07/22/08 Get Ready Cowboys!

Get Ready Cowboys! I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Coming up this Saturday is the National Day of the Cowboy and while it is not an official holiday, one person is working hard to get our government to recognize the important role the cowboy made. Bethany Braley is the Executive Director of the National Day of the Cowboy. BRALEY: What cowboys did to help us develop the west is; I mean we probably wouldn't have the west without all the hard work they did and all that the ranchers did. The real age of the cowboys was only a short window in the late 1800's but the impact has had broad reaching impacts. BRALEY: It's still loved by so many people and expressed in so many ways when you think about the fact that we have western art, we have western music, we have western poetry, we had western movies, we had western TV shows; all of that really just speaks to the fact that there is really a true love for our western heritage, for what the cowboy stood for. You know the cowboy code of ethics and their stewardship of the land and their kind of model of working hard and finishing the job and riding for the brand. Riding for the brand is something that in today's society has pretty much lost its meaning. It's when you work for someone, you give them 100%. And while the cowboy is uniquely American, Braley believes the appeal is international. BRALEY: I see it too as something people around the world still love us for and something people around the world can still share together. It doesn't matter where you live or what your politics are or what your race is or your gender, cowboys and cowgirls and what they stood for and who they are is something people around the world still like us for, love us for, respect us for, enjoy about us so I think it's something that we really should be building upon. It's just all around a good thing for the country and the world. There are many National Day of the Cowboy celebrations happening this weekend and you can find a list on their web site. Braley is also pushing hard to get the day recognized as a national celebration. BRALEY: I'm getting a lot more inquiries about how can we celebrate, what can we do, what do we need to do in our state to make sure this passes permanently so lots of people are enthusiastic about it, excited about it and I think we definitely need something positive to focus on right now and this certainly has the potential to be that. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.