\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This one may get long.\u00a0 If so, and you don’t like it…..go somewhere else on the endless internet and read something worthwhile.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Oh, you’re still here.\u00a0 Well, let’s paint a happy little picture and have fun.\u00a0 I headed to college at OSU to be an ag teacher–fall of 89 to May of 93.\u00a0 It’s all I ever wanted to do.\u00a0 Not the loftiest of goals but maybe the best.\u00a0 OSU=FUN!\u00a0 \u00a0I graduated as an ag teacher.\u00a0 I taught ag-ed for 15 years in Oklahoma.\u00a0 3 years at Billings–I learned a lot and met good, good people.\u00a0 9 years at Waynoka–learned even more.\u00a0 I needed to move on but those were fun times that haven’t quit.\u00a0 Those people fit with Tammy and I.\u00a0 Maybe I need to write a book about my thoughts of Waynoka.\u00a0 It is a unique community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Then 3 years at Fairview.\u00a0 \u00a0We won a lot and there were so, so many good people.\u00a0 The kids were awesome.\u00a0 We moved there for Kela and it worked.\u00a0 It just didn’t fit me and I didn’t fit them.\u00a0 \u00a0But, I am really proud of how many ties we still have there.\u00a0 If you do enough right, the wrongs seem smaller.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Then a profitable break from teaching for 6 years pushing green paint.\u00a0 Third or fourth best job that I ever had.\u00a0 (Jack & Jill grocery store and Okie State meats lab will always be 1 & 2.)\u00a0 \u00a0It was so good.\u00a0 Like a dream.\u00a0 RUSM?\u00a0 Driving brand new John Deere stuff.\u00a0 But there were parts that just wasn’t me.\u00a0 No harm.\u00a0 And I can still sell stuff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 And now, I am finishing year 7 at Shattuck.\u00a0 Obviously it is good or I wouldn’t have done year 2.\u00a0 Oh, and if it wasn’t worthwhile, I would now be single.\u00a0 So, basically, I have a very good perspective on the ag teaching career in the state of Oklahoma.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This is a hard-to-do-job when you have a strong work ethic and you know what you are doing.\u00a0 It’s impossible if you don’t have the drive to do right.\u00a0 You don’t have to know everything but you damn sure better be ready to try to learn everything.\u00a0 If you are a lazy POS, well….you better start looking for an alternative career.\u00a0 I’m not saying that an ag teacher is the hardest working person in a given school system, but a good ag teacher is always friends with that janitor, maintenance person, coach, etc. that burns a little hot as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 This is an eff-ed up career that you cannot compare from state to state.\u00a0 Hell, for that matter, you can’t compare from town to town or school to school.\u00a0 What fits?\u00a0 If it fits the person, fits the school, fits the community, well then..If it fits, it works.\u00a0 I guess it’s time to name names.\u00a0 These people are friends and I hope will still be friends with me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 How do you compare a Bobby Listen to say a Randy Pullan?\u00a0 You don’t.\u00a0 Bobby Listen won SO many pig shows and a pile of livestock judging contests.\u00a0 I don’t remember seeing him at a speech contest, yet I’m sure he attended one.\u00a0 Randy Pullan will beat your ass in any species of livestock showing, with a limited budget and has helped so many kids for so many years.\u00a0 I would compare them as they were both bad-ass for their respective communities.\u00a0 I would rank them as we would have gladly had either of our kids in their respective programs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0How do you compare a Travis Bradshaw to a Tom Lamle?\u00a0 \u00a0One’s old and the other acts old.\u00a0 One is health conscious, the other….we are all good friends.\u00a0 I’ve tried to get both to take jobs that I ended up doing.\u00a0 Basically, they are both smarter than I am.\u00a0 How do we rank them?\u00a0 I would have gladly had either of our kids in their respective programs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0How about my buddy at Ponca City?\u00a0 Kevin Frazier.\u00a0 The general public does not grasp what he has built over the past ALMOST 50 years at PO HI.\u00a0 \u00a0Lots of state winning banners?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 However, wicked tough at the level that they see fit.\u00a0 Oh snap!!\u00a0 His program fits the school, fits the community and it all works.\u00a0 I could not replicate what he has done.\u00a0 How much Blue & Gold do they sell?\u00a0 \u00a0I can answer that.\u00a0 \u00a0More than the rest of us.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Now back to the Waynoka years.\u00a0 I love Waynokans.\u00a0 But lets examine the ag teacher situation in Woods County at that time.\u00a0 Barclay Holt was at Freedom.\u00a0 And he and his crew were trying to win EVERYTHING, yet they were like a little dog humping big dogs.\u00a0 No chance.\u00a0 Yet, never underestimate those little dogs as they tend to get stuff done.\u00a0 Speaking, showing, judging, grass boards, etc.\u00a0 \u00a0They made grass boards so cool that Staats and I had to get our crap together and start building those boards.\u00a0 I was a young, just a little bit confident kid at Waynoka.\u00a0 Alva had Staats and Randy Nation.\u00a0 Barclay and I could deal with Staats.\u00a0 That damn Nation on the other hand.\u00a0 Shit!!!<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Here’s what I learned about dealing with Nation in Woods County.\u00a0 1–you better get ready to get beat at showing hogs, 2–get beat at livestock judging and 3– get beat at anything that he decides to compete.\u00a0 AND you better have your ethics in check.\u00a0 Because somebody was always watching.\u00a0 \u00a0 When you have to deal with a Randy Nation on a regular basis, you either quit or get better.\u00a0 I’ve tried to get better yet here we are.\u00a0 \u00a0Waiting on Lisa Nation to post another set of pictures of judging wins, premium sale pigs and Corgi dogs.\u00a0 \u00a0Wait.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 Corgis are cool as hell.\u00a0 I doubt that my presence in any competition changed his demeanor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I love talking to other ag teachers like C.L. McGill, Billy Scott, John Lastly, Vince McGolden, Ryan Burns, Mark Sneary, Chip Laubach, Jay Muret, Devin Delozier and Tim Harland.\u00a0 \u00a0Sure, some of them are old.\u00a0 Some are older than me.\u00a0 Here’s what I love about them.\u00a0 They truly have a passion for the job.\u00a0 Every conversation that I have with them…….I have these three thoughts.\u00a0 One–They do a better job than I do.\u00a0 \u00a0Two–they are letting me hang with them.\u00a0 If I’m quiet and keep my mouth shut…. (basically, don’t be a Kelln)\u00a0 \u00a0 And three—after listening a bit, I think—-I’ve got kids that will work to beat their ass!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Not exactly sure of the year, even though I do know where the notebook is.\u00a0 Hadn’t opened it since.\u00a0 We were at a summer conference (aka normally a waste of tax payer $s).\u00a0 circa 2002 or 03 or IDK pick a year.\u00a0 \u00a0 The day started with a round table discussion and we were supposed to rotate from table to table.\u00a0 The first, only and LAST round table that I was at consisted of my dumb ass, Randy Henderson, Jona Kay Squires, Dale Dewitt and Dennis Delozier.\u00a0 I do not know if anybody else learned anything at that table, yet we stayed together as a group that day.\u00a0 Young listening to old.\u00a0 Female to male perspective.\u00a0 Story after story. Topic after topic.\u00a0 Of all the secrets in my little black book… I learned what I already knew that day. One of the best days of my life.\u00a0 Defining.\u00a0 I’ll gladly talk about it with you but I just might shed a tear.\u00a0 I’m not even sure what it meant to the others.\u00a0 Do not care.\u00a0 But dudes, that was the moment that I realized that the rug tied the room together.\u00a0 It was that cool and that simple.\u00a0 And now, we don’t have the space to describe this rug.\u00a0 Although, let’s end this.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Best OK ag teacher ever?\u00a0 That’s the question.\u00a0 I could go old school.\u00a0 I could go new school.\u00a0 I could tell you stories of how hard it was to deal with the Kurt Murray days in Burlington.\u00a0 The various regimes at Kingfisher or Elgin.\u00a0 There were some Newcastle and Fairview deals that were dominant.\u00a0 Adair has been dang hard to get around for a couple of generations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 One name.\u00a0 Team AgEd is on the clock…..Don’t care what school you put this dude in (SE, NW, whatever) , he will have success.\u00a0 The best ag teacher (teacher) that I have ever seen.\u00a0 Showing, speaking, proficiencies, community, shop projects, whatever…..trust me, it’s a real neat deal.\u00a0 If you give me Mike Robison and you take the field… I’ll win.\u00a0 Best all around ag-ed teacher that I have ever seen.\u00a0 You can disagree but the bad asses in the field are going, I like that pick.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I probably ought to be a GM for some billion dollar sports team.\u00a0 If I was, I would trade down to the ?26th? pick and then select…….cue the music.\u00a0 The point is, it’s not necessarily what an ag teacher wins or loses, it is what they bring for the kids in their community.\u00a0 Ag teaching is such a diverse career and each community has different wants, needs and desires.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This one may get long.\u00a0 If so, and you don’t like it…..go somewhere else on the endless internet and read something worthwhile.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Oh, you’re still here.\u00a0 Well, let’s paint a happy little picture and have fun.\u00a0 I headed to college at OSU to be an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321"}],"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=4321"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4324,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions\/4324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}