Bright and early Monday morning Anna, Ben and McCall headed to Billings Montana for the Nile Cattle Show. They got there and got checked in. Toni had court. Dad and Mom headed to Addy to get Dad’s new side by side, or new to him but used, from Gary and Ruth. Monday was the start of homecoming week at school and Kade participated in the homecoming events at the assembly. Toni and I hooked the three foals to the three donkeys Monday night, Basil got Capone, Rosie got Bailey and Tulip for Mercades. These are three pretty big foals. Capone is the size of a yearling already and the other 2 aren’t small. We are thankful for donkeys. Very thankful. Toni picked Kade up from school to do horse chores and then ran him back in for drivers ed. Kicker was fixing circles so Kaine ran up to do cow chores after he got home from practice.
On Tuesday we turned the circle off and dad drove his new side by side up to the pond and out into the circle. He had fun. At the Nile Anna showed Mini Herefords, the mini-Hereford bull she showed won his division and the heifer got 3rd in her class. She had fun. I saw on Facebook that Kade participated in the homecoming events again. Good job buddy and having good school spirit. Jaxsen had a game, they beat Othello, Jaxsen played great. Mercades did not need to get tied to the donkey on Tuesday, I led her all over one handed while we moved the colts around. Capone was tied to Basil again and Bailey to Rosie. Kade drove after school then had drivers ed. Kaine went up to help with cow chores after he got done with horse chores. Kaine forgot to let the kittens out on Tuesday and they were little devils when we got home.
On Wednesday Mom and Toni went to see grandma, she has moved over to the rehab. Morgan and Tel came to the Nile to watch Anna show Char and hang out with Ben, Anna and McCall. Tel preferred Ben but Morgan would not let him keep him. I did get a text congrats on the grandbaby, how old do you people think I am?? Anna had fun showing the char heifer on Wednesday. I think they were third in their class in the Jr Show, I think third in showmanship and middle of the class in open. They did great, she showed really well and looked really good. Kade’s PVF heifer came on Wednesday over to Connell, Joe and Kade evaluated her at great extent. Toni was given some mixed soft Australian licorice when she took Kade to get his heifer, so she was happy. Kade didn’t do the horse chores since he was picking up his heifer and then had drivers ed, so Kaine did horse chores and then went to help with cow chores. Jaxsen is still just doing water. We tied Bailey to Basil and Capone to Rosie on Wednesday and led Mercades. We then let Basil and Tulip out with the other foals and just left Rosie in for Thursday pulling. Rosie is by far the toughest of the lot, hardest to catch, but the toughest.
Great day at the Nile on Thursday. Anna showed a Gelbvieh heifer from Ledgerwood Gelbvieh, they won their class in the Jr Division and made it back. They were Grand Champion Sr Showman in showmanship. In the open division she was second in her class. Anna also got to show another heifer for Ledgerwood Gelbvieh and a bull, the bull was the Reserve Grand Champion overall bull. In the Angus division Anna’s bred and owned heifer won her division and her bull won his class. In showmanship Kale made it back to the championship round and Anna did really well. I went and had lunch with grandma, I shared a grilled cheese sandwich with her and she had soup. Thursday night Toni and I worked on the foals. Kade did not have drivers ed so he did most of the chores. The foals are really starting to make progress. Tulip wanted to be done. She is kind of turning into a quitter.
Friday Anna and McCall showed at the Nile and Kale Cordill showed his Nile Merit heifer. McCall had Queenie and Baby Cow and Anna showed Blondie and her bull. Queenie got 2nd in her class and Blondie was in the same class and 3rd. Baby Cow was 5th in a deep class. Kale and Berta were 3rd in their class. The bull won his division and got to come back to the championship round. Kale and Berta were 4th Overall in the Nile Merit Program and Reserve Champion in Showmanship. Marlo came and her and Kade did chores. I worked on the foals, Toni had court on Friday, but she got there as we were finishing up and took some pics of the foals. Mom, Marlo, Kade, Jaxsen and I met Dianne in at Kaine’s football game. Kade got to record the film for the team. It was Sr night and we got to see a lot of fiends be honored in Sr night. It was a great game and Connell won.
Happy birthday Jaxsen. On Saturday Kade went hunting and Kaine went with his friends to Tri Cities to play golf before homecoming. Toni and I loaded out Mercades on Saturday, she went home with Juan. Jaxsen wanted to invite friends over for his birthday, so Toni went around and gathered them up. Then Robby and Ed came with daughter Cheynne to get a clubby steer. Then I fixed fence with the dogs, cleaned some stuff up, fed the cows a few old 2 string bales that were left over from shows and hanging around the show shed. Kade got home and did chores early so I could take him down to meet the boys for homecoming. Toni and I took pics of Capone and then finished up chores, which included getting Blaze and Dukey in and haltered. We had to chase the pen around a bit, but we got them. Both were pretty easy to halter. Bailey gets another week. I then ran to Kennewick with Kade and took homecoming pics and dropped him off with the other kids and came home. The boys had a good time at Homecoming. Ben, McCall and Mckenna went to Morgans in Wyoming to pick up the steers at Morgans house. They look really good, we are really happy with them. Then they went to the Angus sale to bid on some heifers but did not get any. Which the trailer was pretty full so maybe for the best, even though we really liked some of Zane Barragree’s heifers in the sale and some of Lacey and Chads from 3C (they donated Anna’s Nile Merit Heifer from last year). McKena flew out of Billings that night home to Kansas. Toni took Jax’s friends home. A few wanted to stay the night but she said she couldn’t deal with it. Our friend Robby said that she read somewhere that raising boys is like raising a pack of squirrels. That seems accurate. 2 boys is ok, more than 2 and you wonder what type of hell life has become.
On Sunday McCall, Ben and Anna headed home with the trailer load, and one heifer of Kelly Cordills that they dropped off. Toni, Kaine and Kade went to Pomeroy to pick up the Spokane steers from Dixons. Both boys took a turn driving with the trailer, they really can’t get too much experience driving with a trailer before they are turned lose on society. Once in Pomeroy, they spent some time with John and Jerry looking through the weaned calves. John Dixon does have some calves left that would work for a fall show if anyone is looking. I worked around the place with the dogs. Everyone kind of got home around the same time. We had to move pens around a bit to get pens for all of the steers and critters we have accumulated. Toni and I worked on group 4, Bailey, Blaze and Duke. All three donkeys had to come back in for a bit. We also put out big bales in the White tractor. I guess that happened this week too, we have sold the White tractor so putting out bales Sunday may have been its last job for KT Ranch. We also got Cog caught, practiced loading him, and put him in a pen at the house for him to leave on Monday to his new home. I weaned Mouse when she came in for grain, so another foal weaned.
We are down to four long yearling colts and one filly. We think they are all pretty good ones and each has a unique trait that sets them apart. The Judge is a big gray colt out of John Hallowell’s PD stud- so Apache Blue Boy on the bottom and Dash for Cash on the top. This colt is made for performance. He is big, strong, smart, and pretty. King Two is a stout shorter colt, clearly made for breakaway, calf roping, healing. He is more reactive, but again, really smart. He is more of a project type, but is going to make a fantastic horse. King Three is a true-blue roan that carries a crème gene. He is EE, so can’t have a red foal. Again, super smart colt. Very fancy, has the right look. Joker is a joy to be around, has the pedigree, and ability. We had originally thought Joker would be our next stallion, but we are going to go a different route. Joker has that potential, or would make a great gelding. Joss is a buckskin filly. She was a later born filly, but is stout, smart, curious, and just a fun filly. She isn’t going to be huge, should mature 14.2 with lots of natural grace. These are all really great foals that we are ready to move before winter.
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