Focus on Texas: Around the Farm

Hay isn’t just for horses, and neither is horsing around

By Grace Arsiaga August 2015

Emily Burger, Greenbelt EC: Logan Burger, right, jumps from one bale to the next just before friend Owen Britten attempted a shove.

Shelly Brown, Bowie-Cass EC: “I was feeding the chickens when this one demanded a little extra attention. She really wanted a peck (kiss).”

Laura Hensley, United Cooperative Services: Cissy, a 4-month-old goat, hops on Annabelle the donkey’s back whenever she gets the chance!

Linda Tipton, Nueces EC: A young man with his horse and dog cool off in the Guadalupe River.

Carla Waldron, United Cooperative Services: “Just another day working the field for this little farmer. This boy’s love for tractors is bigger than Texas!”

Web Extra: Isla Carpenter, United Cooperative Services: Granddaughter Ally Brooks helps out on the farm at 17 months old. Roxanne wants a big kiss!

Web Extra: Whitney Edington, Hamilton County EC: A pair of amphibians peek out of a bucket. That’s a Gulf Coast toad, left, and a Rio Grande leopard frog, according to Andrew G. Gluesenkamp, a herpetologist at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Web Extra: Brandy Watson, Wise EC: An early Texas morning on the farm

Web Extra: Sheila Birdwell, J-A-C EC: Dalton, age 8, learns to dehorn replacement heifers. He will be the seventh generation to own and operate this land in Jack County. His daddy, Henry Birdwell Jr., supervises his work.

Web Extra: Beth Wiseman-Mackey, Fayette EC: These two chickens supervise all work on the family farm.

Web Extra: Joel Roberts, Grayson-Collin EC: Nothing runs like Dad’s old John Deere.

Web Extra: Krysta Johns, Bandera EC: At the end of the road on top of a hill in Boerne, longhorns heard our truck and came running for an evening snack, but we were just passing through.

Whether you are a spring chicken or ready to be put out to pasture, you put all your eggs in one basket with this month’s contest. We are as happy as pigs in mud with the photos you sent in. Now, we could crow about our favorites until the cows come home, but we’d rather show you what life looks like on a Texas farm.