Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Last American Cowboy

Best Television Show Ever

Last night I was working on my computer, while keeping an eye on my Twitter feed, when @cwbieroth tweeted that he would be watching the Last American Cowboy on Animal Planet. I had heard so much about the show, but wasn't sure if we had Animal Planet in our TV package. Well guess what we do!

I was able to watch two episodes last night and I felt like I was right back at home. The episodes are a real, daily account of what happens on a cattle ranch or farm. In these episodes families (the Hughes Ranch, Galt Ranch, and Stucky Ranch) were in calving season, in the middle of one of the worst blizzard they had ever seen. Cows calving, calves needing to be pulled, calves frozen dead in snowbanks, they show it all.

The show reminded me so much of how I grew up. Holding cows' tails while dad pulled a calf or was A.I.ing, holidays going wrong because one parent gets worked up, the other parent starts yelling, kids are crying, and Easter is ruined - yes that happened last night and maybe once or twice in my life time.

The thing is every time something went wrong or right on our farm there was a lesson to be learned from it.

Physicians Mutual sponsors the show, and I am definitely going to be writing a letter thanking them for their commitment to agriculture. We as farmers and ranchers can talk about what we do all day long, but until the consumer sees what our day is like, and they see how passionate we are about caring for our livestock they won't understand.

I would encourage you to watch, and spread the word. Hopefully, these guys won't be the Last American Cowboys.

10 comments:

  1. Hey Crystal,
    Arturo and I started watching this show a couple of weeks ago and really enjoy it. It really does show the true everyday ins and outs of an American Cowboy.

    I too remember a few holidays interrupted by situations dealing with cattle or just the tempers that can sometimes flare while working or dealing with cattle!
    :-0 But you know I would not have grown up any other way!

    Thank you Animal Planet and Physicians Mutual for the show and thank you to all the ranchers that work hard day-in and day-out to feed this world!

    Have a great one!
    Wrenn
    www.wrennbirdphotography.com

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  2. I found this show by accident and I love it! I grew up on a very small cattle ranch, but I love cows and calving time- of course around here it is usually just raining! NO snow on the Coast! Thanks for posting about it!

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  3. I wish we would get this up here! Our farm is currently being documented for the same type of show but Alberta based...it's great that the world is starting to show such an interest in who and what feeds them! And it's thanks to people like you Crystal! Keep up the good work!
    Oh, and could you tape the episodes for me?! :)

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  4. I've actually gone elk hunting on the Stucky place, and it wasn't until I got a good look at their fence and layout that I remembered :-)

    I blogged about it today too:
    http://marissainsavannah.marissaturner.com/?p=590

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  5. Seems like this show is generating quite a buzz! I am really excited for it after watching many reality shows on logging, fishing, etc. I thought to myself, "why couldn't there be a show about ranching...I'd actually want to watch that." Now if I only had cable....

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  6. Thanks everyone for your comments so far. For those of you that don't get Animal Planet check out the link to the website in my post, and they have some clips from the show.

    Farmerstrophywife congrats on potentially having your own show. Can't wait to hear more about it.

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  7. Thanks Crystal...at this stage the show is in the really early stages and is about farming in the Calgary area - dealing with city growth and such. It's fun although my husband gets nervous when it comes to interview time! :)

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  8. Wow, sounds like a great show. I'd never heard of it before, but sure reminds me of our web series "The Farm Virgin". We're just getting started shooting episodes for our second season.

    Farmerstrophywife, is your farm going to be on the show "Cowboy Country"? I just learned about that one recently and have seen their website but no episodes yet. I'll have to check them both out now. Great to see more public interest in farming. I'm actually working on a 60sec video right now for FarmOn.com that's about farm life, the pride of being a farmer and a steward of the land, and respecting what farmers do.

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  9. Crystal,

    Another reason to love Physicians Mutual is that they are title sponsors of Ak-Sar-Ben's River City Rodeo & Stock Show this year! When we went to their company picnic (and put on a mutton bustin' for 45 urban kids), they were really great and completely interested to learn about where we came from and why promoting agriculture in the Heartland is so important. Their CEO was in our office the other day and said the show is getting great reviews across the board!

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  10. I found this show and absolutely love it for the respectful and accurate account of ranchers and what we face these days. My 2 year old loves the show as well - it is what she knows in real life and loves to watch it on TV. I am glad that there are companies that will sponsor good shows like this.

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Thanks for stopping by! I love to hear from all my readers. Hope you have a fabulous day.

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