Texas Rancher
I gazed out on seven goats
my wife told me she’s wanting
Grandson spends his time and totes
Branches, weeks belonging
Rancher, farmer, still it’s work
Fences to mend, stock to herd
My years as a dairyman
Are not long forgotten
The ranch is what a man
Does to know that I have gotten
My stripes, earned those
This isn’t poetry, it’s prose
Rancher, farmer, still it’s work
Fences to mend, stock to herd
Now I have beef bulls and cows
No dairying left to do
But running a goat hobby farm
Is not what I aspired to
Rancher, farmer, still it’s work
Fences to mend, stock to herd
Owned by DAC 8/2/08
Please see notes re: The Little Cowboy and references, if desired. No way I’m sending this in to the Cowboy poets for the Lariat Laureate award but I’m OK to put it out in the world through you. Remember it’s my poem and I own it so whoever writes the music, please write in!
This is loosely based on Jim’s Dad, who may or may not like it. Right now it’s too late to check. Anyway Joe, I love you and mean no disrespect to you or Margie. It’s just the way the words went in my mind. Joe, in addition to being a farmer and rancher and Civil War history guru, is also a poet. He has a great son, two of them but I’m only married to one.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend! We went to brunch this morning at ten then had two lovely ladies over for a while so Zoe could jump on them and go crazy, then went to the movies (we saw Mamma Mia and Jim and Trish saw X-Files). Then we went to a Mexican place for late lunch/early dinner and got back at five! Where did the day go?
Cooking with Dee 
Don’t worry, I’m not going to get the gals out in spangles and platform shoes to perform “Waterloo.”
I keep remembering what teenage cowboys were called when I was in high school, “Goat Ropers” with an air of disdain. I don’t think anyone would have been foolish enough to call them that to their face. And… I grew up on a dairy farm so I should have known better.
Today I have plenty of respect for true cowboys and we hire a couple every time we have lots of cattle to ‘work’. They come complete with a horse, rope, hat, chaps and boots, and a work ethic the business world would envy! They also brag on my cooking, who wouldn’t love ’em?
Anyone with taste buds would drool at your cooking! Would love to hear more about your dairy exploits. Thanks and please enter your thoughts in the Chuck Wagon Throwdown. It’ll show respect to the hands that have worked so hard for you and your family. D
Joe’s comment on his poem. “All for the love of a grandson”.
We bought 2 young billy goats today and saw the incarnation of the 2 largest of the “Billy Goats Gruff” from the children’s story that Joseph has heard for the first time this summer. Maybe we saw the little billy goat gruff but Joseph just petted him, the other 2 were more formidable.
We also encountered a real ‘goat roper’ and he let me take his picture. He was after the smallest and wiliest in the pen to sharpen his skills. Dee will have to forward the photo for you.
We bought a 100% Bohr “little bill” that has the potential to make most of his future offspring eligible for registry. Joe has been happy (as have I) to learn that the goats are easy to herd and easy to pen and they like milkweed. That can be useful, almost as good as their preference for poison ivy and cedar and undesirable sprouts that can take over an unmowed cow pasture. If the goats help manage what was previously undesirable forbes, they will earn their keep. Many cattlemen are expanding their operations to include meat goats and sheep these days. It is environmentally friendly, sustainable, and economically sound.