Spring is a colorful time in the Southwest. Wildflowers add splashes of color to pastures, rangeland and roadsides. Newborn calves, foals and lambs offer delightful images. And the process of preparing land, planting crops and watching those first seedlings push through the soil reminds folk of why they choose farming and ranching as an occupation, hard as it can be at times.

Southwest Farm Press would like to share some of those images with our website readers. Send us your best springtime photos. We’ll award a $100 gift certificate to the photo with the most votes and a $50 certificate to second place. And we’ll offer our heartfelt thanks and best wishes for all the others who take time to share their photos with us.

It’s easy to participate.

Send us your best photo (one entry per person) and give us a description of the photograph, your name and your location to: [email protected] by May 31, 2012 and then take time to vote on your favorites between June 4-7, 2012. Winners will be announced June 8, 2012.

Click to see complete Media Submissions guidelines.