Larry Gray will retire from the Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers on May 31 as executive director of law enforcement and theft prevention services. He was director of law enforcement for the past 23 years and spent 37 years at the association.

Summer is an exciting time on a ranch or farm. The crops are growing. Children are out of school. Livestock are often outside. As summer progresses, the excitement can turn to what is often referred to as the August blues. Why?

When cattle are comfortable, they perform. Stress exudes lost production and revenue. These losses are staggering, costing the beef industry billions of dollars annually.

To have easy-to-handle cows, set the stage with proper training when they are young. Working with heifers is similar to training a young horse; you want their first experiences with people to be good and not give them any reason to fear or mistrust people.

Ranching is deep-rooted in some folks and, for the Griffin family in west Texas, it goes back five generations with their hope of a sixth generation growing the passion they have for living on the land.

Although drought can negatively impact rangeland production, being prepared can reduce the devastation of drought this year and prevent impacts in the following years.

Rancher Steve Kenyon moved to Alberta because it was supposed to have more water than the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.

“We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we begin to see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Efficient grazing of forage is a key component in profitability of a ranching operation and is partly achieved by cattle consuming most of the plant species across the entire pasture.

Most of us have received the dreaded phone call, “The cows are in the neighbor’s yard again.” Hopefully, the call comes during the day while you are home and not on the anniversary weekend trip you had put off for the last five years or in the middle of the night.