AGRIBTION

There has been so much going on in the last month ! ... but Agribtion is on my mind, as we just got home last night. It was reminiscent of how Agribion used to be .... with cold, snowy weather (which made for a long drive both ways). We only took 5 head to Regina, but on the whole, I felt that they represented our program really well.

While we did not come home with any banners this time, I did come away from it not just feeling good about the quality of our cattle ..... but I felt really grateful to all our friends who helped us out while we were there. I am truely thankful to the follwoing people who made our shows this fall so great: Jamie and John Lutz .... (without Jamie we would never have even been able to take our whole string to Edmonton), and who have been "good friends" and stall mates this fall. Marilyn, Brain, Bennet and Bobbi-Jo Foster .... for coming from Manitoba to help us, and have a visit. I was so proud of the kids for jumping in and helping, and showing in the showmanship on Saturday !. Brad and Scott ... who are so positive and supportive ... (and Brad did and awesome job showing for us !). Steve ... who with Jeff had the cattle looking the best we have ever had them (in my opinion) on show day ( ... and who also hauled our clipping chute home for us !).

and of course ... thanks to Jeff .. who worked so hard to get our cattle to where they needed to be this fall. And for all his encouragement on those days this last year when I wondered if all this work/expense on the "show cattle" would be worth it.

I also wanted to mention how happy I am for the Leachman family ( www.biggullyfarm.com ) for having Grand and then Supreme Champion bull !!!

Now I am off to get some rest ... and hopefully feel a bit better tomorrow ... lot's to be done around here since we have been away so much. Dad got stuck with some really bad weather while we were gone ... I am sure he is happy to have us home.

Will post an update on Farmfair soon ...

Hoping everyone had a safe trip home from Regina ...

Jen

Almost there ...

I simply find it hard to believe that it is already November !! Maybe it is because the weather has finally been so nice, and we can finally get some things done outside. The picture above was taken September 17, and is of our greenfeed. Haven't had much snow since then, but it sure hasn't felt like summer/fall either.

Only one more day at home, then we are off to Farmfair. Still a ton of things to get done, but we managed to get all of the other calves either weaned or sold. I felt a little better when I saw all those guys still combining out there, I am sure that they are thinking of everything they still need to get done too !

We are really happy with how the "show cattle" look this year. About a month ago we decided to take a 6 year old cow our this fall. She is actually doing pretty good, considering she had never seen a halter, hoping she settles in good once we get to Edmonton. We have a few less head going to Agribition ... but I am still wondering how the plan changed for just taking a "few" to taking 7-9. At the end of last year I swore that this year we were going to just "take it easy" ... I guess I have only myself to blame, as I am the one who kept bringing cattle into the "show pasture".

All this thinking about only having one more day at home has made me realize I had better get off this computer and get some things done.

Hope everyone had a good calf sale, and that your harvesting is all done !

Jen

Sneak a Peek

It's that time of year again ... when I am wondering why in the heck we thought we had time to take cattle to Farmfair and Agribition again !!! Don't get me wrong .. I am excited about the cattle we have going this year .... but let's not forget about all the other stuff that needs to get done around here in the next couple of weeks ! We are hoping to get our replacement calves weaned next weekend .. then sell the rest on Novemeber 2nd ... hoping that the market stays strong. It would be so nice for everyone if calf prices improved over the last number of years.

I thought I would give you all a little "peek" at a couple of head we are taking out this fall ... if you want to know what the rest of them looks like ... you'll just have to come see us in Edmonton or Regina .. and have a better look ! LOL !

Jen

Snow ... and a Road Trip ...

The weather here continues to be challenging ... even woke up to snow the other morning. Our greenfeed is looking rather sad, and flat !. I think we'll be able to get it put up ok, hoping that we will get a break from this wet weather and get it done maybe towards the end of the week.

I am off to Hirsche's dispersal sale for a couple of days. Sad to see such progressive breeders have a sale like this. The Horned Hereford breed will be missing one of it's best (if not THE best) promoters of our breed. I guess time will tell what their involvement in the breed will be in the future.

Jeff has been up there getting the sale cattle ready, for about the last month. He has somehow managed to clip every sale animal up there by himself. I am sure he will be ready for a bit of a break once the sale is over, just need to get him home for a few days so we can get our own done !!! LOL !

I am heading up tonight, and am going to stay in High River for both of the sale days. There is so much to be done here .. but I guess there always is ! At some point a person just has to drive away !. I have been through the catalog, narrowed my interests down to about 30 hfr. calves ! LOL ! Hoping to get a couple of hours to look through things in the morning.

Jen

Fall

I have to say that the weather the last couple of days has been really "dreary" ... perfect word for it. Grey, overcast, rainy .... and dang COLD !!!! Hard to get motivated to get much done outside. Managed to clean the coop for the "ladies" so they can go into winter with a nice clean house !

I am kind of sad that summer seems to be over ... ususally I like fall ... but this year it seems like we missed the sunshine totally ! I had shorts on for all of about half an hour this summer .. and the mesquito's were so bad I had to put my jeans back on after about half an hour !! LOL !

At least there is a bit of a break in the clouds this morning. Not sure what we will get up to today ... awfully muddy out there this morning. Thinking I will go pound some posts. We are going to try and add a little area on to our bull field for picturing cattle for our ad this fall. Hopefully it will be a good spot for us ... this running around over acres of land ... trying to get pic's had become a little hard to manage. If there is one thing that tests a relationship more than calving time .. it is "picture day " ... LOL ! Any of you who have done this will know exactly what I am talking about !

All this talk about picturing has made me realize how great it will be to have this little "spot" done for us to use this fall .... best finish my coffee and get my butt out the door or nothing will get done !

Jen

Time to wear flourescent clothing ...

Opening day of the early elk season ! So far so good .. the people we had in today have hunted here for a few years, nice people and I am happy for them that they got their tags filled tonight. We have had about 100+ head of elk on the north end of our place for the better part of the summer. They were camped out on some alfalfa we had down there ... made a darn mess of it to tell the truth. Still ... I love to see them. One day when we were haying down there I went to change some knives on my Moco .. and when I went to stand up from under it I was so surprised to see that herd of elk standing right there beside the machine ! LOL !

I am just hoping that this herd stays north ... back at home here we still have all our greenfeed/silage to put up. Elk (and bears) just love that .. and they can sure cause a lot of damage if they find it. Come to think of it ... so can the damn show cows who seem to think that they should be out there too !!! LOL ! Fixed them today though ... got an electric fence put down by the river where they were coming in.

... about the show cattle ... well .. I'll leave that story for another day ..

Jen

Summer ..

Well .. seems like summer is coming to an end. Somehow it feels like we never even had a summer ! One shouldn't ever complain about moisture .. but it has been a really rainy season these last few months. The grass is still green though .. and it is hard to remember when it last stayed this green for so long. For awhile we were wondering if we were ever going to get our haying done .. but this last week has been good and I am hoping to have it done by the end of the week. Just like most everyone else .. we will have some late greenfeed to put up in a couple of weeks.

Of course we have a few cattle in that we are thinking of showing this fall. The above pic. was taken about 2 weeks ago .. they are still out on native pasture .. so we have to chase them in twice a day so the calves can get a bit of grain. Kind of a pain to do this twice a day .. sometimes I wish they were just yarded ! LOL ! BUT .. I am sure they are happier out on grass.

I was just thinking that it is time to start thinking about our fall ad/picutes too. Somehow I am not ready for it to be fall yet .. and the list of things to get done seems to get longer all the time ... I am sure you know how that goes !

Jen