I just accepted a job offer up in the Panhandle to be a Reproductive Consultant in the Dairy Industry. Will be starting sometime the first of September. I had an internship up in the area this past summer and abolutely loved it. Now I just need to find a place to live. Im thinking somewhere around Muleshoe or Hereford. Any suggestions? I'm hoping to accumulate enough money to start a dairy in about 10 years.

Hereford has never been one of my favorite towns.

A lot depends on your territory, family, etc.

What are you looking for? Good schools? Close to job? etc.???

Where is the dairy that you are going to work for located?

Neither Hereford nor Muleshoe would be on the top of my list and they are both a good ways from each other.

Hereford because of the smell and changing demographics and Muleshoe because it is a dying town and extremely remote.

If I could pick a place it would be Nazareth. Great community, good schools. Canyon would be next on my list in that area. Though it is a little NW of the two towns you mentioned.

Can you pick the Dairy where you are going to go to work?

Congratulations on the job. You had better buy a good winter coat during the summer sales. And a few pair of insulated coveralls would come in handy also.

I will be doing quite a bit of traveling from Portales/Clovis NM to Muleshoe, Dimmit, Hereford, and Dalhart TX. Basically, I will be designing customized reproductive programs that will help dairies meet there reproductive goals, save them time and maximize there herd’s progress.

I realize that Nazareth is a great community, but for a 21 year old, I don't know if that would be the best place for me to start.

The company suggested that I look into either Clovis, Muleshoe, or Hereford because of there proximity to where I would be traveling. But the houses in Clovis are outrageously overpriced and I think that you have to pay a state income tax there too. Any thoughts for a young guy to get started at would be much appreciated.

Actually there are some young people in the Nazareth area that have moved back and commute to Ama, Plainview, Lubbock, etc. And it is conveniently located between Amarillo and Lubbock and a short distance from I-27 which can quickly (in a Panhandle kind of way) get you to Amarillo and Lubbock. Notice the emphasis on Ama and Lbb?

Neither Hereford nor Muleshoe would appeal to me. Friona is the only other town in that general vicinity. I have a friend that moved from Childress to Friona a year ago. He things he moved from the Garden City to h*ll.

Take it for what it is worth.

I grew up 11 miles South of Naz. I really like the culture there and the people are fantastic. But I am a little biased.

Well, you're about 2 weeks too late to look at Clovis. The recent tornado has evaporated all available rental housing.

A lot of small Panhandle towns are good family towns, but pretty much suck for young singles.

For a social life, you might need to look more toward Canyon or Amarillo, especially Amarillo.

I don't know if Portales is any better, though it does have a small (3600 enrollment) college.

I guess a lot depends on if you want to be close to work, then drive a long way to socialize, or if you want to live around other young folks, and drive a lot to work.

You may also want to look at Vega. There are a lot of dairies along 385 North of Hereford. It would also be on your way toward Dalhart/Hartley. Both of these areas will continue to develop in the dairy industry. Is is also "close" to Amarillo.

I've spent quite a bit of time in Portales over the past two months and am thankful each time I hit the city limits sign on my way home. I've met some great people from that area but I would never willingly live there.

Vega is similar to Naz in a lot of ways. A good German town. And it is alot closer to Amarillo.

Did I mention that I would not live in Hereford? Just go through after a rain when the wind is blowing a little and you will see what I mean. But you are a dairyman, so it may smell like money to you. It always smelled like someone else's money to me.

Naz and Vega are great family towns, but no place you want to live as a 21 year old. I don't think Nazareth even has a restaraunt. Hereford ain't the greatest place, but there are some nice folk and some nice people mixed in. It's probably the most central "big" town that you can pick.

With Canyon being only 30 miles east, personally, I'd live in Canyon and commute the extra 30 miles each way every day.

I'd avoid Muleshoe for sure. I spent a year living in my small hometown after I finished grad school. It's bigger than Naz, but there's not a lot of socializing to be had for a 24 yr old without kids and a spouse. You just have to remember that no matter where you choose to live you'll have to go somewhere else (or alter your expectations) to socialize. If you live in Amarillo you'll have plenty of outlets, but really that's it. For me, I enjoyed getting to hang out with a pretty broad demographic and made some really good friends out the deal. And learned that my friends don't have to be my age - it's easier if they are, but not necessary.

West Texas Dairyman

i grew up in hereford and have part of a business still based out of there.

no offense but anyone telling you to look at Nazareth a town of 500 in the middle of nowhere over Hereford, a town of 16,000 and in a building and growing boom and 40 minutes from Amarillo is smoking some good stuff.

hereford is an agribusiness town, last time i checked, your handle is ag busines related...so you will fit in perfectly.

the town is going through a building boom, i know that sounds funny and compared to Amarillo and other metro markets in Texas it is small but the are building new homes and just built a brand new apartment complex.

you are only 1 hour from clovis and located in a great location for the growing dairy industry.

if you are asking b/w Hereford, Clovis and Muelshoe i would have to rank them this way.

1. Clovis - if you are just going on size and things to do it is bigger town of the three and growing. negatives, its still in new mexico and state income taxes and bill richardson is your governor

2. Hereford - reasons mentioned above and it is growing. dont be surprised to have some sticker shock on some homes in hereford due to the people who are being opportunistic based on the economic boom the town is having.

3. Muelshoe - not a lot going on and it is drying up.

21 years old is tough to pull off in Clovis or Hereford but you have a much better shot doing it in one of those two places than Nazareth or Muelshoe.

good luck

Hereford prices will be nothing compared to trying to live in a place like Dallas or up here in the northern hinterlands, though.

I'm an ex Hereford guy, too. To be honest I couldn't tell you much about the other towns except to say that of your choices listed, Hereford's easily the best one from a sheer proximity standpoint.

Considering my son's part heritage I'm going to ignore that "changing demographics comment, though.

The big drawback to Hereford - the feedlots ring the town and the smell can be a bit tough to deal with at times. Most of the time I never notice it when I visit but some days it can be pretty ripe. Although if you're working in dairies all day, you probably won't notice it anyway haha. On the plus side, Amarillo (which is where you'd rather spend your weekend nights anyway) is only 45 minutes away. Add an another nice chunk of time if you live in Muleshoe.

From a "places I'd rather live" stand point, if you can stand the extra drive time, Canyon to me would be the ideal. It's about 30 min's from Hereford and Amarillo is skipping distance away. And you can still hit on college girls from WTAMU. heh

Oh and if you move to Hereford and you see a maroon '28 Ford sport coupe with a black top, stay away from him - that old man's crazier than a rabid skunk.... and his son's not much better. <grin>

Boozoo,

No offense intended. Having grown up in Hart the son of a produce farmer, I really enjoyed the culture and I miss it.

I was speaking more of the illegal aliens that have come to work the feed lots in the past few years. Especially if any of them are from Central America.

The ones that I have come into contact with in the last 10 years are not the same good people that we had working with us in the 70's and early 80's.

None taken.... Hereford's always had some friction with illegals. Even within the Mexican community, the illegals weren't accepted or even liked. God help the poor girl that fell for one and married him.

What's ironic is the old labor camp is within spud gun range of my parents' house.

I'd tell y'all about the time I got smoked by a li'l old lady when I planted onions for gas money once but I'd be veering way way off topic.

Is that Labor Camp still occupied?

I went over there one night with a friend from Hereford. I was actually scared and I grew up spending a lot of time in "our" labor camp.

Edit: I guess explaining how you know that it was within "spud gun range" is also off topic. Has the statute of limitations run out yet, or can you still not talk about it in an open forum?

[This message has been edited by Killer-K 89 (edited 4/3/2007 12:02p).]

KillerK, did you graduate from Hart in 85?

'84

no stories please.

check your pm

Well let's just say that if you look on certain ham radio sites you'll eventually find a version of a spud gun that runs off an air tank or portable 12V compressor. They use it for launching antenna wires into trees....

but it can do so much more.

"That's all I got to say about that" - Forrest Gump

I wouldn't personally know of course, but I once heard that you could accidently shoot a spud 625 yds into a trailer park that was across some rail road tracks.

Though I am sure you would have to actually use a gps to measure the distance accurately.

I have often wondered what the kids in Dallas and Houston did for fun when they were young.

Nice teets!

Hereford is not too bad. I lived there as a kid and again for awhile as an adult about ten years ago.

All of my family is now in Grady, NM though. Grady is less than an hour from Clovis and Hereford. Most of the residents commute to Clovis or Hereford to work. Except for the state income tax issue, I'm told taxes are cheeper in NM.

Clovis has more going on for young adults than Hereford or Muleshoe. The base there means there are more entertainment venues. My nephew is in his early 20's, lives in Portales and seems to like it there.

Oh come on and admit it. The only thing that made Hereford cool was me. Now that I'm gone, it's just another town.

Although I did leave a virtual carbon copy of me behind, I keep telling him he has a few years to go before he's as cool as I was.



But on the original topic, I was wondering if DairyMan's made a choice yet???

My father and I, will be makin a trip up to the Panhandle to check out what is available next week. Im kinda leanin towards Hereford bc of the fact that there will be more growth in the dairy industry the next 5-10 years in that general area. It is also an hour closer to my hometown comparitive to Clovis, which will be right at four hours away.
Any further suggestions would be much appreciated. Who are some good realtors to contact in the Hereford area? I know of Ben S Scott of Dimmitt. Any others? Thanks guys for yalls suggestions.

Les Abernathy '77 used to work for Ben Scott, but I notice his name is not on their web page. Don't know where he went.

Towns' small enough that there won't be that many realtors to choose from anyway. I seem to remember the Hamby's had a real estate business going - I'll ask my parents if they know of any that are sharper than the others. There's pockets of good and bad just like any other town... stay out of Bluewater Gardens. Heh The NW side of town is probably the nicer end in general, although there's some growth going up where my parents live, too...I heard there was a brand new house or two going up behind them on Tierra Blanca Drive.... one of those "build it now, sell it later" houses. I think this among others is happening because of that dairy growth you mentioned.

I'll check with the parents ands let you know.

here you go:

quote:

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I would first try Denise Teel who has Century 21

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We worked with Denise when we bought a home there. She was great. I will second that recommendation.

So basically, you are a cow pimp?