#RanchWithMe
What I miss most about writing for Western Ag Life Media is the opportunity to educate the public. I am a firm believer in “knowledge is power” and the cattle industry has great magazines and articles available for producers, but I think education needs to be targeted to the general public. After all, that’s our end target for our farm and ranch products. I attended several meetings in 2022, listening to market experts, activists, fellow ranchers and political bigwigs. The common footnote was the feeling that we need to educate the public on where their food comes from or the industry will die. A staggering fact I heard is that the “average young American” is five generations removed from agriculture. That’s scary. Each day we are advancing farther and farther away from our roots. While technology is a wonderful thing, we cannot move too far away from what developed our country. Agriculture fed the military and continues to feed America. I also think the younger generation needs to hear it the most, and apparently Facebook is not that platform, but we have to start somewhere.
My weekly post about the ranching industry intends to educate you a little bit about the hard work and love we put into this lifestyle, as a way to promote the industry that would otherwise die. With that said, I don’t claim to be an expert, but I’m educated and experienced, and enjoy documenting things through photography. I have compiled a list of 50 topics specific to the ranching industry that I hope to cover this year. Some are very simple and some more advanced, but all together, they form the big picture that ranchers across America deal with in their operations and on a day to day basis. I invite you to come along and “Ranch with Me”.
So what’s the topic this week? Well, it was going to be about water and pipelines, but it changed to water in another form – precipitation! We ranch in southeastern Arizona and yes, it’s a desert and yes, it’s a dry heat, but rain this time of year is something to celebrate! Winter moisture soaks into the soil and helps bring on the growth of some forage species that are vital for nutrition for cattle until it warms up and the monsoons arrive. Winter snowfall and snowmelt helps to recharge the aquifer and spark the conversations among farmers and ranchers about the future forecast for the year. If only we had a crystal ball. While we Arizonans are not accustomed to the mud, we enjoy it while it lasts because we know it’s short lived and it’s better than dealing with mud elsewhere cause that usually means something is broken. #ranchwithme