09/14/2026
Diesel hit $6 a gallon this week. Oil is over $105 a barrel.
But tonight, I want you to forget about barrels of oil for a minute.
Look at this mama cow.
To most people, sheās just a cow standing in a field.
To the rancher who owns her, sheās so much more.
She represents thousands of dollars invested with absolutely no guarantee of a return.
She represents hay put up on the hottest days of summer so sheāll have something to eat on the coldest nights of winter.
She represents frozen fingers breaking ice, muddy boots at 2:00 in the morning, sleepless nights during calving season, vet bills, feed bills, fuel bills, busted equipment and miles of fence that never seem to stay fixed.
She represents birthdays missed, dinners interrupted and plans changed because the cattle donāt know itās Sunday, Christmas morning, or your kidās ballgame.
And after all of that, she gets one chance each year to raise one calf.
One.
The rancher feeds her for 365 days.
Checks her when sheās sick.
Watches over her when sheās calving.
Prays for rain when the grass turns brown.
Prays for sunshine when itās time to make hay.
And when that calf finally goes to market, the rancher doesnāt get to name his price.
He takes what the market gives him.
Sometimes thereās a profit.
Sometimes thereās barely enough to keep going.
And sometimes, after an entire year of work, thereās nothing left at all.
Yet the next morning, before daylight, that rancher gets up and does it again.
Why?
Because agriculture has never just been about money.
Itās about watching a newborn calf take its first breath.
Itās about seeing your children riding beside you checking cows.
Itās about looking across a pasture your father or grandfather once worked and knowing youāre carrying something forward that money canāt buy.
Itās about leaving your children more than land.
Itās leaving them a way of life.
Every steak on a grill and every pound of hamburger in a grocery store started somewhere like thisāwith a mama cow and a farmer or rancher willing to take the risk.
Behind that package of beef is somebodyās land.
Somebodyās savings.
Somebodyās sweat.
Somebodyās sleepless night.
Somebodyās family.
Somebodyās dream.
And a whole lot of faith.
So when you look at that mama cow, donāt just see cattle.
See the family behind her.
See the sacrifice.
See the generations.
See the prayers.
See the people who keep doing itānot because itās easy, and certainly not because theyāre guaranteed to get rich.
They do it because feeding people is more than their business.
Itās their life. šŗšøš
