Bob Bragg

This week, I interviewed Bob Bragg, of Cortez, Colorado. Bob grew up in the Midwest, went into the Army, went to college, rodeo’d, riding saddle broncs and backback. Ultimately, he settled in southwestern Colorado where he’s been teaching in ag-related fields for decades. The man is 80 and as spry as a 40-year old.

Here, he shares an encounter from back a few decades ago that I think helped confirm for him a lifelong respect and appreciation for animal behavior and intelligence. Bob describes a day moving cows up Yellow Jacket Canyon. Now that canyon, like a lot of canyons in this high desert area, has steep, steep sides. To scramble up them can mean holding onto a branch of scrub oak for dear life. Following game trails is often your best bet, but even then it can be challenging.

The cows that Bob and students were moving were indeed domestic, but they encountered feral cows. Feral cows are cows turned loose and, since no one has handled them in perhaps years, they are on their own, surviving in big country, adapting to their circumstances.

I can just imagine those wild cows saying ‘hey, how ya doing’ and then hasta la vista, nice seeing you, to their fellow bovines.

Bob has a decades-long show called Farm News and Views that plays weekly on KSJD here in Cortez.

I really enjoyed hearing how that scene unfolded and appreciated Ben’s take-away.

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Keep your eyes, ears, and mind open. Until next time.