Baxter Black

There are those who say farming and ranching is a “way of life” more than it is a business. Which helps explain why young people who grow up in agriculture return to work on the farm. Working the land holds a strong lure.

WANTED: Cowboy. No TV, No phone. If you don’t like dogs and can’t tough it in the mountains, don’t apply.
—Alamo, Nevada

Jim said he had the best two-strand bob wire fence in the country. The ranchers who bordered him got together and fixed his fence. Now his pasture is gettin’ thin, and he’s only got half as many cows. That didn’t please Jim’s banker.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little valley called Pleasant Valley. Pristine streams ran down from wooded hillsides. Wild game was abundant. Fish flourished. The peasants tilled their farms and irrigated them with mountain water. The livestock grazed the grassy meadows.

Watch Baxter Black's first music video, "Is That Rural Enough For You?"

This is the time of year when cow people don’t get much sleep. If you boiled “raisin’ cattle” down to its bare bones, the whole business revolves around gettin’ a live calf on the ground.