Let’s get right to the point.   BULLSHIT!!!!  There ain’t nobody in the industry buying this shit.  A $70K effing wether sells in Indy…..NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The previous record high selling wether was $36K at a friday night deal.  There AIN’T no chance of a $70k wether UNLESS it was sold in TX/OK with the backing of the right breeder’s/godfathers.  NO!  This deal doesn’t pass any smell test.

I have dealt with the guy that sold the high $ wether.  I have dealt with the people that “bought”  the high $ wether.  NOOOO!!!   Nothing about this seems right.  There ain’t enough stimulus money to justify this.

I don’t care who I piss off.   On Saturday afternoon, I was texted a pic of the grand wether at this sale.  I looked at the pic and thought, “I guess that there wasn’t a good one at this sale.”  And then, $70K…..BS!!!!   The sale coordinator, the seller, the buyer, the auctioneer, BULL!!!!

I don’t care who is behind this fiasco…no matter, this is a bad time to play a fake high $ sale.  $40K…..ok….once again, it needs to happen in TX.  $70k…..bullshit!  Whoever concocted this plan are a bunch of morons.  Notre Dame graduate or not….this is stupid.  PROVE ME WRONG!!!!

My # is 580-571-5029 and my address is 3 miles south of Fargo, OK then 1/2 mile west.  Zip code is 73840.  Nothing good will come from this BS sale.  Congrats!   A $70K wether…..dumb asses!!

I truly feel like the goat industry is tied to the democratic party.  Just when you think it can’t get any dumber….For real!   Seriously?     I think that I am just going to step over here and slam my nuts in this sliding glass door.  Wham!  Wham!  That makes more sense than the rest of this.

Seriously!  This is a serious topic.  I can’t be the only one that thinks that Ruffles potato chips are better than Lay’s.

Yes, I agree that you cannot eat just one Lay’s potato chip.  But Ruffle’s are a more substantial chip that eats better, holds flavor better and dang sure dips better.  Therefore, the ridges of a Ruffle’s chip are better.  Yet, the Lay’s brand of potato chips are the #1 selling chips in the USA, which makes them #1.  Yet, my personal palate prefers the strength, saltiness and mouth-feel of a Ruffle’s chip. Ruffle’s have ridges chips are the 2nd best seller of all.

Frito-Lay corporation owns BOTH the Lay’s chip and the Ruffle’s chip.  Monopoly.  I feel like they push Lay’s more than Ruffle’s and thus the overall placing in sales.  Me like some Ruffle’s tater chips.

Have a good one.  I’m stupid but not wrong.

For those of you that end up visiting this site and reading this crap, I hope that there are a few things that you take away from it.  And maybe the most important thing, is don’t read any further.  You’ve been warned.

1–I really don’t care who I offend.  And as I have often stated on here, if you read this and get upset, you will not like the real life version.  I do know where the letter F resides on this keyboard but out of respect to my mom, mother-in-law and a few others…..well….

2–We here at Kelln Livestock love good kids and families.   We have decades of proving this true.  I could have made a career out of the stock show game.   I have the skills, the knowledge, the work ethic and I truly like the people, the livestock and the fact that I don’t love an effing $ as much as others has kept me from cashing checks.  I’ve got some $h!t to answer to when it comes down to it at the end but I hope that I’ve built up some bonus points.  Maybe not.  I’m probably gonna need some prayers from others.

3–We love good kids and families more than we like winning.  Go back and read #3.

4–We (Mostly ME)LOVE a good time.  Speaking of which, our favorite son is currently home.  So, we might have or might not have shot an AR pistol which may or may not have had a suppressor on it.  Holy crap!!!   That was probably something that sounded like a lot of fun.  Actually the sound was not that impressive.  Wink!

5–I like good music and cool music.  And yes, sometimes there is a difference.  I am currently listening to the Big IZ play “Somewhere over the rainbow” on a ukulele.  Good–in the right mood.  Cool–always.

6–Wicked awesome food is always a plus.  With my eating and lack of formal exercise, I should weigh about 340.  Without working out, I manage to stay under 200.  People, I love a foodie experience.  I will travel to eat somewhere bad ass.  It might be as simple as a pineapple off the coast of Costa Rica, a Chilean sea bass at Pappadeaux’s  (how do you say that..chilEan, ShillAnn, ChillyANN?), an orange in California or a high $ steak somewhere, anywhere, maybe it’s best at home.   And maybe my favorite is a half-ass cajun shrimp bawl on the carport that also has some smoked pork ribs and GOAT bologna.  Ohh!  I have the meat sweats thinking about all that protein.

7–You will occasionally learn something.  And some have learned how to use this blog to reach out and learn more.  And some send so damn many pics and videos that my iPhone 5 can’t handle it and therefore, you get NO reply.  One pic at a time.

8–I like my kids.  Tammy likes them even more.  We both are very proud of our kids.  Both kids have pissed us off at times.  As I have them.  But I/we won’t trade.  Our kids are different yet so alike.  The previous fact is the common tie between my parents and I.  We also are very proud of the kids that we have dealt with the past several decades.  Thank you to the families that have crossed our paths.

9–When this stupid blog started, I was selling John Deere equipment.  Then managing a dealership.  All while raising goats and kids.  Winning banners was a priority.  Then, I quit a really good job to chase livestock. Then, my dumbass fell on my sword and went back to teaching ag.  I had a kid in the mix, nobody else wanted the job, there was actually a pile of really good kids in the mix, it doesn’t pay like the previous gig and I am a dumb ass!!  Barclay Holt thanks me.   However, the week before I actually took the job, who knew that a family was going to force me to draw that ETHICS line.  I didn’t see it coming.  Should have.  And now, I will thank them.  I now understand the value of a trophy, a win, whatever.   I’m glad that they got their deal and I am real happy with my spot in life.  A book, you say….. yeah I could write a book. You bet.  And it wouldn’t be like this fake TX hog-showing crap that they are trying to push.

10–I agreed to teach at Shattuck for ONE year.  That was July 2014.  I served that year.  Then, I agreed to train a second teacher.  Well, that one didn’t want to show up to work on a regular basis.  So, then Tammy & I  agreed to a third year to keep it going in the right direction.  Then, we had a student teacher, who is now the co-teacher.  And I am still debating the question……how much longer?   I didn’t plan on this long.  How do you step away?

I can answer that last question.  It’s easy when it’s livestock.  Sell!  Sell! Sell!  Get in a better mood.

Now, when it’s a career that you are good at, there are kids involved, friends, relatives, the school administration hasn’t pissed me off, damn—my head is spinning.  Oh hell… Meat Loaf is playing…..I’d do anything but…..

People, I’m real close to a personal goal that when I set it, I thought it was un-achievable.  And just for the record, “Copperhead Road” is playing.

Horseshoes & Shamrocks to all of you.  And I truly hope that tomorrow is better than today.

On the previous post, I looked at the word count and it was at 123.   RUSM?  I had to stop at that point.

I think that I’m going to start calling Tom Kester–Jimmy Chitwood.

Trivia time–How many points did Jimmy Chitwood score in the state championship game?

Speaking of GOATS……This weekend, since I was actually home during the daylight, I saw The Mandalorian sit on his ass like a dog.  While he was doing so, I noticed his nuts looked crusty.  Well great!!!!  The buck crud.  He had it bad up above his scrotum.   (Haaa……for some reason I always want to say “scwotum”.)  I haltered him, poured him with ivermectin, scraped the crusties off and then soaked the affected areas with pour-on cattle Cydectin.  Then, I gave him a big dose of LA 200.  Hopefully, this starts the curing process.  Next step, soak in straight iodine.  And another dose of LA 200.

I may be wrong, but I think that the buck crud is related to the strawberry foot fungus that we occasionally see on cattle and goats.  No vet hospital has been able to figger it out.  So, I feel real good saying “I’m right!”

When it comes to goat health & reproductive concerns, we ALL want a vet to be able to tell us what is wrong and what to do.  In reality, there are very few vets that have as much experience as a bunch of us.

Stories to come in the near future…..Pizzas.  Yes, pizzas.  There might even be a Jimmy Chitwood pizza.

And as I re-read this stuff, I find it funny that I have managed to tie Jimmy Chitwood, Tom Kester and crusty buck nuts in the same blog.  Seems appropriate.

Time to stop.  I’ll tell you what else needs to stop.  People texting me & asking for a list for the upcoming semen sales.  WTF?  When I make a list for each sale, I will send it to Milligan crew.  And they will post that list.  And then bid or not bid.

Have a good day and a better tomorrow.  Here’s to hoping that you have wicked awesome pizza, cold beverages and bucks without crusty nut sacks.  Cheers!

Seriously, how come there hasn’t been a buck named Jimmy Chitwood?   He was a bad ass!  Fictional?  Sure.  But there have been lots of stud animals named after fictional characters.

Yes, I just got done watching Hoosiers.  I watched it while eating a Herfy the Hereford pork chop.  Exquisite!!!

My rain gauge must be broken, that or the wind blew water out of the gauge.  We had several inches of rain, snow, sleet and hail last week.  So, the ground was already saturated.  Then it rained ALL day on Monday.  The gauge only shows 1 1/4″ but there is a lot of runoff.  In fact, the ponds are full.  And all of this rain means…….yeah, you goat herders know.  There are goats with the shits.

Until one has been to the OK Youth Expo, you cannot grasp the entirety of this vast spectacle.  11 days in a hotel room can wear one out.  I’ll be honest, as a whole, the Shattuck crew got the living hell beat out of us.  We had our moments, but not like we are used to.

The sheep show was wicked good.  I don’t know what that crew around Elk City is doing, but they are doing it better.  They are better–better shown, better animals, just better.

The steer show was wicked.  We didn’t have one good enough and it is what it is.

As for the wether goat show.  For the first time in the history of the OYE wether goat show, I did not have one in the hunt.  We took 2 wethers.  Both first time OYE wether showman.  One was a left over triplet that would make a great first time prospect.  The other a bottle baby flush kid that wasn’t bad but not great.  This goat had already won a county grand champion and made the sale at Woodward District.  Just sayin’…Darrell the wether didn’t owe us anything.

Before Darrell came off the stand at OYE, I told the family, “Listen, you are going into a class with over a $100,000 worth of goats.  If you walk to the next aisle over, there is a lineup of stands with at least 4 people fitting on each goat.  You have a bottle baby wether that has already exceeded expectations and you have a worn-out old ag teacher that is a has-been.  You better get him shown right.”  Darrell got shown to his best potential.  If Darrell had the “extra” enhancements….well, it might have been better.

I watched the OYE wether show completely un-biased.  I watched as the “pieces of the puzzle” came together.  I had seen one goat that was WAY better than the rest.  Yet, I saw a group of division and reserve division winners that had an odorous smell about them.  Too many political ties.

People, I did NOT want to write another Tulsa judge blog.  I truly don’t.  My reply—he found the RIGHT ONE for grand.  Athletic, balanced, sound structured and legit muscled.  Really good goat.   After that, it looked like a lot of goats had a steady diet of depo-medrol, air and were way too fat.

I’m not bashing the judge.  He found the right one and there wasn’t another one that tied to him.  I’m not somebody whining about getting beat.  I was just a spectator.  But I do have knowledge and I understand the parts that were moving in the background.  Before the grand drive, I told Schneberger, “Dude, I hope you have a political angle because the rest do.”  In true Schneberger fashion, he laughed and said, “Hell, we’ve won it once and we are just happy to be here with a home-raised deal.  We were hoping to be competitive in class.”

I’ll tell you this much, Schneberger has something that is hard to buy.  He has a bad-ass showman!  She works.  She knows what it is like to get beat and she knows what it is like to win.  She has a fun, yet extremely confident air about her.  Not arrogant.  She is just like her mother.  She isn’t brash and loud like her dad.  (Not a bad guy in my opinion.)  She is fun to watch and successful people want to be around her.  If I had a young showman, I would want them to emulate that girl.

In retrospect, I am real glad that OYE is over.  I’m real glad that I don’t have to bash another judge.  Yet, yet………damn!!!    We better clean this deal up or at some point, it’s going to get ugly.

I like food.  You do to.  I’ve eaten at some really, really good restaurants.  I’ve eaten at some high end places with high end prices and high end quality.   And I’ve eaten at some crap-holes that served high end food.   And some of my favorites were right at home.

Sure, I like eating at St. Elmo’s in Indy.  I love Cooper’s BBQ in Llano, Tx .  The lobster mac & cheese at SW in Vegas is really good.  And of course, I’m all in on a Pappadeaux’s.  As good as those places are….I’ve had better.

I’ve got a long list of gastric experiences.  As do you.

The best brisket that I’ve eaten was cooked by my friend Tyke Greer.  The best pork ribs that I’ve ever had…..well, I will be cooking more of them this summer.  The best steak that I’ve ever eaten…..John Q raised & fed the beef and Tammy cooked it.  (this is a regular occurrence)  The best chex mix EVER…Brandon Bruce makes it.  The best pastrami comes from Usinger’s.

One of my all time favorite foody experiences happened off the coast of Costa Rica.  We had been out catching sailfish.  Awesome experience.  We were 50 miles off the coast,  heading back.  I was on the deck, drinking a beer when the deck hand asked me if I wanted some pineapple.  RUSM?  Pineapple, grown right there in Costa Rica.  YES!!   He used the same knife that he cut bait with earlier, sliced the outsides of the pineapple off, cut a chunk of that fruit and tossed it to me.  I took a bite.   OOOOOOHHHHH!!!   Juices everywhere.  Down my chin and into my chest air.  So, so good!!

There are stories that involve a fresh peach and others that involve plates of bacon and others that have me burning my mouth on HOT turkey pot pie.

Yet, about once a month, I have to retreat and just make a PB&J.  White bread, WITH THE CRUST STILL ON, Smucker’s grape jelly with Peter Pan crunchy peanut butter.  Both smeared liberally on that bread.  I can eat that and be powered up.  Tasty, yet energizing.

Why does every species of stock show winners have to have a winner that checks all the boxes, have the extra bells and whistles, have the extra price tag?  Why?  When some of our best experiences were simple.

It was simply the best dang piece of pineapple that I have ever eaten.  Sure, I was on a crappy boat, on the Pacific but he used a dirty knife.  And I don’t care.  It was so good.

I’m not whining.  I saw some really good animals today.  They were good, well presented and well shown.  I’m just thinking while typing.  And sometimes, we look towards the more complex when the simple might have been better.

I get caught up looking at these things from different angles.  I’ve been a stock show parent that wants his kids to win.  I’ve been a breeder.  I’ve been an ag educator.  I’ve been a judge.  I’ve been a jock.  I’ve been a stock show addict.  I’ve done it.  And sometimes, a lot of times, what looks good at the backdrop doesn’t look good for the parent, breeder or ag teacher.

I should probably re-read this before I post.  What I think that I am trying to say without getting things twisted up, but should make sense to you and maybe me.

How come we can’t just have a damn good PB&J for a grand animal?  One, where we all agree that the crusts have good lines, and all parts are done to the right.  How come it has to be a PB & not jelly served with a side of a garlic aioli  sauce and a slice of lime on a wheat nut bread?

This isn’t bashing anyone.   Probably one of those deals best explained in person.  Peace out.

Have a happy St. Patrick’s Day!!  It is a Kelln National Holiday.  Although, there won’t be much partying for me.  Instead, it is day 9 of OYE.  2 more to go.

I’m guessing that Saturday will be a fun day for me.  Maybe there will be a blarney stone.

Here’s to horseshoes & SHAMROCKS for all of ya!

I left the barns before 7 pm.   Stock was fed and cared for.  Tomorrow will be a long day.  Shut it down and come in fresh on the next day.  This is not a plan that I followed for the past couple of decades.  But, it is a plan that I am going to follow in order to preserve some sanity.

I took a shower, put on clean clothes and met a friend for supper.  Then another buddy joined us.  Great meal with good people.

While I was eating prime rib, the Dragon Lady texted me and said that it was a perfect evening at home.  I know what that means.  The weather is mild, the grass is greening up, month old baby mini-herfs are running around with their tails straight up and she is sitting in the gator watching all of this.  Probably has a dog or 3 in the vicinity.

I’m not much of a farmer but I did call the Dacoma CooP and tell them to spread some Nitrogen last week.  BOY HOWDY that crap got expensive!!!  They got it spread within 48 hours.  Another 48 hours brought a nice rain, less than a 1/2 inch.  Perfect!!!  Barring a late freeze, we might make some wheat hay.

Back in January, I was in Fredericksburg, TX.  A happy place!  While following the Dragon Lady from store to store, and sampling the wares in every store, (salsa. Yeah, salsa.  lots of salsa.  That’s the ticket.).  I found a book of songs.  I think that it was titled the Great American Songbook: the music of Dolly Parton.  Songs all written by Dolly Parton.  What caught my eye was a young picture of Dolly on the cover.  I’ll be honest, it was mesmerizing.  So hot!!  She is so talented and so smart.  Yet, as I looked at this picture and look at pictures of her now….well, it reminds me of today’s stock show industry.  Damn!!  How far are we going to let this go?  That shit just doesn’t look quite right.

Sure, Dolly has some age on her.  But unlike the stock show industry, she is at least honest that she has had things stretched, tightened, filled and stuffed.

Until some judges start pulling on the reins, the outlaws will keep pushing the boundaries.  And sometimes, things were already pretty close to right.  I know, I know.  Some of you are reading this and going, “Here you come again.”  And you are right.  A correction in the marketplace is coming.

It would have been a perfect evening if I had been at home.

Best Dolly songs:

5–Here you come again

4–9 to 5

3–Islands in the Stream

2–I will always love you  (one of the best songs of all time)

1–Jolene     (nobody else can replicate this song)

Today, as I watched heifers and ewes being showed, I also watched the acrobatics of the IN ring photographers.  Today’s  livestock photography has evolved exponentially.  From the days of old, when JPT livestock photography simply had a backdrop and used an umbrella and a kazoo to get an animal’s attention, to present times of the photographer sitting the camera on the ground to get that wicked perfect angle of a showman and their animal–unreal.  Which brings up a question.  Has a judge ever tripped over the photographer?

No matter the species, you better start with a good one, then manage feed, environment, hair, hide and showmanship to the Nth degree and then have the final fit job dialed in to a T.  Then make sure you get them in the right class.  And sometimes that backfires.  We managed to weigh out a good one.  Oh well.  Like Ritson Urban always said, “If you ain’t ever weighed one out, you weren’t trying to win very hard.”

The OYE ag mechanics contest increased in #ers and in top end quality.  Hats off to all that stepped up their game.  It was impressive and will only get better.  We had a good day with a division champ, 2 reserve division champs and all of our projects in the top 3.  We came home with 4 new chop saws, 3 grinder sets, 2 John Deere air compressors and a Lincoln MIG welder.  Not all bad.

I like the double whammy factor of the Ag Mech contest.  First, you have to build a quality project.  Secondly, you have to be able to talk about your project.  I had a pair that talked a division champion down into 3rd in their division.  But, I also had a pair of senior girls that talked their pizza oven into a 3rd place in a really tough and large class.

On a goat note, we survived the OYE doe show.  There were some wicked wenches shown here.  The showmanship and fit jobs were unparalleled.  Although I didn’t always follow the judges placing, I truly felt like he picked does that he liked.  There was no stench.  If you wanted to place, then you better have a wide based, cool made one.  And she better look the part and be shown right in order to win.  I wish he handled them more but in the end, he found good goats.

And on an OYE high note.  The crew at OYE accidentally found a way to almost make this marathon enjoyable.  As I easily found a parking spot on Friday morning, then walked into a CLEAN bathroom and noticed that the middle street was not a major traffic jam, it dawned on me while it was enjoyable.  NO PIGS!!!   With the PED virus outbreak, the OYE gilt show is moved till after the market shows.  This freed up a week with no pigs.  The hotel hallways are not littered with wood chips.  The elevators don’t smell like hog $h!t.  The wait times at restaurants are shorter.  It is simple math–you remove several thousand pigs and their owners, and everything gets easier.   Monday morning, property values will greatly decline as the barrows move in.  They will put a strain on sewage, water, sanitation and the traffic.  Sheer #ers cause issues.

And for you morons that think that I am a hog hater.  I have a hog showing AND breeding resume that is better than most hog jocks and not as good as some.  I used to enjoy feeding and showing pigs.  But, the current modern chemistry experiment that is required to feed & keep hogs sound in today’s current environment is not enjoyable.  But thankfully, the other species seem to be headed down this same path.  Nice!

And when I get home from this marathon, Herfy the Hereford hog is waiting in the freezer.  Can’t wait.