WHEN I EAT MEAT

Rancher Dan Gives Riding Lessons

Back in the days when I got all my food from a huge supermarket, I really didn't give much thought to where it came from, or the people who raised it.  John had some uncles who farmed, and my Uncle George was a rancher, but since we only saw them on holidays or at rodeo time, I was pretty much oblivious to what their day-to-day lives were like.

That all changed when we moved to Wimberley, and I got involved with The Bountiful Sprout.  Now, much of what I eat has a name and a face attached to it, and I am all too aware of the struggles they have gone through just to bring it to me -- even more so as we approach the end of this second year of the area's worst drought in recorded history, knowing that it's far from over yet.

Our friend Danny only went to work as an engineer for Mobil Oil in order to support his ranching habit.  For thirty years he's spent most every weekend and all of his vacation time here in the Hill Country, helping his dad to run their combined ranches.  A couple of years ago, when Mr. Reeh was nearing 80 and had lost his right-hand-man, their son Travis became a rancher as well.  Dan finally got to retire from engineering this year, on September first, to become the full-time rancher that he always dreamed of being, only to be faced with hauling in trailer after trailer of hay, priced around $130.00 per bale, just to keep his starving animals alive.  But, according to his wife Peggy, even if you can afford to buy the hay, the cattle just won't get fat eating that alone.  They need something to graze as well.  Peggy says they can probably hold on the rest of this year and next, but if the drought hasn't broken by then, she's not sure what they'll do.

Thanksgivings at my uncle's place, named Belly Acres, so he said, in honor of all the griping his kids used to do.  Uncle George is the tall, skinny feller in the back.

I've also heard that the reason beef is fairly cheap right now is because all the ranchers and farmers who can't afford the hay are having to dump their stock, which has caused a glut, and they are getting next to nothing for it.  All that will change drastically when there are only a few ranchers left.  When I mentioned all this to my friend Paula, she said "That is exactly why I could never farm or ranch.  I watched my dad suffer too much from weather problems that he could not control, and what he went through wasn't nearly as bad as this! Some wet years, he would get a really good crop of hay and cut it, but then it would rain on it and it'd be ruined before he could get it baled. Other years it would be a drought, and there'd be no hay or grass.  Too much stress!!! "

So, this is the kind of stuff I think of now, every time I take a bite of meat.  I hope you do too.