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  anching. The word itself usually conjures up reminiscences of romantic days gone by. But for working cowboys today, it means their livelihood -- a livelihood dangerously close to extinction because of a number of external forces. A production of the HoustonPBS documentary unit, The Ranchers: Born to this Land offers a glimpse into the past, present and future of this Texas legacy.
Recording artist, songwriter, poet and TV/motion picture personality Red Steagall is host of the program. While growing up in the ranching country of the Texas panhandle, Steagall learned how to work the range during the day and relax by singing songs about cowboys when the sun went down. This cowboy has sung in venues from Las Vegas stages and White House state dinners to fairs and rodeos across America. But he can most likely be found around the chuck wagon at a lonesome cow camp near his home in Fort Worth.
 Steagall's songs and poetry link together the segments of this program -- many of which deal with serious business issues in ranching today. External forces have always taken their toll on ranchers. Conditions ranging from hot and cold weather extremes, lack of water, and wolves and other predators have historically hampered the livelihood of ranchers. Ranchers still deal with external forces, but now they include such hazards as land use restrictions, environmental restraints, and bank and taxation problems.
Even the eating habits of a health-conscious America impact ranchers, as people lean more towards poultry instead of beef as the staple in their diets. These days, ranchers are diversifying to make the most out of their resources -- and they're restructuring their businesses so that they can be personally involved in every operation from importing and breeding to exporting cattle and selling finished cuts of meat directly to the public in their own retail outlets.
 But when it comes down to basics, ranchers are doing just fine. The men and women who work the range take great pride in their work -- work that allows them the freedom as families to work together to make something out of land they're born to.
In ranching it's experience that makes the difference -- as boys and girls and men and women work together for a common goal. Similarly, ranching is not culturally-exclusive -- there have been high percentages of both blacks and Hispanics in the business going back to its early days.
HoustonPBS traveled throughout the state of Texas to interview ranchers and film cowboys at work. Through the filmmakers' eyes, viewers will visit places including Amarillo's J.A. Ranch, West Texas' 6666 Ranch, Kingville's King Ranch and Albany's Lambshead Ranch. Nancy Simonds is producer. Robert Cozens is Executive Producer.
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