I had been needing a break for a few days. \u00a0I kind of got one. \u00a0Wednesday was hooked up solid. Thursday was all Thanksgiving. \u00a0But, I never got in a vehicle.<\/p>\n
Friday, hooked up all day long on random stuff. \u00a0I wasn’t even sure what to do with a day that I did not have to be somewhere. \u00a0So, I took care of stuff at home and made a couple of project visits. \u00a0And I halter broke a mini herf. \u00a0She acted tough at first, but I caught her a couple of times on Thursday and then Friday. \u00a0She’s all but broke.<\/p>\n
Saturday was cattle AI prep day. \u00a0We ran all of the mini herf cows through the chute. \u00a0Each one got a shot and a CIDR. \u00a0I’m not so sure that we shouldn’t have used goat CIDRs. \u00a0Then we brought some of Duke’s cow through the chute. \u00a0Yes, we had to change alley and gate width. \u00a0Then, I went and drilled a few acres of wheat for a neighbor. \u00a0Which in turn led to me drilling a few acres around here until the drills were empty.<\/p>\n
Farming is not normally profitable. \u00a0It dang sure isn’t in this part of the world. \u00a0But, it has its moments. \u00a0I did stop on the blacktop and watch a John Deere cotton stripper as it rolled up cotton bales. \u00a0The lights on that thing are amazing. \u00a0 The engineering behind the whole machine is unreal. \u00a0Of course, they are cheap.<\/p>\n
Duke decided to take a cousin hunting. \u00a0Duke and Luke headed to the stand. \u00a0I was still working. \u00a0The Dragon decided that she needed to play lookout. \u00a0So, she and the head of the neighborhood watch patrol headed out to watch from a distance. \u00a0Just, before dusk, as I was doing chores for all of the other people at my place of residence, I heard a rifle shot from the direction of Duke’s stand. \u00a0My first thought, “I hoped they missed.”<\/p>\n
Why would I think that? \u00a0I have shot many deer. \u00a0Some big horned, but most were management deer. \u00a0I am a big fan of managing the deer herd by selectively harvesting sub-par bucks as well as the excess does. \u00a0I have cleaned and used every deer that I shot. \u00a0I have helped Duke with all of his deer. \u00a0Now, it is not something that I look forward to.<\/p>\n
This isn’t my line. \u00a0 But at this point, shooting a deer is a lot like a “selfie”. \u00a0There is build up, a moment of release and then a mess to clean up. \u00a0I apologize. \u00a0But the credit for this analogy goes to Jake Kelln.<\/p>\n
The sun set and Tammy texted that they were following a blood trail. \u00a0A few minutes later and I got a pic of Luke Kelln with a six point buck. \u00a0My thoughts–“That is a nice deer for a young kid. \u00a0And, DANG, I hope that I don’t have to gut, skin and butcher this dang deer.<\/p>\n
A bit later, the Dragon, Duke and Luke rolled into the drive. \u00a0I was now watching Okie State getting their asses kicked and the Irish trying to decide if they were going to go undefeated. \u00a0Luke wanted me to look at his deer, so I headed outside. \u00a0Dang! \u00a0That was a really, really nice 6 point. \u00a0Width, long brow tines, good size and mass. \u00a0I high fived Luke and asked Duke, “Who is cleaning it?” \u00a0He looked at me with a huge smile and said, “I got it.” \u00a0 Oh thank goodness. \u00a0I was really happy with Duke at this point.<\/p>\n
As happy as I was, no one was happier than Duke. \u00a0He was amped that he had helped Luke get a buck. \u00a0He was way amped. \u00a0Duke has not taken a shot at a buck this season. \u00a0But he enjoyed helping a young kid. \u00a0I’m proud of Duke. \u00a0That, and I didn’t have to help. \u00a0YEAH!<\/p>\n
Sunday was a COLD, miserable WINDY day. \u00a0Not fun. \u00a0But all the stock had fresh water, protein and hay. \u00a0Except for me. \u00a0No hay. \u00a0Mentally, this was a good break.<\/p>\n
Have a good one and a better tomorrow.<\/p>\n
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I had been needing a break for a few days. \u00a0I kind of got one. \u00a0Wednesday was hooked up solid. Thursday was all Thanksgiving. \u00a0But, I never got in a vehicle. Friday, hooked up all day long on random stuff. \u00a0I wasn’t even sure what to do with a day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2598"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2602,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598\/revisions\/2602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}