Betty Lou has been a long time breeder of Longhorn cattle. She purchased her first longhorns from George Howe -- 25 years ago. She currently has 40 longhorn cows and 450 head of commercial cows (RWF and Black). Betty Lou enjoys calving and weaning time and has also shown cattle with 4-H.

Betty Lou enjoys ranching, riding horses, chasing cows and to throw in something different, she love to rock garden. She keeps busy with her husband, her 2 daughters and son-in-laws, and her 4 grandchildren.

With the knowledge and experience Betty Lou has with Texas Longhorn cattle, she would be a great source to learn from. If you are ever in the Brooks area, give her a call.

At The annual general meeting, the board of directors elected for the 2008 year are: Ron Walker - President, mark stewart – vice president, del hepfner – secretary/treasurer, lee stringer and ken beler.

The association will be attending Calgary stampede in July with a display booth and display cattle. If any member can spare a day or two to help, please call Ron at (403) 548-6684.

New caps have been ordered for the association with the revised logo and will be for sale at the start of the Calgary stampede. Also for sale are the 16 oz Thermos, pocket knives, barbeque sets and bandanas. Please call the office at (780) 387-4874, if you wish to purchase any of the above.

On May 26, Kelsy Hepfner and her yearling longhorn cross heifer “Jangling Ice” participated in the Telford 4-H Beef Show. Kelsy received 2nd in Junior Showmanship and 2nd in Junior Grooming. She also placed 4th in conformation with her heifer. Kelsy was entered in the District Heifer show but had to withdraw due to a sprained ankle she received the day before the show. She will continue to participate in the 4-H shows with her heifer project for the next two years. Good Luck and keep up the good work, Kelsy!

March 28, the A.T.L.A. held their first Annual Registered Texas Longhorn Sale at Ponoka. With yearling heifers, bulls and cows on offer, a large group of people were on hand for the event. Lesley & Loretta Dahl of Sexsmith were the high volume buyers and Lee & Bonnie Stringer was the highest dollar buyer. Ron Walker donated a beautiful bred heifer that was raffled off with proceeds going to the Association. The heifer was won by Terry Weimer of Rocky Mountain House and $1,250.00 was collected for the Association. Thank you to everyone!

• Longhorn/Elk/Bison Tour
• BBQ Dinner ($20 / person)
• Donation Auction
• Bonfire Socializing

When asked to write an article on my (our) favorite LONGHORN, the thought process was on, which favorite! Should I talk about the longhorn that we show, the longhorn steer we drive, or the longhorn cow that always brings in the best calf in the fall? There are so many things that makes longhorns favorites to different people, the entire article could be wrote just asking questions.

But I will go with one of my babies, LADY OF PARADISE, known as PIGGY. This is the first calf of Lilly, and when she was born, I was in the stall on delivery duties, (I was just being nosey), and Ken was saying very calmly, GET OUT OF THAT STALL!!!!!!! She was born in the early afternoon, we me imprinting her before she even came out, just rubbing her ears. As she lay in the large pile of straw I had made for her, I thought she was the ugliest calf I ever saw – tall, looked like a moose, but I loved her anyway. She would come lay on my lap and MOM just looked on, thinking “She is a good babysitter”. But I spoiled this little heifer so bad that when we put them to pasture, Lady would try to run beside my quad. Finally, I had to start putting her on the quad to check cows. She would let me pick her up and sit on my lap as we rode thru the cows. Then it was off at her mom’s side and I moved out as fast as I could so she did not follow me.

She has retained her quite nature even today. We showed her beside her mother, KC Fox’s Lilly, then as a yearling heifer, and as a two-year old with a calf. Most times when we were showing she was there trying to show the public how nice longhorns were. In Edmonton, at the Farm Fair show, we had a group of handicap children come to see the cattle. They wanted to see a cow up close, and I was leery of taking a cow out of the stall in case someone got hurt but I did anyway. Piggy seemed to know that these children were special. There were wheel chairs, wild movements and talking from students but she still let them touch her horns and rub her face. The one thing that got me the most, was one child wanted to know where milk came from on a cow. When I was showing him how to squirt milk from her teats, Piggy put her rear leg back and spread out so he could come up to her side in the wheel chair. That day made all the time I put in her worth it all.

The way Piggy got her nickname is funny. We had some really cold weather and she knew the barn was warmer with grain in the stalls and no wind or snow. She came to the gate, MOO very quietly wanting in the pen. I decided to see where she wanted to go. When I opened one gate, she walked to the next gate and at the barn door she looked at me again and would MOO. After opening the barn door, she walked into the stall and lays down. She was not dumb; when it is really cold, she will still want to come in for some tender loving care. You can walk up to her in the pasture, put a halter on her and take her anywhere. My kind of longhorn! Ken was just a little mad when he caught me sitting down by her feet and rubbing her legs to make them warm. He said, “There would be no sympathy for me when I got hurt.”

Longhorns are a special breed of cattle. They think things through, they remember the good and the bad and they can be the best of friends or worst of enemies.

Individual animal identification might be a great thing for the cattle industry, but it’s definitely a younger man’s sport. At least it is in our cow herd.

As a matter of fact, if the U.S. government ever mandates animal identification at birth, it ought to exempt every rancher over 50 years old, or maybe even over 40 if they’re a little slow or overweight.

Seems like every other calf I ear tagged this year had a mother who was less than pleased with my presence. I could usually tell when I walked toward the calf to tag and vaccinate it whether I should be running the other way.

I can understand a little maternal concern when I’ve got a cow’s calf between my knees to poke a tag in its ear and a needle in its neck. I don’t even mind if the cow sticks its nose in my back pocket or nudges me a little to keep me from dawdling too long with its baby.

But when they let out a blood curdling beller and run over the top of their calf to try and knock you down and grind you into the dirt, I get a little cautious.

I’m a long distance runner by my build and experience, but I’ve developed a pretty fast 50 foot dash out in the calving pasture.

Most cows won’t go more than 50 feet from their calf to try and snuff you out. If you don’t see another column after this one, you’ll know I met a cow with a 51 foot range.

I asked my 86-year-old dad what I should do about tagging the calves with these mean mamas. He said I might want to try wearing tennis shoes. Sound advice, but I prefer the challenge of running in cowboy boots.

I’ve noticed that other ranchers must have a few cows like mine. They’re packing around little corrals on their tractors and four wheelers. When they spot a new baby, they lower the pen down on the calf and work in peace while the mother paws the dirt and buts against the steel bars.

I think they got the idea from watching shows where divers are lowered into the ocean in cages to take pictures of sharks.

Me, I tough it without a cage. Occasionally one of the ranch dogs will serve as a decoy to distract the cow. That works well until the cow tears after them and the dog runs and hides behind me.

I usually know what I’m getting into as I check the cows. Each year I score the cows with a bad attitude and put together a “look out list” from the previous year’s high scoring hell cows.

I check the list as I make out the ear tags to get my adrenaline pumping and my fast twitch sprinting muscles cocked and ready.

I suppose I should just sell the cows once they’ve made the list, but they always breed well, raise big calves, stay fat and are as pretty as a picture from their udders to their eyes.

If the drought persists and the pastures fail, this may be the year to cull some of the troublemakers.

I’m afraid to think what the freight will cost if I load up the mean cows and take them to a sale barn. It’ll be darn high because these aren’t the kind of cows you dare sell too close to home.

Ryan Taylor is a rancher, runner, writer, speaker and senator in the state legislature from Towner, North Dakota.