This page is to give you a little
outtake about our daily lives, our family, our cattle and news in the Braunvieh & cattle
business. It gives us a chance to look back at the year, let our friends and
family know what we are up to, occasionally blow off some steam and we hope you find it informative and entertaining.
Pull up and chair, a cup of coffee and visit anytime.
Nov '08
11/16
After getting home we hit the road
running and it was time to get all the cattle sorted, back poured, weighed, and
shots. It is still warm and on Sunday we had a family get together as my
mom will be leaving for Florida soon. By the end of the week it started getting
cooler and windy. On the 9th we had our first snow flurries and by mid week it
started raining off and on the rest of the week.
I brought a heifer home to breed for a friend and on Sat we went to Benny &
Kathy Kerseys and had a wonderful visit and saw there great cattle.
11/1
For those of you that follow this page from time to time have noticed I haven't
posted much for a while. Well I'll attempt to bring you up to speed. With all
the political crap, going to Kansas City to the Royal, and just fall chores I
just have not taken the time to get on here.
The last of Sept was very
hot and dry for us. We celebrated our anniversary the 15th by having a quiet
cookout with some friends. Naturally we have spent a lot of time working the
cattle to show, did hoof trimming, and vet work.
By Oct it was still dry with temps in the 70's and even the 80's! Our sons Scot
& Derek, son-in-law Mike had birthdays and on the 17th Bess gave us a beautiful bull call out of
Z41.
We had our first light frost on the 21st and I managed to get a new corn burner
installed in the fireplace.
We pulled out on the 26th for Kansas City bucking 40 mph winds but a good trip.
After getting set up we had a chance to talk with all the other breeders and
were especially glad to see our friends Abbie & Joan Thorne from Oklahoma.
When I was a senior in high school I got to go to the National FFA convention at
KC and we ate at a great restaurant called the Golden Ox. Low & behold it's
still open and we went there for supper with Thornes - what a way to celebrate
my birthday!
As usual show day is hectic but we pulled off a couple seconds, a reserve, some
thirds, fourths, and a fifth. Thank you to those who helped us and we had a
really good time. We got loaded up and pulled out late in the afternoon and
arrived home 91/2 hours later at 1:30 in the morning - tired and glad to be
home.
Sept '08
9/10
Well Labor Day has came and gone and
the morning temps are a sure sign that fall is starting. The calves have been
weaned and sold , the fall show season has started and before we know it the
leaves will be turning and gone. This is a favorite time of year for me but also
a time to reflect on the year and some sadness. We a no exception to what the
weather and economy have done. Feed prices are out the roof, we have been
blessed with a much better pasture and hay crop than last year, but still a very
strange year weather wise at that. Very cool at times and nothing would grow,
then extremely hot and droughty. The stress of the past 2 years has been hard on
the cattle but other than a couple of minor exceptions they have held up well.
We have culled deep, our herd is much smaller, but I would like to think that we
have learned more management skills and have developed a deep appreciation for
what our cattle can do. My hope is that the coming year will be better for all
of us, markets stay strong with less input costs, and we have weathered the
economic storm.
9/7
The hurricane season is on us and we
finally received some much needed rain. We attended the Farm World Expo open
show which was a little of the good, the bad, and the ugly. This was the 1st
time for this event and due to the tremendous turnout it was completely
overwhelmed and understaffed. We had some really good help by Preston, Jake, and
especially Sadie, some friends of ours. Our youngest heifer was just beside
herself with all the activity but showed like a pro and Mary Agnes won Breed
Champion!
We had a good time and met a lot of nice people but we
sure slept in this morning.
August '08
8/31
It's still hot and muggy! The
show calves are sure glad to be under their fans! We got a little more hay put
up, weaned another calf, did an embryo transfer on one cow, and just a lot of
rinsing and feeding cattle. We have a show next week so we have been trying to
expose the new calves to a "show" atmosphere and getting them into that routine.
8/17
It's still sunny, hot & muggy. We
picked up some butcher beef this week and thank goodness it has bee unusually
cool of mornings and it made it easier to bring it home before it thawed! Other
than that the same old routine.
8/9
WE got 2 1/2" rain Tues and turned off
more hot and muggy that before. We moved some cows this week and did a
dehorning. We woke up this morning to very cool temps and had a light rain in
the night. We have the calves on the bulk feeder and they are doing great.
Unfortunately the neighbor's calf would not nurse and it died. Bell was
excellent in her attempt to get it to nurse and take care of it but it had no
desire. Had we gotten the calf sooner I believe it would have survived. It sure
speaks well for our Braunvieh cows that they would take another's calf and nurse
it.
8/3
It's starting out the month Hot and dry. Today we got a call from one of our
neighbors and his cow prolapsed and needed a cow to graft a calve on so we went
down and brought the calf home, got Bell and tried to see what we could do. She
was more than willing but the calf may present a problem so we are feeding it
with a bottle.
July '08
7/21
It's HOT & Muggy !! We've got the calves under fans and
they sure enjoy the daily rinses. We are still putting up hay but many around
have had their 's rained on. There is a good supply and for once the prices are
dropping. The price of corn has also dropped over a dollar this week!! Every
little bit helps on the feed bill.
7/4
A quiet 4th for us. We keep having some afternoon or evening showers ant it's
hot and muggy. Nina got some chickens and we've got fresh eggs every day now.
Her flowers are once again in full bloom and they are beautiful!
June '08
6/23
Pretty much same-o, same-o. Feeding and working cattle ,
breeding, and bailing hay when we can.
It seems to rain about every 3-4 days. The National Jr
Show was in Texas but we had too many irons in the fire and with high cost of
gas you really pick and choose when to go somewhere. Congrats to all the kids
for their hard work.
6/4
We have had to pull all the cattle off the pastures. They have just simply over
ran the grass. I managed to find some round bales and we will just keep them on
hay for a while. We did manage to get some hay cut but we got a rain last night
with some really bad storms in the state. Tornados everywhere but none right
here. Flooding is unbelievable in the south. I have a feeling that this is
going to be a very tough year with the weather and economy
.
May '08
5/31
My Aunt Mary Ellen died this week. I only have one uncle
left and it makes you understand how the time just slips away.
Still very cool mornings but it warms up nicely during the day and the grass is
just not growing like it should. I sure hope all this breeding is working with
all the fronts we've had.
5/24
Happy birthday Logan. I have worked all week at the
cemetery putting in a memorial area for all veterans in memory of my dad. Mike &
Jane Thompson have worked their butts off helping and it's looking really nice.
Can't believe it's Memorial Day already!
5/14
Happy birthday to grandkids Kelly & Logan. May is our
birthday month! A busy couple of weeks with setting up cows to breed, breeding,
general fence duty. We should be putting up hay but the weather won't give us a
window.
5/10
It's still been very windy and plenty of showers. We've had rain 3 days so far
this week. We set up cows to breed, gave shots, and wormed cattle yesterday.
Happy birthday to daughter Lisa tomorrow and of course Happy Mothers Day.
April '08
4/29
Daughter Ashley had a baby boy this morning! Both are
doing fine.
We've had problems all winter with
vandals tearing up our mailbox and they even stole the whole thing one time.
Yesterday they stole our farm sign and through it out into the neighbor's yard
about a mile away. They best hope I don't catch them!!
4/27
It has finally warmed up and we are still calving. We
mowed the yard for the first time and have turned a few cows out to pasture but
I think it's too early. With no hay what can one do?? It's gotten windy again
for the past several days. It is so strange how any high exposed ground is
really dry but where it is wet it's WET!
4/13
Rain! Rain! Rain!! Will spring ever get here? The grass is growing some but it's
yellow and mud everywhere! We are still buying what hay we can find. We went to
the hay auction Sat and I never saw such desperation on buyers! Monday I have to
go to Interglobe and ship some embryos.
4/1
April came in cold & windy with rain.
Seems that 's all we have anymore. Theena calved a really nice heifer, black and
polled. The hay situation is very bad in this part of the country and if this
weather does not turn soon it's going to be a rough year again.
Mar '08
3/14
Daylight savings ?? started. Guess since we don't golf it
doesn't work for us and it sure would be nice if politicians could get some
common sense! I think we are all fed up with the idiots on Wall St & Washington
playing with our livelyhoods.
The weather has been improving and
warmer temps are sure appreciated by us and the cattle. After a week of the flu,
the economy, and politics I needed something to improve my outlook. This may be
a year to put out a big garden and get a few chickens! I paid $4.19 for diesel
fuel today and we may just have to put hotwire around the yard and pasture it
this year! 
3/8
In our estimation March came in like a lion! Rain, freezing rain & snow, and
wind. Hay is getting scarce and we could use some warmth and green grass. We've
had a couple more calves and thanks to heaven we were missed by that big storm
that went just to the south.
Feb '08
2/23
My good friend Abbie Thorne in Oklahoma has been under the
weather and we hope he is doing better. Bet Joan has had her hands full keeping
him down! That man with no cattle to tend and chewing tobacco is probably going
nuts. 
Man! WE have had
unbelievable wind , snow and cold!! If it hasn't been bad with the cold and
wind, I've had a short in an electrical line at the barn and it has driven me
crazy trying to track and repair it. It's sooo Cold you can only work outside
for about 20 minutes at a time! I've had everyone locked up in the barn and so
far they are doing alright.
Friday it snowed so hard it was almost a white out and yesterday it did it
again. There were wrecks everywhere but today the sun came out and it warmed up
so we turned the cows & calves out. They all enjoyed the sun and we can finally
take some pictures..
Let's hope this is the start of spring.
2/16
Well the weather has been staying relatively moderate and with the new calves on
the ground I'll take it. Kayla did give us another heifer on Wednesday so 4
down! Looks like the weather is changing back to bad - the wind must be blowing
40-50 mph.
2/12
Sunday and Monday ushered in cold and wind again. We got
some light snow last night and today. I had to move hay and was covered in white
and was froze! Miss Katie, another Angus, had a extremely nice bull calf out of
Myty In Focus. This boy is special!! Maybe Kayla will give us a Valentines
present with her calf.
2/9
Went to the barn this morning to feed and Kami greeted me
with a beautiful beefbuilder heifer. Kami has been "my girl" so I was very
proud!
2/8
It was sunny and a little warmer today. I took some calves and culled one cow
and sold them. When I returned our Miss Wix black Angus cow was starting to
calves and an hour later we had a very nice heifer on the ground - Ms Wix Cream
Pie!
2/6
Between the weather, politics, the economy, old age I just
have not type much lately. Actually life has been pretty boring here if you
leave those out!
As usual winter will test you to the
edge. The last part of January was bitterly cold with a lot of snow and wind. I
guess because it was so miserable we just did bookwork, taxes, and kept by the
woodstove. February has been off and on with cold then warm and stormy. We have
had some pretty nasty storms with tornados. We've been in the 50's and teens all
in the same week and sometimes it changed that much within a few minutes. This
last round brought massive amounts of rain and we are flooded out. Even in the
barns everything is wet and it's a daily challenge to get everyone hayed and
bedded.
The Superbowl was one of the best games I've ever seen and it did our hearts
good to see the Pats get beat! This one will be talked about for years to come.
We anxiously await our first calves to be born and should start maybe today.
Maybe that will give me something to talk about.
Jan '08
Happy New Year everyone!
1/16
No I didn't fall off the edge of the world - I've just been busy and before I
put words to paper, as they say, been trying to think what I want to say. My
family thinks I need to refrain from the negative things that happen. You know -
bad weather, mud, flood, no pasture or hay, or the economy. This was getting a
little deep as I thought about all this.
First of all, our lives (particularly ours) are not all glamorous, filled with
everyday success stories and if your going to put down what really goes on in
your everyday life then it will at times include some not so happy times.
Sometimes it's like the old saying -"If you stomped all the hot air out of a
politician the only thing left would be a grease spot!"- and sometimes if you
did not discuss the weather, politics, or the economy then there would be
silence!
In looking back at the past year it has been filled with a lot of bad weather
and everyday challenges and the new year hasn't changed that much. If anything
the economy has worsened and our weather has not been the best. I'm sure that
there is very little that we can do about either but the one thing I do know is
that on the economy side, the type of cattle that we are raising, meaning
Braunvieh influenced, will prove themselves to be the efficient and "growthy
type" that will survive the test.
And now the news:
We've gotten most of our fall breeding completed and a couple flushes. One flush
did not go so well so we will try again. We were unable to attend the FT.
Worth show and sale so we don't know the report yet. The fall calves are growing
like weeds and we are just a couple weeks now from starting our spring group. We
got mom off to Florida, the last year's bookkeeping and taxes are almost done,
the hay we have may ?? hold out until grass, the mud is frozen
today, and unfortunately the Colts - LOST!
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