I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, thanking the women in our lives who mean so much to us. Mom and I spent the warm, sunny weekend helping our husbands get fieldwork done -- bringing them meals-on-wheels to the tractor and reloading the planter with seed. The last couple of weeks, we have been celebrating the dynamic women in agriculture who dedicate their lives to farming and ranching with the BEEF Daily Cowgirls and Cattlewomen Photography Contest. With more than 50 entries and 100 votes, we have selected our winners. Be sure to check out the list of finalists and view the entire gallery. Enough of the suspense; let's unveil our winners!
Congratulations to our Grand Champion photographer, Sharlee Goss, from Augusta, MT. About the mother and daughter in the photograph, Goss pens, "This is a picture of my good friend Anna taking a break last fall while participating in a local ranch rodeo in town. She is a wonderful mother to adorable, little Grace and will be blessed with another little one in just a couple of weeks. She is a true hard-working ranch wife and and excellent mother who has a passion for agriculture and the Western way of life. When Grace was just a baby, Anna had her car seat strapped to the 4-wheeler and was out fixing fence with her!"
Reserve Champion honors go to Kelli Brown, from Throckmorton, TX, with "Amanda." Of her entry, Brown writes, "Here is an entry for the Beef Mothers Day photo contest, I've titled, 'Girl Power.' I snapped this of my 12-year-old niece, Amanda, at a branding this spring. What does this mean to me? Pride. So proud to be part of a century-old ranching family where the men and women have continued to work together to keep the traditions and heritages alive."
Winners will receive “The Overseers” by Jack Sorenson, one of a limited-edition run of signed and numbered prints that measure 24 x 18 in. It is the third in a series of four images Sorenson produced for BEEF magazine covers in 1998-99 and retails for $125. This image depicts the summer season in cattle production; others are of fall, winter and spring cattle scenes. For more on Sorenson, read the April 1999 BEEF article, “The Storyteller.”
Watch this beautiful tribute of our BEEF Daily Cowgirls And Cattlewomen below. This collection of photographs celebrates the strong, passionate, willing and able women in the cattle business. After taking the minute to watch the tribute, be sure to spread the love and share the video with your friends and family; it's sure to bring a smile to anyone's face this Monday morning!
A sincere thanks to all who participated in this Mother's Day contest by entering photographs and voting for our winners. I hope you will all continue to stop back and be a part of this community forum every Monday through Thursday! Just a heads up to all you photographers out there, start taking shots of your beloved cowboys and cattlemen, as we will be honoring them this June, just in time for Father's Day! Don't miss it!
