Fort Worth may be Cowtown, but you’d be hard pressed to find much agrarian about it these days.
The population is booming , and commercial and residential developments are popping up like wildflowers on the once-virgin prairie . But in a small brick-and-stone building at the intersection of Stadium Drive and Cantey Street, in the midst of the hubbub and growth on TCU’s campus , students are keeping an age-old — and very Fort Worth — way of life going, albeit with a forward-thinking approach.
Since its inception in 1956, TCU’s Ranch Management program has helped develop generations of livestock producers. Many of the students over the years have come to Fort Worth from ranching families, long on cow sense but short on business sense, at least the kind it takes to turn a profit in a notoriously tough, volatile industry.
Matthew Garcia, the ranching school’s director, said the nine-month certificate program prides itself on giving students like that the tools they need to operate a successful ranch in the 21st century, which is of critical importance…