AMY KIRK: Here’s what I love most about cowboys, ranchers and farmers

• Amy Kirk

Amy Kirk

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Cowboys, ranchers, and farmers all have the same DNA. Their approach to everything is the reason why I enjoy knowing them. Here are some of their admirable qualities I love:

Ingenuity: Their inventive nature has always been entertaining to me.

Only a cowboy would use a Justin boots box for a suitcase, use a roommate’s toothbrush to groom his handlebar mustache, or sprinkle Brute cologne on neglected dirty dishes to mask the odor.

Industrious nature: They put in their time at work regardless of how long, when, where and why without complaint or extra pay.

Like they have a choice in the matter.

Witty banter: Country boys are pranksters and find unusual ways to entertain themselves and others.

While wrestling calves at a neighbor’s branding one spring, I found a set of severed calf parts in the hair-clip I left on a tailgate and knew it could only be the work of one of the cowboys.

I just never expected he would be a cowboy in his late 70s.

Connection with nature: Guys in agriculture wear their work on their sleeves. And their jeans, boots, hats/caps, coats and coveralls.

Their clothes get burn holes from hot welding slag or tractor grease, shop dirt, mud, grass, manure and other cow excrement smeared into them.

Working with the land, machinery and animals makes these guys down-to-earth and well-grounded with Mother Nature.

Work ethic: They do whatever it takes to get the job done, even if it requires duct tape, baling wire or injury.

Sense of Humor: Ranchers have an interesting sense of humor, such as putting a lady mannequin wearing a bikini on a dock in the middle of a stock dam by the interstate.

Resourcefulness and sharing ideas: When they see a good idea they’ll take it home and use their resources to replicate what they saw.

This might explain why I came home and spotted my bikini on an amputated mannequin in our paddle boat on our dam last summer.

Curiousness and sense of adventure: I don’t know of any other male types who would think of floating down the Belle Fourche River in an old Loomix tub but I know two guys who did just to see if it’d work.

Contentment: If men of the country have deep roots, wide-open spaces, meat-and-potatoes, a cowherd, good horse, broken-in hat, comfortable boots, four-wheel drive pickup, a cow dog, ample supply of five-gallon buckets, toothpicks in every machine and pickup, a cold beer now and then, access to the weather forecast, and a black ink ballpoint pen, they’re likely to be content.

Concept of time: Their line of thinking is, “Do it now. Who knows what kind of wreck tomorrow holds.”

Style and attire: The way men in agriculture dress is classic.

They buy clothes including their underwear, for their lasting durability. Some still wear clothes they wore 30 years ago.

Conversations: Hands down, ag guys are the easiest people to talk to about anything. They’re happy to have any opportunity to visit.

It’s when they try to have a conversation using hand signals that communicating can sometimes be difficult.

They have the best stories and tell them in an entertaining way.

The world is a better place because of these men and not just for their wonderful genetic traits but because they’re also responsible for producing the world’s food supply.

Amy Kirk and her husband raise their two kids on a fourth-generation cow/calf operation near Pringle. She blogs at ranchwifeslant.areavoices.com.

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