A true American cowboy

Steve Price is the kind of cowboy that little boys dream of becoming. His dirt-splotched black cowboy hat looks as if it has never left his head -- like perhaps he was born with it on. His hands and face are reddened by wind, work and sun. You won't see him moving cattle with a four-wheeler. Horses are peaceful, he says. He can hear himself think. He has been known to sleep by a campfire, surrounded by cattle, and he calls team roping his "worst bad habit." There are plenty of dress-up cowboys to go around, he says. But when you live and breathe the work, cowboys grow into cowmen. It's nearly the thick of calving season now, and the cows need the careful, watchful eye of an expert. He has been the ranch manager there for 10 years. The land used to belong to Francis E. Warren, the namesake of F.E. Warren Air Force Base, who made his home there. Any humble cowboy won't offer the number of cattle he has or the number of acres on which they roam. "That's like asking a lady how many diamonds she has," he says with a smile and a wave of his weathered hand. But more than a dozen calves will be born on the ranch each day during the summer months...more