When I was a kid, the Texas panhandle was all about oil. Pump jacks dotted farmer’s fields and rancher’s grazing land. Even some folks with a few acres got into the game, with a pump on their side or back yard.

Some of those wells are still producing, but many have been capped and others sit idle waiting for the price of oil to rise. Meanwhile, a new form of energy is filling the open spaces of the panhandle – wind farms.

I don’t know if the cattle care, but the windmills don’t smell bad and make for better shade, so I’d say the change is good for our bovine friends. 

Image Credit © Paul H. Byerly