When and where were you born?
    Brooklyn Naval Hospital, NY in 1945 during WW II. My dad was in the Navy. Baxter's birthday is the 2nd Friday of January every year.

Where did you grow up?
    Las Cruces, NM.
    
What were your interests and achievements in school?
    FFA president and reporter, senior class president, lettered in wrestling one year.

Did you rodeo at all?
    I rode bulls in high school and college.

What made you decide to become a cowboy?
    You either are one, or you aren't. You never have to decide.

Where did you go to college?
    New Mexico State University and Colorado State University, graduated in 1969.

What was your greatest struggle in college?
    Passing calculus and trigonometry which were required to apply for veterinary school.

How did education play a role in your life?
    Education taught me to read, and taught me how things worked.

How did education have significance later in your life?
    It allowed me to practice veterinary medicine.

What is the most unique animal you have looked at lately?
    A cow that had been snake bite on the tongue.

What is the most thrilling call you had to make as a vet?
    Looking at a cow that might have been rabid or one that might have had anthrax.

Would you suggest becoming a veterinarian to someone just graduating high school?
    It depends on what you find satisfying.

How did you go from veterinarian to poet?
    The last company where I was working as a tech veterinarian changed hands and let me go. I was doing "speaking" on the side and people just kept calling, so here I am.

What inspired you to become a poet?
    Just sort of an accident. I thought I was a song writer.

When did you start writing poems?
    In my mid-thirties.

When were you first published?
    First column was published in July 1980 in the Record Stockman, Denver, Colorado.

Who is your favorite poet? Favorite poem?
    Of the "dead guys" Australian poet A.B. "Banjo" Patterson who wrote "The Man from Snowy River".

Who do you admire - who has inspired you?
    My mother.

Who are some of the most influential people in your life?
    My parents, my Ag teacher (Rupert Mansell), my veterinary mentor Dr. Van Brimhall, my best boss John Basabe, and my entertainment friend and counselor, Red Steagall.

What would be your advise to someone interested in writing?
    Write about what you know.

What is your definition of a cowboy?
    Someone who can replace a uterine prolapse in a range cow in a three section pasture with nothing but a horse and a rope.

Are you married?
    Yes.

Do you have kids?
    Yes.

What are you currently doing?
    I make a living writing my column, making my radio program, through my TV programs, and selling my books, cds, dvds, etc.  I also run a few cows.

Do you have any funny stories or events that have happened to you?
    Yes, my books are full of them!

Do you have any "quirks?"
    I do not like Italian food, brownies or bananas, and I do not accept awards.

What would you say are your top 3 accomplishments?
    I haven't accomplished them yet.

How do you want to be remembered?
    As someone who didn't embarrass his friends.