“It’s dust and mud, it’s the roar of a Sunday crowd.”  You know the rest.  My favorite lyric is the end where Garth Brooks growls “bomp, boow”.  It’s the song ‘Rodeo’ and it’s also the framework of my cattle background. I’ve included the whole song for your listening pleasure.

Hi, I’m Brandi Buzzard and I’m a fourth generation cowgirl from southeast Kansas.  Like my father, grandfather and his before, I’ve been roping and riding as long as I can remember.  At two weeks old I traveled to my first rodeo and I haven’t stopped since.  How does this relate to the cattle industry?  What do you think I rope? Cattle, of course! Growing up, I showed livestock in 4-H and FFA.  I also livestock judged in middle and high school. But my real ties to the cattle industry lie within the rodeo arena. Contrary to popular belief, rodeo livestock are not mistreated or treated cruelly. Most rodeo livestock work for a few minutes performing on the weekends and spend the rest of the week eating and relaxing.

So why am I talking to you about rodeo, cattle and livestock?  Because in my own way, I’m a cattle enthusiast and in order for American agriculture to continue the bold charge of feeding the world we have to do two things: tell our story and form a united front. A united front across ALL facets of the industry.  The opponents of agriculture are too large and well funded for individual agriculture entities to combat on our own.  Therefore corn growers, beef producers, dairy producers, wheat farmers and even rodeo cowboys must work together for the common goal of preserving the industry which we treasure so deeply. To put it plain and simple: united we stand, divided we fall. Thank your fellow farmers for their shared commitment to preserving agriculture and the cattle industry.

Until next time,
~Buzzard~

Ask any kid a question and you’ll probably get a pretty blunt, usually correct answer. Kids say the darndest things right?

Well ask any kid what they want to be when they grow up and usually a pretty good number of them will tell you they want to be a veterinarian (Disclaimer: I have nothing against vets). Delve a little deeper into the little munchkin’s answer and ask why, and they will tell you its because they want to make animals “feel better”.  Why didn’t they say farmer? Or rancher? Or feedlot owner? Don’t all those guys make animals “feel better” at some point or another?

We could easily blame this entire problem on PETA and the Humane Society and an ad campaign that they started using toddler celebrities to preach to masses of other toddlers about animal abuse (I know it actually sounds like something they would try). Unfortunately, we have to blame ourselves a little bit for this, because it is all about perception. Yes the American public still has a respectful view of farmers and ranchers at least according to the latest reports by some organizations, but does the public really understand what farmers and ranchers actually do?

 Look at the famous children’s movie “Babe” (Minus a point in the manliness column for me) at various points in the movie, humans, even the main farmer in the movie Hoggett, are portrayed as ruthless. They use bloodthirsty dogs to herd sheep, contemplate pork or chicken dinners (Gasp!) and underestimate the herding abilities of a pig that stays the same size the entire movie (what is this world coming to?).  But where in this movie does the farmer ever work his sheep to vaccinate them? Not once do I see him sew up a prolapse or walk out at 3 in the morning to check his calving heifers in a blowing snowstorm? Where is the scene when he gets kicked in the shin trying to doctor foot rot (don’t lie its happened to all of us). Yet this is what kids are raised on, I remember watching this movie when I was young and I was fortunate enough to have my parents stick it somewhere in the rotation between “Rodeo Bloopers” and letting me ride a toy horse with dish towels as chaps (yes there’s even photo evidence).

But a lot kids don’t have this luxury, they see “Babe” or any number of children’s movies and see farmers and ranchers portrayed as selfish beings bent on abusing animals. This is where we play a part, especially with a younger generation built like sponges ready to soak up everything they see or hear on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook. It’s time for farmers and ranchers to take the time to portray their own “Babe” whether it be through a video, on Facebook or even just that extra 30 seconds it takes to tell your own kids how what you do helps animals “feel better”.

Check out this new web site HUMANEWATCH.ORG.

 It’s a great attempt to combat the HSUS!!!  You can also become a fan on Facebook by searching for humanewatch.