Last night, I sat down at this keyboard and wrote, what I thought, was a pretty nice blog post about feeding livestock. Then, I made the mistake of clicking over to the STD. Yep, I went over and checked the Socially Transmitted Disease know as facebook. And WHACK! I get hit in the eyeballs with an icepick of a picture that wasn’t quite right. Now, when my wife and daughter helped me setup my facebook account, I was told explicity, “Do NOT write any of your crap on facebook for the world to see. If somebody wants to read your crap, then they can read your blog.” So, I violated my terms and conditions when I wrote the “Livestock Photoshop” facebook post. And then, holy jeeminy, the wheels came off. I was like a dentist doing a root canal. I hit the nerve. LOTS of people responded. This is good. We are having a purging and getting things cleaned up, already.
I wasn’t mad at anybody. I’m still not mad. I just don’t like the direction that we have been traveling. I am not afraid to post names, but I don’t think that I need to or want to in this blog. There is other crap being thrown about that doesn’t fit the topic. So, here is my thoughts. I have talked to the person that took the picture. I have hired him before. And more importantly, I will most likely hire him again. Why would I hire him again? Simply put, this kid sees livestock. He can fit them, set them up, and photo them. He understands angles and lighting. He truly has a gift. He is also really good at the computer. That is the part that causes some issues. But, there is true talent when it comes to dealing with livestock and a desire to do this work. I like that. And I want to help this deal grow. For him and, yes, for myself as well as anybody tied to the industry. Let us be real. There is a right way and a wrong way. And as a whole, we need to work toward a common goal.
I do think that learning has taken place. We are already seeing a correction in the marketplace. Now, if these “young uns” can take this lesson that is being dispensed by all of the facebook community, then apply this lesson to the real world, it will be all good and good for everybody. This lesson is cheap. In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing more than a busted tail-light. It seems bad at first, but it really isn’t. Trust me. I can tell you some real life stories that cost a pile of cash, heartache, em-bare-ass-ment (that is kind of fun to write it like that) and a bunch of other words. This is a serious topic. But, nobody is hurt at this point.
This is not a new topic for me. I will name a name in this paragraph because it fits, even though he didn’t have anything to do with this event. I have had numerous discussions, cussing (me mostly) and other arguments with Braden Schovanec. He is a family friend. This kid truly sees livestock. He can set a goat, right, the first time, every time, all the time, better and quicker than anybody that I have ever seen. Ever. Kids, bucks, does–it doesn’t matter. He can also photo them very well. He also understands his way around a keyboard. I wouldn’t cuss him if I didn’t know, for a fact, that he can do all of this without blurring the lines. There is a career if these kids want it. I feel real safe in saying that from Glen to Jerry to Dale to Kenneth and alll of the rest of us older breeders. We would rather pay you talented kids to do this and do it right. We can do it. We don’t want to.
Once again, I am amazed at the amount of people that facebook reaches. This is an impressive tool. It can help and it can hurt if not used properly.
And the aftermath is that I only had ONE, yes, just 1, that commented and I quote, “Awesome Blog”. Thank you kind sir. The great thing about this blog and the facebook posts–in a couple of years, very few will even remember it as our minds will be filled with other stuff by then. Good Day!
