11/09/05 America`s Heartland

America's Heartland American agriculture will be featured on public television over the next year. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with some comments. Today I have to remind everyone about a PBS series called "America's Heartland" which will feature 20 programs highlighting American agriculture. Several of the segments will showcase cattle and beef production, the largest sector of the agricultural industry. Some of the cattle episodes will include a feature on the legendary King Ranch in Texas, a visit to Babcock Ranch in Florida where a very old breed of cattle are raised along with alligators, a California trip will explore global positioning to track cattle, Montana ranching will be highlighted on another segment and country music star, Michael Martin Murphy's Wisconsin ranch is the main attraction in one program. Those really sound interesting to me and I think they will be educational to a lot of viewers. It sounds like these episodes should be entertaining with hopefully no political overtones  just telling the story of a way of life and showing how ranches and all of agricultures' traditions make this industry such an integral part of our culture. According to John Braly, one of NCBA's vice presidents, California PBS stations carried a program called "California Heartland" and it was second only to NOVA in viewing audience. So check your local listings and tune in. I know I'm looking forward to the program. I'm Jeff Keane. Western Livestock Reporter 10/26/05