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.<\/p>\n
I’m good at getting does kidded out and babies born alive. \u00a0However, the Dragon Lady is great at getting those babies going. \u00a0Supplementing quads, getting slow starters fired up, first time mommas used to nursing, etc. \u00a0It’s kind of fun to watch her as she lets the babies run in the aisle of the kidding barn. \u00a0The babies hop around. \u00a0She laughs. \u00a0And laughs some more. \u00a0Duke and I stand there shaking our heads. \u00a0It’s all good. \u00a0These are the things that make this deal work for us.<\/p>\n
As county and district shows are wrapping up in OK, I wonder if wether weights are trending upwards? \u00a0It seems like most people have a 110 pounder or two on feed. \u00a0A 89# wether is not truly a light weight, but\u2026.that may be where we are headed.<\/p>\n
I did like the sound of thunder, the flash of lightning and the 42 rain drops that I heard hit last night. \u00a0I did not like the slick stuff on the road this morning. \u00a0Even worse, I did not like the moisture that froze the doors of the ag pickup this morning. \u00a0There was just enough moisture to get in the cracks and freeze.<\/p>\n
I stood in the kidding barn this evening with a bit of a blank stare as I rolled goat genetics around in my skull. \u00a0Recently, I had a guy ask me to do the math on a genetic matchup that had a lot of 191. \u00a0It came to 10 shots of 191. \u00a0WOW!! \u00a0 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. \u00a0That means there were 31 shots of 900.<\/p>\n
The fall of 2005 was the first time that I went to Texas shopping for goats. \u00a0It was September and I needed wethers. \u00a0So, I found a sale. \u00a0Some place called Kelly Meat Goats. \u00a0My $150 to $250 orders for Fairview kids did not go very far that weekend. \u00a0I did however buy a $500 wether for Kela out of some buck called Mozart. \u00a0After the sale, Mike had a pen of chronics and other misfits that he let me sort through. \u00a0I gambled on a couple of Yellowjacket kids. \u00a0One of them won a class at OYE the next year. \u00a0Another was 4th. \u00a0Both kids made the sale at our county. \u00a0On that trip, I got to see a young buck prospect that was not yet big enough to breed does. \u00a0They called him 900. \u00a0This was the first of many trips to that place.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite livestock sightings of all time–regardless of species–took place in the summer of 2006. \u00a0Tom Lamle, Fred Slater and I made a tour of goat herds. \u00a0At one of the many stops that week, we found ourselves near Eldorado, TX at Claire Powell’s place. \u00a0I’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. \u00a0I distinctly remember seeing a mature Bingo walk up to the fence. \u00a0That was not a good goat. \u00a0That my friends was just damn good livestock! \u00a0Sound, big, balanced, plenty of muscle and a look. \u00a0I have yet to see another goat that was as complete of a package as Bingo.<\/p>\n
I distinctly remember attending numerous wether sales that weekend. \u00a0But the funnest was the Schleicher County Select. \u00a0There was a pair of ladies that needed help tapping a keg. \u00a0Lamle and I stood there watching them as they struggled to get things hooked up. \u00a0One of them, turned to us and said, “Is there any chance that either of you know how to do this?” \u00a0We looked at each other, comments were made and the kegs got tapped. \u00a0Good sale.<\/p>\n
Extreme set of wethers. \u00a0Some extremely good–some not so good. \u00a0It was the first time that I met Ralph Shafer. \u00a0It was also the first time that I saw Hutto sell wethers. \u00a0He had just dominated TX majors and he had a set of S66 prospects that were primed to sell. \u00a0And sell high they did. \u00a0Fred accidentally bid at $5,000. \u00a0Not to worry as it quickly passed the $10K mark.<\/p>\n
At the end of that week of goating, we ended up back at Kelly’s. \u00a0As the sale started, Mike Thompson and I were standing together. \u00a0I thought lot #1 would bring a huge chunk of change. \u00a0The next bid was a $1,000. \u00a0Thompson was like “WTH? Should I bid?” \u00a0I was like, “If you don’t, then I am.” \u00a0He bid once and got him. \u00a0A few lots later, I got the one that I wanted at $700. \u00a0Roll into Tulsa that October, Chance Greenroyd had champ div. 1 and Kela Kelln had ch. div. 2. \u00a0Both were 900 sired goats. \u00a0We both learned a lesson not to take wicked good little goats to Tulsa again. \u00a0AND that was the first and obviously not the last of the 900 genetics that we fed. \u00a0It was also the last time Mike Thompson ever asked if he should bid or not at Kelly’s.<\/p>\n
Several years later, Fred, Thompson and I were at Joe Raff’s. \u00a0They were looking at wethers and I was looking at buck prospects. \u00a0There was a couple of little ones that would be offered in a few weeks. \u00a0One was wicked cool and the other was just really complete. \u00a0I called a friend about them and told him he better be there on sale day. \u00a0He was. \u00a0Those two goats became known as Colt and 191. \u00a0Mistakes were made that day. \u00a0It seemed like a lot of money. \u00a0Why didn’t we just buy them both? \u00a0Hhmm. \u00a0It probably wouldn’t have worked out but it did lead to other adventures.<\/p>\n
August of 2006. \u00a0Pfeiffer’s first sale. \u00a0There was a good set of livestock. \u00a0But there was a few June born kids that I wanted. \u00a0I had recently had my ass chewed by the Dragon Lady. \u00a0Kela allowed that she was no longer playing basketball. \u00a0Tammy allowed that my low rent crap was done when buying goats for our daughter. \u00a0“Whatever you spent on basketball camps, you better spend on goats!” \u00a0Have I mentioned that my wife successfully played a lot of basketball? \u00a0Including JUCO ball\u2026right up till being pregnant with Kela got in the way.<\/p>\n
That was the point when I did some math and realized that showing top-shelf livestock is actually cheaper than playing high school ball. \u00a0At least there is a chance for some return on the investment. \u00a0Nobody questions ball camps, shoes, t-shirts, gloves, etc. \u00a0But, dang, \u00a0when I gave $1,400 for that sale topper that August, you would have thought that I broke the bank to do it. \u00a0Very few Okies had seen a $1,000 paid for a goat. \u00a0Now, they average that much on 70 head. \u00a0That wether was shown 4 times. \u00a0He 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. \u00a0Okie x Harbour doe. \u00a0I bought 6 Okie x Harbour wethers that year. \u00a0We won 5 classes at OYE with them. \u00a0The twin to Kela’s died of a kidney stone while we were showing heifers at Tulsa or it would have been 6. \u00a0That was also the same OYE that Kela bought Sasha as a puppy from Tanner Miller.<\/p>\n
These are just random thoughts of an old dude that has been a lot of miles with very little maintenance and proper upkeep. \u00a0Kela got her first show animals in the fall of 1999. \u00a0Duke will finish in the spring of 2019. \u00a0Tammy and I can see the end of decades of being stock show parents. \u00a0Pigs, broilers, heifers and a crap load of wether goats. \u00a0The feed, the miles, the dollars, the heartaches, the hours, the kids and families that we have had the opportunity to work with, hunh? \u00a0 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. \u00a0Don’t know if we could do it again, but it has been worth it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I think.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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