It’s time to order DNA kits for Kansas City.  

It’s time to make sure that you have a fresh bottle of GO juice.

It’s time to look at your pens and think “I still need another good goat or twelve.”  Then, it’s time to call me and I will help you fill those pens.  

It’s time to thank your ag teacher/county agent.  If you’ve got a good one, go thank them. They are getting rare and you need to take care of the good ones.  

It’s time to make sure that you have a salt block in all wether and buck pens as well as plenty of mineral and salt for does.  I prefer the Purina wind & rain mineral with CTC. I keep it out free choice, year round for the does.  Let me re-iterate the CTC.  Make sure that you have plenty of mineral for does with CTC in it.  

It’s time to play some Bob Seger music.  Yes, he is in the rock and roll hall of fame, but he is kind of under-rated.  He isn’t at the top of many lists, but everybody likes Bob Seger music.  Soulful, powerful and to the point.  His songs have a story to them.  They have feeling, probably a horn or two and a distinct sound.  And NOBODY plays the “Little Drummer Boy” like Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.  I’ve not seen him live, but I get the feeling that this group can un-cork and turn it up.                                   It’s time to “Turn the page.”

It’s time to get ready for next year. The 2015 show season is rapidly approaching.  Things that appear in your calendar are rapidly approaching.  Those that will hang a banner in 2015 are already on task.  

It’s time for me to check email, facebook and most importantly, the Chive.  I don’t need any motivation on this Monday, but I will check some gaps.  

It’s time for Schneberger to name that new High $ buck purchase—Squishy, I bought him and you didn’t, Will Ferrell, IHHW (I Hope He Works), Kenny Rogers ( The Gambler) or just go the old stand by goat industry naming practice–What’s his tag #?  There you go.  

It’s time for me to check traffic on this blog and make sure that BOTH readers are still clicking on here.  

It’s time to call it a day.  I’m one day closer to going to California.  I don’t want to go there, but I really want to see that offspring of mine.  Something must be good out there since she hasn’t moved home.  

On a goat note–a lot of you remember Fred Slater.  Well, I saw him today.  He was wearing a solid white Hawaiian style shirt, untucked, with white pants and a complete love 4 life.  Life is treating him well.  I bet he outweighs me by about 15 pounds.  Which is saying something as Fred used to beat me by about 100+ pounds. 

It’s time for me to be done and click update post.  

     I know that Sunday is supposed to be the sabbath–a day of rest.  Well, it didn’t happen around here.  I made it to Mass, then back home.  I used the man lift, once again,  and climbed back on top of the machine shed.  The sky light is now fixed.  And there is blood stains on the roof to prove it.  At least the stains are not on the ground.  

     The Johnny and John patrol called to inform that I had escapees.  WHAT?!!  How the heck did goats get out?  Whew.  No goats.  Dad’s cows.  Caught them.  Shut the gate.  Then had a family from east of here showed up to look at wethers.  Then another group.  Then another.  

     It wasn’t a 100 degrees today, but it felt HOT!  Maybe I’m old, fat or old and fat.  No matter.  It wasn’t fun outside. 

      Big Bill and Bree came to help me work some wethers.  Then, we decided that it was hot, we were sick of flies and needed some AC.  So, we drove county roads checking sand plum thickets for ripe plums.  Close.  But not quite.  The prospects of jelly and a special drink that could only be described as a nectar look good.  

      Then Duke and Tammy got home.  We headed north of town to load alfalfa small square bales.  Tammy drove, Duke and I loaded.  Good team.  

     Then, another crew came to pick up a wether.  I like talking to the Powell family.  Frank is frank.  Janell is well behaved.  Rhylli is going to be famous.  And she loaded a killer good wether.  While they were here, I received several texts reminding me of a Champions Choice conference call.  I finally figured that deal out and caught part of it.  Then did chores and headed inside to a Dragon Lady cooked supper.  Way good day.  

      Now, I’m just sitting here scrolling through facebook and I see Heath Nelson’s post.  And I quote,  “To anyone who thinks sports are over rated and meaningless, they say there is over 800 million people watching the World Cup final. I don’t think Jesus Christ could hold a press conference that would garner 800 million live viewers. People love sports, doesn’t matter what sport, it’s just one thing that connects us all as human beings.”

     I agree and disagree.  I agree that sports do connect people.  I believe that stock shows, music and other events tie people to a common thread.  I disagree in the sense, that I BELIEVE that WAY over 800 miliion people would tune into a JESUS press conference.  Here’s a list for ya on why.  

1–It would have to be well publicized.  2–The promos would have to be non-denominational.  3–Most would be tuning in to see what the hub-ub on facebook and twitter was all about.  4–There might be more NON-Christians tuning in to see WTH than actual believers.  And 5–I guarantee you that if ESPN could promo it as a soccer event during Super Bowl week and there might be a steroid scandal tied to the world series MVP who also happened to date Johnny Manziel and that Lebron James was going to buy a dog in Santa Fe during March Madness, well then, it would dang sure garner well over 800 million viewers.  

    Actually, now that I think about it.  I agree.  There would NOT be 800 million viewers that were viewing for the RIGHT reasons.  But, I would like to watch that press conference.  I know what I believe and I know what I want my kids to believe.  Other than that, I have little or no control.  Good post, Heath.  Made me stop and think for a minute.  We’ll have to finish this discussion at Charlie’s next time you are south.  Or as Duke likes to remind me, “What about those pheasant hunts up north?”  

      Here’s to jewelry, and those that wear it, that has horseshoes and shamrocks on it.  I have seen pics that they make stuff like this.  I hope all of you feel as lucky as I do.  

     Eventful day.  Got the 93 Chevy Van out of the barn and took it to Woodward for a much needed bath.  Later this evening, we will be at the drive in at Shattuck watching Transformers 4.  

      Had some Kansans here to purchase breeding does.  Nice family. Later, the hoof trimming lady showed up.  Stephanie worked like a sled dog and as usual was too cheap for her labor rates.  If any of you clowns are using her to trim hooves, then you better tip BIG.  

     The hired man is home from church camp.  The Dragon Lady cooked a killer KC stip meal served with a side of garlic butter (homegrown taters) and some picked fresh yesterday Ringwood Gold corn on the cob that Big Bill brought to us.  WAY GOOD meal!   

      The Dragon Lady and Kela are making plans for Duke and I to have a Kelln Kalifornia vacation in the near future.  Look out.  

     There are a lot of things that most people don’t know about me.  One thing is that I am big on lists.  To be specific, lists on sticky notes.  I’m normally not very far from a pad of sticky notes.  I make daily lists of stuff-to-do on sticky notes.  And I take satisfaction in scratching items off of said lists as they get done.  I also use these pads of sticky notes to write ear tags when making breeding decisions.  AND I use these pads of sticky notes to write ear tags, genetic info and birth dates of animals as I am sorting.  I can use these notes as references for when I see animals at sales later in the year.  I also use them to compare notes, if I see the animals multiple times.  If I like them every time that I see them, better get serious.   I still have most of the notes from the past ten years in this business.  I get kind of nostalgic sorting through them from time to time.  Yep, that one won OYE, that one the state fair, that one didn’t turn out, that one didn’t get fed right, I wish I would have kept bidding on that one, had that one marked as a definite maybe if price is right and then he went on to win Lone Star Elite, Reserve at Woodward and Res. Div. 2 at OYE (obviously, not an exact science)….so on and so on.  

      I like to refer back to these lists after show season.  Why?  Hunh.  Where did that goat sell?  Oh at such and such sale.  That wasn’t on the list of ear tags I wrote down.  Hhmm.  I guess I missed that one.  Sure.  All of this helps for future purchasing decisions.  I also keep sale order lists and the notes that I make.  

      The best thing about my lists is that I have the penmanship of a 3rd grader that is all jacked up on caffeine and writes with his toes.  In other words, my penmanship isn’t very good.  Hard for others to decipher.  

      I also like top ten lists.  Top ten movies, top ten songs, most under-rated, top whatever.   On this fine evening, I saw a pop-up ad for the 5 Most Bad Ass Dudes of All Time.  I had to click on it.  I knew that I wasn’t on the list, but I still wanted to see. 

      I liked the list.  It wasn’t what I was expecting.  The list consisted of:

Bruce Lee–sure.  No arguments.  

Ghandi–Yes, Ghandi–And the reasons given were great.  He didn’t whip anybody’s donkey, but his will-power was undeniable.  Alright.  I like it.

Nikola Tesla–I love the band TESLA, which is named after him.  Once again, he didn’t whip anyone, but the reasons were bad ass.  

Arnold Schwarzenegger–on the list for the goal lists that he made years ago, accomplished and kept the lists.  I like goal lists.  Plus, he played lots of bad ass characters in movies.  Of course, Conan the Barbarian was the baddest.  

And my favorite–Teddy Roosevelt–RUSM?!  I love this selection. I did not see it coming, but I love it. I’ve liked reading historical stuff about him.  I’ve always kind of thought that he understood the publicity part of politics and fame long before social media.  War hero.  Might have fought a grizzly.  Won political fights.  Got shot while giving a speech, but didn’t go to the hospital until he was done with the speech.  Best quote about him–“Death had to take him sleeping, for if Roosevelt had been awake there would have been a fight.”

Here’s a shout out to an old Nebraskan that stole some doe kids from me.  Even though he had a headache, he still recognized a good deal.  Horseshoes & shamrocks!   Holler at me when you have a killer out of that new buck.  

     Life in paradise is hectic.  The Dragon Lady always has stuff going on.  The hired man is at church camp this week.  And me, well I’m just retarded.  I’ve got too many irons in the fire, but it will all work out.  And if it doesn’t, we will wish that it would have.  

     Paradise was actually green for the month of June.  We are starting to get hotter and drier.  It could be worse.  But, it could be better.

      Yesterday, which was Wednesday, I journeyed south of Ft. Worth near the town of Covington.  I had some donors there to be flushed.  We had dropped the donors off several weeks ago to get acclimated to try to help improve success.  This would be the first time that we had used Earl Peacock for ET work. 

      I don’t know Earl well, but I like what I have seen thus far.  Straight up, seems honest, answers questions, so on and so forth.  The amazing thing about Earl, is that you don’t hear anybody bash him.  Everybody seems to like him.  Purebred breeders, wether people, everybody.  Nobody has a bad thing to say about him.  And in the goat world, that’s saying something.  Charles Turner is the only other person in the goat game that I know of like that.  No enemies or detractors.  

      Earl and his crew were effecient, clean and timely.  They were fine with me being there and watching.  They weren’t in a hurry, but they weren’t just farting around.  They moved at a steady pace and took care of business.  I had no problems writing a check for the services.    And I’ll use them again.  

      Now, the important part, how’d the flushes go.  Typical.  Some went real well, some not so well.  There was some high value semen that settled well in one, not at all in another and pretty decent in another.  Was I upset with the outcome?  No.  Why?  Let’s see.  Frozen semen–goats–July–things happen–gamble–goats–It isn’t going to work all of the time in nature, why would I expect a bunch of humans to do any better.  By all accounts, Earl is the best at using frozen semen in goats.  His track record is good.  It didn’t work as planned or as hoped on all does, but we’re still in the game.  We’ll see how things go from here.  I know this much about flushing.  You WANT to write a big check when a flush is done.  That means lots of embryos and recips needed.  

      My thoughts so far from this adventure.  I am not afraid to use frozen semen in goats.  Which means for the right genetics, I would spend some coin.  After watching Earl and his crew in action, I will use them again.  Good experience.  Other than you don’t have cell service at his place.  As with anything, if you feel like somebody gave you an honest effort, you’ll try it again.  I don’t want to just flush goats.  I want to flush dang good goats.  There will always be some risk.  But there will also be some payoff as well.  I won’t gamble big in Vegas, but obviously I’m not afraid to go “all in” for something that will look good here in paradise.  We’ve got one big time flush that foul popped up and the catcher caught it.  $h!t!!!   Another that looks high enough, long enough and has a chance to be big. And another that is a line drive that is steadily rising as it nears the outfield fence.  It may work.  It may not.  Never Say Never.  

I often hear the phrase, “The doe kids look really good, but the wethers are still green.” YES!! That would almost always be a correct statement. Why? It’s simple. The wethers have had their horns burnt. Then, they got their brains banded. This should be a tool for reading green goats. If the doe kids look good, then use some imagination to project what the wethers will look like in a couple of weeks. Resale–Having been in the ag equipment business for several years, I understand the value of RESALE. Blue and Red tractors will NOT hold their resale value. Orange ones aren’t bad and green ones are the industry standard. Tonight, in the goat world, we got to look at true market value of several bucks. One was under-used, but still held (or improved) his market value. The other had been used in numerous flush programs and several herds and as a result, his market value was way down. I saw both of these goats when they were young. I really wanted one, but had spent a pile on Rumour Has It. I could only afford so much. The other one. I have been amazed at how many people wanted some of that action. Thanks to a capitalistic market system, the buyers have proved me right. I really enjoy the questions on how to feed, how to pick (from a certain breeder(s) ), how to show, how, what, why, where, when, RUSM?!? Call that breeder and ask them. This is a recurring problem. Think about it. If you haven’t bought a goat from me, why should I answer your questions about a Helms/Pfeiffer/whoever the heck? Call them. Ask them. This isn’t a charity. We aren’t UNICEF. I like to help, but there are limits. My life has been turned upside down this summer. Once, by my own decisions. The next, well, not so much the plan that I was looking for. Almost all of it can be blamed on me. I have learned that time & knowledge are valuable commodities. Here’s to all of you having nothing but horseshoes and shamrocks. Have a good day.

      We should all take a second or three, and maybe even a 4th and remember all of the people that brought us the independence and freedom that we have here in the good old US of A.  Without their sacrifices, well, it just wouldn’t be the same.  

       I spent time on the barn roof today.  Too high.  Too windy.  I did NOT enjoy it.  I’m fine with heights as long as I am in that cage, but once out on a 20 foot something roof, not fun.  Hauled tree limbs to the burn pit.  Not fun.  Duke went to Gambill’s so he could go watch Tony Sessions race tonight at Longdale.  

     Duke and I did dig taters this morning.  Afterwards, Tammy cooked us some Independence Day Fries.  We had Red, White and Blue taters freshly dug, washed and sliced for fries.  To top it off, we had pork burgers from one of Duke’s pigs.  Hard to put a price tag on a homegrown meal especially when the Dragon Lady is the chef.   The garden project has been kind of cool.  We have a donkey-load of taters with more to dig.  The wind has played heck with the sweet corn.  Once, we got the rabbits stopped, the tomatoes are starting to do something.  And the peppers are coming on.  I’m not going to have many carrots, but there ought to be enought to go in a pot roast dinner.  I’d bet money that there is a BIG garden next year.  

      Rumour Has It has been pissed at me for the past week or so.  He’s been penned by himself, next to 70 or so does.  He is on a hunger strike.  It won’t be long and we will be buddies again.  He’s getting ready to get all of the action that he can stand.  He has only been cut off of live action since February.  His last strike was born on the 3rd.  

        Here’s to all that has made this nation great.  We are also one day closer to getting a new president.  Thanks to all the veterans.  I hope your 4th was full of great fireworks, good friends and great times.  

     Yes, it was a Thursday.  BIG FUN!!  Bouncy, squishy kind of fun.  I have had enough of big tree limbs being blown down.  I needed to repair skylights in the machine shed.  So, I started a pre-emptive strike.  I rented a man-lift.  4wd, diesel, drive from the bucket kind of man lift.  It lifts over 40′ high, moves side to side, up/down, steers.  Yeah, it’s a bit scary, but way cool.  I have it till next Monday.  

     So, on this Thursday, I spent time in the bucket, with a chainsaw, trimming trees.  No shirt.  Almost completely redneck.  (No beverage).  It was too windy to start on the barn roof.  So, I murdered some Elm tree limbs that were going to come down at some point in time.  Sooner rather than later.  

     As it grew dark outside, I realized that Duke and I had a box of fireworks.  Something clicked.  And yes.  On this Thursday, Duke and I rode the lift to its highest point and then shot roman candles in a downward direction.  Classic fun.  Roman candles shot from 40′ over a pen of doe goats at dusk–PRICELESS!!  Way worth the price of renting the lift.  Then we came back to ground level and proceeded to use up some punks lighting stuff.  Way good stuff.  The Dragon Lady didn’t light any firecrackers.  But she picked out some way cool black powder powered proplellents that  had lots of sparkles and then booms.  Of course, we did the saturn missles and some boot-legged bottle rockets.   

     Today wasn’t all fun and games as I have an open wound on my leg from a doe goat.  Duke got the ever-living duke knocked out of him by a doe goat.  All I know about a doe goat is that one who has never cussed an animal has never actually dealt with a doe goat.  MISERABLE!  

    Sounds like it ought to be a James Bond movie title.  Or maybe a buck name.  I’m not sure if I actually ever uttered the phrase that “I will never….”  But the last few days have had me trying to re-think my mouth.  And that, my friends, is asking A LOT!   

      And before you steal that name, notice that I have a kid already picked out for that name.  He is a Rumour Has It x Joe Dirt/Freak On A Leash/Starbuck.  I’m not saying that I would NEVER band him, but I like him A LOT!  He might be a wether as I would NEVER want to pass up a winning wether.  He might NEVER leave this place.  But then again, I might NEVER turn down a pile of cash.  

      Never Say Never.  That statement is true.  You never know what the GOOD LORD has in store.  I’m not afraid, but it is NOT the fork in the road that I thought that I took a couple of months ago.  Take a deep breath, look upward, growl/grunt, kneel, thank goodness, say thank you/amen.  Here we go. And I reiterate, Never Say Never.  

    Have a good day, a better tomorrow.  I hope that you have nothing but horseshoes and shamrocks in your future.  And I hope that Tim Howard is the next Minister of Defense for the United States.  How about that soccer crap?  

    Without a doubt, the most positive attribute of the livestock industry is the people that are in it.  I saw piles of people this past weekend.  On Sunday and Monday, we had people from Nebraska, Georgia and NE Oklahoma (which is kind of like another state) looking at goats.  l enjoy listening to other peoples plans and goals, tricks, thoughts, and what they’ve seen elsewhere.  Most importantly the way that they touch other people through livestock.  

We had a crew from Georgia looking at does.  This was my first time to meet them, but we had talked on the phone several times.  He had told me that he uses his profits from selling goats to fund a scholarship program in memory of his son who had passed away unexepectedly at the age of 7.  It was his son that had got him into raising goats.  

      Now, as a result of setting up the Ashton Bray Memorial Scholarship Foundation, they have given over $44,000 in scholarships since 2011.  This is the kind of deal that needs to grow.  This is a way that parents can keep a memory of their son going, but it also gives back to the youth in the industry.  It has mainly been based in Georgia, but is already expanding into South Carolina and dad wants to keep it growing.  Take a look at Ashton Bray Memorial Scholarship Foundation on facebook.  Really neat deal.