena High School in Reno, NV and will be attending the University of Nevada, Reno, where she will be pursuing a degree in Agricultural Science. She was involved in 4-H during her high school career and is a distinguished member of the National Honor Society. She hopes to use her degree to study Nevada’s rangelands and native plants and develop strategies that optimize land use for cattle ranchers in the state.
Lauryn Marshall is a recent graduate of Eureka County High School in Eureka, NV and will be attending Utah State University, where she will pursue a degree in Food Science. Lauryn grew up on her family’s farm in Eureka and was involved in the Diamond Mountain FFA throughout her high school career. She intends to learn about food production, engineering, nutrition, and safety with the goal of guiding the food industry on farm-to-table distribution.
CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING PAGE
The Nevada Cattlemen’s Association annually awards the NCA scholarship to a first-year college student beginning to pursue an education within the agricultural industry. This award is open to all Nevada high school graduating seniors planning to attend a junior or four-year university and majoring in an agricultural-related field.
Billy DeLong
Ian Livingstone
Kerstyn Countryman
Braden Sorensen
Marvel-Andrae Scholarship Recipients
Ian Livingstone was a 2024 recipient of the NCA Scholarship and recently completed his first year at Utah State University studying Animal Science (Ruminant Nutrition). Ian will be continuing his education at Feather River College in Quincy, California. He plans to become a nutrition consultant for rangeland cattle after completing his degree, where he hopes to help Nevada ranchers with grazing management plans and increasing yield on their livestock.
Braden Sorensen recently graduated from Churchill County High School in Fallon, NV and will be headed off to BYU- Idaho this fall to pursue a degree in Agribusiness. Braden is the fifth generation on his family’s dairy in Fallon. Upon completing his degree in Agribusiness, Braden hopes to bring his skills back the family farm and become involved in supporting Ag in the Classroom, hosting tours and workshops, and serving on different agricultural boards.
Walt Leberski Memorial Scholarship
Billy DeLong recently completed his first year at New Mexico State University where he is studying Animal Science. He is the sixth generation on his family’s cattle ranch outside of Winnemucca, Nevada. Billy has an interest in beef genetics and learning how to improve efficiency and quality. He hopes to bring his learned skills back to the family ranch after earning his degree and possibly get involved as a cattle sales representative.
Kerstyn Countryman is currently attending the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Growing up on her family ranch sparked her passion for caring for animals. Kerstyn has been immersed in research surrounding equine infectious neurological disease and in partnership with her family, has also created a non-profit, “A Cowboy’s Halo,” which will provide financial assistance to aspiring cowboys and cowgirls entering the veterinary medicine field. Kerstyn hopes to continue her education and dive deeper into rural mixed animal practices.
Congratulations again to Courtney, Lauryn, Ian, Braden, Billy, and Kerstyn. We wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors! We’re very proud of them and are confident that they will continue to serve the industry well. We look forward to all that they will accomplish.
Long Ropes and Outdated Laws
By Hanes Holman, NCA Presidentw
Recently, a young cowboy friend of mine went to a branding at the neighbor’s house, where they were throwing a lot of “long loop” shots. The branding went well and finished at an efficient time, but the young man asked me why they were throwing the long shots and didn’t shorten up and just catch. As we talked about the roping, we had to have a bit of a history lesson.
In the old days, our grandparents didn’t have panel traps. They had to brand out of a rodear, where catching calves took a little longer rope and a higher level of stockmanship to avoid stirring up the calves and making them hard to hold. In my younger days, watching Jim Andrae, Tom Marvel, or Woody Harney slip through a rodear of crossbred cows, catch a calf, and head for the branding pot without ever stirring up dust was a work of masterful art. Jim wasn’t a fancy roper, but he knew how to get it done without a set of panels to contain everything.
Make no mistake, I think panels are a great invention. The point I’m trying to make is that we need to understand where our customs and culture came from—when these techniques were necessary—while also embracing the technology of the future. Just because you have a panel trap to keep the cattle from getting away doesn’t mean you should be flying around the branding trap, crashing into everything. The same principles of stockmanship needed to catch calves out of a rodear should still apply, even if you’re using a smaller loop and a shorter rope. When you blend the two styles, that’s where the magic happens.
Now, you ask, how does this pertain to laws? That’s something I’ve been dealing with a lot lately. Predicting where technology was headed 150
years ago was impossible. Laws were made at the time with the best intentions, but technology has changed things.
Let me give you a real-world example: trespass laws. As things stand, the responsibility is on the private landowner to properly post his land. Even if the landowner has gone through the rigorous posting process and done everything to the letter of the law, a trespasser only has to claim ignorance—that he didn’t see the orange markers—and he can most likely get away with breaking the law.
I understand why the laws were written the way they were in the past, but technology has changed. With the invention of the cell phone and the ONX app, every land user has the resources to know precisely where they are. In my opinion, if you take new technology into account, changing the law to put the responsibility of knowing your location onto the land user should be a no-brainer. I’m pretty sure that if our founding fathers had this technology, that’s how they would have written the law.
Our foresight into what the future holds isn’t very good, but we box ourselves into outdated laws that become difficult to update as society changes.
Embracing the future while understanding the past seems to be a hard thing for us to do. I don’t know how we achieve this, but I do know we have to try. Trying to change laws to keep up with new technology is a monumental chore, but my hope in writing this is to encourage more young people to become involved. The laws we write today are the ones our grandchildren are going to have to live with tomorrow.
Cheers, Hanes Holman
By Heather Smith Thomas
Origins of Modern Day Rodeos
The word rodeo is derived from the Spanish word rodear, meaning to encircle or round up, reflecting its roots in cattle roundups and branding practices of early Spanish ranchers who handled and worked their cattle out on the open range instead of in corrals. The cattle would be gathered and a few riders would hold the herd (referred to as the rodear) while skilled horsemen went into the herd to sort out other ranchers’ cattle or to rope and brand the calves.
Even in later years when several ranchers’ cattle were mixed on the range and had to be sorted out, this was the way it was done. And on many big ranches, this was the way they sorted out cattle to send to market or to rope and brand the calves.
Buster Welch, a famous Texas trainer who passed away June 12, 2022 at 94 years of age, worked for most of his life on the King Ranch. “All of us young boys--and all the ranch hands--had about 6 horses in our string. We had what we called herd horses and drive horses. You'd ride a drive horse on the big circles gathering cattle. He'd be a horse that could go all day and not wear out. We had one or two long-legged Thoroughbred-type horses that could really cover the country for gathering the cattle. Back then the ranges were bigger and cattle were wilder,” said Welch.
"Then when the roundup was thrown together, you'd change to your herd horse. This was generally a 4 or 5 year old young horse that you thought was going to be the best cutting horse in the world! You'd use him to hold the herd, and you didn't change around on that herd till the boss changed you. If you went out and headed a cow and put her back in the herd, and
ended up on the other side, you rode back to where you came out of it. In other words, if they put you on the back of the roundup and the wind was blowing that way and blowing dust in your face, that's where you stayed!"
If you were a good hand, and riding a good enough horse, the boss might put you between the cuts and the roundup, where the action was. "If one of those horses started showing a good deal of cow,
generally one of the bosses would take it and make a cutting horse out of it. There weren't very many, but there were enough of those good horses that the big well-run ranches always had some good cutting horses," Welch said. Nobody trained a horse just for cutting; the horses were used for cattle work and the ones that showed promise were then used more for that kind of work. Better horses made the work go more smoothly--with less time and effort. All the cattle
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sorting was done horseback on those big outfits, without the benefit of corrals.
Welch said that one time when he was working at the King Ranch, the cowboys had gathered about 2500 cows and calves into a large holding pasture to sort. “Some of those pastures were 10,000 acres. They'd ride in there and cut out about 700 cows as they were lined out grazing--just enough to work that day," he said.
"One time we gathered 1500 head to work in one day, and didn't finish until 10 o'clock that night. They threw the herds together on the roundup grounds, and used good horses to sort them--to wean the calves or sort off culls to sell. You don't want any fences when you're working cows and calves, or they'll get to milling and the cow will go down the fence one way and the calf the other. You always want to work a roundup of cows and calves where there are no fences, so you can keep the pairs together," he said.
"They'd throw 700 to 800 cows together on the roundup ground and the first thing we'd do is cut out shipping cows. They had about 20 lead steers that they'd put off to the side from the roundup, and we'd cut to them." Those old placid steers would stay where you wanted them and would help hold the group you were sorting; the sorted off cattle would tend to stay with the steers.
"We'd cut out shipping cows and shipping bulls. After those were sorted off, we'd cut out calves that were big enough to wean. Each roundup would have about 250 of those, ready to wean. When we got those cut out, we'd take that herd and drive them to somewhere they had some corrals. In the old days, they'd drive them clear on to wherever they were going, but while I was there, they'd just drive them to some corrals, and haul them from that point. When we got that done, we'd start branding. There'd be about 250 unbranded young calves that had been born since the previous roundup. And that
was a full day's work; 5 or 6 hours of that was just sorting and cutting," he explained.
"During the time they were working cattle, they'd maybe work 4 or 5 herds and then they'd be done-until they got another bunch together, and work 4 or 5 more herds. They'd do that for months," said Welch.
"Going through one of those big herds working cattle can be dangerous. One time there was a rider running across the roundup with a cow (trying to cut her), at a dead run, and a bull hooked another bull in front of him, and his horse hit the bull. It turned his horse over and killed him. It was always safer to have an agile horse!"
In the early days of ranching in the West, it was all open range. “Maybe 10 wagons from different cattle outfits would come together to work a range to gather their cattle," said Welch.
"They would elect a captain, and his word was law. He told them how to work the cattle, where to work the cattle and if there was a dispute about a calf, he settled it. Whether he was right or wrong, everyone did what he said, and it made things go smoother. He’d tell each outfit when it was their turn. He'd say, 'Wagon One, you hold herd, wagon two you cut your cattle out,' since the cattle were all mixed," said Welch.
"If you weren't riding a horse that could cut cattle without disturbing that herd, the boss could ride in there and send you out, and cut your cattle for you. It was probably humiliating, to have to get out of the herd, in front of everybody, and have someone else do it for you! So the next year that cowboy would try to come back on a better horse!"
There were always arguments about which ranch had the best horses, and there were a lot contests. “They advertised a big cutting contest at Hascall, Texas, in 1898 and cowboys came to show off their horses. All the ranches and cowboys had a fall gathering and get together for what we'd call rodeos. They advertised that
big contest as the one to decide, once and for all, what ranch had the best cutting horses, and stop all the arguments!" said Welch.
"Bolle Brown lived north of here about 30 miles, and he tied as winner at that cutting at Hascall. He called it 'shuttling' cattle, rather than cutting; he had the reputation of having the best string of cow horses there ever was.”
There were lots of informal contests among those early-day cowboys to see who had the best horses, or who was the best roper. These competitions helped lead to the sport of rodeo. The Spanish traditions in Mexico and what later became the California and the American Southwest had a large influence.
Rodeo itself evolved after the Texas Revolution and the U.S.-Mexican War when Anglo cowboys learned the skills, attire, vocabulary, and sports of the Spanish vaqueros. Ranch-versus-ranch contests sprang up, as bronc riding, bull riding, and roping contests appeared at race tracks, fairgrounds, and festivals of all kinds.
William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) created the first major rodeo and the first Wild West show in North Platte, Nebraska, in 1882. Following this success, Cody organized his touring Wild West show. Rodeos and Wild West shows had a parallel existence, employing many of the same stars, capitalizing on the allure of the mythic West. Women joined the Wild West and contest rodeo circuits in the 1890s and their participation grew.
The word rodeo was only occasionally used for American cowboy sports until after the 1920s. Professional cowboys themselves did not officially adopt the term until 1945. There was no early attempt to standardize events for these contests. From the 1880s through the 1920s they were called frontier days, stampedes, and cowboy contests. Cheyenne Frontier Days began in 1897 and is still a significant annual community celebration.
Until 1922, cowboys and cowgirls who won at Chey-
Continues on pg 14-15
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By Jennifer Whiteley
The Nevada Rancher Magazine
Lamoille, Nev.—Legacy is defined as the amount of money or property left to someone in a will or, the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life.
We’ve been discussing legacies a lot at our house this past month, which I think happens fairly often in ranching families, even though we often may not realize or intentionally do it. The old bit you use of your grandfather’s, the ranch that has been in your family for several generations, these are all legacies we often take for granted. Some of us can trace our ranching heritage back 5, 6, even seven generations, in one county. Others of us aren’t that fortunate. Some of us may be born into ranching families but don’t stand to inherit family ranches and have to scrape together any land and livestock they can to create a legacy for their kids.
The Cowboss and I each owned a horse and a couple cows when we got married that we ran with our parents. We knew
Clockwise from right:
QT, TR, and the Cowboss at the Twin Falls Commission Company waiting for their cows to sell.
Even though they are almost all grown up now, they still have a soft spot for horses.
I traded a mecate for Natty, sight unseen when she was a 2-year-old. All I knew was that Jeanne King raised her. TR was just a year old. I would push him down to the corral in his stroller. All the saddle horses would run away; she would run to us for some attention. She packed the whole family but loved TR the best. Here she is with her boys and her first foal she raised.
that wasn’t enough to create the legacy and lifestyle we wanted for our sons. We sat down together and made the decision to work for cowboy wages, living and working on somebody else’s ranch so that we could raise our kids the way we were raised, on a ranch with cattle and horses. Learning how to work hard, taking pride in a job well done, and to care for something bigger than themselves. We saved money and bought more horses and then took out a loan and bought our first cows.
We started our legacy for our children with a personal loan and 10 sale barn cows, a mare I traded a mecate for, a black mare I fell in love with in the last black and white Van Norman and Friends Production Sale catalog that we bought for what felt like a fortune, and a stud horse that I partnered on with my dad a couple years later. Today we chase pasture, and hope that one day our cow herd will be big enough to make a down payment on our own little piece of land, and we raise enough colts to keep all of us
horse back and maybe sell one or two here and there to support our ranching habit.
I hope when our children are raising children of their own, they look back on our legacy and don’t remember the struggles as much as the times spent together as family. The long drives to the Commission Company buying or selling cows and swimming at the hotel. Watching baby calves being born and naming all of them. The early morning trips to the field to check for new foals before school, or the dollar bets on who would foal first and what color it would be. Heading to brandings in their pjs and getting dressed while the cowboys gathered the cows, then spending the day chasing lizards, cooking calf fries, and swimming in creeks, then getting ice cream on the way home. I hope they have fond memories of first rides on step up horses, first calves roped, and first bronc rides that they didn’t get bucked off. I hope they remember that their mom and dad chose to take them with them, so they didn’t miss a minute of them growing up!
Clockwise from top:
QT brushing out the tail of the best horse he ever rode, Knothead.
TR and QT hold a chilled calf on the back of the pickup for a trip to the warm room for some colostrum and a warmup on a snow day when school was cancelled.
After gathering and trailing cows home the boys got off their horses to play in the dirt for a bit and rest. They were troopers, often putting in long days!
All photos by Jennifer Whiteley The Nevada Rancher
enne were considered the world's champions. Early on, organization of community celebrations was done by local citizen committees who selected the events, made the rules, chose the officials, arranged for the stock, and handled all aspects of the event.
While today's Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA)-sanctioned rodeos must include five events: calf roping, bareback and saddle bronc riding, bull riding, and steer wrestling, with the option to include steer roping and team roping, their Pre-World War I counterparts often offered only two of these contests. The day-long programs included things like Pony Express races, nightshirt races, and other wild spectacles. Cowboys and cowgirls often did not know the exact events offered until they arrived on site, nor learn the rules of competition until they had paid their entry fees.
Today’s steer wrestling contest didn’t evolve from ranch activities like most other rodeo events. Legend has it that a contestant was attempting to stop a steer that was running away, and wrestled it to the ground. This was Bill Pickett, an African American Texas cowboy and rodeo performer known for skill with cattle and horses. He then devised his own unique method of bulldogging
steers. He jumped from his horse to a steer's back, bit its upper lip, and threw it to the ground by grabbing its horns. He performed at central Texas fairs and rodeos and was discovered by a rodeo agent, who signed him on a tour of the West with his brothers.
He received national publicity with his bulldogging exhibition at the 1904 Cheyenne Frontier Days. This resulted in a contract with the101 Ranch in Oklahoma and its traveling Wild West exhibitions, and he spent many years performing in the U.S. and abroad. His act inspired imitators who appeared at rodeos and Wild West shows, and soon there were enough of these cowboys to stage contests.
The first woman bulldogger exhibited this feat in 1913, when trick and bronc rider and racer Tillie Baldwin performed it. However, women's bulldogging contests never materialized. Cowboys took up the sport with enthusiasm but without the lip-biting, and when rodeo rules were codified, steer wrestling was among the contests. Pickett is heralded as the sole inventor of bulldogging, the only rodeo event attributed to a single individual.
Before World War II, the most popular rodeo events
included trick and fancy roping, and racing. Trick and fancy roping contestants had to make figures and shapes with their lariats before throwing them to capture people or animals. These skills had to be exhibited on foot and on horseback. Fancy roping most closely identified with the vaqueros, who invented it. In trick and fancy riding, gymnastic feats were done on horseback while circling the arena at top speed. Athletes in these events were judged, much like those in contemporary gymnastics. The most popular races included relays in which riders changed horses after each lap of the arena, and Roman standing races; the riders stood with one foot on the back of each horse.
In those early contests there were no chutes or gates, and no time limits. Rough stock were blindfolded and snubbed in the center of the arena where the riders mounted, and the animals turned loose. In large arenas, which usually included a racetrack, rides often lasted more than 10 minutes, and sometimes contestants vanished from view.
During this era, women rode broncs and bulls and roped steers. They also competed in a variety of races, as well as trick and fancy roping and riding. In all of these
Summer Season
contests, they often competed against men and won.
Early rodeos were popular in New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia, as well as in other countries, but today rodeo is significant only in North America. There are some rodeos in Australia and New Zealand, but top athletes from those countries come to America to seek their fortunes.
World War I nearly killed rodeo, but three men and two organizations brought it back to greater prominence, not in the West where it was born, but in big cities of the East. Tex Austin created the Madison Square Garden Rodeo in 1922. Overshadowing Cheyenne Frontier Days, its winners were recognized as the unofficial world champions. In 1924, Austin produced the London Rodeo at Wembley Stadium in London--the most successful international contest in rodeo history.
Then William T. Johnson took over the Madison Square Garden Rodeo. He soon began producing rodeos in other eastern indoor arenas, which changed the nature of the sport. There was no room indoors for races, and time constraints limited the number of events. Rodeos no longer lasted all day as they did under the western sky. Johnson was a major player in modernizing and professionalizing the sport.
He also enabled big rodeos to thrive during the Depression. Prior to World War I cowboys and cowgirls could not earn a living on rodeo winnings alone. Many were also Wild West show performers, and exhibition or contract acts at rodeos. With the advent of producers, and expansion of the eastern circuit, rodeo gradually became a lucrative career for the best contestants, as Wild West shows vanished. During the Depression, the rodeo publication Hoofs and Horns, estimated cowboys’ aver-
age annual earnings at $2,000–$3,000. This put them well above teachers, and a little above dentists in income. A few superstars earned more.
By 1934, every rodeo Johnson produced set new attendance records. A typical Johnson rodeo featured sixteen events, of which six were contests: cowboys bareback and saddle bronc riding, cowgirl bronc riding, cowboys steer riding, steer wrestling, and calf roping. Steer riding had become bull riding, but otherwise Johnson's cowboy contests were the same as those mandated by the PRCA today.
In 1929 two things occurred which split rodeo down the middle geographically. Superstar cowgirl Bonnie McCarroll died as a result of a bronc riding accident at Pendleton, Oregon. Her death caused many western rodeos to drop women's contests. Also that year, western rodeo producers formed the Rodeo Association of America (RAA) in an attempt to bring order to the sport. As a result of McCarroll's death, the RAA was organized as an all-male entity. They refused to include any women's contests. The RAA hoped standardize rules and events, and eliminate unscrupulous promoters and also set out to determine the world's champion cowboys, based on a point system derived from money won in their sanctioned rodeos. This remains the basic system used today.
If it hadn’t been for the McCarroll tragedy, the rest of rodeo history might have been different. It is unlikely there would have been a need for the WPRA, and barrel racing would probably not exist. Eastern producers aligned themselves with Johnson, who ignored the RAA, and continued to include lucrative cowgirl contests at their rodeos but that was short-lived. The cowboys hated Johnson; they felt he distributed prize money unfairly, and
mostly to himself, while treating them with disdain.
In 1936, they went on strike at his Boston rodeo, demanding a bigger share of the gate as prize money. The management forced Johnson to relent, and the cowboys formed the Cowboys Turtle Association (CTA), which is now the PRCA. Like the RAA, the CTA did not sanction women's contests.
Meanwhile, in 1931, promoters of the Stamford Cowboy Reunion (Stamford, Texas) invited all local ranches to send a young woman at least 16 years old to compete in a Sponsor Contest to add femininity to the all-male rodeo. The women were judged on who had the best horse, the most attractive outfit, and horsemanship, as they rode a pattern around three barrels. The contest was a huge success, and widely copied.
In 1939, Johnson's replacement at the Boston Garden, Everett Colburn, invited a group of Texas Sponsor Girls to appear at his rodeo as a publicity stunt. A second group appeared at the 1940 rodeo. It featured Hollywood’s singing cowboy Gene Autry, and the women rode while he sang "Home on the Range." This tradition continued for decades. Autry formed a rodeo company and took over not only Madison Square Garden, but also Boston Garden and most of the other major rodeos from coastto-coast.
One of his first actions was to discontinue the cowgirl bronc riding contest, which had been a highlight of the Madison Square Garden Rodeo since its inception in 1922. There was nothing left for cowgirls but the invitation-only sponsor girl event. Cowgirl contests disappeared from rodeos nationwide. Sponsor contests were the beginnings of barrel racing, however, which is today the premier women's rodeo event.
The Dirt Clod Battle Field
My grandson drew a battle field in my ledger during church. He is nine and usually goes back with the older kids for Wrangler Church but he chose not to go, he said, “it’s mostly girls today...I think I will stay right here.” It’s not unusual that I would give him or my other two grandchildren my ledger to keep them occupied. Usually, I am taking sermon notes but they are only little once and I will always treasure their sketch pages.
I listened to the sermon and turned to scripture in my Bible, occasionally pausing to admire the battle scene taking shape on the lined pages. Army tanks, machine guns, manned by a stick figure gunner, wearing a helmet, a medic was busy tending to the wounded, various soldiers were engaging in hand to hand combat, thus the stick fig-ure dead guys with x’s as eyes. The battle continued on the adjoining page, a single tank arrived. The third page, an additional tank, with the bold stars and stripes, a guard tower, and carnage, lots and lots of carnage. Several enemy invaders are being shot off the tank, tum-
bling down..with the infamous x’s appearing again, thus end-ing the war. To the right, Old Glory, planted on a hill, with an American soldiers proudly declaring victory. Somehow the drawing, brought me back to the dirt field, next to my grandparent’s house, that was our childhood “battlefield”. Many wars were fought there. Many strategic plans were made. Numerous dirt clods were formed, and lined up as ammo and grenades. Scrap pieces of plywood from my grandfather’s shed, were engi-neered to form a shield…or command post. In reality, it was a make shift shelter propped with bricks from my grandmother’s garden and a few large rocks from the edge of the field. More than likely tossed aside from a frustrated farmer. The field seemed huge to me at the time but I’m sure it was not as my imagination would have it. The two plywood shields flanked each end of the battlefield, marking each team’s post. Whoever didn’t fit behind it was left exposed to enemy fire. Most times, this was my middle brother Robert, who was in his
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bulky boy stage of life, plus he ate way too many Hostess Zingers and any leftovers in the fridge after school. His slow-ness didn’t help the matter but he was tough as nails when busted in the gut or head. Which made us all laugh hysterically. When our lieutenant (a.k.a., my oldest cousin, Billy) hollered, “attack”, it was go time, when he hollered, “fall back” we’d all dive behind the scrap plywood for cover.
Now, some of those dirt clods contained rocks and would bruise us pretty good. They may hit our arms, back, or even the side of our faces, leaving behi nd battle wounds. Being the littlest, I escaped the hardest blows, unless I accidentally ran into direct fire. The solid dirt clods would explode upon contact, crumbling in the hair and clouding the vision temporarily. We called that tear gas and took the opportunity to take captives.
We’d play for hours until dark or we got called in for dinner, whichever came first. We’d have to strip down to our underwear, which were full of dirt as well. Those
got shaken out and off to the bath we’d go. Girls bathed together first. Boys would get cleaned up afterward, as my grandparents only had one bathroom. We’d tell our grandparents battle stories over supper. We’d compare bruises and laugh. Playing war back then, was common and many times, included neighbor kids. If someone cried- they were hauled off by the medics and dumped on my grandparents lush green grass-left to cry it out until they could return to battle. If the cry was serious, my grandmother would step out on the porch, wiping her hands on her flour cov-ered apron, and scold the older ones for being to rough. “Yes ma’am” they’d say and we’d resume battle once the screen door shut behind her.
We had endless stories about that dirt field, which formed some of the best memories of my childhood. But here’s the thing. We didn’t play war because we didn’t under-stand what real war was. We played war because those who fought for our freedom were our heroes. They were talked about around the dinner table and taught about in school. We had family member who served in the military. One of those being my grandfather who fought in World War II, although he didn’t talk about it much. My dad drove tanks in Germany while he served. My cousin Billy, mentioned above, made a career in the Marines. My oldest brother served in the National Guard. All these men followed in the footsteps of their heroes to defend our freedom.
From my favorite American History website, Wallbuilders, in an article titled, This Day In History, Declaring Independence, dated July 4th, 2024
We had endless stories about that dirt field, which formed some of the best memories of my childhood. But here’s the thing. We didn’t play war because we didn’t under-stand what real war was. We played war because those who fought for our freedom were our heroes.
“On July 4, 1776, a group of Americans approved a document declaring the United States of America free from English rule. This document was the Declaration of In-dependence, and today we celebrate the 248th birthday of this courageous action!”
Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, outlined its purpose: When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. This was the object of the Declaration of Independence....Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind.
The article goes on to quote several of our Founding Fathers, such as John Adams, in a letter to his wife, he talks about the toil and blood it would take to “maintain this Declaration”. He also writes, “Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravish-ing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction.”
I’m encouraged by the glory that is given to God in so many of Our Country’s orig-inal documents. The credit always returns to the only King we need.
You see, kids didn’t play war because something was wrong with them. My grandson didn’t sketch a battle scene to display some sort of evil behavior but because he already has the instinct to fight for good. Who taught him that, his daddy. Who taught his dad? My husband. Defending our Country, our household, our wife or kids, the little girl on the playground, the teacher that is being disrespected, that is instinctively in our boys. Instinct directed for good purposes. We always told our boys they could fight for the right reasons. They were aloud to defend themselves after the first punch. We’d come get them from school if expelled. The right deci-sions come from Godly wisdom which we instilled in them early on and continue to remind each other of the character of God, His Word, and for the greater good. We remind our grandchildren that ingratitude means forgetfulness to those who died on our behalf. That leads us to Jesus, who gave His life for our salvation. Our founda-tion should always be in Him.
So I leave you with this scripture
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accu-sation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”—
Colossians 1:21-23
Thank you for reading, The Cowboy Pastor’s Wife
The Nevada Rancher Magazine
Lamoille, Nev.—I feel like it isn’t truly summer until the rhubarb is growing in full force and we’ve slowed down enough to enjoy it! I have three little plants that produce enough to keep us in desserts, can some, and freeze a little to enjoy throughout the year. I’m often looking for new recipes that are easy, not super sweet, but taste good.
Believe it or not, sourdough does have some health benefits. Sourdough has a lower glycemic index than some other breads. It may not make your blood sugar spike as quickly as other breads. Fermentation eats up some of the natural sugars found in the grains. This causes chemical changes that affect the structure of the carb itself. Those changes make it such that the body only absorbs parts of those carbs, which lowers its effects on your blood sugar. For reference, a typical slice of white bread has a glycemic index of 100. Sourdough bread has a glycemic index of around 55. A glycemic index of 70 or more is considered a high glycemic index food.
People with gluten sensitivities may be better able to digest sourdough bread because the fermentation process helps decrease the amount of gluten in it, but it still has some gluten. Sourdough is also an excellent source of calcium, potassium, magnesium, folate, and niacin. It is also an excellent source of antioxidants, and prebiotics. While tempting, you probably shouldn’t eat a loaf a day.
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This dessert probably isn’t going to fall in the good for you category with all the sugar, but everything in moderation, right? It also has vegetables, so you can sneak some healthy stuff in there along with the sourdough!
Sourdough Rhubarb Cake
from Simplicity and a Starter
Ingredients:
Cake Batter
2 cups of chopped rhubarb, 1/2-inch slices
1/2 cup milk
1 cup unfed (discard) sourdough starter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups flour, spooned and sifted
1 tsp baking soda
Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Either grease or line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper.
Chop rhubarb into 1/2-inch pieces, bite-sized. Place them in a small bowl and set them to the side.
Whisk the milk, vanilla, and sourdough discard in a small bowl until combined. Set to the side.
Mix, in a bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes. Add the egg to the sugar mixture and beat until fluffy with a pale-yellow color, for about 3 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and wet ingredients. Add about a third of the flour mixture, then half of the liquids. Repeat until all of the ingredients have been added and the flour bits have just disappeared. (Note that the batter is on the thicker side). Be sure to not overmix the cake batter - this can lead to a tough crumb. Lastly, fold in the bits of rhubarb.
Pour the batter into the baking dish.
In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of the batter - make sure to get all the edges of the cake. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a wire rack before slicing and enjoy!
Jennifer Whiteley
Jennifer Whiteley
The Nevada Rancher Magazine
Elko, Nev.—The 15th Annual Jake Eary Memorial Rodeo kicked off May 30th at Spring Creek High School with an ACTRA roping and a Breakaway Jackpot put on by Steele Productions. The morning of the 31st began with the Youth Branding and Mixed Branding then the Main Performance. The morning of the 1st started with the Open Branding, moving to the PeeWee events, and then to Steer Riding before the Main Performance. Once again Jess and Carrie Eary along with their family and friends put on a great event for the community and competitors from across the state!
Open Muley Roping: 1st-Blake Teixeira/Quinn Mori, 2nd-Blake Texeira/Michael Mori, 3rd/4th tie-Barak Freeman/Pete Mori and Austin Iveson/Noah Williams
Saddle Bronc: 1st-Billy DeLong, 2nd/3rd tie: Bill Gardner and Ian Livingstone
Ranch Broncs: 1st/2nd tie-Lane Johnson and Ray Valdez, 3rd/4th tie-Braden Anderson and Wyatt Williams Bull Riding: 1st-Logan Smith
Mix Branding: 1st-Bar A #2, 2nd-The Hooligans, 3rd Ty and the Knotheads, 4th-Rockin Chili Peppers
Open Branding: 1st-Ward team, 2nd-Bar A, 3rd-Steele Productions, 4th-Mori Range Bulls
Eary Memorial Rodeo
ABOVE: 2025 High Point and Reserve Champions and Outstanding Character Buckle Winners with their prizes.
AT RIGHT: Alan Malotte with Billy and Louise DeLong. Alan received custom medicine bags for High Point Branding Overall in Memory of Will DeLong.
Youth Girl Reserve High Point: Collin Barton
Youth Girl High Point: Charlie Laws
Youth Boy Reserve High Point: Ridge Steele
Youth Boy High Point: Wyatt Barton
Jr Girl Reserve High Point: Dallie Heiner
Jr Girl High Point: Hadlee Steele
Jr Boy Reserve High Point: Cray Tervort
Jr Boy High Point: Pete Mori
Women’s Reserve High Point: Kilah Stouard
Women’s High Point: Tess Johnson
Men’s Reserve High Point: Barak Freeman
Men's High Point: Blake Teixeira
Outstanding Character Buckle Winners: McKaydee Laws and Wylin McLain
Product Diversification in Your Agricultural Business
First Financial Bank
With change comes opportunity. Consider taking advantage of an evolving marketplace by diversifying your product offerings.
Historically, most farmers and ranchers have focused their efforts on a specific agricultural product, distribution plan, and market approach. This has been a straightforward process that allowed the business owner to plan for their resources. Unfortunately, when the weather, supply costs, or the markets don’t cooperate with your plan, it could easily put you in the red for a season – or longer.
Today, many farmers and ranchers are exploring product diversification as a means to improve their bottom line and mitigate the risks associated with unfavorable weather or market conditions. As an experienced agricultural lending institution, First Financial Bank understands the opportunities in diversification for farmers and ranchers. Aaron Miller is one of our loan officers and the owner/operator of a diversified farm operation, and we sat down to chat with him about the topic.
Taking a calculated risk
One of the fears that earlier generations of farmers and ranchers faced was the inability to accurately measure the potential costs and benefits of diversification before diving in. Today, a variety of tools and resources are available to help weigh the pros and cons of making changes to the business. The latest generation of farmers and ranchers are particularly poised to use new software tools. Their first thought tends to be, “there must be an app for that” and there are some already
available, with others in the works that allow them to use available data to build and evaluate models for crops, livestock, and what happens if changes are made
"If you are a farmer or rancher considering diversifying your agricultural offerings, take your ideas and talk to your advisors. They can help you research and build an approach that will not only help you grow your business
to their current model.
This tech-savvy generation of business owners also has more access to both data and data collection tools to use in generating decision-making information. Apps can provide data from detectors in equipment to measure soil moisture levels, environmental conditions in animal habitats, and more up-to-date, region-specific
data from reliable sources. This generation has access to data that can enable them to compare and contrast various diversification strategies. They also have a chance to use AI-enabled tools that can help them:
• React quickly to changes in their current conditions. For example, a detector in an irrigator identifies areas that are drier or wetter than others in the field, automatically adjusting the water flow to match the need.
• Adjust market plans based on anticipated yield and market demand. With accurate and timely estimates of potential margin for your cattle, you can make informed decisions about how many and/ or when they go to market.
• Better identify and mitigate risk in a planned scenario. Suppose you are anticipating adding a new revenue stream, such as another type of row crop or livestock, to your current operations. In that case, AI can help you measure potential risks in areas like pests, disease, soil health, or weed management.
“Taking advantage of the available data and technology resources is one way you can help reduce the risk in diversifying your farm or ranch operations,” says Aaron Miller. “New software and technology can also support enhanced ways to interact with new or existing audiences. For example, purchases through your website or a self-checkout for a ‘pick-your-own’ with a
credit card processor.”
One step at a time
In addition to using available resources, consider testing the waters with a focused, small rollout. Initially, you want to invest a minimum amount of time and dollars and make a profit without risking your primary business:
• Look to sell your current products packaged differently for a new audience. Focus on just one product offering or audience, such as a creative corn grower did one season when he decided to sell bags of corn prepped for hunters through small retailers.
• Plan to plant a small field or raise a limited number of an alternative breed of livestock. It can be tempting to go full force into a new endeavor that looks like it has potential, but until you see what it takes to produce successfully that first season/ growth cycle, you won’t really know if this will work. “A producer near the University of Kentucky partnered with a bourbon distiller to raise a small field of corn that appears blue. The goal was to create “Blue Bourbon” as the University of Kentucky’s colors are blue and white and would attract fans of the university to buy
this bourbon.” says Aaron.
• Reach out to audiences (consumers and/or businesses) that are not necessarily local. Typically, most agricultural areas have “specialties” based on the natural resources of the region, including the weather, soil, etc. Many of your neighbors are producing similar products to the ones you produce. Look to sell to other locations in your state, region, and/or country. Do your research and look at regions where what you have to offer is less available than it may be closer to home.
• Use no- or low-cost ways to market your new offering. Using online resources, such as social media, can help you target your potential customers and introduce them to what you have to offer.
• Create new “products” from a commodity. “Corn is corn. Whether used in livestock feed, human food, ethanol, or bourbon, it’s all #2 yellow corn. A farmer took some of his corn and installed a “vending machine” for corn. This device allowed for drive-up, credit/debit card-only payment options, providing patrons with easy access 24 hours a day. Some of the target audience included hunters who could go by on their way home
from work to grab a bucket (or truck full) of corn for deer hunting,” says Aaron. Be creative with the mundane.
• Create new audiences. One of our customers decided to try a direct-to-consume model for their beef. He took a small segment of his herd and sold it directly to consumers, bypassing the usual marketing channel.
• Work closely with your trusted advisers to assess the opportunity. It’s always good to have your trusted advisers weigh in on business plans. They can be the fresh eyes and informed business minds that can give you recommendations as you look to take on new challenges.
Once your first season of selling your new offering is underway and you can start measuring the results, you can determine if it makes sense to:
• Take the next step to grow this new sector and/or add a new one on top of what
you’ve already done
• Keep “as is” in size and scope for another round, or,
• Wrap it up, considering it a lesson well learned – and look for an alternative revenue stream to test.
Next steps
If you are a farmer or rancher considering diversifying your agricultural offerings, take your ideas and talk to your advisors. They can help you research and build an approach that will not only help you grow your business but also reduce risk. If technology has not been a key factor in your work, consider adding an advisor to your team that can help you evaluate and innovate new approaches. Lenders like to hear that business owners like yourself are thinking ahead and looking for ways to grow while reducing the inherent risks of having all your eggs in one basket. Aaron recommends you “leverage the relationship with lenders to help you put the financial plans in place to take action and diversify.”
Making plans to diversify? Contact First Financial Bank ph: 888-398-4119
Rodeo
“Bronc Riders Get Ready,” blaring through the speakers, horses kicking in the chutes,
The old hands are smiling, the youngsters are shaking in their boots,
That summer sun is shining, fireworks waiting in the wings,
There’ll be a dance in the arena later, but for now a local gal sings,
The stands are packed from end to end and all are on their feet,
Rodeo Queen horses tossing their manes to the beat,
Old Glory whips overhead, sunset across the sky,
The Star Spangled Banner sounds just a little bit sweeter on the 4th of July.
Poem by Randi Johnson 2024 The Cowboys Daughter.
A Western States Ranch Rodeo sanctioned event held in memory of Sean Miller brings top hands together in compeitition for the winning title.
Organizer, Sandy Kiel, has received past awards for hosting the greatest ranch rodeo. Kiel has added a draw pot for entering teams to randomly get matched up with other competitiors for a second run.
Top hand takes hope a COPE saddle too!
Bottom Left- Open Team Champions: Quinten Anseth, Jick Shute, Asher Freeman, Jim Barrett Top Hand
Womens Champion team Rockin Chile Peppers: Payton Feyder, Tess Turk, Matti Ward and Kaylee Fillipini
Jr/SR Champion team- Zack Kelly, Ruby Kelly Nick Donker Kaleb Donker
