Jeff Anslinger, a Northwest Missouri Poet, grew up in a ranching agricultural background. One grandfather was a ranch foreman on an eastern Colorado ranch, and the other grandfather had a stock farm in Missouri. From the time Jeff was small, he loved working with livestock.

Jeff has always cared deeply for his western roots and strives to keep the cowboy heritage alive. He considers a man on horseback-working cattle one of the mainstays of his heritage and life today. Jeff still finds the time to help friends on thier ranches.

In 1994, Jeff saw Fred Ellis cowboy poet and R.W. Hampton, cowboy balladeer perform. The impression these two left created a spark and caused him to begin writing cowboy poetry. Fred Became his mentor in this endeavor.

If you listen to Cowboy Poet Jeff Anslinger spin one of his poems you will immediately be struck by the sincere, engaging quality of his voice. Then, as his words strung into verse and verse into poetry, you are touched in a way that you will not soon forget.

Jeff's poetry originates from actual experiences in his life. He feels that all of his works are a gift form the Lord. The wide range of of subjects covered in his poems vary from disastrous first dates, selling the family homestead, quitting chewing tobacco and his faith in God. What Jeff writes will touch your heart.

Jeff recently released his first recorded collection of poetry entitled "The Ride" Four years in the making, an entertaining blend of comedy, truth telling and musings.

Jeff is a truly entertaining and gracious man. He will charm your gathering of twenty or two hundred...... and send them home with lingering thoughts of that engaging voice and heart-felt, memorable verse.

"Jeff is a great asset to any gathering and will be one performer you will remember long after you have gone home!"

-1996 Academy of Western Artists Entertainer of the Year, R.W. Hampton

To arrange an appearance, voice work, or to purchase Jeff's recorded collection of cowboy poetry "The Ride"

Call 1-816-324-0056

or

jacross@centurytel.net

20% of Flurries

By Jeff Anslinger

As we headed out to start the day

We noticed the sky was turnin' gray

A cold north wind had started to blow

and we knew that by noon there'd be snow

Now I'll admit it's early spring

And a man never knows what the weather will bring

But most of the calves are already born

And just last week the sheep were shorn

Then the blizzard blew in like a demon from hell

How much snow we'd get was hard to tell

So towards the shelter we pushed the stock

But the snow was a driftin' by two o'clock

Then the sheep went to millin' and the cattle bunched tight

But like madmen against nature we kept up the fight

We were yellin' and whippin' with our catch ropes

But as the blizzard raged on, there sank our hopes

Across our saddles we carried calves to the shed

And prayed to God that by morning they all wouldn't be dead

We made it to the house, but our hopes they were gone

Then the blizzard blew out just before dawn

For we knew the battle we had lost

But then first light showed us the cost

My heart was sinkin'n while I was on the saddle

Countin' dead sheep and draggin' frozen cattle

But in my mind some words still remain

This weatherman's little rhyming refrain

Stockmen and ranchers, you have no worries

It's only a 20% chance of flurries.