It is a known fact that I like a good story.  There are those people that never realize a story is going on right in front of them.  While some people do a really good job of witnessing stories, some people live these stories and others just happen to write the script for a good story.  

       Recently, I have had to deal with haircut decisions.  Since 1996, I have had my hair cut by a great American in Waynoka, OK. named Darrel Gosney.  I won’t tell you that I ever had a great haircut, but he had this vacuum hose attached to his clippers. Plus, where else can you go to get a haircut whle talking bulls at Denver, hog shows and all things FFA.  And if the crowd was proper–he had a good joke.  No bad language.  The Barber was also a great supporter of all things kids.  He loved to eat at a concession stand, watch a ball game and support kids at stock shows.  Right before Christmas, The Barber retired.  Duke and I wanted/needed to get there for one last trim, but it just didn’t work out for us.  So, we have had to make adjustments to get our hair adjusted.  I often think of Ray Stevens and his “Haircut Song”.  

Now, comes the good story part.  On his last day of work, Darrel-the Barber-Gosney was directing traffic inside his barber shop.  He was showing the new barber the ropes.  A customer walks in.  Not a regular customer, but a well known individual in those parts.  The customer wanted to redeem his gift certificate for a free haircut before it was too late.  I wish that I would have been there to see this exchange.  

Some of you all in the goat world remember Fred Slater.  Many of you in the ag sector know Fred as he has been involved in showing, judging and supporting FFA for a long time.  He is a mainstay at the Farm Credit of Enid. The words “character”, “Fun” and “Oh $h!t”  come to mind when describing Fred.  No matter what, when Fred is around, times are good.

   Fred Slater showed up to Darrel’s Barber Shop on Mr. Gosney’s last day before starting retirement.  Fred was carrying a gift certificate for a free haircut.  Darrel had given the gift certificate to Fred at his high school graduation.  Fred Slater graduated high school the same year that I did–1989.  Fred had kept this gift certificate for 27 years.  It was even preserved in the original envelope; therefore, the certificate still looked new.  The local newspaper came and took pictures.  I’m sure there were many laughs.  But the ironic part of this story is that it has been decades since Fred Slater has paid anybody to cut his hair.  

And if you don’t know any Ray Stevens’ songs, you might want to look them up.  Good times.  

      “I need to buy bigger shoes.  In my effort to stomp out laziness and idiocy, I have realized that I am going to need bigger shoes.”  

I would love to take credit for this quote, but I heard it from the legendary Tom Lamle.  I have had several incidents the past few days that have made me think about buying bigger shoes, even though my ECCOs fit just fine.  I don’t want to be negative, so I will just leave it at that.  

Have a good day and a better tomorrow.

   If you make a fruit salad and put grapes in it, the grapes always taste like grapes.  They don’t take on the flavor of strawberries, cherries or even the dreaded grapefruit.  Basically, the grapes are impervious to the other fruits.  

Likewise, if you make a chex party mix, the pretzels always taste like pretzels.  They don’t take on the worcestershire sauce or the cayenne pepper. They stay pretzels.  Once again, the word impervious comes to mind.  Personally, I like a home-made chex mix.  The home-made chex mixes are way better than the store bought bagged crap.  The bagged “chex mix’ tastes like a generic home-made chex mix that won’t offend anybody.   I have had some very, very good home-made chex mixes.  I like a chex mix that has lots of chex, lots of nuts, lots of flavor and I can live without the pretzels and bread sticks.  Granted, these items add to the visual presentation, but do not accentuate the flavor of the mix.  I may be wrong, but I think that pretzels and bread sticks add to the production costs of making a chex mix, yet they do not add to the over-all quality of the mix.  

        I do not know why I have fruit salad or chex mix on my brain on this wonderful evening.  I ate tacos for supper.  No rhyme-no reason.  I cannot explain what that has to do with chex mix or fruit salad or for that matter a blog on a goat page.  Unfortunately for you, the reader, you too are now thinking about what kind of chex mix is best. 

I’ve been studying several sets of numbers.  From the past several years.  Why?  I want to know if this flushing goats deal is worth it or not.  I know that I get a foul taste in my mouth when I mention flushing, but is it really that bad?

Here’s what I will tell you:

1–It is a lot like Vegas.  In short, you better gamble often and put money on numerous does.  If you are just flushing 1 donor and it doesn’t work it is a train wreck.  The success comes when flushing 4 or more donors at a time.  If one doesn’t fire, so what.  The other 3 produced.  Mentally, you don’t remember the one.  It tends to lessen the pain.

2–Weather obvisouly affects E.T. flush programs.  Rain or extreme temp changes can wreck the whole deal.  Steady weather patterns seem to be the key. 

3–Using frozen embryos is even more weather stable dependent.  If all conditions aren’t pointed in the right direction, then leave them in the tank.  

4–Suprisingly, frozen semen is more successful than I expected.  Most of the time, embryos harvested is very close to the same as live cover.  I attribute this to the fact that we all do a better of managing donors, recips and letting a professional take care of the A.I. work when we are dealing with frozen semen.  Simply put–we have more invested, so we try harder.  Plus, there is the fact that frozen semen is made up of only the best cells.  

5–Flush protocols are different from one technician to the next.  Nobody’s is perfect.  They can all work or all be a head-first dive into a dry swimming pool.  I don’t believe that our science is good enough to be exact.  I do think that we can vary from herd to herd as well as times of the year.  There are many variables.  Without a doubt, the more variables that you can narrow down, the more successful the flush.  This includes knowing an individual does specific cycle times/lengths/etc.  

6–Recip management is just as important as donor management.  Maybe more important.  Buck management also plays a role.  

7–Talk to other area breeders.  Work together.  Even if you don’t like them, there are things to learn from each other.  You don’t have to share genetics, but you can share costs, knowledge, good/bad experiences.

8–Use a technician that wants to work for your program.  Not the other way around.  You are the one writing the check, therefore YOU are paying their salary.  If they are in a hurry to get to a different place, use somebody else.  

9–I am intrigued by the prospect of flushing does in more stable weather months, freezing embryos and then transplanting at an optimum time when conditions point in the right direction.   One thing about the goat industry, size and age are relative to your part of the country.  Then throw in some internet marketing, delilvery options and there is always a home for a good one, no matter the time of year.  

Here’s what I think. Actually, here is what I now know about flushing goats.  Find an E.T. techinician that you like to work with.  Don’t try to flush just 1 or 2 donors.  If you are going to spend some money, go all in.  Make that technician be there all day–flush 4, 6 or more.  Don’t be scared of frozen semen.  Watch the weather patterns.  No matter what you do or how you do it, be consistent in what you do and how you do it. 

Yes, flushing actually works.  Be particular about the does that you are flushing.  For example, 25 embryos out of a common female dog of a donor will most likely result in 25 common goats raised.  While 3 embryos out of a stellar proven mating could result in a buck prospect, a banner wether and future donor doe.  In the future, I will rely heavily on 1 through 9 and extra heavy on rule 8.  Spend wisely.  

Yes!  Yes!  Finally, yes!  The sun finally shined.  It was decent this morning, got warmer and was good all day.  For the first time in several weeks, one could go outside and not feel like they were being stabbed repeatedly with an ice pick.  The wheat and triticale in this part of the world had retreated back into the ground.  It perked up a bit today.  The does left the oat hay bale and headed out to actually graze.  I feel like I grew 2 inches.  The wethers spent numerous hours running naked–no blankets.  I normally enjoy cold weather, but not this sunless, stabbing cold that we have had continuously. 

In the words of Brandon the Bruce, “I feel like I just got done with two-a-days football practice.”  I agree with that sentiment.  I also agree that the bird hunt was huge fun.  If the sun would have shined Saturday morning, then it would have been better.  No worries though.  It was still great.  

Finally, we had a banner day in the battle against the rodents.  I hate these pack rats.  They make a mess.  But, due to the continued improvements of Operation Drowned Rat, there are three fewer to contend with at the Kelln Kompound.  Throw in a mouse and it was a good day.  If you are using these roller bucket traps during freezing weather, I highly recommend adding rubbing alcohol and/or salt to the water in the buckets.  This drops the freezing point and therefore keeps the traps operable.  On a weird note, at 7 am this morning, one trap had all of the peanut butter eaten off of it.  All of it–all the way around the bottle.  With nothing in the bucket.  Crap–I’ll reload it later today.  After church, the same trap had a monster pack rat in it.  No bait, but a drowned rat.  I like it.  It had tried to eat through the gatorade bottle.  I guess it was after the blue colored gatorade remnants.  Whatever works.  

     Duke and I FINALLY found a day that we didn’t have other engagements or the weather wasn’t miserable.  We went quail hunting.  Now, the weather was butt-ass cold in the morning, but then the sun finally filtered through the clouds and it got decent.  

We started the hunt off at Charlie’s on Friday night.  It was packed but the steaks were wicked good.  We then met at Brandon the Bruce’s on Saturday morning.  The Ring brothers and their kids brought a willingness to hunt, a bucket full of humourous talk and a trio of German shorthairs.  It was cold in the morning and everything was covered with a hoar frost (look it up).  It was cold enough that I didn’t shoot well and the dogs’ noses weren’t quite working.  But then, it got good.  Cade RIng got em all.  Erick Ring got to see what an excited Duke looks and sounds like.  I witnessed some stellar shots and a few missed shots.  There was lots of trash talk.  I may have a skid mark in my drawers when I all but stepped on a hidden bird.  Basically, it was fun.  Big fun.  We walked a lot, but we saw a lot of birds.  And the kids got to clean a dang good mess of birds.  

       And now, I am flat wore out.  I’m either fat, old or just out of shape.  No matter what, I’m already looking forward to the next time.  Thanks to Brandon for hosting and the Ring families for letting Duke and I tag along.  It sounds like there will be a heckuva quail feed in the vicinity of the Banners and Backdrops sale.  I’m ready.  

Here’s to hoping that all of you had as good a day as we did.

      Hadn’t made it to this keyboard much this past week.  Maybe it has been froze up like everything else here in paradise.  I’m ready for sun.  It hasn’t been terribly cold, just miserable.  Oh well.

We started the week headed to a livestock judging contest at NOC in Tonkawa,OK.  Wasn’t bad, wasn’t great.  One of the teams managed to place 3rd.  A few mistakes here and there cost them.  It happens.  As long as they don’t make the same mistakes again, we’ll be alright.

      On the news front, it seems to have been an embarassing kind of week for those “leaders” in D.C.  This deal Oregon just doesn’t seem right.  Neither does this capture of a couple of U.S. naval boats by the iranian navy.  Wait. What?  The iranians have boats, a navy?  These deals just don’t pass the smell test.  I am sure that I don’t know the whole story of either deal, but if it smells like crap…..

I know that I am ready for the drifts to finally melt.  They have been here almost a month.  They just melt enough to keep the dirt roads EFFED up and the doe lot mucky.  Previous poor jobs of grading combined with lots of moisture make for rutted up, rough roads.  

It looks like we should have May-July born kids around this place.  Might even try for an August born kid or two.  I’ve talked to several breeders about the success of their flushes this past year.  It sure seems like if the weather was decent at the time of flushing then they had success.  If there was inclement weather (rain, cold, etc.), then they weren’t as successful.  

  One thing that we do have here at the Kelln Kompound, is stellar neighbors.  Johhny and John make the rounds on a regular basis.  These guys know livestock and notice things.  If cattle are out, they know whose they are and who to call.  They are better than a security system as this neighborhood watch program isn’t afraid to shoot.  I’m not sure which one has the better part of the deal. John gets to ride everywhere, but he has to open some gates.  Johnny does all the driving.  Both of them keep up with all of the cattle shows and sales.  I can count on stopping on the road to get a show report, catch some crap and hear a joke or two.  I do enjoy the fact that I don’t have to worry about leaving Tammy and Duke at home.  If they need something, those guys will take care of it.  I don’t care where you live or what business you are in, good neighbors make life better.  

Here’s to a good weekend.  

     I’ve seen several sets of goats lately.  Actually, I’ve seen more doe kids than wethers.  (at least they were good doe kids)  These goats were in good shape and had been well cared for during the past month of weather that we have had here in paradise.  But, they hadn’t gained much. Even ones that had lived inside with heat.  Why haven’t they grown better?  

     Simply put, the weather.  It hasn’t been terrible cold, but it has been steadily cold.  Lows of 20s, highs of 30s, 40s and a few 50s.  The weather related item that has slowed growth is moisture.  For the past 21 days, there has been a huge amount of humidity in the air.  We’ve seen snow several times, some rain and a steady supply of moisture in the air.  It doesn’t matter if it is hot, mild or cold, goats do not handle humidity.  They shut down.  

      When it comes to a battle of wether vs. weather, if the weather is packing high humidity levels, then the wethers just aren’t going to crank like you would want. 

      On a different note, there is a steak night then quail hunting the next day excursion planned in the near future.  I know a couple of Kelln’s that are just a little bit jacked up ready for this event.  Duke even grins at the the mention of it.  

        The racist term is something that drives me crazy.  It has our nation quasi-scared to move, for fear of offending somebody. Get over it.  This country was made of multiple races and religions.  It is what it is.  Personally, I have told a joke or two that offered “racist” tones.  I’ve even told jokes that involved German/Irish/Catholic tones–wait, what?!  I don’t get it?  I’ve told redneck jokes.  I have a touch of redneck as well as a lot of that German/Irish/Catholic bit and I am married to a Baptist that answers to the endearing phrase “Dragon Lady”.  Throw in a bit of retardation and I have most of the bases covered.  But, somehow, somewhere, somebody could get upset about the previous sentences.  And I really don’t care. 

      This morning, on that STD known as facebook, I watched a good nature video of otters with Snoop Dogg as the narrator. Look it up.  It is fun.  Snoop Dogg narrating a wildlife documentary is entertaining.  I like it.  And on the other scale of racism, this evening I watched a video of Adele.  I can’t think of a more white chick than Adele.  But, here is Adele rapping and she isn’t doing a bad job of rhyming.   Does it matter?  Not to me.

      Am I racist?  I don’t like anybody that is afraid of work, won’t help another, expects handouts, uses excuses and always blames others.  Wait…this kind of sounds like some in the stock show industry.  Even so, I don’t care about color, race, religion, whatever… it gives me a headache . I just don’t like whiners, complainers and those that expect to be given something.  I am non-political in my regards towards laziness or whiners.  I don’t like whiners, excuse makers, complainers or general pain in the donkeys.  

      The show ring has always been racist.  Only black steers can win.  A Berk can’t compete.  Hereford’s quit being successful back in the 60s.  Goats are just lucky to even get to show.  And my favorite, girls shouldn’t be FFA members.  All of these have been proven wrongl  

      It is easy to stereotype.  Goat people, cattle jocks, white, black, male, female,  whatever.  Who cares?  I care more about the quality of the person.  I’ve got plenty of opinions, but I am done.  Have a good one today  and a better tomorrow.   Out.  

      Good luck to all of those that made the journey to the Mile High City.  I would like to be there, but it just ain’t in the cards.