So, we had a sale last night. I took ten goats that were nine weeks old and had been weaned 10 days in 100+ temps. In other words, great genetics but GREEN. Part of me wanted to call Tyke and say “I will be there and help but my goats aren’t ready to sell.” The other part said, “I told you I would bring goats to your sale, so I will be there.” How did the sale go?

1–It was in Shattuck, OK. 2–It was on a Tuesday night. 3–It was a 193 degrees. (Go look at the bank clock it you don’t believe me.) This sale should have been as screwed up as a pile of coat hangers. But it WASN’T!

The crew had their ducks in a row. Tyke sweated like a…well, you pick your analogy of somebody of ill repute in a church. Troy Gosney, son of a Great American, handled the auctioneering. He needs to do more sales. I enjoyed the fact that he had recently talked to our friend Tonto Gonzalez. Some people also know Tonto as Bubba. There was even a celebrity taking bids. Kenny Rogers, the gambler himself, was there working the crowd, beard and all. I don’t know if you all know this, but he also works as Santa Claus at Kay County area Wal-Marts. He even has been known to raise a good yorkshire gilt. And yes, he knows when to fold ’em.

When the heat waves cleared, I realized that good goats went to good feeders. If you haven’t won OYE or Tulsa, and you show in Oklahoma (does or wethers) and you didn’t come to this sale,….well, you screwed up, backwards or just plain wrong. There will be pictures of winners from this sale for next year. This was a helluva good sale.

I was looking at my goats that will be in the Duke’s Up online sale and I thought dang (Okay, so you that know me realize that I did NOT think “dang”); however, I noticed that a particular goat has big ears. This made me think of Sonny Wagoner at Freedom, OK. Great American. Sonny is one of the original good goat breeders in Oklahoma. He has always said that it can’t be a good goat unless it has big ears. I don’t know his rationale, but we have won Woodward, Enid, State Fair and a reserve grand at Tulsa with goats from him and they all had big ears.

Great Americans. In my opinion, a great American is one who wants the best for their own, but also truly wants to see others succeed; is not afraid to work for their themselves as well as others; will provide assistance when not asked and, does not seek recognition for assistance provided; but will help any cause, any place, any time: especially when kids are involved. All that is needed is “Thank You”. .

If you have a lot of time and an ice chest, I can expound on this topic. I have a pile of stories regarding , Katherine Urban, Mitch Ketts, Sydney Yost, Ron Bouziden and Monte Sharp. Really, you just need to think of your local people, and then go thank them. Great Americans. Every place has them.

I got a phone call this evening regarding a rumour/truth about a world recording sellling doe kid. (Did anybody call Guiness?) I then got a call from Big I, whom called me to ask my opinion. I am always in a better mood when I talk to Big I. He and I agreed that if somebody wantst to spend a pile of money and didn’t have to mortgage their kid’s future…then who cares. It isn’t any worse than buying a boat or sending your kid to ball camp. It’s your money, do with it what you want. Gotta spend money to make money. Hopefully, this doe raises a buck that I will need.

Finally had a day that I could be at home and get some stuff done. I didn’t answer a phone and the only texts that I responded to were from Kela and the Dragon Lady. As a result, I was able to get sale wethers sheared and started clipping doe kids, but it was just too dang hot to finish them all. So I had to fill my tank and cool down. There are advantages to living in the middle of nowhere. It was awesome. I need to make a habit of staying away from the phone.

There will be about 25 wethers and 15 doe kids at the sale on Tuesday.

Although late, I did make it into the Major County Fair on Friday night to watch the honorable Jack Staats line up the goat show. This was a really good show. Top to bottom, the doe show and wether show was top notch. This was the first time that Fairview did not win the wether show. This county is loaded with good little wethers. The doe show was exceptionally good.

Duke did not show a goat at the county fair. He took Stella the rabbit in to defend her title of Grand Champion rabbit, which she did. As soon as the goat show was over, I found Duke in the mud volleyball pit.

With this lovely drought, hay has become a precious commodity. I have some alfalfa left from last year and Schoovy saved some for me. Finding enough hay for the cows has been more of a chore. I have been helping several customers locate hay and in turn they are using their trucks to go get. The trucking is the hard part as it takes time and money. We have hay in Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. Bookstore is running two trucks to gather this hay. I have even bought a semi load of small square alfalfa bales. Not sure where I am going to put them, but I know they will be needed somewhere. It looks like we are going to have plenty of hay once we get it all back to Oklahoma. With all of the cows that have gone to sale, I feel like the cattle market is going to be good in the next couple of year. That is why we are working to get that much hay here.

The Best of the West sale is next Tuesday in Shattuck. It will be well worth the drive to visit Shattuck. There will be a very good supper provided. You can stop and see the windmill museum while in town. Then come buy good goats. Quality will be very good and prices will be reasonable. We will have wethers and doe kids. If you have a budget and need high quality show stock, then this is the sale to be at. There will be premium sale animals selling in this sale.

Goats will be sired by Joe Dirt, Freak on a Leash, Rainman, Captain Morgan and Six Pack (Lamle’s new triple bred 66 son.) All of these bucks are built with modern genetics that have goats winning shows in Kansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska during the past month.

Without a doubt, I can tell you that if you wait until October to try to buy goats, then you better have a big bank roll. Those sales will be high and quality may not be as good.

I don’t like 109 degree temps, but I can handle it. Now this high humidity crap, like we have today, kicks my donkey. Been filling feeders and tending to needed items in the goat pens. Maybe it isn’t just the humidity, but also the fact that I am getting old and fat.

Everybody wants to know what feed to feed their priceless show projects. I have fed about every brand of feed in some trial or another. I am a firm believer in “It’s not what you feed, but how you feed it.” All of my babies this year and Duke’s wethers have been on my own mix of feed. No fancy bags, no fancy miracle ingredients, just good, high quality feed stuffs. They have started selling this ration. It is called Special K. Plain white bag with an orange label tag. Goats will eat it. And it is cheaper than the highly advertised brands. It won’t make a sorry goat into a great one, but they will eat it and do well on it. If you want some of it, call me and I can hook you up.

We do add Grand Goat to it. And if needed, we add some high fat oil to it, in order to get them softer.

Well, I have been extremely busy and out of state the past week. Yes, I have an Iphone, but I don’t like posting, emailing or all that other crap from an Iphone. However, I am dang good at taking pictures of AWESOME food and texting people with it. Such as St. Elmo’s steak house and Shapiro’s deli in Indy this past week. If you are ever within 300 miles of Indy, then it is worth the drive to eat at both places. Phenomenal steak & shrimp cocktail as well as the BEST Reuben that I have ever eaten. I even brought back some Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the Dragon Lady. Jackpot.

Like an old Rambler car, this post is going to ramble a bit. It is a Saturday evening and I am not driving anywhere tonight. Had a lightning storm Friday morning about 8 am, which puts Tammy in Waynoka and me in Woodward. The lightning started a fire in our south pasture about 100 yards south of the house. Luckily, thank GOD, it hit the short grass. The neighbors saw it and came a running. They called the fire department, turned the water on and had it put out in about 30 minutes. It burnt about a football field. We’ve dealt with a flood before and witnessed a tornado at Gosney’s earlier this year. I can tell you a flood sucks, but it is a way better option than the other two. We are lucky to have neighbors watching out for us.

Had to deliver a hay trailer to Alva on Thursday. Stopped in Waynoka to drop off a pile of net wrap and get a haircut at Darrel Gosney’s. I don’t know if he makes my hair look good or not, but I love the vacuum on his clippers as he cuts my hair. Plus, he always has good stories. Darrel is an all time great supporter of kids and their efforts. Great American. I then met the Dragon Lady for lunch at the sandwich shop. Got to see the Redgates, Fergusons and Georges while I was there. Obviously, the place to be in Waynoka. Traveled on to Alva, picked up a check, made sure the Woods County FSA office was on task. Checked out the new secretaries at K&S tire. My sister-in-law now works there. Jodee may be a saint as she is TRYING to raise Jake, but now has to keep up with the accounting end of the tire business. Riley took me to check out Dietz’s projects and then to see Lora and Ally’s wether projects. As usual, things look good in the 73717 zip code. Maybe even, real good.

I am a little jacked up today, as I ordered a new gun from a cousin in Shattuck. My dad picked it up for me, brought it to me at Woodward and I paid him for it. Then he loaded it back up in his pickup and took it back to Shattuck. Duke was with him. When I buy a new gun, I want to shoot something. A can, bucket, something. Oh well, PaPa and Duke will break it in for me. By the way, this was a special order racoon gun. Don’t see those advertised very often do ya. Tactical stock with flashlight and .22 caliber Ruger 10/22. If you are ever in need of items protected by the 2nd Amendment, then check out Code of Arms for your needs. Al Walton knows his stuff. If he doesn’t have it, he will get it, as long as you can pay for it and are legal. Well worth the drive. This guy can build anything. Cars, Harley’s, airplanes, anything.

I weaned a set of goats last night. We are having the Best of the West sale on August 30. I probably shouldn’t have weaned them but the signs were right and they were pounding feed. With the high temps and the fact that these Kelly bottle baby does are never going to milk worth a dog dragging his ass across the front lawn, I decided to go with the signs and wean them at 8 weeks old. Time will tell if I know what I am doing. I try to follow the signs when weaning and banding. The ones that are ready will go to the sale in Shattuck, while the others will eat feed until the Duke’s Up sale in October.

So, I came into the house tonight and turned on the tube. There was Tommy Boy showing on the comedy channel. That is an all time great movie that puts me in a good mood. One of these days, we will do a top ten movies list on here.

I need to fill several orders for several good feeding families. So I ventured to Pfeiffer’s to hopefully get some bought. The top end was way good, but after 8 or 9 goats, I didn’t see very many that I wanted. I thought lot #3 was very good. Couldn’t afford him. Had a couple of bargains marked. We got two of them bought, 2 others weren’t bargains as it turned out. Big Bill and I were way into a goat way down sale order, last one. Bill was prepared to give some money, I was prepared to give more. Holy jeeminy, we didn’t even get to bid. At least that goat went to a good home. We may get beat by him, may not. Just because somebody spent a pile doesn’t mean that the show is over. That’s what makes this game fun. Hats off to the Pfeiffer’s on another succesful sale. That family does know how to get things done.

I help a lot of families with their goats. Because I am a retard, I don’t charge them. But that may change. Too many of them want to show up to the sales and bid. I don’t care of they are there watching, but when they start bidding it complicates things. It is hard to buy wethers, when you have 4 or 5 dads trying to bid on goats. It is almost impossible to keep people from bidding against each other and tripping over themselves. Then some want to buy goats on their own without advice. It is hard enough to buy the right ones to begin, it is even harder when somebody buys something that you know doesn’t have a chance. I don’t have time to work with animals that aren’t going to work. A common animal takes just as much time and money to feed and get ready. Start with one that has a chance.

As it turns out, I still need several wethers. Just more money left to spend at the Best of the West sale.

Watched it lightning this morning. Somebody is getting rain, just not us. Looks like the panhandles are getting a shower this morning. They need it way worse than we do. We have had two fires the past three days within 3 miles of us. Luckily, both were caught in time before they got too big.

Went to Noble last night and picked up some new babies. Mikey had kidded out four does for me while we were on vacation. They are now 2 1/2 weeks old. These are all 4 proven does and I am pleased with what they threw. One more to go. There is one Kelly doe that is due the middle of this month and then we are done until December. Some people don’t like feeding wethers this young, but I do.

Tyke and I made it to the Helm’s sale today. I bid on some really good goats. I didn’t get ’em bought on my budget, but those wethers went to really good homes in OK and TX. Tyke bought a doe kid for a very reasonable amount. I thought she would cost way more than she did, but glad Tyke got her bought. Tyke actually has a budget that he sticks to, unlike myself.

I have a million miles logged studying livestock, cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, etc. The best part of chasing livestock is the people. I have always enjoyed dealing with Kenneth and Joe Ed Helms. If you have never ventured out to their piece of paradise, then you need to make it a point to go to Quitiquae/ Turkey, or as it is known there, the Vallley. These are really good people that just happen to raise really good goats. They also happen to have really good food.

On a Helms’ note, I recently heard that it is hard to order ICE in Omaha with a Texas Panhandle accent.

Got back to my little dried up piece of paradise and had to catch Joe Dirt. From the time I drove down the lane and saw him looking through the fence, until I got to the barn and realized that he went over the fence, he marked three does. Can’t blame him. Just pissed at him. Seven years of raising goats and only had a buck get through/over a fence twice. Just happened to be the same buck twice in just a couple of days. He must be a KELLN.

When I was a kid, there were only four channels on the tv. As Foxworthy says, “You’re night was screwed if the president was on.” I am not a professional sports nut. I like the St. Louis Cardinals and I respect the abilities of the people that I watch on sportscenter. I enjoy college athletics, especially OSU. However, I turned the BOOB TUBE ( when was the last time you heard it called a boob tube) on tonight and there was the NFL hall of fame inductions. So, I watched it for a while. Way better speeches, with passion, than that S%!t that anybody in our government can spew. I enjoyed watching Shannon Sharpe talk about his agricultural uprbringing and his family. Your own president can’t touch our athlete’s approval ratings. Maybe our govenment officials need to take note. Produce in action and people will approve. Otherwise, we will cut you, trade you or just not vote for you. Seems easy to me. Unfortunately, we pay our athlete’s and politicians way too much. Pay teachers and priests more and our world will get better. Just my opinion, which means that it is right. Good night and GOD bless.