Happy Labor Day. Monday we got Gunner’s pen in and pulled him and took the 3 pair home that needed to be weaned. We had some people show up to look at the two yearling fillies we have left, and they took Dime, now we are just down to Shi of the yearlings for sale. Dime was a hard one to sell because she is our last Sissy foal, but she needed lots of one-on-one work and we didn’t have time to give it. This is better for her and sometimes you just have to make those hard choices. Next we went to CBJLS to set up for the show in the coming week with the 4H group. We ran downtown and got a coffee or smoothie, I was the only one that got a coffee, when we got done. Then we went home and did chores.
Tuesday I took the camper to work with me to get worked on by the Mobile RV Dr. It is having slide issues. He could not fix it, mobily, since the whole slide has to come out. So I called Broadmoor and made an appointment for Oct 29th. We always go to Broadmoor because they are a big supporter of the community, donating money to the livestock shows and buying kids’ animals. They support us so we support them. Toni, Leslie, Traci, and the tiny girls worked on steers to get them ready for CBJLS and Othello. You know stuff is real when the adults are having to work on the kids’ steers. Leslie and Traci hauled them over to my house so their steers could have a “trip” before their final trip to the fair. Toni worked on Big Boy Brad and Kaine’s steer. Anna’s steer for CBJLS is a bottle calf she raised so no one feels the need to work on him, which may be a mistake, we will see. Ben is back to harvesting, so 2:30 AM mornings. Kicker is also harvesting and checking spud sheds, so Toni and I did not know if they would be there for chores, but they were. So we went and fixed some fence after horse chores.
Wednesday was steer weigh in for CBJLS. Toni and Dad did chores way early. The weaned foals had somehow broken one of our big sprinklers into three separate parts, yet none of them were hurt at all. Kaine and Kade had football practice, so Anna, Jaxsen and Toni loaded the steers and took them in and met the other two. The steers all weighed in great and were acting unremarkable, which is what we want. Leslie and Traci brought their steers in. The 4-H group had 16 steers at CBJLS. For the most part all of the steers were acting really great. We had dinner with the 4H group after weigh in to discuss the week. Our good friend Leonard joined us for dinner even though his daughter has moved to FFA. We must be entertainment or something.
On Thursday Toni and the kids got up early to go in and wash. I went to work for a board meeting. The kids had market classes on Thursday, they all did great. Natalie and Kaine made it back to the championship round, and Kaine was Reserve champion. All of the kids showed great. I went home and did chores. Dad went and picked up the older kids, and Leslie and Toni took the younger kids to the movies, it was part of the fair activities, so was free to the exhibitors. The movie theater was absolutely packed with kids. CBJLS has amazing community support making it very relaxed along with a great experience for the kids. We were pretty worried that the late night movie was going to make some people grouchy, but it was a movie Jaxsen really really really wanted to see and continues to talk about now that he has seen it. Toni and Leslie said it was good. There was action, humor, and of course the popcorn and candy made it worth it. The movie was called Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
On Friday the kids had Fitting and Showing. They started with oldest to youngest, FFA then down to PeeWees. Anna was Reserve Champion Senior, Kaine was Grand Champion Intermediate, Kade was 3rd overall. Natalie was Grand Champion Jr and Julian was Reserve Grand Champion Jr. All of the kids showed great. Then we had PeeWees, Kayla showed Kade’s steer, Hannibal Hays, and Savannah showed Jaxsen’s steer, Big Boy Brad. Then Big Boy Brad and Kaine’s steer, Ike, were used in adult showmanship, where Toni won and Wes was reserve. Toni wasn’t going to show but Wes and Jesse Fletcher were trash talking so she said she had to do it. It was a 60/40 split on entries so she won enough money to buy us Chinese food, clearly worth it. Natalie and Kaine went around and learned how to show the other animals and Anna, Kade, Ady and Julian washed all of the steers. Big Boy Brad was also used to teach the kids from the other species how to show, so that AJ and Ike could rest. Clearly the real winner here is Big Boy Brad, who may not have been the prettiest steer at the show, but clearly was kind and easy.
Friday night was the Round Robin, it was great, 3 out of the 4 winners were beef kids, George Dress (who is just an all-around good kid), Kaine and Natalie, we are proud of all of them. Our entertainment for Friday night was axe throwing. Toni, Traci, Manny, Natalie, Ady, Julian, Jaxsen Savannah and Kayla all participated after waiting in line for over an hour. They say it was pretty cool. Manny told us that for $12 we could all go to Pasco and throw axes without waiting in line in the cold, but that wouldn’t be free.
Saturday started with livestock judging, then the Connell parade down town, next the livestock sale, then we loaded out steers and finished with the banquet and dance. The sale was great, and thank you to all of our buyers. Koncrete Industries bought Kaine’s Reserve champion steer. Danz Farms (JJ and Judy Danz) bought Natalies, Bar None bought Adys, Grain Acres bought Julians, Corrales Ag (Erica Corrales) bought Kades, Broadmoor RV (thank you for being a repeat buyer) bought Annas, and Ed Poe (again, thank you for being a repeat buyer) bought Jaxsens. We got the livestock judging results were we learned that our boy Flaco (also known by his real name of Trinton) got a 297 out of 300 and was the overall winner. We were so excited and proud for him. Anna was no slouch with a 295 and winner of the FFA division. All of the kids did great. Then we all hung out and waited to load the steers and then went and ate and the kids danced while we laughed the laugh of the overly tired. We all had a great time, getting to see some great friends that we only see at CBJLS.
Sunday we picked up the stuff from Connell and moved it to Othello and decorated there. It is our last terminal steer show, then we are back to jackpotting the 2022 show steers and heifers. We went out to eat at Checos after setting up and then went home to rest for a few minutes, do homework, starting cooking for Othello and work on the CBJLS pictures.
The kids are going to get a couple of days of school and football practice before we head to the Othello Fair for the rest of this coming week. So, this is the last call, the last chance to see the kids show steers or buy some beef for 2021 from the kids. We have some great steers headed to Othello with some great showmen doing their best to bring home the buckles.
KT Ranch 
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