Over the years, the number of large animal veterinarians has steadily declined. It is most evident in rural America and Canada. Many factors have contributed to this decline; the greatest is the change in the profession itself.

There is a bridge to cross in understanding between those who live off the land (rural), and those who benefit from it (urban) but have no personal relationship with it.

This is one of those stories that sound so unbelievable you’ll know I didn’t make it up. Mike studied the bloodlines. He checked performance records. He knew his herd like the top two layers of his tool box. He was a good young cattleman. When he decided on the course of action to improve his herd’s genetics, he called the breed association rep.

In the land of Nod, a movement sprung up to build houses without the use of power tools. The advocates of organic construction (OC) supported the movement because it prohibited the recovery and use of carbon coal and oil.

There’s an old saying: “A cowboy is born, not made.” However, I’d like to propose that if you’re hirin’ a cowboy to help you take care of your stock, you might look twice. You can’t necessarily assume that because he’s got a black hat and is broke, he’s a cowboy.

Her name’s on the note at the Valley Bank, boys Though she might have questioned the loan She signed her John Henry ’neath yours on the line And she will ’til the kids are all grown.

SWEET MEATSChocolate-covered chicken kidneys, beef liver or sliced pork tongue, expensively and individually wrapped in foil. PENCIL-THIN MEATSThe closest thing you can get to jerky and still pay fresh meat prices.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free …” The message that rings down through the Bible from Exodus to Revelations, “Blessed are ye poor for yours is the Kingdom of God.”

Beware connoisseurs! A new discovery may change the way America eats. Love your broccoli? Savor your homegrown tomatoes? Would give your eye teeth for a blueberry pie? This discovery could create sweeping protests and black markets like marijuana has never seen. Plants feel pain. That’s right, plants feel pain.

I went to America last week …the middle of America, Kansas, to a county fair. I flew into Denver and drove across miles and miles of green prairie. If America has a heart, it’s out here on the Plains. It’s not an easy place to live.