Buzzard's Beat by Brandi Buzzard

01/02/2026

DID YOU THINK WE'D MISS IT?!

No way, bucko.
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This is our NINTH year of our annual "feeding cows as a family" photo in a feed truck. Do we feed cows together often? Yes. Do I take a lot of pictures during those trips. Also, yes.
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No matter what else we have going on, we always make this happen. My day revolves around ensuring we get this invaluable picture.
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The only years we missed were 2016 (when Oakley was 3 weeks old and I was mentally paralyzed from post-partum) and 2017, when I just didn’t think to take a pic (or maybe we didn’t check cows that day as a fam?).
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But it’s such a treasured moment for me now. Someday, when we are empty nesters, we’ll get to look back at these photos and smile and remember the countless moments we shared as a family in the feed trucks.
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I’ll remember how much work it took to get everyone bundled and buckled, snacks, wipes and diapers in tow (although we are all potty-trained now, PTL). I’ll remember the girls learning to drive, finding their own cows and feeding cubes to the “pet” cows.
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I hope our girls will come home every year during school and throughout their lives to continue the tradition. I can see the photo needing to accommodate more people and if that makes my girls happy, it will make me happy.
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Happy New Year to all of you! My wish is you will have a safe, joyous, healthy, prosperous and blessed 2026!

What New Year’s Day traditions do you have?

12/30/2025

BETTER THAN 90°F!

I had to break ice last night. It was cold. But I don’t mind.
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Because the bugs are ☠️ and I’m not sweating!
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There’s no mosquitos or flies! I’m not sticky and smelly and gross!
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I’m not having heat exhaustion from riding 2 horses!
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The bugs are ☠️ ☠️!

Thanks for coming to my icy celebration!

12/29/2025

HAVE YOU EVER MET A VEGETARIAN CHICKEN?

Answer: no, you haven't.

Do you know why?

Chickens are tiny T-rex dinosaurs. They are not rabbits. They are not vegetarian. They eat grains, fruits, vegetables, yes. But do you know what they will also eat?

MEAT. Leftover scraps of MEAT. Frogs. Small mice. Bugs. Whatever they can get their tiny beaks into (except cantaloupe, mine dislike cantaloupe).

They are not vegetarians.

I'm not really sure what the "vegetarian fed" label seeks to achieve here but the enneagram 8 in me wants to make sure that y'all know *chickens aren't vegetarians* and maybe also, if you are someone who wishes to be anti-animal products, why are you eating eggs?

An egg from a vegetarian-fed hen is as healthy as an egg from an omnivorous hen. Don't let a label freak you out. If you don't know, ask me and I'll help ya out.

*I am not shaming vegans or vegetarians. We're all entitled to our own choices. Don't attack my food choices and I won't attack yours.*

p.s. I am very unhappy about buying eggs since my flock was wiped out by a raccoon and possum gang in August??/September and I haven't bought new chicks yet. Not bitter at all....

12/24/2025

NATIONAL FINALS BREAKAWAY ROPING

“What other stand alone event would have sold out a 3500 seat venue?

Breakaway roping... We did it...

If your local rodeo doesn't have breakaway, make sure they know that they should. We are here to stay. Representation matters.”

These are wise words from one of my best friends of more than 25 years, Michelle Bartley Wilson.

When Bart and I were junior rodeoing together, then high school, then college and amateur, we’d only dreamed that breakaway would be a professional event. Once we were out of college, we only had events May-September. Jackpots and winter rodeos were rare. We’d only dreamed breakaway would have an NFR. And look at it now.

Our daughters - my 2 and her 1 - have never known a time when breakaway wasn’t a mainstream event. They’ve only ever known breakaway at the biggest rodeos and on the largest stages. They’ll never know what it’s like to petition and beg smaller regional rodeo associations to . I give big thanks to contractors like C. R. McKellips Rodeo Co., Inc. who have breakaway since the 2000s (perhaps) before and were there for us breakaway ropers when others weren't.

Earlier this week, a big group of junior rodeo moms (who all came up through junior, high school, college and amateur rodeos together) all took our daughters to see the best in the world rope for big money. They met some of the stars (thanks Kelsie, LD and Jackie) and yelled their little hearts out.

Someday, girls who are now my daughters’ age - maybe even my daughters! - are going to rope in the Thomas & Mack. It’s coming.

Breakaway ropers are a force. We’re here to stay.

12/22/2025

I CALLED WAYNE PACELLE A HYPOCRITE
And boy howdy, he didn’t like that.

Yes, this is the same Wayne Pacelle of animal rights extremism fame (although he’s known for something else entirely now {Google it}).

Back to the hypocrite part: what else should we call someone who dismissed financial concerns for pig farmers who opposed Prop 12 but is now using “economic jeopardy” - for farmers he likes - as a defense for keeping Prop 12?

I’ll let you be the judge after reading my latest column for AGDAILY (🔗 below)

12/17/2025

This is great news! My kids have been raised on whole milk since toddlerhood and would rather drink water than 1% or skim, and they're not alone in that, clearly.

"Whole and reduced-fat milk were removed from school menus in 2012 and schools were limited to fat-free and 1% milk, and flavored milk was required to be fat-free. While intended to improve student health, the change coincided with a decline in school milk consumption and reduced choice for students.

Over the past decade, a growing body of research has shown that milk fat has a neutral or even positive effect on health outcomes. That evolving science, combined with changing consumer preferences, helped build bipartisan support for restoring flexibility in school milk offerings."

A big win for schools and kids!

This just in: The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. Thank you to everyone who joined — your voices mattered.

With today’s passage of this bipartisan bill, schools now have the option to serve whole and reduced-fat (2%) milk again. The bill now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

This is an important step toward providing families and students with more nutritious, wholesome choices during critical meal times.

We thank Representatives Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and Congresswoman Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), more than 115 bipartisan co-sponsors, and Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.) and Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) for their leadership in advancing legislation to restore whole milk options in school cafeterias.

This is just another great example of the power we hold when we all work together!

12/15/2025

Over the weekend, we took my daughter and a friend to the The Kansas City Chiefs game for her birthday. *no nasty comments, y'all*

During halftime, I took the girls to the ladies room to warm up their feet and rearrange the hot hands warmers and when we came back, the halftime entertainment was wrapping up: four border collies playing frisbee fetch on a football field. The crowd was thoroughly enjoying it and normally, I would have, too.

But it reminded me of my best canine friend who is playing fetch across the rainbow bridge, which she cross a year ago last Friday.

I thought I'd be ok a year later, but I'm not. I may never own another dog again. Owning another border collie would almost certainly be unbearably difficult. Her dog bed lies empty in the garage but I still find her hair clinging to random socks, work coats and gloves, just like she is still clinging to every corner of my heart.

We don't deserve dogs. They love far larger and deeper than we can imagine.

If you're looking for a tearjerker read today, my tribute to my ranch dog will most certainly do it.
https://buzzardsbeat.com/2025/08/the-final-fetch.html/

12/10/2025

You’ll never convince me that prettier sunsets exist outside of fall & winter.

Something about choring in the last remnants of daylight - making sure the cattle and horses are fed, watered and comfortable - before heading in the house for supper with my family gives me a sense of peace and calm.

In a nation with so much unrest and divisiveness, it’s nice to spend a few minutes focusing on what means the most to me - my family, our ranch and the animals in our care.

12/05/2025

Y'all know rodeo is my #1 passion and it's the biggest rodeo week of the year! It's time for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and I have several friends making runs in the Thomas & Mack the next 9 nights (last night was the first round and I missed it because I was driving).

Cheering for my friends Weston Patterson Professional Saddle Bronc Rider, Jesse Pope Professional Ba****ck Rider, Tom Crouse - PRCA Athlete and Emily Miller Beisel who are all my fellow Prairie and Great Lakes Circuit competitors!

Also cheering loudly for Red Hot Barrel Horses/Tricia Aldridge for her first NFR with Adios! I got to meet her in Waco at the Women's Professional Rodeo Association World Finals and she is such a cool lady!

Good luck to all the contestants! Drop a comment and let me know who you're cheering for as well!

12/03/2025

Started my day out with Jeniffer Vickery Smith on RFD-TV's Market Day Report speaking about the importance of agriculture voices in today's media landscape.

Also talked about my upcoming appearance on the Dirt Diaries podcast with RanchHer/FarmHer - will share it here when it airs!

Happy Wednesday!

12/02/2025

Hunger depresses me.
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Not personally in an "I'm hungry" way but in a "This is the richest nation in the world and we have hungry children and people in every county in America."

Roughly 47 million people live in food insecure homes - about 14 million of those are children. This is wrong in so many ways - we raise and produce way too much food in the U.S. for so many people to be going hungry.

In our community, the 4-H club I assist in leading held a food drive for the local food bank. Our church is doing the same. And while these are noble efforts for the holidays, the reality is that people suffer hunger year round.

I'm donating to Feeding America on this Giving Tuesday for a variety of reasons and here's why I think you should, too:

- They receive a 4-star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - the highest rating available from Charity Navigator - they are legit. They are Forbes' #1 charity and 98% of all donations are put directly into programs and services that help people facing hunger.

- They have 60,000 partner agencies nationwide and provide 6.6 BILLION meals to tens of millions of people every year.

- Feeding America also supports programs to improve food security among the people they serve.

- They bring attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation.

- They advocate for policy and legislation to prevent people from going hungry in the first place.

- One cause I particularly love is Feeding America's support or programs that prevent food waste. We can't feed people if we're throwing food in the trash!

Now through 12/5, Tony Robbins is double-matching all donations so your gift will be amplified 2x!
FeedingAmerica.org/TonyRobbins

I hope you'll join me in supporting a very worthy cause. Thank you for being here. I posted my receipt in the comments - I never ask my followers to donate if I'm not willing to as well.