The National Ranching Heritage Center recently broke ground on its next chapter in ranch education with the help of one very famous fictional canine.
Museum leadership and special guests on Friday ceremonially turned dirt on the $8.2 million Cash Family Ranch Life Learning Center, an “indoor and outdoor hands-on, educational exhibit that will give an adult-level ranch life experience,” according to literature distributed by the center.
Hank the Cowdog, the know-it-all “head of ranch security” in John R. Erickson’s popular children’s book series of the same name, will be prominently featured in the new center. Hank and Erickson will help to guide visitors through immersive exhibits that aim to answer the question, “What is a ranch, and why does that matter to me?”
Those in attendance included Erickson and wife Kris, lead donors Clay and Ashley Cash and Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec.
Jim Bret Campbell, executive director of the Ranching Heritage Center, said the Ranch Life Learning Center will be a welcome supplemental addition to all of the NRHC’s successful educational programs.
“We’ve done an amazing job of telling about the heritage and history of ranching, but what the Ranch Life Learning Center really does for us is it enables us to tell that ranching is still here, it is still an important part of our Lubbock and South Plains economy,” Campbell said. “Being able to teach kids and adults alike that story just expands our mission and allows us to do it in such a fun way with Hank the Cowdog.”
Campbell said he hopes the new exhibits will help bridge the information gap between ranchers and consumers.
“We just have a population today that is farther and farther removed from production agriculture, so part of our responsibility for those of us in agriculture is to help them understand that your hamburger doesn’t just show up at McDonald’s or in the grocery case. There are ranchers out actually producing it on a daily basis,” Campbell said.
Erickson, whose books are read by children and adults all over the world, has turned down companies like Disney for the rights to use Hank, but he said he trusts the Ranching Heritage Center to take good care of him.
“This is our literature. It’s a character that belongs to us, and I’m proud to see (people) from towns in this area bringing their kids out here to learn about our history,” Erickson said.
He added he feels it’s important for kids of all backgrounds to learn about ranch life.
“It’s part of the ethos of being from West Texas. It all goes back to that single taproot,” Erickson said. “I’d a lot rather eat good beef than jackrabbits.”
Construction on the Cash Family Ranch Life Learning Center is expected to be completed in eight to nine months.