I’m going to start on a negative note.  The Atlanta airport needs to hire Dr. Temple Grandin in order to learn how to move livestock in a safe and productive manner.  There can NOT be a more UNfriendly airport than Atlanta.  Rude people, bad directions and it is a Sunday so I am being nice….. And to think, this is where most foreign visitors fly into the US.  And this is their first view of the United States.  Hunh?!  No wonder the rest of the world doesn’t like us.  If my perception of the United States was formed by visiting the Atlanta airport, well, I’d probably think that we were all rude, lazy turds as well.  Change the channel.

There we go.  That’s better.  Kind of like changing channels from the dnc convention over to a cooking station.  It’s just better.  Are we baking cupcakes or using mom’s recipe to make peach pie.  No matter, I am in a better mood.  I had the honor to judge a show in the great state of Georgia.  I wouldn’t have done it, but I had a feeling that there were good goats there.  Good goats have been heading to that state for several years now.  The opportunity arose, so, I thought that I better go and see for myself.  I am glad that I did.  

To start with, the goats were good.  Real good.  How good?  I’m talking Okie/Texan wicked good quality. Lots of name brand stuff.  (NO stuff sold by Kelln). The showmanship quality was better than I expected.  Deep in good showmen.  Feeding and fitting was good.  I’m telling you that the goats and the presentation were really fun to look at.  GOOD!  

If you are a breeder that is sending goats to Georgia, well, you better send a dang good one if you want to win.  Impressive set of goats that were well shown and well presented.  

Early in the show, there was a showmanship class of upperclass high school kids.  There was a pair of young men, side by side, showing goats.  Both were good sized lads. Not fat, just big boned, healthy lads.  I looked at them and asked if they were offensive linemen.  They replied “No, sir.”  I asked, “Do you play football?”  One of them replied, “No sir.”  I then asked, “Well, then what do you do?”   With conviction, he passionately replied, “Sir.  I show goats and I LOVE to judge livestock.”  RUKM?  This deal is for real.  He didn’t win, but if I don’t write about 2 good looking guys in the near future, text me and I will tell the rest of the story.  

As for the show…quality of goats—comparable to Texas & Oklahoma.  Showmanship–better than most, not as good as some, which means that there are some wicked good showmanship skills in Georgia.  The show itself–off the charts!  I’ve been a little bit down about stock shows for the past year or two.  I get sick of the dirty pool, lotsuv of $s and bad feelings.  This weekend relieved of a lot of that.  I came home refreshed and remembering what I LOVE about a livestock show.  THANKS!

To start with, the hospitality was off the charts.  Southern hospitality–yes sir!  The show management took care of everything.  This show was well ran with lots of support.  There was state ag-ed staff announcing AND her husband was working the arena.  There were college kids helping.  Parents, ag teachers, supporters, alumni and sponsors.  I’m saying lots of people, working together.  This was a top-shelf kind of show.  

I know, I know… you want to know the downside to this show.  I’ll tell you and tell you bluntly…in true Kelln fashion.  The only downside to this show was the judge.  The damn judge took too long to get through the showmanship part of the show.  That’s my fault.  There was a dang nice buckle at stake for every age group.  And a buckle means a lot to those kids.  And, I didn’t miss a thing.   However, on a positive note, a “thorough”  judge is good for the profitability of a concession stand.  And no kid was overlooked and…..well helll, I’m out of excuses.  I like looking at really good animals and working with even better kids.  

Upon flying into Atlanta, my chaffeur picked me up and we met up with a couple for supper.  It was a dang nice supper.  That supper was like plugging a cell phone into a charger.  I can tell you what I ate–filet mignon.  And what I drank–un-sweet tea  (not a common drink in Georgia).  But that isn’t what charged me up.  Listening to these 3 career ag-ed teachers put me in a good place. None of the three said anyting that was a memorable quote.  But all 3 were passionate about their craft.  Very professional, yet VERY passionate.    Now, fast forward to late Saturday evening (because of a slow judge), I went to dinner at an IHOP (can’t go wrong there) with a group of stock show supporters.  Some had shown, some were parents, some were alumni, some were supporters, some had done well, some not as well as they had wanted to and none them acted like there had even been a show that day.  Between listening to these people, the kids, the parents, watching, listening, dang, people…..this was a good trip for a burnt up old curmedgeon.  

When the food was brought to the tables and a young girl in the group asked to give the prayer (30ish people in an IHOP with a 14 or 15 year old saying grace at 10ish pm on a Saturday night?  We don’t have a problem in our nation.  We have a problem with leaders in our nation.) the parents all just assumed the position.  No worrying about whose kid or whatever?  Hats off to the parents, teachers and everybody else involved.  This never goes out of style.

When that phone rang at the hostess stand, I felt like I needed to answer it.  I apoligize.  But, yeah, I would do it again.  

I did enjoy the fact that on Friday, I got to drive Kela to OKC to the airport.  This has always been Dragon Lady territory.  But this time, Kela flew west at 1:30 and I headed east at 3:30.  So I got the honors. We had time for lunch together.  Then I behaved myself around Will Rogers World Airport for a couple of hours.  I was in a pretty contented place  just thinking about all of the miles that Kela has traveled in the past few years.

Let’s summarize my weekend.  Great hospitality.  Really good goats, even better kids. Top shelf show.  Ate at IHOP.  Had fun.  Ate good steaks.  Listened to motivational speakers who did not know that they working as motivational speakers.  Watched daughter fly to west coast again.  Refrained from choking several people in Atlanta fly station.  Not in chronological order, but best weekend in years.  

Lottery.  No, I haven’t bought any tickets in years.  The past week….kind of like a mastercard commercial.  

Watching this presidential candidate take the stage at this dnc, makes me want to puke.  All of her (& I use that term loosely) supporters have that smug, crappy look like a set of parents that know that they have the show already rigged.  I don’t have a good feeling about the upcoming elections.  I am all for a woman president, but that deal don’t smell right, look right, sound right or feel right.  If it looks like a POS, sounds like a POS or smells like a POS, it IS a POS.  

It is not a well-hidden fact that I like watching kids succeed.  Especially, my own.  It has been fun to have the world traveler home for a couple of weeks.  Our 2 kids are the same, but different.  It has also been fun to watch the younger one work, learn and look up to friends that are willing/ wanting to help a young person learn.  Several people were here today and they left with fresh eggs, okra, taters, etc.  Better yet, Tammy cooked up a pile of that stuff along with some wicked good smoked pork chops.  No  muslim-extremists ate supper with us tonight.  

For that matter, no pig haters ate breakfast with us either. I like to brag about excellent restaurants on my travels, but at times, I forget about those close to home.  We had some Texas friends in the neighborhood so we met them in Woodward for breakfast at the PollyAnna Cafe.  The pancakes were huge.  Duke and I both gave up before we got done with our blueberry pancakes.   

I did witness the impossible earlier today.  I never thought that I would see the day that James Sweet would actually part with a high quality doe.  It hurt him.  But, he did sell one.  

Speaking of being in a good mood, spend time watching Adele video clips on late night shows.  That chick is awesome.  I would be in favor of Adele for president of the USA.  What?  You say that she isn’t a citizen.  Neither is that turd that you have for a president now.  And do you really want to claim hillary as a citizen?   

I haven’t been in a very good mood about the goat industry lately, but I do have a pen or two that puts me in a better mood about the future.  

Cheerio!  Horseshoes and shamrocks to all and I hope that all of you have a better tomorrow.  

Monday was flush day at Seelke’s place.  Jodi & I had 3 donors scheduled, Jodi & Bob had one, Sweet’s had two, Teel’s had one and Poe/Spradlin had one.  John & Jackie Edwards were going to do the ET work.  I like working with them.  Lots of help was there to do the manual labor.  The local vet was present to administer drugs.  Darbie Ross and Kory Dietz had recips there ready for frozen embryos.  This was supposed to be a fun day.  

Jodi, Bob and I  haven’t been looking forward to this date for the past 2 weeks as the highest priced donor deciced to give up life.  While living in the air conditioned barn.  Don’t know why.  It’s just a goat thing.  Then throw in some other circumstances and this wasn’t looking like near the fun deal that it was supposed to be.  

About half way through the donors, I walked into the lab trailer, John was just sewing another doe up.  He took a look at my t shirt and said, “You need to go change shirts?”  I thought WTH?  Then I looked at it.  It was harmless when I put it on that morning.  But now, the Wile E. Coyote holding a sign that read “Epic Fail!”  took on a new meaning.  Turns out, he was right.

At the end of cutting open 7 donors, there were ZERO embryos to transfer.  7 donors bred to 5 different bucks at 4 different locations and ZERO transfers.  The eggs were there, but not fertilized.  In all their years of performing ET work in goats, the Edwards have never had a day like this before where NO embryos were collected.  It truly was an Epic Fail!  So, they moved right into thawing out frozens and putting them in.  

Jodi had an epic spread fixed for lunch.  And the help was epic.  Price Poe, at 7 years of age, outworked all of us old farts.  

I am ready for the month of July 2016 to be over.  The goat industry has not been kind to the Seelke’s or Kelln’s.  

It may suprise most of you that I used to read classical literature.  I’m talking when I was in grade school, junior high and even in high school.  I read a lot.  I had read the all time great novel by Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities” before I had a drivers license, without an English lit teacher assigning it as homework.  (By the way, this paid off in later years, when I actually was in English lit. class).  

The goat side of times hasn’t been worth 2 squirts of owl shit in this part of the world, lately.  I don’t have the time nor the desire to write all of the bad crap that we have dealt with lately.  I would rather be stabbed in the eye with an icepick, then kicked in the nuts by somebody with a size 15 steel toed boot, then forced to eat a bell pepper covered in raw tomatoes as I would want to talk about goats on this fine evening.  This would be the (it could be worse) times.  

The family side of times has been the BEST!  My brothers and I rented a helluva house on Table Rock Lake this past week.  The 3 of us, along with our 3 MUCH BETTER halves and the resulting grandkids all stayed in this 6 bedroom, 3 bath HOUSE along with our parents.  This included the traveling daughter that recieves her mail in Los Angeles.  THE whole Fam Damily was present and accounted for!  Lots of time spent on the lake.  Lots of time spent in the pool.  Lots of time spent in the HOUSE!  TOGETHER!!!     It was a wicked way good time to be had by all.  This was one of those weeks that had people scared on Monday, but in the end, had everybody going, “Damn! That was a good deal.”  

I may get pissy with my dad, but that old fart did teach all 3 of us boys to “marry up”.  Not for money!  Just for smoking hot, great mommas!  All 3 of us paid attention to that lesson.  We all did WELL!!  REAL well!!!   Cheers, Dad!!  Watch the results of these grandkids for years to come.  Mom and Dad will be busy just keeping up with these kids. 

Kenneth Helms LOVES to remind me that I married WAY above my scale.  One–I agree.  Two–Thank You for noticing!  Three–I’m ready for a foot race!  I like my chances.

Tammy, Kela, Duke and I did the Taneycomo trout fishing experience.  Our schedule didn’t quite jive for the right time of day, but dang this was a fun experience.  All I really wanted was for the family to catch fish.  And personally, I wanted to catch a brown trout as I have not caught that species.  The family did fine.  I did not catch a brown, but Duke did.  I felt honored just to see a nice brown trout.  I lost the biggest fish, but also caught the biggest one, literally seconds before we were done.  The boat ride up the Taneycomo with the “smoke on the water” was worth the trip. The guide earned his paycheck.  

On paper, it was a really shitty week.  But in reality, it was a great week personally.  But, it could be worse.  So, that makes it better. With skid marks. Not quite a Dickens ending.  Of course, if you want the un-edited version of this post, ask me.  

The past week or so has not been fun in the goat business. But, I did get to eat at a way good Mexican joint. The Kelln Klan met Frazier at Enrique’s in Ponca city. That place is good. Thanks. Looks like high quality mature does have some value. I see a lake in my near future. Over and out!

Caught the end of an older movie.  I guess it is actually old enough to be considered a classic.  The movie “Turner & Hooch” was on the tube.  This was a hit movie back in the 80s.  It was a good movie then, and it still stands the test of time.  But now, when watching it, you find yourself thinking, “My goodness.  Who realized that this actor was going to go on to win multiple oscars?!”  Tom Hanks has played some iconic characters.  

I stepped out onto the driveway this evening and I was reminded of my favorite Jerry Jeff Walker song.  It is windy here today and one needs to be aware of that before “Pissing in the Wind”.  My buddy Connely Wade introduced me to Jerry Jeff Walker’s music back in ’89.  Then, while making some friends at the collegiate meats judging contests, I ended up seeing Jerry Jeff in concert in Lubbock, TX.  I even learned NOT to mouth off to the guy running the mechanical bull.  Of course, I learned the hard way.  I did ride that thing, but I did get thrown HARD!  So hard, I didn’t feel it until the next morning.  If my memory serves me right, this event was called PikeFest.  

And speaking of judging, I haven’t been clearing the calendar to judge many shows the past couple of years.  I haven’t had time, but now I am thinking that maybe I need to make time.  I enjoy looking at good stock, watching expert showmanship and seeing new places.  

Speaking of songs, I always liked the band RATT.  Their first big hit was “Round and Round”.  I found humour in the fact that I was farming this weekend and that song came on the iTunes.  I like the song way better than I like going round and round in a tractor.  Although, I am a firm believer that everybody ought to own a green tractor, I still don’t enjoy “farming”.   Parts, parts, parts!    

I’m going to be sore tomorrow as Duke and I hauled a couple hundred small square alfalfa bales today.  I more than kept up with him, but I bet that I will be the one moving slower tomorrow.  We even got the Dragon Lady to drive for us.  Better yet, she cooked for us tonight.  HUGE ribeyes cooked to perfection, baked red taters & fried okra from the garden, mac & cheese, green beans, crossaints and I wonder why I’m getting fat.  Dang it was good!  

Speaking of the Dukester, that is one proud kid of his bred heifers.  Just ask Brandon the Bruce.  Big Brandon asked Duke if he had any good goats to look at.  Duke shrugged and said, “Yeah.  But I’d rather show you my heifers.”  Brandon said, “I’ve just been waiting for an invitation.  Let’s go.”  

Here’s a cheers to my favorite IN goat herder.  I appreciate the dedication and thumbs up-attitude, even while witnessing a train-wreck.  It will work out in the long run.  Every week, I could add a new chapter to “Shit you never heard of before in the goat industry”.  This weekend, well, I’m still just shaking my head.  I don’t even know where to start.

Made it home from picking kids up at OK FFA Alumni Camp.  That is one of the better deals going.  The kids LOVE it.  I get to take another crew of meatheads next week.  Lots of driving, but it will pay off in the long run.  

On a down note, it looks like the late freeze in April zapped the sand plums.  On a high note, we are seeing LOTS of quail pairs and lots of juveniles.  I foresee another big bill at Charlie’s when the Ring clan comes to paradise to chase quail and talk crap.  “I got him!”  I can’t wait!   2016 is only half way over, but that weekend ranks as my favorite of the year.  And people, I’ve had a really good year so far.  That deal was fun.

Heads up, thumbs up and prayers for the Schovanec family as they head down a road that they dang sure weren’t looking for.  It’s times like these that you can be glad that you invested in faith, family, friends and I ain’t got nothing cool to say.  Other than I bet that it all works out!  I like the odds on this bet.  I guarantee you that Carson says that “It will be OK.”  Maybe, we need to move some of those Indian casino machines north of Garber.  

Here’s to hoping that you all had a great day and will have a better tomorrow.  Horseshoes and shamrocks!  

What a waste?  This shooting in Dallas is beyond comprehension.  It doesn’t make sense.  And then to watch your president blame high-powered guns, not the shooter(s), makes you wonder who orchestrated this tragedy.  

And to top it off, nothing happens to hillary for all of her transgressions.  Our economy is in the tank, our national debt is atrocious, our country’s morals and values are in the dumper, our military is not the super-power that it was and…..

I need to NOT watch the news.  I think that I will just stick to reading Ag Youth and Purple Circle.  Probably ought to be reading the good book a little more, as well.  

I’m not necessarily excited about it being the last workday of the week, but I am excited as I don’t have to drive anywhere on this fine day.  However, on Saturday, I get to go back to the east side of the state and pick up kids at alumni camp.  That is an all day deal.

Thursday brought us summer temps.  The pickup said 107 at one point.  It was wicked hot with a pile of humidity.  And then, we got an inch of rain last night.  This is the greenest that I remember NW OK being in July.

I bought a herd goats last week.  Does, kids, yearlings, etc.  The does were thin.  Duke and I processed them last week and wormed with valbazen, vaccinated, trimmed hooves, etc.  But, after a week, the overall herd health just didn’t seem quite right.  I lost a doe or two.  So, I went to the fridge and pulled out some old school Prohibit.  This was the good stuff that they made before they took it off of the market and brought it back in a crappier form.  This is the Prohibit that when mixed with water looks like Mountain Dew.  One has to be careful with this stuff as an over-dose can kill a goat.  But it works on getting rid of hookworms.  I am already seeing results. 

The garden is starting to produce.  Dug some taters, a few squash and the okra is going to get out of hand in a few days.  The tomaters and peppers are behind.  Plus, the crazy chicken lady is getting lots of eggs.  Still small, but getting bigger.  

I’ve had several texts and calls regarding the use of copper boluses.  I have used copper for several years on babies with screwed up legs.  But, let’s be honest, this isn’t my idea.  Jodi Seelke studies all aspects of the goat industry.  She is the one that put me on the copper in the doe herd.  I agreee with her research.   Look at a map of copper deficient areas and this part of paradise is smack in the middle.  Throw in the fact that a lot of feeds, minerals, etc. for goats do not have copper in it.  The reason, because a lot of stuff is cross-marketed/used in sheep.  And copper kills sheep.  

Whenever it comes to herd health, talk to other breeders.  Ask questions.  Most likely, your local vet doesn’t know much about goats.  Very few prescription drugs are labeled for goats.  Talk to those in the trenches actually dealing with the beasts in your area.  They will know what works and what doesn’t work.