Monday was Labor day. Labor Day is when we honor and celebrate hardworking Americans with a day of rest. Maybe you’re spending the Labor Day weekend at the beach for one last summer hurrah or camping in the mountains. Maybe you are a rancher or farmer and you do not get federal holidays. Maybe you’re giggling about Labor Day memes with your pals over a drink. Or maybe you’re just spending the day catching up on sleep. Regardless of how you celebrate, give yourself a pat on the back.
Kade, Kaine and Jaxsen tied their 2025 clubby show steers up and Kade’s heifer. We got the cows in to sort for a second time that weekend. We had a call Sunday from a repeat customer wanting some bred heifers, so we got them back in and sorted them out. We also kept another heifer in for Kaine. I worked on the riding horse fence some more, Ben came out and helped me finish it. Anna, Lane and McCall worked on their Nile animals and the sale steers. Kade went to see his friend, and then she came out to help do chores. Kaine drove the tractor around, he claimed to be picking up string, he says he worked on Red Velvet, his steer. Toni rode the old mare Shady since she let Kade ride Friday with all of Kade’s horses are lame. Anna rode Jojo and with some help from Ben, sat on Gunny her 2-year-old. We also did normal chores, doctored Copper, etc. We needed new pics of Blonde and Tuff guy so got those. We need to start really putting the time in to get some foals sold now that we have gotten disease panel testing done on most of them.
Everyone went back to school and work on Tuesday. Kade has been riding Joss all over and he sent me a video of him riding her down around the alfalfa field alone. She is a great mare, she walks right now, he rides her passed the studs, yearling colts etc. As a 2 year old that has been 2 since June, she is really coming along and has a great solid mind. Ben and I got pics of the Hereford and Angus steers that Anna has sold so she could send them to the people for updates. Tank was really helpful getting those. Ben thinks Tank is too tame. Because there is such a thing with a stud? Ben pretty much only loves Sagebug and no other stud is as good as Sagebug ever. Except when Leroy was still alive, he also loved Leroy, but he referred to him as “The Canadian.” Now he only loves Sagebug. Toni had an interview on the ranch for Capital Press, so watch for that article. We are excited to get some press! Toni got some new pics of Blue Shooter with her phone too.
On Wednesday we did the drawing for everyone that liked and shared our pages. You can go onto our social media pages and watch the videos, or I added them below. We were pretty excited to have 17 pages of names to put in Dad’s hat. We are really thankful to everyone that has helped us get our social media back to working after getting hacked in Dec. It sucks but it happens! We got an update from our little buddy Emmett AKA “George”, who has one of our half clubby steers that he is taking to Othello. George had the steer all clipped up and looked snazzy and ready to go to the Othello Fair. Kaine has a red steer we all call Red Velvet so George is also calling his steer Red Velvet because George thinks he is a comedian. The rest of us call George’s steer Big Red. Our good friend Betsy and her son Keegan (Keegan is the 3rd boy of the Kaine, Kade, Keegan group) were in Moscow and they stopped by to have lunch with Anna. I was so happy to see a picture of them all. Thanks for checking on her Betsy. We still worry about our girl being so far from home. Toni went to Grandma’s Wed night.
On Thursday our last outside mare left, she was in with MC. Toni did all the chores since she was waiting for Steve to stop and get his mare. Then of course they had to have a visit. Steve is now doing custom hauling for anyone that has anything they need hauled. We have known Steve since we were kids as his kids showed Herefords with us back in the day. Steve also sold half interest in a Hereford bull to our uncle Joe. I went home and helped Ben take care of Anna’s show animals. Per the norm, Kaine and Jaxsen had football practice and Kade did most of the chores. Dad went up to Palouse and got enough pellets that we could make it through winter.
On Friday morning our horses from La Grande arrived. A friend of ours lost her battle with cancer at the age of 31. She put up a good fight until the very end. The family was kind enough to let us buy her mares so that we could keep a piece of her here on our ranch and remember her legacy. A different friend of ours picked the 2 horses up in La Grande on Thursday and brought them out Friday morning. It was bittersweet to get the mares but we are excited to have them here. Another friend came out Friday for a meeting with Toni, then they drove around and looked at horses. While out and about they noticed that Shiner was squinting his eye so Toni called to let me know we needed to get him in on Saturday. Our friend didn’t really have a favorite foal, but Sugar Cookie wouldn’t leave her alone. Colada also really liked her. Scarlett was also out to help Toni with chores and got some loves in on Mirage. On Friday Kaine had his first football game. Kade did most of the chores before we left. Jaxsen stayed at the school after practice. Ben, mom, Anna, Lane, Kade and I all went in. Anna and Lane went and got subway for us to eat at the game. It was a great game, we went into OT at 0 to 0 score and they beat us by 1 in OT. Kaine played the majority of the game and played awesome.
On Saturday the kids clipped their steers for CBJLS this next week. Anna also clipped her sale steers. Toni and I went down to circle 5 and got Bell and Shiney Guy in. Shiney Guy has a swollen eye so we need to see what is going on. We spent way too much time out in Circle 5 enjoying the foals. They are all really curious and want attention. We have been arguing about who has to pull hair on Cowy/Mini Tank/Cowboy because none of us want him to be mad at us. Well while Toni was petting him Laroy came over and started biting him so she pulled hair right then so he wouldn’t know it was a human doing it. We just have a few left in that field to get hair on. Then we hauled Tank down to mom and dads and went out and got Gunner in and pulled him from the mares. So we were in a pretty good mood when we went to move Tank and he ran over to us and loaded great. Then we went out to the desert to get Gunner. We couldn’t find them, couldn’t find them. Kept honking the horn. We finally realized they were about a mile away on the other fence line, which we can’t drive out that far with a trailer. Gunner saw us about that time and literally ran full speed across the desert to us and jumped in the trailer. It is really nice to have awesome studs. Kaine used the skid steer and cleaned up the area where the weaning pen will go. Belle and Shiney guy went into the old mare pen, Annie got kicked out into general population and is not happy about it. Two of the steer calves we sold last year for show steers came out so Anna could clip them. I went to stay with grandma.
Sunday morning Ben, Kade, Kaine, Lane and Anna tattooed the weaned bulls, one had already lost a tag, but only one so they were able to figure out who it was. Then Kade went over the hill and helped a young kid clip his steer for the show this week. We really encourage our kids to help those that ask and to set good examples. Jaxsen came down and dyed his steer before we went in to set up for CBJLS. If you see Jax and notice his hands are black, just remember, the dye comes with gloves. Brook Mertens and his wife Dawn and their kids made a great display for the steers. It did not take us long to set up at all and it looked great. Now we are physically ready for Wednesday, mentally….. not sure we are ever ready!
With that said, this is the last terminal show the kids have this year. So if you are interested in supporting the kids please come out to CBJLS. I can vouch for most of the kids at this show, they work hard and have the time and effort into their projects. Kids, all kids, love having people come out and see their projects, so even if you don’t have the ability to purchase and animal or do an add-on, being there is support. Making the effort to talk to the kids, see their project is something all of these kids appreciate.
Here are the dates:
CBJLS Show – Sept 12-14, 2024
Thursday 12th – 9:30 a.m. Steer, Swine & Lamb Market Classes begin – CHAMPIONSHIPS FOLLOW – Lambs will begin at 9:30 a.m./Steers will immediately follow (this allows exhibitors to attend preview meeting)
Friday 13th – 9:00 a.m. Steer, Swine & Lamb Showmanship Classes begin – CHAMPIONSHIPS FOLLOW – Steers will begin at 9:00 a.m./Lambs will immediately follow
Round Robin – 5pm
Saturday 14th – 12:30 p.m. Market Stock Sale
Sale Order: Swine, Sheep, Beef
Here is the add-on sheet for anyone that wants to do add-ons. Again- this is for ALL kids that are showing at CBJLS. We encourage support in all shapes, not just monetary. We also have the North Franklin Booster Club for those with a little extra money to add to a bigger pool of money.
https://www.cbjls.org/exibitoraddon/
North Franklin Booster- https://northfranklinlivestockbooster.com/
You must be logged in to post a comment.