A move to Wisconsin – and a sorrel pony named Ginger – helped a young girl find her place.

Graeme Finn could have been happy raising cattle anywhere in the world, so long as there was grass to graze and land to improve. He and his family ended up raising cattle, grazing grass and improving land in the foothill country of western Alberta near the town of Madden.

When I was dating my cowboy years ago, he worked for a man named Ray. Ray wore the signs of a hard cowboy life: twisted fingers from multiple broken bones, bowlegged, hunched over, skin as tough as leather.

How do you walk away to end an unpleasant or dangerous conversation when it is occurring in your head? One way to interrupt internal conversations is to take a break from your daily routine. Vacations can do wonders for morale, but respite can also be gleaned from shorter, more frequent intermissions to your daily life.

Robby Kirkland knows cattle, and he knows people. And what he knows most about both people and cattle is that no two are exactly the same.

Property owners – especially those who operate a commercial enterprise – can be confronted with neighbors who view those commercial activities as infringing on the rights and privileges of the latter’s property enjoyment. This is certainly true for agricultural operations that can create byproducts others may find objectionable.

The third generation rule is the commonly cited notion suggesting most family businesses don’t survive beyond the third generation. Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer, writing for Harvard Business Review in an article posted July 19, 2021, performed extensive research and shared convincing arguments that this “rule” is a myth without statistical or historical proof.

If you’ve been in the cattle business long enough, you’ve lived through more than one cycle that made you question your sanity. You’ve seen high interest rates, relentless drought, feed costs spike overnight and markets turn just when you thought you were positioned well.

Our local farmers are under financial pressure, face unpredictable weather and market swings, and are under an overwhelming cultural expectation to “rub some dirt on it” or “cowboy up” and get through it regardless of how they feel. All of these things just compound the strain and lead to silence and, in some cases, tragedy.

As an individual farm that relies largely on the sugarbeet crop, Garner recognizes the need to meet current and future challenges with efficiency, water management and “loosening the reins” to involve the younger generation.