Photographer Travis Massingill of Red Oak, Texas recently had this photo published in the March issue of Cowboys & Indians national magazine. Making this particular photo special is the person it depicts which is Italy’s own John Brentley Byers.

Brentley, a former resident of Italy, now resides in Venus, Texas living and working on a ranch. Brentley’s children, Katie Byers and John Byers, still attend the Italy public school system.

So you can still see Brentley rolling through town on his way to support his little ones in their extra curricular activities.

Brentley has been captivated by the ranching lifestyle since he was a youngster riding with his grandfather, J. H. Sims, to go check the cattle and fences. That same fascination Brentley had as a youth, is shared today by those who now ride with Brentley as he checks the herd.

It is no surprise that Brentley captured the attention of photograher Travis Massingill. Travis’s wife Vonda is old college friends with Jane Byers-Angle of Lubbock, Texas, Brentley’s sister. And it is that friendship that landed Travis and his camera in the middle of a pasture somewhere in Ellis County, with a rough and tumble modern day cowboy.

The picture captures former Italy resident John Brentley Byers checking cattle
out on the ranch. When it comes to seeing buffalo, cattle, horses, elk, deer, dove, coyotes, rabbits, snakes, dogs, cats, lambs, sheep, goats, wild boars and pigs there is no better view than through the windows of Brentley’s ranch truck.

The photograph was subsequently published by the national magazine Cowboys & Indians and appears in the March issue that’s on newsstands now.