I routinely find myself surrounded by great Americans.  No, I don’t hang out with very many dignitaries, politicians or celebrities.  We just do our own thing.  Which is way more fun.  And those that are around us tend to have a large time as well.  Yesterday, I decided to fire up the smoker.  Pork loin and ribs along with some sausages.  Tammy made some sides and texted some people.  The super bowl was on, but we weren’t watching.  We were listening to stories.  Tyke and his tribe were here along with not one, but TWO Gaisford boys.  Those boys go to work, then go to some other side job, find a free meal and are always ready to volunteer to put out a fire if need be.  Yeah, they like a good time.  But they are great Americans.  We had another great American hanging with us.  He and I were basically telling stories that we already knew the ending, but dang it’s fun.  Brandon the Bruce is another one that will always help anybody.  He and his wife are workers that take care of their kids, help others and will do anything that is needed for anybody that asks.  Heck, they’ll even apologize if they don’t think that they helped enough. There are a lot of other names that I could list.  Every town has them–Great Americans.  These are the kind of people that make our world go round.  They work hard, play hard and help others.  These are the kinds of people that the news should be airing stories about.  

       Here’s a raised glass and a wish full of shamrocks and horseshoes to all the Great Americans that make this deal work.  Cheers.  

      I attend more than my fair share of live auctions.  From cattle salebarns to land auctions, equipment auctions, fund raising auctions, breeding and show stock auctions and of course, a goat sale or three.  I like watching people at live auctions.  There are numerous types of bidders at live auctions.  

1–The Low Rent bidder.  They will start everything at floor price.  They aren’t looking for the best one or the best deal.  Just something cheap.  And of course, they can later say, “You know, I bid on that one.  Maybe, I should have hit him again.”  Even though they started the bidding at $500 and he brought $10,000. Yeah, hit him again.

2–The Budget bidder.  This bidder will bid in a methodical fashion, right up until their magical # that was previously decided upon.  “I’ll go to $800 and that’s it.”  This bidder gets really frustrated when the bidding jumps them at some point and the bid is back to them at $825.  And $825 is over the budget so nope, not going to bid again. This type frustrates me as they will spend more time and money going to another sale to buy one for $800.  Even though they might have gotten the one they needed at the first sale for $825.  Personally, I am not a budget bidder.  Although, in the role of buying for others, I have to be at times.  

3–The Too Cheap bidder.  Every show sale has this type.  Animals have been selling for lots of dough and then all of a sudden, there it is.  A sale lot brings way less than the others have been bringing.  This bidder goes ahead and bids, even though it wasn’t marked on their list to own.  “He was just too cheap.  I had to try him.”  I have seen this “strategy” work out, but normally there is a reason it was cheap.  I remember Jeff Spradlin hitting a goat at Pfeiffer’s for $200.  I asked why he bought that one.  He said, “He was too cheap.”  They named him One Bid, since Jeff only bid once and the goat only got one bid.  Guess what?  One Bid placed 4th at Tulsa, made the county sale, Enid Premium Sale and placed 6th at OYE.  Not bad.   

4–The I Want bidder.  This bidder is there to buy the one that he wants…..regardless.  They will have a half assed budget, but the second the bidding starts, the budget goes out the window.  This bidder normally has to do some justification, hiding or explaining to a wife as to why they spent that much.  Alcohol always helps this bidder.  If they don’t have some before the auction, they dang sure will after they spend a butt-load.  

5–The Calculating bidder.  This one is smart.  Maybe too smart at times.  Never the first to bid.  Almost always bids on the right ones.  Watches the crowd to see where “competitors” are located.  Sometimes has a scout to watch other bidders during the auction.  Has a budget, but also knows whether to go past or not.  

6–The Emotional bidder.  This one gets caught up in the auction and lets emotions take over.  They will bid to the budget, but then emotions kick in and then they transform into the I Want bidder.  

7–The Pissed Off bidder.  Gets sick of getting out bid and/or doesn’t want a competitor to get one that they want, so they get pissed and keep going.  

8–The Combo bidder.  This would be me.  I will have a budget.  I will gather something that was cheaper than expected.  I dang sure have done the I Want.  I’ve killed many brain cells trying to figure an angle, who else is bidding and dang it, let’s get him gathered.  Yep, I too have succumbed to the emotions of an auction.  Screw it!  What’s another $100 if it is the one you want.  And I have dang sure been pissed.  

       I am normally pretty calm at a live auction.  Heart rate doesn’t change much.  I can see the animal, feel the crowd, see other bidders, watch and hear the auctioneer, hear the crowd and bid like I need to.  

       On the other hand, online auctions cause me to turn into a 6&7.  Too much time to think.  Pissed that it is in extended time.  Which means that there is more time to turn into a #4.  

     I took a crew of kids back to Tonkawa for the NOC interscholastics.  These teams participated in the Ag Communications and Food Science CDE contests.  Although these kids are very capable, my expectations were not high.  They needed to go see how these contests look in real life.  It’s kind of hard to teach a kid to dribble a basketball until they’ve seen a basketball dribbled.  That’s what we did today.  Basically, we learned how to dribble.  It was a fun group of kids.  

      Since I was in Tonkawa, that means I was only a few miles from Rick Barnthouse’s east of Blackwell.  I made the trip over there.  And I am glad that I did.  I got to see a set of flush kids out of Blood Pressure.  There are 4 buck/wether prospects in that pen.  I liked all four.  They are 5 weeks old and they have a chance to be good.  There were some younger Blood Pressure’s and Dirt Road kids that have a chance.  It was a good stop.  Blood Pressure was there also.  That is a an impressive looking 1 1/2 year old buck.  

      On the way home, we stopped at Seelke’s.  I hadn’t seen them in awhile.  I’m glad I stopped.  Jodi was doing good and Bob was just lucky to get to live there with Jode’s and the goats.  After looking through all of the goats, I felt very bad for the Seelke’s.  They have had unfortunate luck with their Dec/Jan kid crop this year.  Although they’ve had a lot of kids and they are healthy and bloomy, I feel bad for them as they are running about 85% wether/buck kids.  They like to raise doe kids and look at does and deal with does.  My heart just feels their pain having all of those male goats on the ground.  I felt so bad for them that I offered to buy these kids off of them.  I don’t know which sale barn that I would haul them to, but I knew that they just didn’t need those goats.  I don’t know what to say, but ol’ Bob is so embarassed by this set of goats, he wouldn’t even let me buy them just to get rid of them for ’em.  Dad gum it.  I guess when he gets ready to get them off the feed bill, I’ll still try to help them out.  

     I got back home and moved a set of does & kids out of the big barn.  I weaned the first set of flush kids.  I just can’t take any more of their recip mothers.  Those WHORES are now out in general population.  I’m hoping that tomorrow morning, I can see MB1, MB2 and some other older, mean, heavy hitters taking turns knocking the fire out of these destructive, welfare loving wenches.  Guilty pleasures.  Now, the countdown begins towards weaning the Spaniards.  

     Then I had a crew drive a bit of a distance to bring me their 3 wethers that they bought last summer.  I was glad to get to see these.  Although, I knew not to sell that Rumour/K11 wether.  I did and he didn’t sell cheap.  Now that I see him again, I wish I still had him.  Oh well.  I’ve made mistakes before and I will gladly bet you that won’t be the last mistake that I make in life.  

      Here’s to hoping that all of you had as good a day as what I did.  Nothing but horseshoes and shamrocks.  Stay flexible but not limp.  

      In today’s society there is almost NO place to go for accurate news reporting.  Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of channels that are reporting news.  It’s just that there are very few that are actually reporting news that people care about.  And even fewer channels that report ACCURATE news.  These “news” reporters hide behind the 1st amendment.  And I used the term HIDE.  As long as they are reporting something, it is news and therefore covered by the 1st amendment.  But they just don’t get the facts right.  And as a result, it makes life difficult for those involved.  

      As an American, I absolutely believe in the right to free speech.  Trust me.  I will gladly exercise my right to free speech.  However, I don’t like the way these “lack of news” teams go dredging for comments.  They can report information that is incorrect and twist correct information until it is incorrect, but that is fine–1st amendment.  

     Back in the day, I earned myself a bit of a driving award.  I was guilty.  And admitted so.  I went above and beyond to get my legal stuff done.  But then it hit the news.  Several newspapers and tv channels 4,5 & 9 didn’t have anything better to air, so they used my little episode.  Fine.  But not one.  Let me rephrase that, NOT ONE EFFING news source reported the right info.  The police report had the info correct.  But NOT ONE of the big OKC news stations had it right.  One crappy newspaper used a local source, who basically BSed the story and all of the others just copy and pasted.  That’s not news.  Basically, that’s the internet.  Watching the news anymore is liking reading facebook to get the news.  Good luck. It just ain’t right.  

       I am pretty sure that there is only one channel that comes close to reporting correct news.  And that station is ESPN.  Yep, the sports giant.  They have to get it right as too many people will correct them on twitter, email,, facebook, etc.  When a big sports story busts open, ESPN will have the story and it will be right.  

        But for Jane Doe in small town America.  No such luxury.  They will get the highlights and then ad lib from there.  Then twist it until if fits the headlines.  News?  I think not.  

      I noticed that oklahomashowgoats.com had a banner up for the Okie Coalition.  I like it.  There is an outstanding list of goat industry supporters that are working to make things possible.  All of those contributors and buyers need to be thanked.  It is often said that goats are “treated like 2nd class citizens at the big shows.”  Texas has pretty well gotten goats to an equal playing field.  Oklahoma has made big strides.  Lecil Church, Johnny Haffner, Jim Daniels and others made strides to get the ball rolling.  Now, others are carrying the torch.  

      On the same note, but different.  Denver, Kansas City and Louisville are absolutely horrible in their regards to the goats.  Basically their philosophies are “be happy that you even get to show here.”  A person could hire a lawyer and easily win a segregation suit against those shows.  

       Now, back to Oklahoma.  Both of Oklahoma’s big shows–Tulsa and OYE–have given goat groups a chance to expand premium sale #s and $s.  Granted, most of the money has come from goat people to get it done, but at least these shows have given us the chance.  And, as a whole, we have responded extremely well.  Check that list out.  There are lots of breeders that are listed on numerous $ amounts.  There are even some that don’t raise goats that are listed.  They just support the program.  Now, go back and look at that list and see if the breeder that you buy goats from is listed on there.  If they are not.  Call them.  Ask why?  If they say, “Well, those dollars only go to the premium sale goats.”  Then that automatically means that YOU’RE breeder isn’t planning on having any goats in the Tulsa or OYE premium sale.  So, why buy from somebody that has punted on 2nd down.  

      CALLED OUT!–If you are breeder or seller of show goats in Oklahoma, then it should be a requirement to donate to the Okie Coalition.  It’s kind of like the beef checkoff program–it adds value to your product.  Even if you only sell 4 kids a year at a $300 average, that is better than sale barn price.  If you think that more of the money ought to be put towards doe kids.  FINE!  But don’t you dare bitch until you have donated.  Then work along with others to make a change.  But don’t you dare complain until you have made a contribution.  I don’t give a rat’s ass how much you give, but as a breeder of oklahoma show goats, you better give something.  Support your own.  Give money, give product, give a goat.  I don’t care, just give.  $50, $100, $200–it all adds up.  Look at the list, study the list, make your next purchases according to this list because these are the one’s that truly support the goat program in Oklahoma.  Now, go watch the OYE premium sale.  I can tell you that even though Milligan, Pfeiffer, Helms, Mikey & Tammy Thompson, as well as myself and others( don’t mean to leave any names off)  had already given at the office, we STILL buy kids at the premium sale.   And as I look at the list, I begin to wonder to myself “Self, are the Breshears the ONLY goat breeders in the Eastern half of Oklahoma?”  According to this list–the answer is YES.  $100–RUSM?  Not even a Benjamin from some breeders.  And then you wonder why people don’t come buy goats.  Hhmm?!  Every Okie breeder should give at least $100.  That is good.  If you can’t give, then buy something of value on the Okie Coalition auction.  Either way, you can write it off your taxes as a donation.  WIN/WIN!  People, you have to give in order to get.  It’s simple.  

      Those breeders that routinely tag us on facebook, email, text us pics, but don’t donate.  Stop it.  Until you are paying “dues” like the rest of us, don’t ride coat tails.  

      If you are a breeder, donate.  If you are a buyer, only buy from breeders that donate.  It’s simple business.  Have a nice day.

     I didn’t have a lot lined up for this Saturday, but I had plenty to do.  The weather was supposed to be nice and they were right.  I took care of some rat killing during the AM.  Watched a bit of “McClintock” while I was eating lunch.  Then went out to work on some goats.  

     I then had a completely un-expected visitor pull into my drive.  A friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in years….Monte Sharp.  A great American.  The laugh was the same, he looked good, acted good and seems to be doing good.  This guy knows livestock.  He was on a national champion OSU livestock judging team.  I used to help his daughters with their show pigs and that only resulted in a bunch of breed & res. breed champions at OKC and Tulsa and maybe a res. grand market hog at the American Royal.  This made my day seeing an old partner in crime.  And yes, there is some humour in that last statement. 

      This morning, I told my lovely bride to get us movie tickets for the 4:30 matinee.  I was rushed to get there in time, but I am dang glad that I did.  Duke, Tammy and I went to see “American Sniper”.  Is it good?  No, it is great.  Maybe the single best movie that I have ever seen.  For two hours, the theater was silent, glued to the screen.  Everybody, I mean everybody sat all the way through the credits.  Absolute great story, great acting, great directing.  Women will love this movie.  Guys will love it.  Duke loved it.  

      As you can see, I have had a great Saturday.  I hope you did to.  And guess what?  There is a chance for greatness on Sunday.  

     There is a lot of hate in this world.  Some of it is warranted, some is not.  I hate raw tomatoes, zucchini of any kind and bell peppers. I despise lazy people.  I have a deep dislike for ou fans that don’t have any ties to the university of oklahoma trying to tell me why I ou is the best college and I should cheer for all Oklahoma schools when they aren’t playing Okie State.  I really don’t like a poorly ran government.  Turn to any news channel and look at the hate that is spread by racists, radical religous groups and ignorant morons.            I have hated these Spanish recips since the day that they were unloaded at my house.  Then, as I had to deal with them, I hated them more.  There has been plenty written on this blog about my hatred of does, recips and specifically half-crazed Spanish recips.              Even though my hatred for these wenches runs deep to my very core, I have had to realize a thing or two about them.  They are raising their kids.  I have never had to doctor these rips.  They are never in my way as they go to the farthest side of the pen when I enter, which is unlike most of the other welfare dependent free loading does that I own.  They eat half the feed and half the hay as compared to the boer cross does.  They always crap in goat pellets instead of piles. (probably a result of not eating as much)            I often wonder how a boer goat could ever survive in the wild.  A Boer doesn’t seem to have the ability to forage for themselves, handle foul weather or reproduce and deliver kids without assistance.  One thing about these Spanish deals, I’m pretty sure that they could survive on their own.  In fact, I think they would rather be a wild goat.             Although, I realize that these funky colored, vertical horned, crazed female dogs of a goat have some positives, I still hate them.  I just get in a bad mood looking at them.  I would bet that their ET kids get weaned at 8 weeks of age.             What every town needs is a Big I.  Somebody to give out free hugs and tell people that he loves them.  Have a good day.         

      Yes, that is actually the title.  I think that fake tits are the root of a lot of problems.  We can turn this into a goat discussion as I have been dealing with a doe that is having udder problems.  The problems all stem back to somebody having her teats “corrected” in order to be show ring acceptable.  Now, she has problems.  

     I actually think that fake tits on people cause issues.  Yes, yes I realize that there are viable concerns for women to have their “boobs” done.  A cancer survivor might need some, just to make her look/feel normal.  That’s not the kind I’m talking about.  I mean the ones that are just for attention.  I know that my attention has been drawn to the sight of some hooters.  But that was the end of it.  Look at the menu, but don’t order.  

      No matter what, life could be worse.  Take care of those closest to you and don’t worry about the rest.  Work hard, pray harder.   Keep ’em real.  

     How do you know when to be concerned about a snotty nose on a goat?  To me, it depends on the situation.  A baby with snot gets attention real quick.  A mature doe, well, I’ll check her later and see if she is clear.  

      When it comes to the show wethers, we take a “wait and see” approach.  First, it isn’t uncommon for any animal to have a little bit of snot early in the morning.  If we see a wether that has some snot, we first answer some questions.  Is his head down?  Does he act lethargic?  Is he wanting to eat?  What color is the snot?  Clear, white thickness or the green goo.  The green goo is normally pretty serious.

If the goat looks and acts fine and is wanting to eat, then I won’t medicate.  We will wait to see what he looks like later in the day.  I want to give as few injections to show animals as possible.  

     Now, if the goat acts sick and acts lethargic, then I will immediately give 2 ccs Baytril IM and 1/2 cc Draxxin subq.  Of course, if you are close to a drug test show, be careful with the Baytril.  Pay attention to withdrawal times and extra-label usage.  Most meds are extra-label when goats are concerned, but you dang sure need to be aware of withdrawal times.  

      If I was a grade school teacher, at the first sign of any snot, cough, flu acting symptom, I would want to send every snot nosed brat home to get healed up so we didn’t take a chance of spreading it throughout the school.  Maybe even give them a shot of Baytril and/or Draxxin as they leave the school.  Or if it is a problem kid, a shot of Nuflor.  

Have a good day and a better tomorrow.

     Just got in from a livestock judging trip.  It’s been a few years since I’be hauled a livestock judging team.  Especially a team of 8th graders.  But it was a good trip and successful.  The team did well, but it is time to get reasons improved.  That, we can do.  

       Talked to a goat dad and his daughter at the contest.  They have 14 does on feed.  All are named after strippers.  I asked how one comes up with 14 stripper names.   She replied, “I googled them.”

      We stopped and sorted some wethers and barrows on the way home.  Always fun to look at some stock.  Even better when there are good gates.  

      Once home, there was the usual chores.  But Tammy had helped a bunch.  I checked Facebook and “walla”, there was a post of 80s hot video chicks with Tawny Kitaens pic.  Duke and I decided that we needed to watch that Whitesnake video.  Thank goodness for vevo.  Keeping old farts memories alive and influencing the next generation. 

     All I really know at this point, it’s not the years.  It’s the miles.  And, I am a high mileage unit.