Special Art of Ranching - Song Page
©
from the album Out on the Tallgrass Prairie
Album Note:
Grandparents’ advice on running a ranch: know the science, learn lessons from the land, protect the prairie and yourself, persevere, be loyal, and always seek new solutions.
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LYRICS
She’d always felt the prairie deep down in her bones.
The ranch where Gram and Grandpa lived was where she felt at home.
So this city girl, she read and studied, learned all she could learn,
So someday she could run the ranch if it came her turn.
But was she really ready, how else could she prepare?
She sat down with Gram & Grandpa, to see what they could share,
They said . . .
Us ranchers learn our lessons out working in the pasture:
To balance grass and cattle, and how to dodge disaster.
We know we don’t know everything, and you will find new ways.
We pray that you can make it and live here all your days.
First, we watch our cattle closely: how and where they graze,
Be sure they’re safe and healthy and check ‘em every day.
But though we’re raising cattle, our crop is really grass.
Without a healthy prairie, our business would collapse.
Come work with us each day. We’ll teach you all we can.
The special art of ranching is learned out on the land.
No market cycle’s just the same; each year’s a wild dance
Of riding out the highs and lows to hang on to the ranch.
We persevere in hard times when we’ve-worked all year for nothing,
And keep the faith that next year, well surely we’ll make something.
With crazy markets, nasty weather, sickness, and bad luck,
We look out to the land we love to keep our spirits up.
We love to see our calves at play in early morning light
And watch the wild creatures moving just before the night.
CHORUS
Be careful round the salesmen and know what you can manage.
And watch the cattle buyers or your profits soon could vanish.
And folks you always treat right - never anger or upset -
Are your cowboys and your cowgirls, your mechanic, and your vet.
We know we don’t know everything, and you will find new ways.
We pray that you can make it and live here all your days,
So this land will stay a prairie as far as you can see
Where the cattle and the wild creatures still are roaming free.
CHORUS