When I was growing up I lived in the small town of Ulysses located in south west Kansas. Every Saturday my granddad would take my brother and me to his ranch to help him with his chores. We would spend hours with him driving tractors, building fence and working cattle. One year he decided that my brother and I were old enough to learn how take care of something we could call our own. My Uncle Troy and he decided that they would buy six goats a piece and it would be my brother's and my job to take care of them.  We spent every chance we could out at the ranch taking care of those goats. We would feed them, water them and we even taught some of them how to lead. After a few years of  goat wrangling by brother and I had quite the heard. We had accumulated over thirty goats be fore it was all said and done. My brother and I also learned something very important in those few years that would prepare us for a tragic and upsetting event. My granddad that my brother and I were very close to was killed in a car accident in November of 1993. With my granddad gone, my grandma and uncle were left to run the ranch. My brother and I decided that we were responsible enough at that time that we would help them with the ranch chores when we could. Since we had moved to Amarillo a year before my granddad died, we could only go to the ranch on holidays and in the summer. My brother Tyler and I jumped from goat herders to young ranchers in a matter of minutes. Tyler and I spent a lot of time, sweat, and energy on our ranch but it developed into something we enjoyed. Tyler and I now consider farming and ranching our hobbies because we only get to go up there and work cattle and drive tractors every so often. I love farming and ranching because it has been such a major part of my life. I love the fact that I can build things with my bare hands and I can operate heavy machinery when most kids my age can't. Most people wouldn't list manual labor as their hobby, but I love the feeling of responsibility and satisfaction when my all my chores chores have been finished.