The wind is howling like a gut-shot comanche in an old western movie.  But we didn’t have any tornasty’s or hail.  We got about a 1/4″ of drizzle at our little piece of paradise south of Fargo.

I’ve decided that my job would be pretty good if it wasn’t for employees, customers and computers.  Other than that, it is just wonderful

     I’ve been trying to digest the recent online sale of Goofy.  He has sired good goats and is definitely backed by in-demand genetics.  He is a known commodity that brings name recognition.  He can change a herd of does in one kid crop and immediately bring a name to the new owners.  It might be the cheapest advertisement that the new owners will ever get.  On the other hand, he is 6 years old and hasn’t sired a major winner in OK or TX.  I haven’t decided if he was cheap at $25k or a bargain.  Something to think about, the original breeder made money using him and then selling him.  Dereu made money using him, selling semen and then selling him again.  My bet, the new owners make money using him.  

     Bottom line, it takes money to play this goat game.  A person can’t be afraid to step out there and try something.  It helps to have knowledge to back up the gamble.  I guarantee you that Helms was nervous when he wrote the check for 191.  I was a little bit twisted up when I bought Joe Dirt and Freak on a Leash on the same weekend.  Milligan was jacked up when he got MoneyBags bought.  Those deals worked out.  I was numb to it all when I bought Rumour Has It.  I bet he works out.  Sometimes, you just got to get bent and do it.  And then buy insurance.

     My real question…if Goofy is worth $25k, what is Showtime, 191, Freaky, etc. worth on the open market?

??

Why do the heat lamps in the pens with the not-as-good goats always work, but the heat lamp in the pens with the really good goats always seem to have problems, even though you swap them, put new bulbs, buy new high $ premier heat lamps, etc?

Why do the little goats with the mothers that don’t milk as good always follow their moms around like they are little crack addicts and won’t be easily grafted to a dairy doe but the kids with heavy milking moms will gladly nurse anybody?

What in the heck is up with this weather?  It’s April.  C’MON!!

Why can some places make good tater tots, but others flat out can’t?

Why do they have to make new technology so hard?  I will gladly trade phones and pay for the upgrade to whatever dang iPhone they now have, but it takes a day of my time in order for them to swap phones.  Plus, I will lose some of the info, pictures, songs, notes, etc. that I have stored on my current iPhone.  Plus, I then have to spend several hundred to buy new chargers & other accessories.  At least John Deere takes trade ins on their older equipment.  Apple–NOOO!!  No trade ins, no jewing, no rebates–just price gouging and they know that they have you by the short and curlies.  Buy a new phone, OUCH!! That hurts like a crazy chick pulling your underarm hair. I would love to still have just a bag phone.  No internet, no texting, no camera, no maps, no apps…but I had a signal.  Of course, you couldn’t take a bag phone into the john and read the word of the day while sitting on the throne.  

Why would people drive 800 miles to buy a $300 animal?   Wouldn’t it be cheaper to spend $600 on one within a 100 miles of home?

Why doesn’t every show animal breeder give a good feeder/shower discount?  If you are up & coming, then get them to the hands of a successful feeder without trying to hold them hostage.  If you are established, then this only helps to keep the legend growing. 

     I go to the east pen and check babies and does.  Guess what?  A baby is limping.  4 weeks old, no prior problems.  Last week, Sessions go to wean their goats.  Guess what?  A 9 week old keeper buck kid is limping.  Carrying a hind leg.  No prior problems.  

      What is the common denominator?  Does.  Mature does.  Think about it.  Every farm you go to look at goats has got young goats limping.  Why?  Mature does.  They destroy panels, metal barns, feeders, each other and therefore, it so no stretch of the imagination that they will plow over a kid that comes in their circle.  No matter how long they have lived in the same pen, they will still head butt a kid, other does, and stationary objects.  

     The south pen has 8 does with kids.  I can’t put any other does or kids in this pen.  It is like a pen full of piranhas.  If you go in there, you know somethings going to get hit.  It is an 11 wire barbed wire pen with an electric fence on the inside.  This keeps them from destroying the fence.  However, the pipe tubing gates that were new in July are beat to hell.  The tin on the shed in this pen gets beat like Rodney King.  I’ve seen one of these piranhas just stand there and repeatedly bang her head into the tin.  

     Bucks–they rub a lot, and can flat wear a panel or fence post out but that’s it.  Kids don’t tear stuff up.  

     Does.  I don’t like them; but I haven’t figured out how to have kids without them. 

     I’ve got the late January and Febuary born wethers out of Joe Dirt here at the house.  There is a really good set.  I’ve got to take 4 or 5 to a sale the first of May, which leaves 5 or 6 to sell.  The decision is whether to sell them private treaty or have an online sale with only 5 or 6 wethers in the sale.   Time wise, I would just as soon sell them right now and be done.  Monetarily, they would bring more in an online auction.

     One of the kids is a Joe Dirt on a Rainman daughter.  I haven’t banded this one yet, which brings me to the next decision.  If you like one with a big, square hip, deep twist, heavy boned, thin hided, cocky headed with a square rack and big loin then he would make a killer good buck prospect, but he would also be pretty fun to show.  He is good.  I’ve got a day or two to decide.  

     There wasn’t many decisions to be made this past weekend.  It was windy…again.  So we didn’t wet a line.  A lot of trees got trimmed with surgical precision using the loader on the tractor.  

     We had some visitors from Colorado on this fine evening.  I absolutely enjoyed this evening.  Why?  Well, let me tell you.

They are repeat visitors.  They have been known to bring me Samoa girl scout cookies.  But not this time.  They did better.  They rolled in with a freshly built aluminum popper–“shop built”  as in ag ed shop built.  Well done.  Not something done by SCABBO productions.  This wasn’t for me, because they were going to haul animals home in it.  But, they also had a big ass rectangular, wooden, hinged device on top of the popper.  Like a big dang coffin.  Except 90 degree angles on all 4 corners.  WTH?

     They needed to haul cookie dough home from Pullan’s; so they built a deal to haul cookie dough.  Me, I would have bought new ice chests.  Leave it to ag teachers to turn an animal buying trip into a fund raising/livestock evaluation class/teachable moment/good times kind of trip.  One of these dudes is a current CO ag teacher.  He isn’t in the career for the money.  He loves his job, and it was infectious to listen to him talk about it.  Obviously, he is young.  I hope he stays fired up.  The other…an ex ag teacher that is in charge of a big part of CO AgEd/FFA department–who might also be the former ag teacher of Okie goat royalty.  HhMm?!   Maybe Elliott and Grayson have met him?  I don’t know.  What state is Julie Milligan from?

   What was so cool about this deal?  I didn’t sell a goat and it wasn’t a waste of my time.  They came with a budget and a limit of how many to buy.  Didn’t buy a thing…yet. There were plenty of goats in their budget.  But these dads were playing ag teacher.  Oh, did I forget to mention that they brought their 9 & 10 year old daughters?  They caught every goat, handled every goat (even the shitty ones)  and talked reasons with their kids.  It was awesome.  I love it when somebody reminds me why we do this.  There were a lot of teachable moments…for kids and adults.  The weather was beautiful tonight, but the experiences were better.  I heard a new joke from this crew.

“So, I went to the zoo yesterday.  

They only had one animal.  

It was a Shit-Zoo.”  

I love it! If you don’t get it, go slam your head in a sliding glass door.  Which head?  If you have to ask, then it doesn’t matter.

     How is it that anytime a goat is limping, it is always a good one?  How is it that the qui-nine bottle baby, sideways headed, no assed POS never gets sick, goes off feed or gets hurt?  

     How is that you can feed at 5 am and have one with the shits, but you can’t catch him, so you wait to doctor him that evening and he is just fine at 6 pm.  But you can have one that can’t afford to be sick and doctor it 3 times a day for 4 days and you can’t get that one to dry up and get well?

     How come the sale barn quality wethers never have scurs or horns that grow back?  BUT a good one will look like a derelict burnt the horns while eating crayons and licking windows.

      What in the hell was that weather all about yesterday?  5:30 am on Tuesday morning, I did chores in shorts and a t-shirt and was completely comfortable.  By noon, I was digging under the seats of the pickup trying to find a coat.  Thankfully, I found a pullover.  Wind, Rain, Sleet, Hail, Snow, Thunder and Lightning.  ALL AT THE SAME TIME!  What?  

       Things that I would pay somebody to do to help me or my kids.

1–Fishing guide–At a big lake or on the ocean, you have to have a guide.  Costa Rica–great guides, big fish and killer good pineapple.  Lake Texhoma–I’ve been without a guide and caught 1 striper.  Several times with guides–lots of fish.  Another week or two and I’m going to pay another guide.  Already sent the deposit.  

2–Penmanship–If you want me to write something that is legible to the rest of the world, then you better write it for me.  My penmanship is horrible.  I was told in 4th grade that I need to be a doctor.  I didn’t know what it meant at the time.  It has steadily gotten worse, the older I get.  When I was meats judging at OSU, we had to write reasons.  My scores automatically started at 48 instead of 50.  Minus 2–penmanship.

3–Guitar lessons–No, my extensive experiences on the Wii playing Guitar Hero don’t count.  

4–Showing sheep–If my kids ever want a sheep, first, I will cuss a lot.  Then I’m going to pay somebody to go buy them and to look at them a time or two before crunch time.  I’d probably pay somebody to shear them also.  I know how to select, feed and show sheep.  I don’t like it and I don’t want to do it.  I’ll pay somebody that does like it.

5–Ice–I’m sick of scooping snow and ice.  Although, the exercise doesn’t hurt me, I’d pay somebody.

6–Sports–If Duke wants to get serious at any sport, I’ll send him to camp(s) and get him better coaches.  

7–Online goat sales–Yes, I’ve sold goats online way before the rest of the world thought it was a good idea.  Now, it’s what all the cool kids do.  I can tell you this much, they are work to get the animals to look right without looking fake.  Hats off to all that do such a good job now.  I understand the time and work that went into the sales and I appreciate it–whether they have hair or not.  I’d gladly pay somebody to fit, show them and photo.  I’d just cook ribs, bologna and drink beer and everybody would be happier.

8–Mechanic/carpenter work–I don’t like working on anything that has an engine, belt, pulley, gear, electrical as well as precise woodwork.  I’m out.  There are numerous types of people in this world.  There are artists, sculptors, inventors–those that create things.  There are mechanics, carpenters, engineers, electricians–those that fix things.  Then there are people like me–those that tear that stuff up and create jobs for the first two types.

     As I am writing this entry, it is currently raining, hailing and snowing at the same time combined with 30+ mph wind.  Throw in freezing temps and we can probably kiss a wheat crop good bye.  Hail & freezing temps in April are not a good thing for a plant like wheat.  

     It doesn’t matter what kind of competitive event that a kid partakes in, the ones that are winning have help.  Doesn’t matter if it is athletics, music or showing livestock, there is somebody with knowledge to help the kid win.  Some kids live with a coach/ag teacher and therefore have winning ways built into their daily routine.  The rest have to find help.  Think how many of these successful athletes had paid coaches to help them hone their skills.  I’m not talking paid by the school.  I mean paid by the kid’s family while the kid was in junior high school, high school and/orbefore college.  Even in grade school.  Swing coaches, pitching coaches, strength/conditioning coach,  sprinter coach, passing coach, receiving coach, fundamentals coach, etc.  The good ones find help in order to take that next step.  And it costs them money.  

     There is more and more of this in the livestock world as well.  The days of the local ag teacher being the expert are over.  Why?  Too many ex ag-teachers that are winning and focusing on that one thing is one reason.  Two, a lot of parents are realizing that if their kid is going to be successful, they need to find somebody with knowledge to help.  Whether it is a goat show, pig show, sheep show, whatever, there is somebody that knows more than most and not as much as some, but can consistently be in the “hunt”.  

     Many times at a sale, I watch a parent (sometimes a grandparent) buy an animal and I think to myself, “Don’t have to worry about getting beat by that one!”  Why?  Because that family 1) doesn’t feed properly, 2) doesn’t have a good exercise program, 3) doesn’t normally get them shown right, 4) doesn’t take care of business at crucial times or 5) just tends to screw stuff up.  

     There are times at shows that I look at an animal or a kid and think “Man, if they had some help, they would be tough to beat.”  You can tell when somebody is close.  These close ones normally fight it for a couple of years and then give up OR they get some help in order to take the next step.  Sometimes a knowledgeable breeder steps in, other times they pay for the help.  

     A lot of people get in their own way.  How?  They put too many irons in the fire.  For example, VERY few people are good at more than one species.  Even fewer are good at doing multiple species at the same time.  I have a proven track record with a wide variety of species, but I will guarantee you that it is dang near impossible to do more than one properly at crunch time at our house.  Most doe showers need to stay in the doe barn.  It’s tough to add wethers to the program unless the kid is committed.  I personally think it is easier for a wether showman to move into the doe barn.  Dang sure don’t add pigs or sheep to the list of chores because at some point, there will be a detail missed and some things will get done half assed.  Then nothing is successful.

        There is a long list of people that don’t get help until that magical senior year.  The parents realize that the sand is running out of the hour glass, they haven’t been able to get their kid into a premium sale and they need help.  They then get help and Shazam, the kid makes a sale.  Why didn’t we do this before?  Sometimes it is a pride thing.  Other times, they are too tight to spend the money.  I’ve watched parents decide to spend more to get a better animal, but because of a lack of knowledge, they buy the wrong animals (but they cost more).  They would have actually SAVED money by hiring help and learning how to do it right.  Saved money, saved time, had more success, more happy moments with their kids.  Hhmm?  It sounds BETTER to get help.  

    The amazing thing is that once people pay somebody for help–they start working harder.  Why?  They want their money’s worth.  The kids feel the pressure because mom & dad anted up some coin to get help.  Also, the kids will listen to somebody else better than their parents.  There is also a respect factor for a proven successful coach.

     It doesn’t matter what event the kids are in…look around, see who is consistently successful, then ask for help.  You better expect to pay because knowledge should be worth something.  If you find help for free, say “Thank You” and pass it on to somebody else.  

     I have had enough wind to last me for the rest of this year.  If you have a nice day or two in this part of the world, you know that you are going to pay for it with several days of 30 mph + wind.  It just takes the energy right out of you.  With the wind yesterday and again today, it has put a halt to the fishing.  Duke and Dad tried it yesterday, but it was too windy for them to catch anything.  So I went fishing for wethers last night.  Caught a couple. 

     I hadn’t been on the breeder’s world forum in several months.  I actually thought that they had done away with it.  After a few minutes of reading random posts, I realized that I had enough of those tards.  Reading through that reminds me that there is not a shortage of dumb asses in this world.  I just thought most of them held public office.  Nope, there is a pile of them posting on message boards behind fake names.  

     The weather stations are calling for severe weather tonight.  They know it is going to do something, they just don’t know when or where.  Hopefully, there isn’t anything too damaging.

    It has officially begun.  Duke and I skipped over to Wolf Creek and went fishing on Sunday afternoon.  There aren’t any big fish there, but we did catch fish, which is all that matters.  Depending on the weather the rest of this week, there is a pond in danger this week.  

     Speaking of fishing, it is about time to start sorting through goats and hopefully, we can catch a great one or two.  I have seen a couple of sets.  There is a decision or two that needs to be made about whether a couple of them keep their nuts or not.