Baxter Black. Poet, Cowboy and Nice Guy.

Baxter Black. Poet, Cowboy and Nice Guy. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Anyone who has been around the corral any length of time has heard of Baxter Black. His radio, TV and live performances have tickled audiences funny bones for years. Baxter will again be entertaining the crowd at the upcoming Washington Cattlemen's Association annual convention next weekend in Cle Elum, Washington. But as with many things, Baxter Black didn't set out to be a performer. BLACK: I started out as a veterinarian. Went to Colorado State, grew up in New Mexico and wanted to be in the cattle business so I started working in the feedlots when I was a student and then went to work in the feedlots for a big company in the southwest. Then I came north and I went to work for the Simplot Company in Idaho as their company veterinarian. I did that for 10 years and I had to leave Idaho and I moved to Colorado and took a job with a pharmaceutical company. The entertainment aspect of his career just grew out of a regular job related function. BLACK: The other part of my job was to do producer banquets and that's where a local salesman in the area would invite the local veterinarians and the local cattle producers or the local ag people whatever they were, they'd come in and I'd give them a speech on diseases that were appropriate to their operations and the salesman would give them a little spiel on the product. Within 6 months people we're calling the company and saying can that lunatic veterinarian come out and give us a producer meeting or speak at our cattlemen's? That eventually became his full time occupation and according to Black, material is never an issue. BLACK: I told myself I will never have writer's block because my thoughts at that time was you get writer's block because you worry about getting it and I said I will never have writer's block because I will always have something to say. And one of the reason's that it works is that my audience is agricultural and that's my knowledge; my audience tells me. My audience is my inspiration. You'd think that someone who has published many, many books, has his own TV and radio show and still performs live would have a bit of a self importance problem...but not Baxter Black. BLACK: Things have come along in my life, I can only be thankful that they did and they always seem to come at the right time. And I literally got let go and somehow this cowboy poetry deal, this entertainment deal took off. I don't have an explanation for it, there wasn't any reason, and I was a cowboy poet of all things. Washington Cattlemen's Association annual convention runs Nov. 10, 11 and 12 at the Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.