Puckitt Ranch & Rural Living's

1999 Rancher of the Year

Selecting Jerry Puckett of Fort Stockton, Texas, as our 1999 "Rancher of the Year" was not difficult. Anyone who has been involved in agriculture for any length of time has either heard of Jerry or has served with him on a board in some capacity or just knows him as a friend. Jerry was nominated for this honor by his son-in-law, Perry Curnutt, general manager of the KGKL-KLite radio stations in San Angelo.

In a letter nominating Jerry, Perry said: "Jerry Puckett recently celebrated his 74th birthday. A lot of the preceding years were spent fighting drought, low market prices and screwworms. Except for the latter, Jerry still joins the fight nearly every day by driving the 40 miles to the Puckett ranch south of Fort Stockton.

"Now that stocking rates are down due to a lack of moisture and the lessee gone, he still oversees a hundred-plus goats, turning over rocks for a sprig of grass. Jerry leaves the impression he would still drive out if he only had one goat grazing the hill pasture -- part of the 23,000-plus acre ranch.

"Jerry, along with many other ranchers, was largely responsible for helping eradicate the screwworm menace through his work with the Southwest Animal Health Research Foundation. Jerry passes the credit for the Foundation's success to others, but he is proud young ranchers don't have to ride out and doctor the 'wormies' -- an unpleasant job at best.

"Jerry fears nothing greater than an intrusive government threatening a rancher's way of life. He is an advocate for private property rights through his work with the Davis Mountains Trans-Pecos Heritage Association and other like-minded groups. Jerry also supports education as a member of the Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership (TALL) board of directors. He realizes the importance of keeping enthusiasm in the ranks of America's farmers and ranchers.

"'Pa' as he's known to family, is proudest of his wife, Jane, and three children and five grandchildren. Jerry and Jane support their church and many worthwhile causes in Pecos County, both in time and resources. His friends know to ask about Hannah, Sam, Jennifer, Matt and Worth. He never tires of telling of their latest adventures like any proud grandfather.

"He also knows grief. Jerry showed incredible strength by providing a rallying point for his family during the untimely loss of a son, brother and uncle.

"'Pa' remains an optimist despite his losses. He always reminds to appreciate each day for what it brings and to appreciate what we have.

"For Jerry Puckett, it's always been family, friends and God's blessing for being born a rancher."

When we announced plans to conduct a search for a "Rancher of the Year" one of our readers phoned to say we were "stepping into a mine field." My response to him was, "that is what I do best." The caller's main concern was we would select someone who had made money in some other field or endeavor and then entered the ranching profession on funds made outside the industry.

Let us assure that person and our readers that Jerry Puckett is a rancher. And his father, Clayton was a rancher. Jerry will be the first to admit that his family has been fortunate for the fact that a gas field was found on family land, but there are very few ranch people who can survive on livestock alone these days. But sheep and cattle production have been the main focus of the Puckett family and will continue to be as long as possible. The other side of Jerry Puckett which made him our selection was his dedication to family and community. Following is what Jerry's daughter, Leslye Puckett Curnutt (Perry's wife) had to say about her dad: "I asked different family members to write a few words about what Jerry Puckett means to each of us and the answer was always pretty much the same:

"I think that says it all! My Dad has spent his adult life making sure that our lives are comfortable. I don't think any of us ever make a major life decision without first checking with him to make sure we're making the right move. His success as a rancher and businessman is something we all admire. His good old common sense and wisdom is calming when we call in a panic.

"I was just a teenager when I decided that being a court reporter was what I wanted to do. Of course that meant not going to A"M like everybody else, but Daddy was just proud that I made a decision!

"I moved to Dallas, got set up in an apartment and started school. Everything was going great until I suddenly reached 'lesson 5' in the curriculum. Lesson 5 was extremely difficult and after working on it for what seemed like forever I called home crying and saying, 'I goofed up. I can't do this!'

"Daddy told me to just keep working on it. It'll come. Don't worry.

"Sure enough!

"Suddenly lesson 5 fell into place and I took off sailing again. From then on each time I would reach another plateau that I couldn't get across he would say, 'remember lesson 5!'

"He's right. If I can survive lesson 5, I can survive anything. I use that theory for all kinds of problems and it'll always help me through."

Jerry's father, Clayton Puckett bought the family land in 1934 and moved the family there in 1938. "My grandfather was one of the early postmasters in Ozona," Jerry said. "Dad was born in Ozona and my mother, Thelma, in Sonora."

As a small boy, Jerry lived near Juno and started school in Sonora. The family moved to Fort Stockton where he started high school in 1938. "I went into business with my father," Jerry recalled, "and he started selling parts of the ranch to my sister Glenna and me. Through the years I bought her out."

The Pucketts have always primarily been in the sheep business and run a few head of cattle. "It seems like ever since I've been in the ranching business it has rained less," he laughed. "Right now we're just trying to grow some feed on the ground. Without grass you're out of business." Jerry said recent years have been very dry and livestock have been removed from the Fort Stockton ranch in an effort to let the grass replenish. The rain finally started falling toward late-spring.

"We have had seven inches of rain since May 27," he said. "I think it was my granddaughter (Jennifer). We got her graduated from high school on May 28 and within 15 minutes it started raining. It's greening up now and looking better all the time but we can always use one more rain."

Clayton and Jerry have also been very active in the management of Pecos County State Bank in Fort Stockton. "We lucked out back several years ago when they found a gas field on the ranch," Jerry recalled. "Dad had some extra cash when the bank decided to change hands in the mid-1950s. At that time it was the only bank in the county. It was about a $6 million bank. So Dad had the money to help a local group buy it out and he became president and later chairman of the board." Clayton remained active in the bank operations until his death in 1968 and he put Jerry on the Board in 1957.

Following Clayton's death it was necessary for Jerry to become more active in running the bank, however, he never had a desk in the bank. His office just up the street is as close as he wanted to get on a day to day basis.

But Jerry's proudest accomplishment, besides the raising of his family, is his effort on behalf of the screwworm eradication effort -- an effort he remains involved with to this day. He continues to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Southwest Animal Health Research Foundation which oversees the continuing eradication process. "I've resigned from that job (a voluntary position) every year, but can't seem to shake it," he laughed. On the wall of Jerry's Fort Stockton office is a picture (printed in this magazine a few years ago) of Lyndon Johnson, Jerry and others involved in the program dedicating the screwworm plant in Mission, Texas, in the 1960s.

Johnson was very involved in the process from its beginning and Jerry gives Johnson credit for helping successfully implement the program.

"As a kid, all we did in the summers was get up early and start riding a horse looking for screwworm cases, and we'd do that all day long," he said. "I guess that may be part of the reason I was so determined to help get them eradicated."

Jerry credited West Texas ranchman T.A. Kincaid for getting the program started. Kincaid was a member of the Texas Animal Health Council which involved one member from each area of livestock production in Texas. That council was used as a vehicle to pick six volunteers to form the Southwest Animal Health Research Foundation. "We had to funnel our requests for funds through a government agency overseen by a U.S. Senator from Florida. That senator did not seem overly impressed by our efforts since Florida was screwworm free and he was convinced that we could not succeed because we were so close to Mexico that Mexico would keep us reinfested. So the condition was, the government would match what ever money we could raise," Jerry remembered.

Many well known ranchers and agricultural industry leaders were involved in the process including Dolph Briscoe (who was later Governor) and Charlie Scruggs, editor of Progressive Farmer Magazine. Scruggs was elected president of the foundation. Jerry said Charlie was an excellent choice for that position since he did not favor any particular organization and he was a strong leader. The idea to eradicate the screwworm had been to use a plan created by two scientists to raise and distribute sterile screwworm flies which they believed would eventually eradicate the screwworm all together.

"Our main job was to raise money to initiate the process," Jerry said, "but we could not tell people this program would work for sure, because we didn't know. We raised $4.5 million just by passing the hat, and we got another $3.5 million legislated. That was a lot of money in the 1960s."

Through all of its ups and downs and near failures, the program was successful and is one of the great success stories of agriculture. We titled our 1993 story on eradication of the screwworm as: "The Greatest Thing That Ever Happened." And that is the opinion of many a rancher who lived through those days of the screwworm. It was certainly not an easy task and the details of how the program was implemented will be spared for lack of space. However, the Southwest was cleared of screwworms and through the cooperation of ranchers in Mexico, Mexico was eventually free of screwworms.

"Today we have a clean Mexico, clean Central America except for Panama. We're down to the western border of Panama and we're still dropping sterile flies there," Jerry said. There was a screwworm scare in Edwards County, Texas, last year, Jerry reminded. It was just enough to remind ranchers they must remain vigilant. "Every time we have the attention of ranchers we need to tell them to keep watching for screwworms because they could come back in a minute," Jerry said.

"We've had several close calls. One was when a guy brought a hunting dog with him from Venezuela on a hunting trip. They landed in San Antonio and the guy drove the dog with him all the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico, before it was discovered the dog had a active case of screwworms. That could have turned into catastrophe.

"During the battle over Panama, one of our paratroopers laid on the bank of a canal for several hours with a scalp wound and developed a case of screwworms in the wound. He was airlifted to a medical center in San Antonio and the army medics did not recognize the case as screwworms and they discarded the worms they removed into an outside bin. If it had not been freezing outside at the time, that could also have turned into a disaster." Jerry said one screwworm case can turn into 3,000 cases in one week. "And it wouldn't take long to get back where we started," he said.

As for the future of the ranching industry, Jerry believes marketing is the key. "We're not doing a good job marketing," he said, "and I don't believe the Department of Justice is doing a good job supporting us to prevent unfair trade practices, especially at packing centers. Any time you have a cattle market alive for one hour a week, someone is manipulating and I believe that should be looked into to."

Jerry and Jane Puckett have one daughter, Leslye Curnutt. She and her husband Perry have two children, Hannah and Sam. Their son Roger Puckett has one daughter, Jennifer and their other son, the late Gary Puckett has two sons, Matt and Worth. The Pucketts have two great grandchildren, Clayton and Jacy. Our congratulations and thanks to Jerry and all of his family for their work on all of our behalf.