This past weekend was packed with sales in Oklahoma.  There were 4 sales within about 90 miles of each other in a 27ish hour window.  Where to begin?

I can start with telling you that as a seller, buyer, spectator, etc, etc.  that I was wore smooth out.  I can also tell you that I am not very good at keeping little goats looking the part with all of the traveling, humidity and just the fact that I had too many irons in the fire.  However, I am like Elmo, just plain tickled at the homes that my goats found.

 I want to personally thank all that helped me get stuff done.  Thank You!

Here’s what I saw this weekend.

Friday night had a really nice set of goats that were well worth the money.  I bought a Despain wether out of a Joe Dirt daughter that I really like for the money.  He has a chance.  This sale had an excellent set of breeders that brought good goats. I probably should have bought more.  There will be banners hung by goats that sold on Friday night.   Well run sale with a good crowd and good goats.  I’ll be back.

Circle of Champions at Norman.  Wide variety of goats.  Some older, some weaned and bloomy, some weaned but not bloomy, some still nursing momma.  Does & wethers.  Some with nuts.  Does sold real well.  The top end wethers sold real well.  Nothing stupid high, but really good sale.  There were enough numbers that there were some bargains to be had.  I sold 9 wethers and 4 doe kids.  They found really good homes.  Let me reiterate, they found REALLY good homes.  This sale went smooth and in a timely fashion.  I was honored to sell with Helms, Ralph Shafer and Cramblett.    Great set of people that sold and worked to make this sale go smooth.  HUGE tip of the cap to Bree Taylor and Braden Schovanec for setting up goats.  That wasn’t an easy job with the humidity.  Also need to mention Kalen Miller.  Helms might give him a paycheck, but Miller’s a good hand.  I bought a Helms wether and a Ralph wether (maybe more).  Those have been my stand by breeders for almost a decade.  If you like a Helms or Ralph goat when they are borderline skinny, you will really like them in a month or so.  

Pfeiffer’s had a really good set of wethers.  Expertly presented.  The wethers looked top shelf.  The finest sale facility that you will find in OK, maybe anywhere.    I didn’t eat, but Jerry had the crowd taken care of with pork chops.  And a HUGE crowd.  I saw a couple of BIG time wethers and they sold big time.  I didn’t get one bought, but I saw several that I wanted.  The Pfeiffer family puts on a top shelf event.  Throw in MR. Jack Staats in an arm sling and you had one heckuva goat event.   Goats sold really well.  Tip of the cap to the Pfeiffer’s for a very well run sale.    It won’t be long and you will see magazine pics of goats from this sale.  

Milligan’s Saturday Night Live Sale was off the hook.  Thanks to Tommy and Julie for inviting us.  I knew it would go well.  But whew!  That was a DANG nice crowd for a bunch of low renters llike Milligan, Hardin, Poe and myself.  The goats were wore out but still found good homes.  Once again, things went smooth.  Millilgan has a a force for a crew of helpers.  Poe was in Aruba, but thanks to Kory Dietz and others, his stuff was well taken care of.  The Hardins and their crew know how to take care of business.  And as I’ve stated before, NOBODY has help like I have.  And the best thing, all of these people work together.  You’ve never seen a sale, off a slab of concrete, on a gravel hillside, at dark, surrounded by wet grass and possible mudholes, like this deal.  

     And then things got interesting after the sale.  I was well behaved.  Seriously.  I was way well behaved for the weekend.  Other than losing a belly roll contest to Ring’s youngest, I did nothing wrong this whole weekend.  I think  the humidity had me wore down.

     Got home Sunday about noon.  Met up with a cool dude from Nebraska that screwed me out of some yearling Rainman’s and ONE Rumour doe.  I want to see how these does match up with his Rumour Has It buck kid that he owns part of.  Maybe the best buys of the weekend.  My fault.  I priced them.  Ron said, “Fill the box.”  

PS–The actual best buys of the weekend did NOT involve a goat.  There was a flea market in Norman, at the fairgrounds, literally feet from the goat sale.  I bought a PILE of 22 LR ammo for almost nothing.  Big Bill bought an antique wheelbarrow for Momma Taylor.  They test drove it first Friday night.  Brooke was a brave soldier riding in the wheelbarrow.  My opinion–I got a helluva buy on 22 shells.  Bill can double his money on the wheelbarrow.  

PSS–Seriously, I want to thank all that I dealt with this past weekend.  I have GREAT help.  From Brandon Bruce and Duke washing and clipping to Bill & Bree Taylor, Mikey(RUSM? they don’t have to be 9 to show at OYE?) Thompson, to Braden & Travis Schovanec and ALL the others.  

PSSS–that looks like a pork problem of some sort.  If you can’t tell by all that I have written, there are a lot of really good people involved in the goat industry.  The fact that there were 4 good sales in Oklahoma shows that there is a really strong market.  

It is a muggy Saturday morning in Norman, OK. Helms, Shafer, Cramblett & myself have the goats in place and ready for the sale at noon. As soon as that is over, we will head to Pfeiffer’s then on to the Saturday night sale at Perry. Milligan, Hardin, Poe and myself will sell a good set there.

     Sometimes, I sit down to this blog and I don’t have a clue what to write but I feel like I need to write something.  Kind of like when you sit down in a gas station bathroom stall.  You really don’t want to be there and you don’t know what to write, but you feel obligated.  You know, something along the lines of “Here I sit all broken hearted, tried to….”    

      And sometimes, I know exactly what I want to write.  

      Here goes.  I’ve bragged on my help before.  But, simply put, I’ve got great help.  Probably(most likely) the best.  The Dragon Lady is better than most at all of this.  She just doesn’t want to be in charge.  She and I are trying to stay awake right now, as we have to take the employee-of-the-month, DUKE, to meet the school bus that is headed to the airport.  He is headed to the national TSA contest in Washington DC.  His team will compete later this week.  I need his help around here, but I am proud of him and his cohorts.  Wish them luck.  

      No joking, but Duke has been great help around here lately.  I’ve had help from Braden all summer.  Brucey and I have washed and dried more goats in the past 2 months than what we have ever done in any single year.  Let me tell you, I saw the big boy pull a very athletic manuever catching an escapee wether today.  IMPRESSIVE–speed, agility, I mean, scary quick for a short distance.  And speaking of pulling something.  I bet he is sore tomorrow.  

      And then sometimes, I / We wonder why we do this?  Crappy mothers, destructive does, bad weather, high feed costs, problems, problems and more problems.  But then, you have a young person come to pick up their newest animal project.  You tell them which one is theirs and eyes light up, she looks you right in the eye as she claps her hands and says “I was hoping that I could have that one!  I can’t believe it.  Thank you.”  And then you remember that it isn’t all about making money but it IS about seeing the next generation learn about livestock/ag/ life, etc.  Pass it on.  Help a kid now and they will help others in years to come.  

     Most of the time, I know that I am right.  But, then there are times that I am proven right.  Sometimes….well, you just know.  

     Well, actually it wasn’t as high $ as I thought it would be.  I thought there were a couple of really good buys in Helms buck sale.  Lot 1 and lot 3 were steals at those prices.  $22,000 is not cheap and I’m sure the buyer is puckered up about having to write that check, but that was a good buy.  

     Poe’s sale went REAL well.  I only got a couple of them bought.  I never even bid on that one.  He got high in a hurry.  One of the biggest problems of having an online sale is waiting for people to pick the goats up.  Old Poe Cat took care of that crap.  He delivered several head to my house last night, within hours after the sale.  Of course, he is going on vacation later this week and wanted to take care of business ahead of time.  Not at all bad.  

     Throw in Pfeiffer’s doe sale and it was kind of wicked trying to click from one sale to the other.  Just another day in the goat world.  

     It seems like there are always games being played in the goat industry.  Who’s judging what?  Where are the politics?  Why is “that one” the right one?  Is that high dollar deal for real.  Etc. Etc.  I don’t have answers or opinions.   But it got me to thinking about more important items.  

      Let’s get serious.  What happened to the real games?  There hasn’t been a new board game in a long time.  Seriously.  Think about it.  Sorry, Monopoly, Risk, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Connect Four, and I sunk your “BATTLESHIP”.  Those games had been around when I was a kid.  Nobody has any new ides.  How about Rock ’em, Sock ’em Robots?     And who can forget playing surgeon on the “Operation” game.  BUZZRRNT!!! and the nose turns bright red when you touch the sides of the surgical hole.  

     I don’t have time for most games.  But, I need to make time for games like these.  If somebody was to bring out a game of Trivial Pursuit, well, I would have to just shut down and play. And win. Earthball.  

      Here’s to all of you.  GOD bless, good day, and of course, a better tomorrow.  

    There are going to be some high dollar bucks selling next week.  I went and looked at them again.  I really like lots 1 & 4.  I’ve spent too much money lately, so I’m not in a buying mood.  I actually got mud on my pickup near Turkey, TX.  That and the rain has washed the predator wasps away.  

      That moment when you make the decision,”Yeah, these aren’t good shoes anymore.  I can wear them in that pen.”  It just randomly happens.

      Well cared for, older, John Deere equipment always sells well.  I saw several items sell really high this morning at an area auction.  They had been well maintained and barn kept and they sold well.  I was hoping to swipe a few bargains.  I hardly got to bid.  

       I’m not much of a soccer fan, but it is amazing how the rest of the world truly gets excited for the World Cup.  We think the Super Bowl, the world series and March Madness are big.  These events pale in comparison to the World Cup.  The fans are truly fanatical.  And what little I’ve watched, it seems like there are a lot of attractive women at these matches.  

      I’ve got a busy week ahead of me getting wethers and does ready to sell at Norman and Perry.  I am real pleased with this set of goats.  They are mostly Rumours with some Rainman mixed in.  We’ll see what the week brings on which ones I will take.  

       Have a good day.

     I don’t know how old she is.  I just know that Verlin came to Kelln Livestock in 2006.  She was several years old at that point.  She had been working in a goat dairy getting hand milked to provide milk for children that needed goat milk and/or milk for show pigs.  

      Kela and I needed a goat to take on some trips & quads in the spring of ’06.  Verlin was offered to us and she was a savior.  She raised those kids and then some more.  Next spring, she had a pair of wether kids.  Then the next year quad wethers.  That year of 2008, she raised those 4 kids plus 13 others.  She developed a bad attitude by Septemeber.  

     Now, in 2013, she raised her twin kids, but half of her udder was done.  She didn’t like helping anymore and she became very destructive.  She was fat and in excellent health.  But I hauled her off 

    However, she had a Rainman doe kid last year that will get bred in the very near future.  Plus she had a Rumour Has It doe kid this year that will go into production next spring.  

     Here’s to Verlin the dairy goat.  

     When dealing with livestock, some sort of training is always involved.  Break to lead, brace, how to stand still on a clipping stand, etc.  But there is also breaking does to go through gate and training does to stay away from you as you walk through a pen while holding a bucket.  It is also common to have to train goats how to eat.

     I have a set of wethers that I recently purchased that had been fed several different feeds.  They are thin, but the parts are there.  It has taken me a little over a week to get these dudes trained to knock the bottom out of the feed pan.  But we are rolling now.  So, maybe by August, I will have them looking like they should.  Training a wether to eat isn’t hard, but it does take some patience, a little time, some know-how, some common sense and most of the time, we can get them eating properly.  

     The signs are right for banding wethers.  Duke and I spent several hours on Monday, banding, worming, vaccinating and ear tagging a pile of goats.  Now, we have a bunch of wethers walking a little humped up.  I just wish there would have been more wethers.  There was a lot of doe kids.  

      Today, Duke and I fought the wind to drive into SW Oklahoma.  We went to look at Schenberger’s offering that will be sold online this week.  That is a nice of goats.  There are several top shelf wethers and a really good set of doe kids.  Well worth your time to go look, call him or bid.  

     We made it back to Shattuck in time for Duke’s ball game.  But it had been cancelled.  Duke and I were the only two that didn’t know.  So, we got Tammy and headed to Woodward to the movies.  Tammy, Duke and I went to watch the movie “How To Train Your Dragon part 2”.  We really liked the first one and this one was well worth the time & money.  I really like these movies.  They are well written and exciting.  I just wish that it would have been the 3D version.  

     And yes, I do find some humour that Duke and I took the Dragon Lady to a “How to Train Your Dragon” movie.  Contrary, to the movie, some things aren’t easily trained.  

      The term “flush” is very common in the livestock world.  It is a standard procedure in the cattle side of things and is becoming more & more common in the goat world.  If you’ve got a good female, then you better “flush” her.  Likewise, crappy ones need “flushed” and sent to the sale barn.  Good vs. Bad–Flushed or Flushed.  Makes sense to me.  

       I’m not an expert on ET flushes, donors, recips, program, protocol, etc.  What I do know, is that I did one flush this past year.  And it was successful.  Schneberger handled everything.  I just provided the donor, recips and the buck.  He did the work.  This was a PERFECT flush.  I should probably quit right there.  But, when the dice are hot, you keep rolling them.  

      More and more people call, text, email, ask me about my thoughts on flushes.  Let’s get it clear that I am NOT yet an expert.  But I do have opinions.  

1–the donor needs to be in above average condition–not too fat, but really good shape.  

2–the recips need to be in really good shape. 

3–Whoever is doing the programming needs to do it right.  Tight schedule.

4–Recips?!–For myself, I want good looking females around here.  I don’t want to have to look at a bunch of sale barn trash or spanish cross recips. I prefer proven does that are good mommas that just haven’t been able to raise a good one.  So, we will help her out by transplanting some dang good emrbyos into her.  Then her proven maternal traits will help raise some good goats.

5–Flush a proven doe.  I know that a lot of breeders have had success with flushing virgin does.  I’m not questioning or discounting it.  It just seems like a better deal to flush a proven doe/cow/whatever.   But, for optimizing dollars, flush a proven rip and have a better idea what you are going to get.  

6–Live vs. AI–I don’t have an answer for this.  I know that several breeders have had WAY GOOD luck with using fresh semen in AI flushes.  Most like a live breeding.  I do know that it is a very short list of recommendations when it comes to using frozen semen.  

7–No matter what you are doing, get the donor and recips climatized and in good health.  Spend a little extra in order to try to optimize EVERYTHING.  Feed, recips, management, etc.  And if it doesn’t work, you’ll wish it would have.  

      Kind of!  Wednesday was a pretty busy day.  Duke and I had extremely good help here getting goats washed, sheared and photoed.  Then others showed up to look at goats.  Then it was time to get chores done.  Tammy and I were on the gator when the neighborhood security system showed up.  AKA–Johnny File.  Johnny said, “You know it’s getting ready to blow 40 mph and hail watermelon size hail.  Are you ready?”  

     What?!  The news didn’t say anything about that.  He said, “The OKC news won’t but Amarillo news said its a coming.”

      Well, he was kind of right.  We didn’t get any hail.  But we did get 80+ mph winds and after surveying the wreckage, we’re pretty sure that there was some cyclonic activity.  We’ve got big trees down, things shifted around in odd directions, lost a little bit of the big machine shed roof, a few wierd marks in the house roof, wood fence down, stock trailers blown around (not hurt though), etc.  But other than a mess to clean up.  It’s all good.  It could be worse.  Stock was all good.

      On a positive note, the open does really like eating the leaves off of the broken limbs.  3 loads hauled, several more to go.  

      Now, about the rest of my day.  The A/C in the house quit working.  At least it isn’t hot out.  Got it fixed.  The last puppy died.  All I have to show for that deal is a vet bill. I dumped a ton of feed sideways off a pallet.  And I’ve got a first time doe thinking about labor, but she won’t dialate.  However, we got another 1/2″ of rain last night.  We are now up to 3″ for the past week/year, however you want to figure it. 

      One thing about my favorite neighbor, he is normally right.  And he tells me that if you want to win a big show, regardless of species, then you’ve got to cut one to do it.  “In order to get a banner, you’ve got to cut their bag off.”

     P.S. I didn’t get to make it to Kris Black’s cattle sale this past weekend.  But that’s okay as Johnny filled me in as to what brought what and went where.  And I’m sure he was right. 

      Cheers!