Pray.

Pray for our kids.

Pray for our way of life.

Pray for our troops.

Pray for agriculture.

Pray for common sense.

Pray for each other.

Pray for our leaders.

Pray against evil.

Pray for our nation.

Pray for our future.

I’ve only got one thing to say.

It is time to pray.

Sunday and Monday, I was in OKC.  We got Duke shipped off.  I sent a trailer to OYE with equipment to get setup.  Now, on Tuesday.  I head back to OYE.  The marathon has begun.

When I hit the publish button, I am getting in a vehicle and heading to OKC.  We will drop Duke off with the Marines tonight.  Tomorrow morning we will see him before he departs to the airport.  He can take $20, 3 business cards, a small bible and the clothes that he is wearing.

Pray for him and the others that have taken up the pledge to serve and protect the US of A!!

I wish and I need one.  But this Saturday will be busy helping kids get ready for OYE.  I leave on Sunday for that almost 2 week vacation.  I will make at least 5 trips back and forth from OKC to Shattuck during that time.  Getting health papers, hauling equipment and stock and organizing people is a job.

Personally, I need to process some babies, move some cattle and does as well as fill feeders.  There are hooves to trim, goats to worm and there are several goats that need a bath in order to get ready for pictures.

Have a good one and a better tomorrow.

I have a lot of thoughts about the livestock industry and the show stock industry in particular.  Not now.  My mind isn’t right to hit publish on these thoughts.  These thoughts are best discussed sitting on a bucket, leaning on a fence or walking/talking stock.

I have survived another Woodward District Jr. Livestock Show.  We did not have the most animals in the premium sale (we did well, but…), we dominated the ag mechanics shows and we had the most scholarship winners.  Shattuck kids sold well at the premium sale–all 4 species.  I’m proud of our kids.  I’m wore out but am  DAMN proud to have had a part with the group that we had showing.  We are graduating a great class but I really like the young crew that is coming up.

I don’t know how much longer that I can fight this livestock game.  It is a young person’s game and I am now a high mileage unit that hasn’t had regular maintenance and care.  I try to have kid’s successful in all species.  And yes, I can still clip a calf.  I am humble enough to now let the jocks have at it, but still confident enough to grab MY set of clippers and fix THEIR skips.

It isn’t that I am that good at any of this game.  I’m not.  It’s just that I had a good upbringing with parents that weren’t afraid to let their kids find their own path.  I was taught right, wrong and learn how to fix your screw ups.  I was then and am still held responsible for my actions.  And trust me, my mouth and this blog has caused me issues.  So, I own it and go on.

I don’t celebrate many birthdays or anniversaries.  But, I recently passed another decade plus deal that does nothing but remind me of how bad it can be and how good it can be.  I can be a bastard to deal with but I know that it was a bunch of strong willed women that helped keep me in line.  Tammy, Kela, Mindi Clark, my MOM and my mother-in-law.  Thank you ladies!!!

Hogs clipped, sheep sheared, wether goats dialed in, does & cattle clipped & fitted.

I don’t have a topic in mind for this night.  However, there are numerous hot button issues swirling in my brain.  I am damn tired yet relieved.

The Woodward District Livestock Show is on break for a few days.  We have shown hogs, sheep and goats.  Now a break until we show cattle on Monday.  This is the best district show in Oklahoma and is better than most state shows.  Name brand judges, top shelf animals and a wicked good premium sale.

I grew accustomed to winning this show for a long, long time.  Not last year and dang sure not this year.  We did well considering that I am running new horses that aren’t quite there and we don’t spend much $.  I didn’t sell many wethers last year, but we will be well represented in the premium sale.

Upon completion of the sheep show, I was rushed to get goats in place, weighed and cards turned in on Tuesday evening.  I told my young crew to not go far and be ready to work.  Well, the first time that I needed one of them, they were out side chasing snow flakes.  SOOOO, I gathered them up, chewed some ass (most of the barn could here me) and gave them a final warning.  Then I went back to clipping.  Then a switch flipped inside me.  “I don’t care how they do.  I’m putting these turds to work.  So, I had 8th graders shearing heads, clipping fronts and drenching goats.”

Dudes, it is hard to turn less and let someone else do it.  But, sometimes, you just have to let them screw up and learn how to do it right.  We will see.  It might have been a smart move.

I had  a couple of turds act like they are going to make good showmen.

Why do so many shows want to get a sheep AND goat judge.  They are two different species, that are shown differently, fitted differently and are not the same creature.  A sheep judge does not necessarilly make for a good goat judge.  Don’t’ get me wrong.  The right wether was grand at Woodward.  No doubt.  Congrats to the Maloney family.  They dominated the wether show.  And should have.

And then, I have been sleep deprived 1) because of the shows 2) trying to kid out does.

This has been a train wreck.   We’ve hauled off more dead ones than we have alive.  Numerous reasons—Big kids.  Big kid coming upside down and head back.  Too many triplets and a set of quintuplets.  Numerous bucks used.  Does fed a low protein/ high TDN hay.  No, I didn’t use PG600 or any other drug.  This hasn’t been a fun week.  There is a reason that a good goat costs a shit -ton.  They are hard to make.

One of my kids showed a GL wether into the premium sale.  One of Pullan’s kids won the heavy weight class with a GL wether.  Paintball sired a premium sale wether.  And I had a couple of TACOCAT kids that made the sale.

Tammy and I have been at this ag teaching game for several decades.  I started my career by serving a 3 year sentence at Billings, OK.  This was a great place for me to start.  The superintendent was the former ag teacher.  There was a group of parents and students that were ready for a young, energetic, brash kid to take over.  I didn’t know what I was doing, but I wasn’t afraid to learn.  And that we did.

Then we moved to Waynoka in 1996.  I loved that place.  We won A LOT!  I had a LOT of FUN!   I could write books about my tenure at Waynoka.  It was really good and I still have a place in my heart for that place and those people.  But I was burnt slap out.

So, I took a job at Fairview.  This was a great move for Kela.  Me, not so much.  There were a lot of great kids and I learned while there.  I just wasn’t having fun.   But, that is also when the goat deal exploded for us.

Then, I took a really, really good job selling green tractors.  And the goat deal just kept getting better.  So, I quit that job to focus on goats and a few other things.  And that’s when I got suckered into this Shattuck gig.  I agreed to one year and here I am finishing up year # 6.  Why?  Good kids.  That’s it.

However, I have come to realize that I have had good kids at every school.  All four schools and towns are way different.  But, the same results because of really good kids.  My hypothesis is that there are good kids everywhere, if you are willing to work with them.

I routinely get calls from former students to ask me questions about this, that or the other.  I LOVE these calls.  They aren’t going around their current ag teacher.  They just need to ask a source that they know and trust.  They call Tammy as much or more.  It is a great feeling.

My personal dealings with former students goes like this.  Our accountant is a former student.  We have investments with a former student.  My dad, brother, Duke and I buy bulls from a former student.  I hired a former student as a salesman for Western Equipment.  And when I quit Western, that former student is who replaced me as a store manager.  I’ve shared fun stories of selling large equipment to former students and then going on the Gold Key tours at the John Deere Combine & Tractor factories with them.  When, I was out of teaching, I hooked up a family that I now currently teach, with a former student for show cattle.  (That sentence may be confusing.)  That was a super-successful hookup, even after that former student’s untimely death.  –We all miss those Bedwell boys.–

I traveled to Phoenix with a former student and his family this past year.  Tammy was at the Woodward District pig show to watch former student’s kids show pigs.  It was way cool to see former students & parents that came to Duke’s graduation.

I’m competitive enough and confident in my own abilities enough (NOT arrogant) that I can tell you everything that any students of mine has ever won.  But, I would way rather tell you about the kids and the stories that got us to the win.  I have so, so many great stories from the cab of an ag pickup, while working with an animal, practicing a speech or working on a shop project.

My love for showing animals is what led me to become an ag teacher.  Our success with goats is what led you, the reader, to come to this website to read this crap.  But, it is the kids and their families along with the connection to my family that keeps me going in this game.

People, I’m only an ag mechanics show and a barrow show through this district event.  I hurt.  Physically.  I’m not as good as I used to be but I just might be at the top of my game.  It doesn’t make sense.  But it does.  I know what fuels me and it isn’t a banner.  It is the work, the effort and the relationships that go into working towards a banner.

On a side note:  I went to the Daylight Donuts in Woodward this morning.  By the way, this is the best Daylight Donuts.  I don’t know what they do different but they are WICKED good!  I had a 9 year old hog showman just pounding donuts.  I knew that he had eaten more than 5.  I saw him with another donut in hand.  I asked him, “How many have you had?”

His reply.  “Mr. Kelln, I have ate eight donuts.”  Then he ate one more to make it nine.  Ate plus one equals nine.

Feb. 22 is George Washington’s birthday.  In the year 2020, it is also the actual start of National FFA week. According to book face, some chapters were celebrating FFA week from the 15th to the 22nd.  But, the national FFA website says that it is the 22nd to the 29th.  Which is right?

Technically, FFA week is the week from Saturday to to the following Saturday that encompasses George Washington’s birthday.  With the 22nd falling on a saturday, both are kind of right.  However, the national FFA website says it is FEb. 22 to 29, that is when it SHOULD be.

The Woodward District Jr. Livestock Show begins today.  The Ag Mechanics show is setup and their are tables loaded with prizes for the winners.  We have outstanding support for their contests and it will continue to grow.  Barrows show Sunday, gilts monday then sheep on Tuesday and goats on Wednesday.  Cattle are the following Monday.  District shows are when it gets serious for me.  I don’t get pumped for jackpots, I hate locals and could care less about a county show.

Speaking of beginning, our favorite son is now beginning a new chapter in his life.  As of Friday, Feb. 21, Duke was sworn in to the United States Marine Corp.  He made this decision and is following through with it.  He had mentioned this several times over the past year.  He did not enjoy college.  He turned down a job with Ditch Witch in order to make this decision.  We are extremely proud of him.  We support this decision.  And yet, there is a knot in the gut.  He will leave in a couple of weeks for sunny San Diego.  Although, I don’t think that he will be going there to enjoy the nice climate.

Ol George Washington made a name for himself through military duty.  That is how it began for him.  What do you reckon George would think of the jackass political scene that we currently enjoy in these United States of America?

Have a good one.  Here’s to horseshoes and shamrocks for all of us.  And now, the phrase Semper Fi takes on a stronger meaning here at the Kelln Kompound.

I stay busy throughout the year, as do others.  However, this is a hectic time of year.  Proficiency apps were due this week, scholarship apps due, speeches gotten written, shop projects going on, stock shows, oye entries, cde prep, etc.  I’m not whining.  I’m just ready to wrap some of this stuff up.

Oh, and I’ve got does in the kidding barn.  I know that most of the yankees are done kidding, while some kid from November to June.  Here in paradise, we are just getting started.

Have a good one and a better tomorrow.

Year round, whenever the Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band song called “The Little Drummer Boy” hits the playlist, I love it!  That isn’t just a Christmas song.  Pa rum pu pu pum.  You all know the song & the tune.  But, take the time, actually stop and listen to the words.  I don’t even care if it is the Bob Seger version.  I just like that one…A LOT!    Seriously, listen to the words.

“I played my drum for him. Pa rum pu pu pum. I played my best for him.”

Whatever it is that you do, do it to the best of your ability.  I donate money to various causes BUT, money isn’t what turns my crank.  It’s when I donate my time and effort that I feel like I’ve played my best for him.

This morning, after Mass, the priest hit me up about a day of rest.  I told him that a “Day off” usually finds me getting in trouble.  (TRUE)  I then allowed how “We’ve got deadlines.” In all honesty, my desired church is a shop with kids working,  a barn with students working animals or a gator in the middle of cows.  No tv or social media, just some tunes playing while working. Pa rum pu pu pum.

      I go to church on a fairly regular basis, but that is not when I feel the closest to GOD or Jesus.   I go because I am supposed to (for human reasons) AND because I want the priest to know who I am for burial purposes.  In reality, I know where I play my best for HIM.  

I spent a Sunday afternoon in the shop with students.  Duke was there with me.  He nor I ever welded a thing.  We were coaching students.  Other alumni showed up–un-invited, yet here they were to help.  Students working, laughing & learning.  When I left the shop, I headed to student’s homes to watch progress on show animals.  Too many people bitch about “kids of today”.  There is NOT a problem with kids of today.  There is a problem with adults not willing to challenge kids.  Don’t tell them how hard it “used to be”.  Show them.  Play your best for them.  Pa rum pu pu pum.  And then watch what they do.  This is a recipe that works anywhere, everywhere.

I’m not alone.  I get the privilege to work with parents like Tiffany Schultz, Barclay Holt, Hoss Manske and Rodney Washmon that put forth effort to not only push their own kids but are willing to help others along the way.  This stock showing game AND raising kid(s) ordeal takes a team to make it work.

      Let’s be real.  I’m not doing GOD’s work.  I’m just a schlub doing what I know and trying to play the best that I can.  That’s it. Pa rum pu pu pum.

I have no gift to bring.  I’m just playing this drum, and I don’t even know how to play a drum.  But, I will play my best for HIM.  That’s all I got.  And at the time of my end, I hope that my best was good enough.

Here’s to horseshoes and shamrocks for all of you that actually read this crap.  Here’s to hoping that you had a good one and a better tomorrow.