So, so many thoughts. \u00a0It’s been a long, long, long time since I’ve had any kind of spring break. \u00a0Now, I guess I’ve got one until April 6.<\/p>\n
Huge thank you to all of the crew that runs the Oklahoma Youth Expo. \u00a0They were doing their very, very best to get through this show. \u00a0The current climate in the world is what finally shut them down.<\/p>\n
Sunday evening, I knew that the plug was getting ready to be pulled. \u00a0I had just settled in to a steaming hot bath at the Hampton Inn. \u00a0I was going to soak this bad hip and bad hoof of mine. \u00a0I was sending texts to stop Shattuck showmen from heading to OYE with wether goats and steers and coordinating equipment load out for Monday morning. \u00a0Then, I got a panic call that they were going to let us show commercial ewes on Sunday night! \u00a0And they were starting in 15 minutes. \u00a0$h!t!!!!!! \u00a0Washmon has a good one in class 1. \u00a0They were in a restaurant so another family got her up and started getting her ready. \u00a0We converged back at the fairgrounds just in time to head to the ring. \u00a0Good thing we made it. \u00a0Clayton won class 1 and then ended up reserve grand. \u00a0That show ended before midnight.<\/p>\n
OYE is well known for a strict dress code for showman. \u00a0It is always impressive to see the blue & gold and green & white on these well dressed exhibitors. \u00a0Not, in the ewe show. \u00a0Whatever clothes you had on were good enough this time.<\/p>\n
Then, they let all the seniors come in for one class of showmanship. \u00a0“Thunderstruck” played as the seniors came into the ring. \u00a0I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t have to hold back a tear. \u00a0Pretty cool.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, across the street in the hog barn. \u00a0A group organized an “underground” barrow jackpot. \u00a0It started at 12:01 am. \u00a0They “only” had about 1,100 barrows show in this show. \u00a0I went and watched for awhile. \u00a0This show was kind of like the movie Fight Club. \u00a0The first rule of underground hog shows is that we don’t talk about underground hog shows. \u00a0Even though, it was held silently, there was a big crowd to witness this event. \u00a0And it went smooth.<\/p>\n
As I went from show to show on Sunday night\/Monday morning, the R.E.M. lyrics kept rolling through my skull\u2026It’s the end of the world as we know it\u2026. \u00a0 It was all kind of a surreal setting. \u00a0People weren’t happy, but they weren’t mad. \u00a0There were lots of jokes and discussions about coronavirus and toilet paper. \u00a0All in all, I absolutely loved the way the stock show world handled this crisis. \u00a0Everybody did the best that they could for the kids and worked together. \u00a0It is what it is.<\/p>\n
Okies and Texans are both having to deal with an abrupt end to the stock show year. \u00a0It sucks for the kids, the breeders, the parents, the shows, the hotels, the restaurants, the vendors and the list goes on and on.<\/p>\n
I talked to a dad on Sunday night. \u00a0He was a senior in 1985 when the pseudorabies outbreak shut down the pig shows that March. \u00a0Now, his daughter is a senior in 2020 when the coronavirus shut down the shows. \u00a0It ain’t cool. \u00a0But, it is what it is.<\/p>\n
But they did get to have the first ever OYE ag mechanics show. \u00a0I am really proud of the Shattuck kids and their work. \u00a0We ended up winning the decorative division, the wildlife division and was reserve in the trailer division. \u00a0Our dump trailer was named Reserve Grand overall. \u00a0We got beat by a really good gooseneck trailer. \u00a0The top end of the projects were really good. \u00a0And then the prizes, our kids came home with 3 new Makita chop saws, a grinder set, a John Deere upright air compressor and 2 Lincoln plasma cutters as well as some cash. \u00a0And we still have these exhibits to sell.<\/p>\n
In closing, THANK YOU to OYE for doing what you do, doing what you could do during tough times and adding the ag mechanics show. \u00a0Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, so many thoughts. \u00a0It’s been a long, long, long time since I’ve had any kind of spring break. \u00a0Now, I guess I’ve got one until April 6. Huge thank you to all of the crew that runs the Oklahoma Youth Expo. \u00a0They were doing their very, very best to […]<\/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\/3452"}],"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=3452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3453,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions\/3453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}