I catch some grief from time to time about my confidence level.  Some call it arrogance.  Others call it cocky.  And some just call me an (donkey)hole.  One time, in a job interview, I was asked,  “If I was as cocky as my brother Jake the Snake?”  I said, “No.  I am not that cocky, but I am extremely confident in my own abilities.”  I was then told that “they weren’t looking for somebody that could walk on water.”  I replied, “There has only been one person that could walk on water and I’m dang sure not HIM.  But I am a swimming son-of-a-gun.”  I didn’t mean that I was close to being HIM or anything other than that I would do my dangdest to keep my head above water.  I got that job and it turned out to be one of the top 2 best jobs that I have ever had.  Right behind working at Jack & Jill Grocery Store for Becky & Monte McQuigg when I was in high school.  That job was way fun.

     I’ve heard of people bitching because I have been known to brag on here that I have the best helpers and the best showers.  Well, I do.  It doesn’t mean that there aren’t other good ones out there.  There are plenty of other good people that can do what we do.  Heck, we don’t win every show, although we are almost always in the final drive.  It’s just that we aren’t making a living off of it.  We do well at this game and NOBODY has more fun than our team.  It simply means that I like the people that I work with and have confidence in them–kids and adults.  Nothing more, nothing less.  If an overpaid football coach can brag on his team, why can’t I?  Feed ’em fish heads if they don’t like it.

     Likewise, tonight.  Part of being confident is knowing your inabilities and working around them.  I realized that we had a possible situation.  Duke & I discussed how a certain goat acted earlier today when Duke was working him and I now knew that we had a definite situation.  I haven’t had to mess with many kidney stones, but I felt like we were on the verge.  If I’m not the best at something, I get help.  PERIOD.  I’m not too proud to ask.  And I was extremely confident as to whom I was going to need to call.  So, in the purple (grand) theme of Ghostbusters, “who you gonna call?”  Big Bill.  And he answered.  Twenty miles with one stop to pick up supplies and 29 minutes later, he was here.  The Taylor’s had a train wreck due to stones last year, and did not lose a goat.  In fact, they won banners with those goats at Tulsa, Woodward & OYE.  Needless to say, Bill is the expert on taking care of stones.  

     We aren’t out of the woods yet, but when we were done tonight, there was a steady piss stream, a drench had been done, shots given and a wether has a shorter pecker than he did earlier tonight.  If things don’t improve, this goat will head to OSU.  I hope that I don’t have to go to Stillwater this weekend.  But,I always like to go back to OSU.  Well, except for the shorter part.  

      Our crew works together, works to help others and we have fun.  Breeders like our team to feed their goats.  Our kids work hard, win well and lose better.  We will eat, drink and be merry.  We might build fence, swap feed, clip goats and share bucks together.  It works.  And works well for a lot of people.  There isn’t anything wrong with that or the fact that I am EXTREMELY confident in our abilties–mine and others. And the kids pick up on the fact that there are people willing to help them and somebody is there to back them and tell them “Good Job!” or “Holy jeeminy, what the, son-of-a, that isn’t quite, we can do better than that kind of deal”.  My favorite line—“They know what to do without me telling them. They just have to decide that they are confident enough with themselves to do it on their own.”  Then just leave.  It works on kids and adults alike.  

     And since we are talking about confidence, let me tell you something else.  Last year, I made the statement on here that the 2012 Best of the West sale would be the single best collection of wethers offered in Oklahoma.  Guess what?  I was right.  It wasn’t even close.  Look at the results.  The reserve grand at OYE.  The reserve grand wether at Enid, class winning wethers at OYE, numerous sale goats at OYE, Enid & Woodward, a pile of top 5 in class wethers at OYE.  I  don’t know how many county winners.  Heck, it hurts to try to list them all.  Three goats sold high.  The rest were way economical.  I mean, the reserve at OYE brought $450.  Now, I would be a liar if I thought that goat was that good.  Schoovy wanted him for his 7 year old son to show.  He got him, fed him awhile and then we realized that we might have one.  It happens. That’s one of the reasons that we do this deal.  Flipping rocks.  

      Now for the 2013 version of the Best of the West sale.  Could it be better than 2012?  Hell Yes!!.  Will it be?  RUSM??!!  Way better.  The old Bear from Beaver is brining a bad ass wether, maybe 3.  Lamle has been messing with those South texas genetics and might have one that we all need.  Tyke has a way better set of wethers than he had last year and he raised a load of premium sale wethers.  Oh yeah, I think Braden Schovanec is showing a GT Joe Dirt wether that has already done some winning this summer.  Maybe, the worst he has placed so far is reserve grand.   All but one of the GT goats are sired by the proven man, Joe Dirt.  There is a red footed goat that could be way fun.  I think he is also going to part with a doe kid or two.  

      Milligan may be selling something.  May not.  It depends on how this texas trip treats him and what he can get prepared by Monday.  

     Ralph and Steve are sold out.  They won’t be there.  Those two are all-timers in the goat industry and I always like cracking a top with them.  But, they are out of goats so that is that.  I envy them as they don’t have a feed bill right now.  

     But we still have a texan coming to the sale to sell goats.  A little known breeder named Helms Show Goats.  Kenneth is bringing 6-8 doe kids that will feed and are backed by the most proven genetics in the business.  I’ve seen 1 or 2 of these doe kids that are WAY good to show or breed.  Nobody likes to sell goats like Kenneth and he is bringing goats that need a new home with feed and care.  Look at the Helms track record—rivals the best of all time.  There will be at least TWO Helms wethers that are offered for sale.  If you don’t buy them, that is fine with me, as they can just come back to live at my place.  They are as good as anything that has been offered to the general public this year.  How good are they?  One is a late bloomer that was missed by the know-it-alls and the other was on facebook earlier this year.  (Yeah, I might have missed one)  You wanted them, here they are.  They need feed and a good showmen.  Just a small warning, I will have a buyers # which means that I am all in, right up to the point that the Dragon Lady looks at me and glares. She might need to go to wal-mart to pick up drinks right about the time the sale starts.  

     Oh yeah, I’m going to sell a couple.  Might even bring a pair of doe kids.  One is out of Fade2Black.  She doesn’t have any cover on her ribs, is way feminine,  snakey necked, clean uddered, cool from behind and way cool.  If she was a chick, she would be in a victoria’s secret catalog.  Except that there isn’t any secret about her pedigree.  The other doe kid is out of Rumour Has It and a proven 900 daughter that is out of the batch of bottle baby doe kids that Mikey Thompson and I got from Mike Kelly back in 2009.  Her mother has raised premium sale wethers the past couple of years. This doe kid is green in condition, bad haired, moderate framed and well, if you like her, buy her.  If you don’t like her, fine.  I have a home for this kind of doe and I already have a buck in mind.  Sometimes, when in a partnership on a deal, you have to let something go.

    Wethers?  Okay, I will bring some.  They will be out of good bucks and good does.  

     I shit you not.  This will be a way cool quality set of goats.  The best part about this sale, you won’t have to trip over a bunch of texans bidding against you.  If you want does or wethers, it will be worth your time to drive to Woodward.  Last year I told you this sale would be the best collection of wethers.  I was proven right.  Not this year. This will be the BEST sale of wethers & DOES offered this year.  Notice I did NOT say in Oklahoma.  For one sale, one offering, one day, one location…in April 2014, you will have to listen to/read about this sale being the best.  I did NOT say the highest priced, averaged, attended–nothing other than quality of animals and how they will feed. Not in texas?  Well crap.  The best breeding stock has been  coming to Oklahoma for years.  We aren’t afraid to drive.  If they aren’t here, that is their mistake.  This sale will prove me right. Again. 

     If you want, come to the piece of paradise south of Fargo on Sunday night.  It will be fun. Unless you are going to be an a-hole and we have our quota already.   

     How come I haven’t been buying piles of goats at auctions the past couple of months?  One or two, here or there.  Well it isn’t because I’ve got all of the orders filled. On the contrary.  I’ve seen the ones that are backed by genetics that will be selling on Monday. I’ve been waiting.   

     Arrogance. No.  Cocky?  Maybe.  A-hole?  At times.  Confidence?  Yeah… I’ve got it.  If you need to borrow some, there’s an extra bucket around here that isn’t being used.  

     It’s amazing the quality of animated movies that are made now.  We really like the “How to Train your Dragon”  animated movie.  Maybe, because I would like to train a Dragon, hhmm, hunnhh.  I haven’t had any luck yet training a dragon thus far;  but a good flick nonetheless.  

Let’s all just go to a happy place and think of the best animated movie ever made.  Think about it.  There are a pile of good ones, but some are way better than others.  What’s your favorite?

Lady & the Tramp, Toy Story, Cars.  How about the Fox & the Hound, Beauty & the Beast?  Alladdin?  Robin Williams as a voice means it is good.  All great ones.  But not good enough.  Fantasia–it was the original Disney big one–so good that they re-released it.  

Honorable mention–“Finding Nemo”.  I really like that movie.  

How about “Little Mermaid”.? Whew!!  Ariel is smoking HOT!!

Let’s get serious.  There are several that could be considered but it always comes down to a 3 horse race.  

The girls living in a 500 square foot apartment in California think “Shrek” is a great one.  I agree.  It was so successful that they made multiple versions and a spin off with the cat.  Great movie.  

What about the movie that all of us old codgers remember seeing for the first time, young ones still watch and every peta dues paying dumbass regards as a manifesto against hunting—-“Bambi”.  This movie sticks with you.  Animated or not.  Everybody knows Bambi.  

Then there is my personal favorite.  So good that it would make my personal top 10 list of all movies ever made.  RUSM?!  Can you say voices that made you cringe?  “Mufasa…say it again.”  James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons,  how about Sarabi’s voice….smoking hot…they had the best voices for all of the characters.  They literally emptied Broadway to get all of the voices to do these parts.  This movie was so good that the supporting characters are famous–Pumbaa and Timon–and they got their own show.  What about Rafiki?  Just look at the supporting cast voices.  Whoopi, Cheech, Rowan, etc.  This movie was off the hook good.  Now if you want to feel old.  Kela and I went to see it in the movie theater in Enid when it came out….1994.  I had just finished my first year teaching at Billings.  This movie is getting ready to be 20 years old.  

I remember the first time that I saw Bambi, haven’t watched Nemo or Shrek in awhile and haven’t seen the Lion King in years, but these are all great movies.  The best thing about this blog, you people can’t argue with me.  These are great movies.  

It’s not a close race.  The Lion King wins this deal like a 900 influenced goat wins wether shows.  It all ties together.  

On the top of the Kelln Livestock blog page it says “the place to learn about the happenings at Kelln Livestock and random Kelln thoughts.”

This blog is a edited/censored version of the happenings around this piece of paradise.  And the thoughts that make it into this blog are not near as random as the crap that rolls around through my brain.  For instance, I don’t put much personal stuff on here.  I also don’t put much controversial stuff on here.  Some just take offense to some of this crap.  If you know me, then you can read this and add the “flair” that comes from knowing how I talk and act.  It adds to the humour.  If you really want to be offended, come listen to the real life version.  It must be fun, as there are a lot of repeat customers.  I also don’t put much work related info on this blog.  BUT that might change!

     I don’t care what business you are in….it is hard to find good help.  I try to collect mechanics like I do good goats.  If you see one that MIGHT work, buy it.  You can NEVER have too many good ones–goats, mechanics or help.  I offered a guy a job today that drives a lime-green car, has tats on his legs and has those wierd ear holes in his ear lobes.  I don’t care.  Basically, I care about work ethic and a desire to perform a “job well done”.  I could care less if they have a driver’s license, a bit of a police record, walk on one leg or maybe they are an ou fan.   Well, crap, I already have several that fit at least one of those criteria.  If he/she will work, I will pay them and keep ’em busy.  It’s kind of like a parrot mouth goat with twisted ears or a doe kid with fish teats.  Yeah, it’s not the desired, but it might be good enough.  And let’s get serious here.  Do you really care what your mechanic looks like as long as your equipment runs right when they are done?  Kind of like a surgeon with bad bedside manners.  Do you really care if they are an arrogant bastard if they are really good at their job?  I’d rather have an overly confident doctor cutting on me that KNOWS he/she will do it right. Then send in doctors and nurses with good bedside manners.  That’s what I’m talking about.  

     Some nights, you just don’t need a beer or twelve.  Maybe just a glass with ice, a splash of water and some tan sack.  Take the edge off, kick back and watch the wife paint the mud room.  

     Speaking of tan….Do you know what a chick with tan lines and a chicken have in common?  The white parts are the best.

Now really, that isn’t random or bi-polar.  Rough couple of weeks at work, crown reserve in a tan sack, tan lines, chickens.  Just connect the dots.  Straight lines.  

     Wormed goats last night, trying to get everything ready to sell on Monday.  I’m not ready, but I am ready to get to this sale.  I need to fill orders and Monday is going to be the day.  I’ve got ear tags written down in my mind and some of these goats need to get new loving homes.  Some might just stay here if they don’t bring more than 5 or 6 hundred.  Okay, maybe add a digit.  

      The quality is going to be good.  It will be a nice set of does and wethers.  

It seems to me like a person that is wanting to go to the Lone Star Elite Jackpot might want to get serious about booking motel rooms.  

Saw a post of Norm Peterson quotes this evening.  He is one of my all-time favorite tv characters.  

Sunday evening–Kelln Kompound–food, fellowship, something to drink for everybody, maybe some stories.  

Monday–Best of the West sale at Woodward, OK.  Top shelf goats.  Better people.  

     Speaking of random, I had a visit at the store this afternoon from a true livestock enthusiast.  I hadn’t seen him in several years, but none other than Mark Nickelson showed up.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Mark.  Those that know Mark are chuckling as they read this.  He knows a good animal, knows a good time and there is always a story.  My kind of deal.  I look forward to the day (or evening) that I can sit and share a beverage (tea, pepsi, whatever) with Mark Nickelson, Monte Sharp and Fred Urban.  If Paul Childers could also be there, then that would be grand.  Those guys know livestock and they know how to have a good time.  

      How does an auctioneer affect a sale?  Well, it is in 1 of 2 ways.  Either, positive or negative.  No in between.  It doesn’t mater if it is a livestock sale, craft auction, machinery sale or land sale.  A good auctioneer knows where to find the bidders, who are the players, which items should be worth some jack and then they get the rest of the crowd involved.  It is a true craft.  

     I’m not an auctioneer, but I study them and learn from them.  The good ones aren’t in it just for the commission check.  They truly are in it to see how good they can make a sale.  Some are good at advertising & hype.  Some are good at knowing a specific type of sale, while others are just fun & their cadence is easy on the ears.  No matter which, a good auctioneer can make a good sale great or make a geat sale good.  It takes knowledge, crowd sense, research and sometimes, just good old-fashioned skill.   

     Much like everything else, a good auctioneer finds his niche and then excels at it.  In this part of NW OK, when you are having an equipment sale or land auction, then you hire Ira Smith from Mooreland.  Reputable, great advertiser and solid on the mic.  He knows his audience and the values of what he is selling.  If you are selling grass land or older equipment, then he will make you money.  Nobody sells used fencing, panels or cattle equipment like him.  You can get outbid at one of his auctions and go buy a new panel cheaper.  On the other hand, if you are selling, say a 2012 JD S670 combine, then he may not be the best option.  Why?  That item will sell better somewhere other than NW OK. It is a little out of his “comfort zone”.  It has nothing to do with his ability.  It has to do with his market.  However, if you have a JD 4430 with a loader in good condition, he will get a record price for it.  On the side note, he will donate time to sell a trophy auction, premium sale, etc.

      I have a good friend that sits on the auction block at two different cattle sales.  He knows the cattle, knows their value and makes them bring a good price.  Hoss Manske is smooth on the mic and I have no problem selling cattle with him on the mic.  Can he sell a goat?  Yes.  But not as good as some.  My point, an auctioneer needs to know the product that they are selling.  

      If I had a large number of cattle or goats to sell at any one time, then I would want somebody like Steve Bonham.  There is nobody that can get through a 100 head of clubbies–bovine or caprine– in less than an hour and still make you money.  He is smooth and when he realizes that there is live action, he can shift gears from 50s to 100s to 1000s and never miss a beat.  He makes you do your homework as to what your limit is beforehand.  If you don’t, you’ll spend a little more.  And there won’t be any extra talk or time to realize that “Holy Crap!! I have the bid.”.  And when he is ready to drop the gavel, it’s all but done.  Not some, stop and give a speech kind of deal to ride a $25 pony. His ringmen have to be used to his speed.  He leaves no money on the table.

     Another one that is WAY fun to listen to is Dale Cooper.  He knows when to tell  a story, when to move something through the ring and when to accelerate.  He has the ability to make people want to bid on something that they hadn’t considered buying beforehand.  I love it when one of my kids goes through a premium sale when he is selling.  They always bring more than the average.  He is expert at selling pigs and cattle.  I will always remember Cooper selling one of Guy Pugh’s pigs at the Circle of Gold pig sale.  The pig was sired by “Tiger Paws”.  A quick reference to a tiger eating some guy in Vegas and the bidding was off & running.  Those that were there, remember it well.

     There are goat sales in texas that make me want to slam my head in a sliding glass door because I know ahead of time that it will be too slow paced and we will have numerous bidders locked up like two yard dogs and we will have to have a bid off between those two and those two only.  They will spend 5 minutes before every auction laying out the ground rules for this lock up.  Other times, you know that you are going to get “run”, so you kind of sit on your hands so as to protect yourself.  I can’t imagine how high a Mike Kelly’s 2009 wether sale would have been if Bonham or Cooper would have been on the block.  

     It is also amazing how many auctioneers donate their time & skills for fund raisers.  Auction a cake, an ag mechanics project, a painting or maybe some left-over meat at a trophy auction.  

     My point through all of this, a good auctioneer will know what he is selling and maximize the price that it brings.  They will know which lots should be worth some jack and which ones just need a new home.  They will watch how people bid and then sell to their price point.  

     You can have the fever of an auction with an online sale, but it just isn’t the same.  An online auction can’t “run” you.  You have to do that to yourself.  A live auction gets the fever going that is hard to deny.  “Bid one more time, I think the other guy is done. Thank you. Nope, I was wrong.  I’m pretty sure he’s done this time.”  You look to see who is bidding against you, “Well hell. I pissed away more than that on gas to get here.  I’ll do it one more time.”  All of this on a goat that should have brought $250 and now you have the bid at $350.  

      Adrenaline rushing, heart pounding, hand waving and “Oh Hell, how do I hide this from the old lady?” all happens at a live auction with a good auctioneer.  Some “will wholesale the bob tail cow because you can’t re-tail her”.  

      Kind of hard getting fired up about the day, but it’s here.  Another day, another week to take on.  The temperature has started climbing back up.  Look’s like summer isn’t ready to go away yet.

     Made it back from Columbus on Friday night.  Crawled back to the store Saturday morning.  Got a few deals done Saturday afternoon, then we loaded up to go see Brooke & Bill’s new house.  Killed a rattlesnake on the road there.  Ran over it a couple of times, then got out to take a look.  Guess what?  It wasn’t dead.  Luckily, there was a rake on the back of Tyke’s pickup, which means that the snake is now dead and Tyke has a broken rake.  

    Spent Sunday trying to work on crap around here.  Dunkin and Brandon are finishing up a fencing project for me.  They are putting in a cross-fence using that goat tuff wire.  Looks like good fence.  I’ve been tearing down old cross fences.

     Duke and I managed to slip off to the creek for a little bit.  I caught the smallest bass that I have ever caught.  But a fish is a fish.  

I’m sitting in Columbus, thinking of all the stuff that i need to get done at home. It is less than 2 weeks to the Best of the West sale on Labor Day. There is going to be a really good set of wethers & doe kids at this sale. Tyke will have a really good set of Joe Dirt wethers & does. Ralph is bringing a nice set of does. Helms will have a set of does and a couple of really good wethers. Lamle will also have a set. I’m going to sell a pair of really good doe kids. One is a Rumour x 900. The other is a Fade2Black. The are 1st of June babies. I will also have 5 or 6 wethers. This sale produced really good goats last year and looks to be better this year.

     Tyke had borrowed Verlin–the dairy doe–in order to save a kid from a no-milking mother.  Once again, Verlin performed.  He brought her back this past weekend.  I had kind of forgot about her, you know, out-of-sight, out-of-mind.  Now that she is home, there are decisions to be made.  One–how much longer is she to stay in production?  Mainly, because I have no idea how old she is.  I’ve had her for quite a while and she wasn’t a young one when we got her.  She has raised numerous kids (17 one year) But, she has started to be a little bit cranky to deal with the past two years.  She will still take extra kids, but she doesn’t like it much.  Two–Which buck is she going to get bred to for this year?

      Verlin has always kind of done her own thing in the pasture.  She doesn’t ever pick fights with other does, but you never see any of the dominant does mess with Verlin.  I don’t know if they are scared of her vertical horns or have learned not to mess with her.  We kept her rainman daughter this year.  Duke has her broke to lead.   We are done messing with bottle babies around here as it doesn’t work.  But the kids that get raised by Verlin or other dairy does do very well.  A good dairy doe is priceless when trying to save kids.

     How many went to the lake this weekend?  How many actually worked with their show animals this weekend?  How many did what it takes to win?  How many?

I bet not very many.  I know that there was several head of goats and showmen through the 73840 zip code the past 24 hours.  Some are working harder than others, some need to start.  It isn’t too late, but it is time.  

      Sometimes, a family just needs to step back and realize how many irons that they have burning in the proverbial fire, then sort them out by importance, save the right ones and then let the un-important crap just burn away.  It’s hard to do at first.  But, kind of like drinking coffee, it is an acquired taste.  Once you learn, it is easy.  Until you learn, the taste isn’t good.  At times, you will just want to lick your own ass in order to get the bad taste out of your mouth. 

      Point being, get out and work with your show animals.  Get them broke to show.  Then fine tune the rest of it.  

Stay flexible but not limp.  

       Since you were wondering….Yes, I did see some good ones and some real good ones.  I even saw some doe kids that already had hair popping.  More important, I saw a pile of good parents and even better kids.  

      In a week that has been absolutely packed full of mondays, we have arrived at Friday.  I’ve been looking for this day.  

     Shattuck started school yesterday.  Tammy delivered 8 kids to school in the ’93 Chevy van.  Two of the kids, she didn’t even know their names.  It’s like a clown car, they just keep climbing out.  Those are memories that you can’t put a price on.  

     The weekend is near and it is the time of year to start looking at goats and seeing what kids are getting them broke to show.  

     I saw the future of OK goat shows last evening.  

     I traveled near Carnegie to drop a goat off at Schneberger’s piece of paradise.  I pulled into the drive, through the gate, through the goat herd, dodged a chicken and two dogs and pulled up to the barn.  Jared came out of the barn.  I walked around the trailer and here came the first one, the first of the twin boys.  This one was wearing shoes and clothes, but he was carrying a cold one for his dad.  Shortly after, the other one came around the trailer, super hero underwear, carrying a cold one for me and barefoot–walking on GRAVEL!!  It would kill me to walk barefoot on gotebo rock like this Jared offspring was managing just fine.  I’m pretty sure that he has been borderline naked all summer as he is way tanned.  

      We sorted goats while these two were all over the barn finding chicken eggs and whatever else.  Later, his daughter came to the barn.  She is definitely more domesticated than her brothers.  She is ready to show for real, but she is only seven.  This trio is going to be fun to watch for years to come.  The future looks bright.

     The best part, when I left, I had a box of ribs from Jake’s Ribs in Chickasha and a dozen farm fresh chicken eggs.  It was a way good trip.