Shadow R Ranch Website

Refels talent reaches past the barbwire

When Refel Rushing is not Ranching, Building, or Raising money he can often be found with a pen in hand as he embarks on his next exciting story or romantic poem. Check out some of his work on the new poetry site by clicking below.

A journey from the calf bottle to the soil marked by love and wisdom

February seems to be the month my calf stories begin — for good reason, as it is in this month that the calving season starts. This is a true story that begins in early February 2020. The story is about a young newborn calf. The calf is a bull, and Flash is his name. For the next 18 months he lived on the land, in my heart, and in the hearts of three other people. Flash would prove to be not just an ordinary bull calf. There is no other way to say this except to say that Flash had the capacity to love. Not perhaps love as humans express and show love. As his caretakers, we understood that it was love on a level we did not totally understand but openly accepted. On the day he was born, unlike most calves, he was slow to get on his feet. Most calves after 30 minutes or so make attempts to get up. Having reached that point, they wobble along, take a step or two, and fall back down again. This stand and fall process is repeated until the calf finds the coordination and strength needed to s...

Shadow R Ranch Introduction

Shadow R Ranch When I think of all the fun I h ave had making this place, I just have to share it. I purchased this land with no fences and no roads back in 2007. Since then it has been a love affair. With cattle, with the soil, with building projects, with procurement, procurement, pr ocurement! What you see out h ere now are four dwellings: my house, the Cabin, the Lodge, the Shelter Out Back, and a few deer stands. The 260 acres is about 1/2 cultivatable pastureland and about 1/2 hardwood forest. Flatland and wooded rolling hills. About 2008 I fell upon a rocky area with no trees that were just magical. I lived in Waxahachie in those days but wanted to be out there on that rock outcropping, soaking up the sights and sounds of the wildlife. I erected a large miner's tent that I bought at an antique store. Inside I installed a Persian rug, a four-poster bed, a wood stove, and a chandelier. I made it my hideaway...until hot Texas sunburned holes through it. At that point...

Introduction to Barbwire Man

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