\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A whole bunch of the livestock showing world revolves around one’s perspective.\u00a0 County or Major.\u00a0 Seriously, what are your goals?\u00a0 Are they your goals or your kids’ goals?\u00a0 Perspective.\u00a0 Let’s be honest, over the past couple of years, I have had to look at the stock show industry through numerous different perspective’s.\u00a0 Let’s take a look at several different perspectives that I have witnessed in the past few months.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The first one involves my youngest brother.\u00a0 He and his wife are raising a daughter and a son in Shattuck, America.\u00a0 His daughter decided that she wanted to get a show animal.\u00a0 They let her choose what species.\u00a0 She chose a wether goat.\u00a0 Daniel made it real clear that he wanted a decent project that fit a budget.\u00a0 From his perspective, he wanted her to have success if she worked at it but he didn’t want to lose a pile of cash if she didn’t do her part.\u00a0 From Tammy & I’s perspective, we were kind of like “Dang!\u00a0 Is this the right path for her?\u00a0 I mean the Kelln name carries a bit of baggage and certain expectations.”\u00a0 In the end, we followed Daniel’s lead.\u00a0 I put on my ag teacher hat and Kevlee and I agreed to terms on a little triplet wether that “had a chance”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I’m happy to say that she did her part and took great<\/strong> care of this animal.\u00a0 She still has a ways to go on becoming a stellar showman yet she improved every time.\u00a0 Kevlee and Bugs made the county premium sale.\u00a0 She placed high enough to have a chance for the Woodward District premium sale.\u00a0 But, not quite.\u00a0 When it came time for OYE, I actually recommended that they just go watch.\u00a0 As a family, they decided to go show.\u00a0 Even knowing that the odds were not in their favor, I’m glad that they did.\u00a0 Kevlee watched and learned.\u00a0 She felt what it was like to show in a class with 50+ goats.\u00a0 And when she came out of the ring, without a ribbon, she correctly critiqued her showmanship.\u00a0 We are proud of her and look forward to watching her career as we go forward.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The next perspective also happened while at OYE.\u00a0 Back in February, Schneberger called me after they had won the SW District.\u00a0 He told me that they probably wouldn’t take that wether to OYE.\u00a0 Then, the sandbagger shows up with that same wether.\u00a0 We were having a chat about goats, mindset, showing, everything (and for those of you that know either of us, it was loud)\u00a0 and Jared said, “Sometimes, Kelln, it’s all about perspective.”\u00a0 We agreed.\u00a0 From his perspective, his family has been to the top of the mountain.\u00a0 And he spent some coin to do it.\u00a0 I remember when he couldn’t hardly get her placed in a class much less win a class.\u00a0 Now, they are dragging a home-raised one and it really didn’t make a rat’s ass if it won grand, a class or just got a ribbon.\u00a0 No matter what, they were going to be fine and worse case scenario, they could go home and look at an OYE and a couple of Tulsa grand trophies.\u00a0 Congrats to them!\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I probably wrestle with the perspective issues more than anybody else in this game.\u00a0 I’ve had to be a parent, an ag teacher, a friend, a jock, a breeder, an uncle and sometimes, all of the above.\u00a0 I wish that I didn’t know some things.\u00a0 I’m glad that I learned other things.\u00a0 I realize that a lot of the stuff that goes on in our industry, I played a role–small or large, I was there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0From a parent’s perspective–Tammy and I are both REALLY glad to be ex-stock show parents.\u00a0 We are glad that our kids were raised in this environment.\u00a0 We are happy for what they accomplished.\u00a0 But, the banners can get in the way.\u00a0 Their work ethic and connection’s across the country are truly priceless.\u00a0 Our kids are in the real world and were given a good launching point.\u00a0 We are proud of that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0From a breeder’s perspective–I’m tired.\u00a0 I’m tired of putting in CIDRs, unsuccessful flushes and dealing with crap like DOE goats.\u00a0 I hate<\/strong><\/em> taking pictures of goats, despise videoing goats and would rather stab myself in the scrotum with a rusty ice pick than have to answer another anonymous text about “more pics or videos” of a damn goat.\u00a0 There is a special place in hell for you anonymous texters.\u00a0 From one perspective to another, a top-shelf breeder like Maycon Stork will or will not back me up on this.\u00a0 Just read his write ups.\u00a0 It’s miserable!\u00a0 Yet, there are other breeders that are salivating at sending you another picture of a pimped out common bastard that they can’t wait to cash your check.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 From a jock’s perspective–Maybe my mood would be different if I had cashed in when we were winning A LOT!\u00a0 But, I didn’t–cash in that is.\u00a0 Win a lot–we did.\u00a0 Oh well!\u00a0 Feed, supplements, tail pop, etc.\u00a0 I got a lot of cookies, cold beer and a steak every now and\u00a0 then.\u00a0 I had a lot of fun gathering a lot of goats for a lot of really cool kids and families.\u00a0 AND, even though we kept it clean, I have to look back and ask “At what cost?\u00a0 Where was the line?\u00a0 Was this fun?”<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 From an ag teacher’s perspective–I was an ag teacher when this goat deal started.\u00a0 A couple of girls (Kela, Danielle Litzenberger & Kourtney Childers) talked me into showing a couple of wethers.\u00a0 Dani and Kela became hooked.\u00a0 And the rest is history.\u00a0 I will show any species if that is what a kid is willing to invest their time and work.\u00a0 It was a bit of a hurdle for me at OYE this year.\u00a0 I was asked to look at a goat on the next aisle from our stalls.\u00a0 On that row was a bunch of big-time wethers.\u00a0 I came back to our stall.\u00a0 A freshman boy and his wether were ready to go to the ring.\u00a0 \u00a0He asked how his goat looked.\u00a0 \u00a0 I looked at him and said, “Tate, you are going to the ring against $100K plus worth of wethers that each have four people fitting legs and drenching.\u00a0 And dude, you have Darrell the bottle baby wether that won your first county grand champion and made your first district premium sale.\u00a0 Darrell doesn’t owe us a thing.\u00a0 And you have a worn-out old ag teacher that is a has-been in the wether showing world.\u00a0 You better show your tail off!”\u00a0 He did but it wasn’t enough.\u00a0 It’s at this point, that my jock and parent perspectives conflict with my ag teacher view point(s).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I could go into the feed sales, additives, etc.\u00a0 Trust me when I say that there is a whole industry that would like me to shut the eff up!\u00a0 I will…. for now.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Friends–DUDE!!!\u00a0 Without a doubt, the best part of all of these experiences are the friends that WE have all across the country.\u00a0 Seriously, we have friends on either coast that we met through this industry.\u00a0 We have friends that literally live 30 miles away that we would not have known if it wasn’t for showing goats.\u00a0 With regards to the friends accumulated from the goat industry….well Clark, it’s like the jelly of the month club.\u00a0 It’s the gift that just keeps on giving.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Keep your head right and your perspectives right.\u00a0 I have and I haven’t.\u00a0 Trust me.\u00a0 There ain’t nobody in the industry that has all of the perspectives that I have.\u00a0 Damn!\u00a0 I just wish espn had a show talking about showing stock.\u00a0 I could make Charles Barkley look calm.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A whole bunch of the livestock showing world revolves around one’s perspective.\u00a0 County or Major.\u00a0 Seriously, what are your goals?\u00a0 Are they your goals or your kids’ goals?\u00a0 Perspective.\u00a0 Let’s be honest, over the past couple of years, I have had to look at the stock show 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