Stock shows that last over a week are rough on the mind, body and soul.  This one was worse than normal.  Yes, I broke a toe in two a couple of weeks ago.  I was doing pretty good on it until Tuesday afternoon.  And then, HOLY $h!t that hurts.  The rest of my left foot decided to give up the fight.  Now, as a result of over-compensating for my toe, the ball of my foot and my big toe are on strike.  swelLING and pain are not a good combination for a stock show.  I made it through the cattle day on crutches then went to the doctor on premium sale day.  Now, I’m back on crutches and got me a knee scooter along with my walking shoe.

I now need a donation bucket on my scooter.  Every person just needs to put a dollar in the bucket before they say their smart ass remark.

The Woodward District Jr. Livestock Show is now complete for 2018.  Shattuck had 10 in the premium sale with several actually qualifying numerous animals but they can only sell one.  We had all 4 species represented.  And lots of showmanship awards.  Great group of kids and parents.  The quality of stock in all species was impressive.  The heifer show was wicked good.  This grand steer was kind of like that Italian sports car among the volkswagens.  (I like that line).  I’m not saying that this is best district show in Oklahoma but it does have the best facilities, the best premium sale, we strive to have the best set of judges and the animals and kids are as good as any, anywhere.  It also has the best atmosphere among shows in Oklahoma.  Woodward works to make the showers feel wanted and the staff listens to make it as shower friendly as possible.  Outstanding show.  I look forward to seeing how these kids and their stock get along at OYE.

The premium sale went well.  It maybe wasn’t as crazy high on the top end but the average was very good.  Duke was bought by Comstock Oilfield Supply.  Tammy and I are looking forward to the pics of Duke with Al, Scott and Chesley Comstock.  This family has become friends of ours as a direct result of the show goat industry.  We all want to win at these things but it is more important to build networks of friends and acquaintances for our kids.  The friends that we have gained are priceless.

As for now, I’m going to scoot my ass around paradise and do “some” of my chores.  I am currently finding out the true value of a 17 year old Duke.  Have a good one and a better tomorrow.

Oh, and on a cool note, Thursday afternoon, I stopped at the house for a quick lunch before I went to get more X-rays.  I flipped on the tube and watched about 30 minutes of Space Balls.  Stupid movie spoof but I laugh watching it.  Fast forward an hour and I am sitting in the dr. office.  I get a text from Kela wearing the Dark Helmet costume from Space Balls.  She had to wear it for an upcoming episode of “The Goldbergs”.

The Woodward District Jr. Livestock Show is nearing the end.  The hogs, sheep and goats have all shown. Cattle move in day and then show heifers and steers on Wednesday.  Premium sale on Thursday.

The quality of animals and exhibitors at this show is wicked good.  High quality stock which have been expertly fitted and then showed to the hilt.

No, I do not enjoy showing or dealing with does.  But, Carli Word and her family helps us a lot.  And they really love working hair and showing does.  Therefore, I have to make sure that she has a set of does.  It was kind of fun watching the heavy division of does at WW.  Class 7, Carli came in with a Milligan goat that I bought online.  In the judges terms, “This one is an Italian sports car compared to a bunch of Volkswagens.”  I thought to myself, “If he likes that one, he’s really going to get into this next one”.  Class 8 brought in Carli with a Gallagher doe.  And yes, he liked her…A LOT.  Then class 9 saw Carli leading in a Rumour Has It x Pfeiffer deal raised by Seelkes and Kellns.  She won that class also.  When Carli was done whipping ass, the Gallagher doe was grand and the Milligan doe reserve grand.  Oh, and Katherine Cockreham won the middle division with a Law & Order doe that she raised.  Newt Sweet then had grand slick shear doe with a 3 Amigos doe from Tyke.

The wether show was deep.  This district will be well represent at OYE in a couple of weeks.  The quality of wethers and showman was phenomenal.  Fun set of stock to look at.  We feel fortunate that Duke was able to win this show.  He has worked hard and been at it for a lot of years.  He had been reserve before and he won Enid District when we lived East of here.  I am more proud of the fact that Duke always works to help others with their animals.  He has had to stand behind a lot of different kids for a lot of years and he has not complained.  But, it is kind of cool that Kela and Duke have now both won Woodward and Enid.  Was he excited to win?  Well, lets just say that he smiled in the picture.  And for those of you that know Duke, that my friends, is monumental.

Congrats to Karlee Dietz and her family with a stellar reserve grand wether.  Excellent family.  Also congrats to Darcy Whitley with her res. div. 2 with her Law & Order wether.  Good luck to these seniors and others as we go forward.

I , as well as many others, enjoyed watching Jim Brem evaluate the sheep and goats the past couple of days.  This guy needs to be judging more.  Reasons were good, very consistent in type and kind and he sticks to basic livestock construction–sound, not extreme, functional livestock.  Great with the kids.  We need new blood judging a bunch of these shows and he needs to be on the lists.

And to the crew that helped me.  Tom Kester, Blaine Rue and Braden Schovanec manned the clippers, combs and glue cans.  Duke and Tammy constantly helped–working with new showmen and parents, getting goats ready, drenching, weighing, feeding instructions.  This was as much fun as I have had at a goat show in a couple of years.  I’m really proud of several Shattuck kids that are working to get better.  Lexi Kelln and Anna Knox are trying to turn into good showmen.  But, my favorite part of the day, was Tate Charmasson sporting his new showmanship award backpack.  He came up to me and asked if he needed to do anything else before his dad took he and his goats home.  I slapped him on the back, “Said good job and nope you are done.”  He nodded his head and then walked up to Blaine, shook his hand and said, “Thank you Blaine for helping me with my goats.”  I wish that I had a picture of the turd-eating grin on Blaine’s face.  That moment is what this program is about–old farts like me getting to help a younger generation and they in turn helping the next.

I’m dragging ass and tired but there is a new bounce to my limp as I get ready to finish this week of showing stock.  I hope all of you have as much fun as I am having.

We are in the first few days of the Woodward District Jr. Livestock Show.  The barrow show was really good.  There are lots of things in stock shows that could be Olympic sports.  Very few people in the world are as good as a lot of these livestock people.

I haven’t watched a lot of the Olympics.  But, a lot of it is being aired late at night.  The downhill skiing events remind me of a pig show.  Controlled chaos–constantly close to a disaster.  How about the engineering involved with the bobsleds?  The skill of the ice skaters is unreal.  And yes, I like curling.

Time to get back to it.  Have a good one.

We ain’t going for no pulitzer prizes, so we’ll keep it short.  We did get some moisture this evening.  In the form of ice pellets.  Some have already called school on Thursday.  Woodward District pig show move-in is tomorrow.  We don’t have time for any weather related delays.

Took a set of quads for the kids to take to the grade school today.  Then the quads made their way to the cooperative building, then the high school and then the middle school.  It was fun watching kids and adults get wound up about baby goats.  Hopefully, the goat kids made a positive impact on the school kids.  Our society is getting farther away from actually having their hands on agriculture.

Wow.  A pretty impressive run.  Billy Graham passed away.  No matter what religion a person adheres to, one has to respect the path that man walked for many, many years.

And , I just got a text that Shattuck is not having school.

Have a good one and a better tomorrow.  Keep the stock warm, fed and watered.  And for all the Okies and Texans that are in the middle of stock show season, nothing but horseshoes and shamrocks.

As I finished chores in the barn tonight, many thoughts were swirling in my mind about this industry that some love and others find their happy moments.

I’m good at getting does kidded out and babies born alive.  However, the Dragon Lady is great at getting those babies going.  Supplementing quads, getting slow starters fired up, first time mommas used to nursing, etc.  It’s kind of fun to watch her as she lets the babies run in the aisle of the kidding barn.  The babies hop around.  She laughs.  And laughs some more.  Duke and I stand there shaking our heads.  It’s all good.  These are the things that make this deal work for us.

As county and district shows are wrapping up in OK, I wonder if wether weights are trending upwards?  It seems like most people have a 110 pounder or two on feed.  A 89# wether is not truly a light weight, but….that may be where we are headed.

I did like the sound of thunder, the flash of lightning and the 42 rain drops that I heard hit last night.  I did not like the slick stuff on the road this morning.  Even worse, I did not like the moisture that froze the doors of the ag pickup this morning.  There was just enough moisture to get in the cracks and freeze.

I stood in the kidding barn this evening with a bit of a blank stare as I rolled goat genetics around in my skull.  Recently, I had a guy ask me to do the math on a genetic matchup that had a lot of 191.  It came to 10 shots of 191.  WOW!!   However, with 191 being sired by Animal (which was a triple bred 900) that takes the count of 900 to 30 in that pedigree plus a shot of 900 coming from 612.  That means there were 31 shots of 900.

The fall of 2005 was the first time that I went to Texas shopping for goats.  It was September and I needed wethers.  So, I found a sale.  Some place called Kelly Meat Goats.  My $150 to $250 orders for Fairview kids did not go very far that weekend.  I did however buy a $500 wether for Kela out of some buck called Mozart.  After the sale, Mike had a pen of chronics and other misfits that he let me sort through.  I gambled on a couple of Yellowjacket kids.  One of them won a class at OYE the next year.  Another was 4th.  Both kids made the sale at our county.  On that trip, I got to see a young buck prospect that was not yet big enough to breed does.  They called him 900.  This was the first of many trips to that place.

One of my favorite livestock sightings of all time–regardless of species–took place in the summer of 2006.  Tom Lamle, Fred Slater and I made a tour of goat herds.  At one of the many stops that week, we found ourselves near Eldorado, TX at Claire Powell’s place.  I’m not sure if Eldorado is the goat capitol but if they ever build a goat museum, it should be right there in Eldorado, next to that motel.  I distinctly remember seeing a mature Bingo walk up to the fence.  That was not a good goat.  That my friends was just damn good livestock!  Sound, big, balanced, plenty of muscle and a look.  I have yet to see another goat that was as complete of a package as Bingo.

I distinctly remember attending numerous wether sales that weekend.  But the funnest was the Schleicher County Select.  There was a pair of ladies that needed help tapping a keg.  Lamle and I stood there watching them as they struggled to get things hooked up.  One of them, turned to us and said, “Is there any chance that either of you know how to do this?”  We looked at each other, comments were made and the kegs got tapped.  Good sale.

Extreme set of wethers.  Some extremely good–some not so good.  It was the first time that I met Ralph Shafer.  It was also the first time that I saw Hutto sell wethers.  He had just dominated TX majors and he had a set of S66 prospects that were primed to sell.  And sell high they did.  Fred accidentally bid at $5,000.  Not to worry as it quickly passed the $10K mark.

At the end of that week of goating, we ended up back at Kelly’s.  As the sale started, Mike Thompson and I were standing together.  I thought lot #1 would bring a huge chunk of change.  The next bid was a $1,000.  Thompson was like “WTH? Should I bid?”  I was like, “If you don’t, then I am.”  He bid once and got him.  A few lots later, I got the one that I wanted at $700.  Roll into Tulsa that October, Chance Greenroyd had champ div. 1 and Kela Kelln had ch. div. 2.  Both were 900 sired goats.  We both learned a lesson not to take wicked good little goats to Tulsa again.  AND that was the first and obviously not the last of the 900 genetics that we fed.  It was also the last time Mike Thompson ever asked if he should bid or not at Kelly’s.

Several years later, Fred, Thompson and I were at Joe Raff’s.  They were looking at wethers and I was looking at buck prospects.  There was a couple of little ones that would be offered in a few weeks.  One was wicked cool and the other was just really complete.  I called a friend about them and told him he better be there on sale day.  He was.  Those two goats became known as Colt and 191.  Mistakes were made that day.  It seemed like a lot of money.  Why didn’t we just buy them both?  Hhmm.  It probably wouldn’t have worked out but it did lead to other adventures.

August of 2006.  Pfeiffer’s first sale.  There was a good set of livestock.  But there was a few June born kids that I wanted.  I had recently had my ass chewed by the Dragon Lady.  Kela allowed that she was no longer playing basketball.  Tammy allowed that my low rent crap was done when buying goats for our daughter.  “Whatever you spent on basketball camps, you better spend on goats!”  Have I mentioned that my wife successfully played a lot of basketball?  Including JUCO ball…right up till being pregnant with Kela got in the way.

That was the point when I did some math and realized that showing top-shelf livestock is actually cheaper than playing high school ball.  At least there is a chance for some return on the investment.  Nobody questions ball camps, shoes, t-shirts, gloves, etc.  But, dang,  when I gave $1,400 for that sale topper that August, you would have thought that I broke the bank to do it.  Very few Okies had seen a $1,000 paid for a goat.  Now, they average that much on 70 head.  That wether was shown 4 times.  He was grand at a jackpot that paid $500, grand at Major County, then grand at Enid District and he was ch. div. 3 at OYE.  Okie x Harbour doe.  I bought 6 Okie x Harbour wethers that year.  We won 5 classes at OYE with them.  The twin to Kela’s died of a kidney stone while we were showing heifers at Tulsa or it would have been 6.  That was also the same OYE that Kela bought Sasha as a puppy from Tanner Miller.

These are just random thoughts of an old dude that has been a lot of miles with very little maintenance and proper upkeep.  Kela got her first show animals in the fall of 1999.  Duke will finish in the spring of 2019.  Tammy and I can see the end of decades of being stock show parents.  Pigs, broilers, heifers and a crap load of wether goats.  The feed, the miles, the dollars, the heartaches, the hours, the kids and families that we have had the opportunity to work with, hunh?   I don’t like a lot of the things that have changed about this industry, but I do enjoy most of the people, some of the memories and can even rationalize that the dollars were a solid investment.  Don’t know if we could do it again, but it has been worth it.

I think.

The wind!!  Oh my!   BRUTAL!!!   Straight out of the south.  I’ve seen it blow harder but it has blown consistent today.  Miserable.

I got home from church this morning and had myself a To Do list.  I didn’t get it all done, but with my favorite son helping I got the main deals done.  We started in the yearling buck pens and started trimming hooves and giving Ivomec.  Wind blown!  HARD hooves and it wasn’t fun.  We also set them up.  There is a couple that really turn my crank.  I don’t know if he is the best one, but I like getting my hands on a doubled up Rumour deal.

Then we headed inside the kidding barn and trimmed hooves on does.  Oh my!   Then we went across the road and tackled the mature buck pen.  We need a rain.  These hooves were so, so hard.  My wrists and hands are already sore.  I kept a sharpener with me so that those red handled, German steeled nippers would cut through this hardness.  Diamonds are supposed to be hard and a diamond in a  goat’s ass is supposedly hard to find….I tell you what, I couldn’t give 2 squirts of owl $h!t about a diamond this afternoon.  I just wanted nasty hooves trimmed.  DONE!

Duke helped trim hooves as well.  I can see that a year from now, he will be really good help.  And then he will graduate and move out.

When we got done with the hooves, Duke caught bulls in two different pastures.  We loaded them up and moved them back to Shattuck at one of Dad’s places.  On the drive there, Duke allowed that he could feel sand under his eyelids.  I completely understood his problem.

Through all of these discomforts—hard hooves, goats, DOES, WIND, etc.—I cussed some.  A lot.  I even made some threats about involving a baseball bat to an old doe that was hell-bent on destroying some panels in the kidding barn.  (That female dog and her triplets are now in a corner pen NOT next to another doe.)  Even with the easy access to guns at our place, not once did I think about shooting a goat or going all postal and shooting up a bunch of people.

These public shootings scare me.  My GOD!  They scare me because I fear that these people aren’t right in the head. (I like the part in Braveheart with the Irishman—“He wasn’t right.. in the head.”)  I am scared that some may know that these people are on the edge and use this info to help push them over the edge in order to push a political agenda.  I pray for those afflicted and I pray that I am wrong.  I am not some conspiracy theory freak but I am a realist and understand that stranger things have happened.  But…My GOD!  History has been known to repeat itself.

The current political climate is scary.  Why can’t I simply be a registered republican that believes in the 2nd amendment, believes that everybody should have a job and that charity will be taken care of when needed not signed up for?  And I also don’t believe a wall will fix much.  Whether you are a fan of this president, the previous one or whomever, why can’t we all just agree that none are perfect and together we can be.  Why do we have to draw lines in the sand on EVERY topic?  Why does our media have to hide behind the 1st amendment at all times?  What happened to common sense?

I don’t care what religion, race or sex anybody is.  Let me believe what I believe and I will leave you alone.  I have recently been asked if “I would be willing to shoot my best friend in the leg for $10 million”.  My first thought was that “so and so” can limp.  My next thought, is actually, I don’t want to shoot the Dragon Lady in the leg.  However, would I let her shoot me in the leg for $10 million?   Ooh.  Only if my mom and the current life insurance policy holders were there to make sure that the laser sights are on target.

I have also been asked would I have my family do the kardashian thing for kardashian money?  HELL NO!   I want Kela and Duke to be the best ever Kela Kelln & Duke Kelln.  That’s all and that’s it.

On any given day, I deal with over 100 kids.  These school shootings take their toll on these kids.  Kids talk.  It is interesting to listen to them and hear their thoughts.  However, it is scary when somebody says that won’t happen here, but if it did….it would be so and so.  My GOD!  If that doesn’t give you pause.

And on a WAY lesser note, it is the time of year to worry about fungus on goats.   Time to start feeding some STOP!

Have a good one and a way better tomorrow.

p.s   The Dragon Lady and I watched Joe Dirt perform on Friday night.  It was actually Joe Durt (complete with the oomlots above the U).  80s rock band that had a lot of desire but lacked some chops.  It was fun.

Valentine’s Day was a long one around here.  The problem–does.  Almost all problems in the goat world trace back to does.

I induced 4 does.  I was prepared for them to start dropping about 9 pm on Tuesday night.  No,  no.  One started at midnight.  Then had another about 2.  Then I assisted another doe about 4 and pulled a single.  Then I realized that the first doe might not be done.  I pulled one and then another.  The first one was dead.  The next one (which was #4 was alive).  The third doe dropped twins like she was supposed.  The 4th doe started show signs but wasn’t having contractions.

Now later in the morning, the 4th doe still hadn’t done anything. So, I went after it.  Yep, this one wasn’t coming out in a simple fashion.  Chains and lots of pulling and no go.  It has been over 6 years since I couldn’t get one out.  So, I headed to vet.  They were going to do a C section but Delmar, the assistant, asked if he could pull it.  I said get after it cowboy.  It took a lot of lube, an epideral, some ropes and 20 minutes but he got it out.  Dead, of course,  but the doe was alive.  Well, at least until the next morning.

Now, doe #5 went on her own and had triplets.  Oh, and doe #1 had a 5th kid, alive–9 hours after she had the first one.  Then doe #3 developed mastitis.

Quick recap for Wednesday kidding at Kelln Livestock.

Doe 1–has 4 live ones.  2 does and 2 bucks. Lovely

Doe 2–single doe kid

Doe 3–twins–one buck & one doe.  And now, mastitis.

Doe 4–dead kid and we started grafting a quad to her.  Now, dead doe and the coyotes have something to eat.

Doe 5–triplet doe kids.

I thought inducing was supposed to make them drop in a smaller window.  Not much sleep and Tammy nor I are in a very good mood in the kidding barn last night or this morning.  Now, for the next round of misery.  Have a good one.

What is the strongest motivational force?  Come on…name it.  Don’t try to get to smart. Don’t over think it.  What is it?

No.  It is not the gravitational pull of the Death Star.  Nor is it the strong desire to eat a box of Little Debbie oatmeal snack cakes while watching the winter olympics.  Simply, it is Momma.  Regardless of species, everyone wants to do right by momma.  No matter what.   Even eminem used his mommy problems to make beautiful rap music (is there such a thing?)

So, tonight, I was in the kidding barn taking inventory of what was due this week.

1–2nd timer–pulled a monster last year (lost it) & sold a really good doe kid out of her.

2–old timer–looks like crap–didn’t sell a kid out of her last year.

3–2nd timer– toxemia last year–had trips–raised & sold a doe kid

4–1st timer–didn’t settle last year.

5–2nd timer–raised a multiple jackpot winner and 3rd at KC

6–old timer–no kid last year

7–2nd timer–lost kid last year

8–1st timer–high hopes

9–2nd timer–lost last years kids

WTF am I thinking?  Well, I can make a case for each and every one.  And you all know how much I love does.

1–earned a 2nd chance  2–doesn’t matter, will get another chance next year…no matter what

3–if problems again, sale barn bound   4–Do it or else      5–Like Cheech–high hopes

6–Just needs one more to be a hall of famer or another strikeout and….

7–bred wrong last year

8–royal bred

9–wasn’t kidded here

I will either look like an enabler (trust me….I know what I am doing…..this time) or smart son of a gun.

These goat mothers have to work, or it don’t work around here.  Or at  your place.  I hauled a bunch off this past year.   But these need another chance.  If they don’t work in the next 8-10 weeks,then I will haul them off.

I had more of a thought about mom goats.  I guess that I should have written  down a page or so.

Ironically, as I was typing this diatribe, I got a text about dealing with does.  It was a well written text that reminds me that I am not alone when it comes to dealing with the foulness known as a female goat.

And if you can’t tell, I am a little off track from where I started.  Texts, phone calls, “oh, we had an online semen sale tonight” realization, inducing does, etc. SQUIRREL!

No matter the species, if momma pulls the chain, somebody jumps.  Got a good kid not turning a tap, well, either call momma or give them a couple of well deserved bad grades and when momma sees it…WHOAH!  Attitudes change and stuff gets done.

And here is my goat herders prayer.

GOD love us and forgive us the words and thoughts we have while raising and dealing with female goats.  AMEN!

Today is the Ellis County Livestock Show.  County shows, as a whole, can be pretty stressful.  But, this one should be pretty calm.  Typically, it is a laid back affair.  One, all of the ag teachers and the county agent all get along, so we don’t cause many problems for each other.  Two, although there are some hyper-competitive stock show families in this county, as a whole, they have their sights on trying to take care of business at district and state shows.  It will kind of be a day of getting everybody to the ring, learning and having fun.

Basically, today will consist of helping young showman learn the ropes.  Notes will be taken regarding feeding, exercise and showmanship changes between now and our district show.  We will all be thankful that the brutal cold & wind that we had on Saturday is now gone for a couple of days.  I’m looking forward to the concession stand.  Spake will be taking cell phone pics of all unsuspecting victims, including the judge, and forwarding them to several text groups.

Last night, I moved 9 expecting mothers into the kidding barn.  We should be busy several days this week.  Have a good one and a better tomorrow.

The weather is not.  It is cold, real cold 12 F  with a north wind that hits about 25 mph.  I don’t know the wind chill, nor care.  All I know is that it is not fun.  Had a couple of calves born yesterday, I hope their ears are okay.

The wethers got worked and the kidding barn is ready.  Time to go back to work.  Looked at a fun set of wethers today.  When somebody calls and says they want to bring wethers on a day like this, there is only one thing to say, “Come on, the heater is on.”  It was fun seeing showman that have been working to get better.  It was also fun to see the “Holy Shit!”  trailer.

I don’t move fast right now, but I am still going.  Stayed hooked all day.  The stock has drank and has full bellies.  I would bet that from 7 am to 7 pm that they were warmer than I was.

Now, I am inside.  It took a bit to warm up but the Dragon Lady cooked a dang good warm meal.  Pork loin, mac & cheese, ranch beans with Texas toast and honey.  Lots of carbs to warm a soul.

And to further the warming process, I took a bath.  Yes, a bath.  I like a dang hot bath.  It warms one from the toes to the nose.  I even got the Mrs. to put some kind of oils & epsom salts in it that makes your skin feel like it fits.  I don’t like it when it itches, is dry and feels too tight.  I guess this oil is like putting Russ’ Rag Oil and kleen sheen into a calf’s hair.  It moisturizes the skin and somehow the hair is still clean.

I know that I might catch some hell for taking a bath but I like being in water.  I guess it goes back to my younger days.  Dad taught each of us boys to swim the same way.  He would jump into the deep end of the pool while holding one of us onto his shoulders.  He would warn us to hold our breaths until we got back to the top.  Then, he would jump in and wouldn’t let go until he touched the bottom.  Then, panic stricken, we would swim like hell to the top.  It worked as all of us boys can swim and hold our breath for quite a bit.  I don’t swim like a dolphin.  More like a penguin.  It isn’t uncommon for my crew to go get a motel room for a night, just so Duke and I can swim during the winter months.  If it wasn’t so much upkeep, we would have a pool.  Cheers and have you a DEW.  Not a mountain dew.  I don’t think that this stuff came from a mountain unless Tullamore is a mountain.  I’m guessing it is probably more like a hill.  But it is smooth.  Once again, you can blame my father.