03/04/08 Learning to be a Cowboy Part 2

Learning To Be A Cowboy Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. In the 40's and 50's boys and girls alike wanted to be just like their matinee idols, Gene, Buck, Roy, & Dale and my favorite, Hoppy. That was what a cowboy was to us. In reality a cowboy is really a hard working, sun up to sun down labor of love and there are still people clamoring to learn that slower way of life. Rocco Wachman has been a part of the Arizona Cowboy College for nearly 20 years. Recently the reality show Cowboy U made him a family name. WACHMAN: I had mixed emotions about the TV show but I found it could be a great vehicle. I actually got a letter from the vice-president of the American Quarter Horse Association thanking us. We've got 6 seasons of Cowboy U under our belt, we're talking about the 7th one right now but the fact that we put a show on TV that has done 6 seasons and it's all about horses and cows, and that's a good thing and that's why I did it. Wachman is excited about exposing a younger generation to the world of the real cowboy. WACHMAN: But the fact that kids would sit down with their parents and maybe some of these, one, two, half a dozen, 20 would go for their first horseback riding lesson and the next time somebody saw someone on horseback watching a bunch of cows rather than just driving by they'd stop and watch. Just to get some interest going I thought it was a great vehicle. It's interesting that most of our mental pictures of cowboys and what they do comes from TV shows or movies. Wachman says that's not the real picture. WACHMAN: You know there's two different, 5 different, 6 different hats cowboys wear and every one of them are real cowboys. But specifically what we talk about at the college are the people who just do the cow/calf operations. The average size of a herd in the United States is about 65 head. But it all comes from old fashioned Americana, families working hard with their neighbors and that's the side that we show. The Arizona Cowboy College is not a dude ranch and perhaps that's why it continues to pull people from all walks of life after nearly 20 years and 2000 graduates. But after only 6 days, can you really call yourself a cowboy? WACHMAN: You know a 100 years ago, 130 years ago, a guy would be a dentist in Manhattan and 6 days later he'd be horseback trying to claim 160 acres for his family in the Oklahoma Land Rush. People used to change quickly and kind of, that's what we do. If you saw these people when they come on Monday and then you saw them again on Saturday you cannot believe the change and how fast they can learn how to effectively, respectfully and successfully do this job. Want more information? Visit their website at www.cowboycollege.com. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.