The media lets you know daily covid infection rates, or deaths or the next happening that is being closed due to the rona.  But, no, not one mention of RHD.  Nothing. Crickets.  But this RHD has been devastating to an entire industry.  What?  For real?  Yes, for real.

Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease has shut down the rabbit industry.  No rabbit shows in the USA.  It is very lethal.  This virus has been found in tame and wild rabbit populations.  The mortality rate of this disease is OVER 70%.  Yeah, if they get it, they are probably going to die.  This deal is for real.  No rabbits at the county fairs.  Any fair, anywhere.  I do have some rabbit showing stories but I don’t want anybody to lose there prize rabbits.   No masks.  Just a complete lockdown.   Yet, not a word from your media.

County fairs in NW Oklahoma are trying to figure out what to do.  Some have already punted, some have cancelled part of but not all of their fairs and others are going forward.  I made fun of some neighboring county fair board members for canceling part of their fair.  They kept the junior shows but cancelled the indoor exhibits such as the canned foods, baking and vegetables.

My first instinct was to make fun of them.  But, then they explained that all of the superintendents for those divisions were elderly AND all of the judges for those divisions were elderly.  Wait?  What?  Yep, they were right.  There aren’t a lot of young pickle or baked goods judges.  We need to address this problem.  We need to be training younger canned food judges, baked food judges, etc.  I feel confident that I could judge these items.  I have watched experts like Travis Bowman and Debbie Kelln prepare, present and judge items like these.  Yet, I’m not young.  There needs to be a pipeline of up & coming judges.  For pickles and goats.  We don’t need to be in a rut of just using the same old deal.

I recently read a list of the favorite Star Wars characters of all time.  For the first time, the BEST movie character of all time was NOT #1.  Darth Vader is now listed as #3.  What?  One of the most recognizable characters by sight, sound, quotes, memes….you don’t have to like Star Wars to recognize Darth Vader.

Pre- Corona force choke

6 ft rule force choke

Work from home force choke

Baby Yoda was listed as the most popular Star Wars character.  Yoda, himself, was listed as #2.  I like Baby Yoda and I love the fact that Kela is one of the few that have actually held the puppet that is Baby Yoda.  I have always been a Yoda fan.  But when it comes to the most popular lists of Star Wars–there is two.  Darth Vader and Chewbacca.

Speaking of goats.  The marketplace has changed.  The middle ground seems to be gone.  Cheaper ones will sell all day, everyday.  And if you have an elite one, there are numerous people willing to pay for those.  It seems to resemble the steer market.

Had a really good collection day at REI.  Took 3 bucks, all 3 bucks jumped does 3 times.  All 3 bucks gave good #s of high quality juice.  I’ll have a pretty steep bill from REI next month, but it is the kind that I am happy to pay.

When we bought UZI, he had horrible hooves.  I worked to get them right.  Once a goat gets bad hooves, it is hard to keep them right.  I have been waiting to trim UZI’s hooves.  I’ve been waiting on a  really good rain.  It hasn’t happened.  So, we set a sprinkler on the buck pen in order to soak the ground for 24 hours.  It helped. Real world problems and solutions.