Didn’t have to work. Nobody coming to pick up goats at the house, No sale to attend at which I would probably spend too much money. I don’t know what to do. Can’t sit around, so I think I will hop in the pickup and go pick up Freak on a Leash. He has been visiting some does and is ready to come home. Have a set of his babies that are 3-4 weeks old. They are starting to shape up and look promising. I’m really anxious to breed Joe Dirt to some Freak on a Leash daughters. Guess that will take a year.

Tammy and Duke stayed up all night at the Relay for Life. Another reason to leave the house. They will be enjoyable to be around this afternoon.

Got to get showmanship camps finalized and t- shirts ordered. I encourage parents to have their kids attend a showmanship clinic of some kind, somewhere; no matter what species they show. It is good for young showmen to work and watch experts. Kids always listen to other kids better than they do their own family. They will learn something and most importanty, they will meet new people. Even if they don’t attend an organized clinic, call a really good showman, breeder or ag teacher and ask for help. It will payoff. It might cost money, but it is money well spent.

I enjoyed the parents that came to camp with their kids last year. They sat back and watched the kids and also learned. Most of them asked me numerous questions. There was some really good discussions. And as everybody that knows me already knows, I will gladly give my opinion on any given subject.

Got to do a little driving today. I’m headed to Stephenville to pickup a tractor from another dealer. Our truck is headed to Colorado and I need the tractor so I’m headed south. Doesn’t sound like I will get to see any green grass on this trip. I am going to pickup a treadmill from an Okie and deliver it to a Texan down by Stephenville.

Duke went and spent the weekend with Kela in Stillwater. I had decided to work does and burn horns Saturday afternoon. Yes, it was damn hot, but it needed done. Since Duke was gone, I had to use the Dragon Lady to help sort does and hold kids. This isn’t a good thing. Duke is phenomenal at catching and sorting goats. Tammy tries hard but not so good. Of course, I am an ass and it is my fault that it doesn’t go right. Oh well.

We caught every doe and vaccinated with 5 ccs of Covexin 8. Trimmed a few hooves. Sorted off does that are due the end of July. Then sorted off a set and gave them 2 ccs of lutalyse. We will give them 2 more ccs on the 13th to induce heat. I will turn a buck with them on that day also. Should have babies the middle of December. We survived this ordeal.

All that I ever wanted to be when I grew up was an ag teacher. Just like the end of Mr. Deeds, that is what I wanted to become and what I did become. I still get numerous calls each year wanting to know what it would take for me to come back to teaching. A PILE!! I have seen the other side..money, time, divorce, etc….and I know that even if want to, I can’t go back.

I love the FFA. I truly enjoy working with kids. Livestock, speeches, ag mech, etc. I am all in. If they gave an award for something, my students won it. That is how I am wired.

I started my teaching sentence at Billings with a 3 year sentence. Great people. Perfect place to learn. Then I spent the best nine years of my career at Waynoka. Look at FFA history in Oklahoma. That is the best FFA/4-H community in the state. That place gets it. No ag teacher has ever retired from Waynoka; however, no ex-Waynokan talks bad about the place. Then there is Fairview. I didn’t want to go there but I did. My fault. I was burned out, but I knew I could build the chapter and we accomplished that. And thenI got in deep crap. My fault. Glad that it happened. I wouldn’t have quit teaching without that ordeal. However, it moved me into a really good job, saved my marriage and kept me out of some sort of rehab / counseling.

I still miss dealing with kids on a regular basis. I miss working on speeches, grass boards, CDE teams, proficiency awards and ag mech projects. I don’t miss fund raisers, teacher’s meetings, state reports or parents. The worst set of parents that I dealt with were at Fairview. Former ag teacher, now present with a meddling wife. Their kids are phenomenal kids. Always wanting their kids pushed to the front. Always wanting to know when local, county, Enid and OYE checks were ready. I just enjoy the fact that I was brought a county check and OYE check on June 30. One check was dated 3-15 and the other 5-7. I can’t imagine how big a stink it would have been if his kid’s checks would have laid on Roller’s desk or Mindi’s desk for that long.

Schools probably need to get stock shows out of the ag teachers hands and let them teach. I am guility of there being too much money and too much priority being placed on show animals. Not fair to the ag teachers. Duke doesn’t need an ag teacher to help with the stock shows, but he does need one to push him to be on judging teams, etc. I don’t have time to train a judging team. But I may have to start. Oh well. I really respect the ag teachers that have a wide array of students involved in different activities. Speeches are the most important. It doesn’t matter what career a student enters, public speaking will help them.

Duke and I are trying to decide how many wethers to nominate for Tulsa. Probably will just do them all, even though there are a couple that we know we won’t take to Tulsa. The best thing about nominations is people have to come get their goats and therefore, get them off of my feed bill.

–Congrats to Kela for being named the Employee of the Month for the Rib Crib in Stillwater.

For the second morning in a row, we have recieved rain. Almost an inch total between the two days. Hopefully, it rained out west. It is needed way worse out there.

–Been getting calls wanting to know what to worm with. We usually start worming Duke’s show wethers with 2 ccs of Prohibit. A month later, 5 ccs of Cydectin and the next month we use either 4 ccs of Valbazen or Safeguard. Then we rotate back through those three again. The that I am currently feeding also has diatomaceous earth in it, which helps keep the animals worm free.

christmas it is hotter than blue blazes. Had a hydrant leaking for the last week or two and haven’t had time to dig it up and replace it. So, 3:00 p.m. this afternoon seemed like a good time. I’m too old and too fat for this, but it is fixed. Now, I found another one that isn’t working right. It can wait.

Delivered a pile of goats this weekend. Made it to Pfeiffer’s and the Circle sale at Norman. Lots of goats changed owners this weekend. Just got a few more left at my house that I need to get delivered and then I am done for a while.

The great thing about stock shows is the people. I don’t care what species of animal, there are lots of good people. It is amazing how many parents and ag teachers work to help others to find the best animals to fit a kid’s budget. It is scary how many people throw their own time and money in to help buy somebody a little better animal than what they can afford. I know Mikey and I have the same theory, if we are going to have to look at that animal for a year, we want it to be a good one. Sometimes, its worth a hundred dollars or two just to help out. Not very smart, but I have spent money on worse things than helping some kids with a good show project. All I want in return, is for those kids to put in the time and effort to feed it and show it properly. And maybe help my kids when they need help.

–I am just sitting here at the computer getting older, gray-er haired and fatter. The Dragon Lady just got done grilling me a steak with fried taters and ranch beans. She can cook a hell of a steak. The steak was from one of my Dad’s home raised / home fed beef. That old fart can feed a steer. He also lets it hang at the butchers a little longer than most. It works. They are always damn flavorful and tender. He needs to market his beef.

–I was just watching the slide show on the homepage of Kelln Livestock when I realized that Darcy’s red wether was hard to see in front of the red backdrop.

–People occasionally ask Milligan or me if these onlne sales are for real. “Do they really sell like that?” Yes, yes they are for real. Like any sale it is a lot of work in order to do it right. I have to market them. People know that if they call and ask me about the goats that I will give them an honest opinion. I will gladly tell somebody if that one is a great, a really good prospect or if he will make a nice county goat. A lot of people come to the house and look at them. A lot of others call Milligan, Poe or Thompson and ask their opinion. It works for me. Others think that you can just take a picture of a goat and it will sell. There is WAY more to it than that.

–The description of the animals on my sale can define the animal. I keep it honest, to the point. I try to make them fun to read. I also work with the goats 5 or 6 times before photo day to make sure they set up.

–Another reason that my sales go well, is that some people understand that they are buying more than just a goat. They understand that I am WAY more likely to help with feed, showmanship and fitting if there is a goat with an orange ear tag that says KELLN on it.

–It did sprinkle here for 30 seconds. It looked like rain, felt like rain, smelled like rain, but it really wasn’t. If you haven’t been west of Woodward, then you need to. It will make you appreciate where you live. It is horribly dry in the OK and Texas panhandles and south to the border. The sage brush and mesquite is turning brown. There are more shades of brown out there than in a 64 pack box of crayons like my brothers used to eat in grade school.

The smoke is starting to clear. Every pen at my house is full of wethers. Either wethers I raised or ones that I have purchased. I finally had an evening without people at my house and the phone not ringing. I was able to study these goats and decide which ones are going where. It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together. Have to match goats to kids, for size, for numbers and for dollars. Now I just need to get them off my feed bill.

Well, the 2nd sale in a week is over with. This was a very good set of goats and they sold like it. Hopefully, they all end up in good homes. These online sales are a pile of work. Getting the goats to set up, getting a solid picture and then showing them to people as they come by to look on their schedules. Thanks to all of the buyers.