#AQHAdunfilly | KT Ranch

There is nothing that makes a person happier than buying livestock. And if we have to be addicted to something, livestock addiction is better than a drug addiction.

Monday dragged on, since at 4 it seemed like 5 and I should be off of work. We were all still tired for the show, so that didn’t help the situation. WSU had a shift change on Monday, so we had new vets call with the Molly update, however, she still got the OK to come home on Tuesday. I had them contact Sheena with continued care, like blood work orders, etc. We are excited to get her home. Kaine had to stay after school to turn in his football gear, but besides that he is done with sports for a bit. It is nice with darkness coming so early to have them home for chores. Toni got Naughty, Dual and Duke back in to work with. Toni also did chores so the 3 kids that were home could wash their steers and heifers.

Tuesday Toni and mom headed to WSU to bring Molly home as soon as the kids were on the bus. I took Wild to Sheena to get her eye port taken out, then Wild was turned out with the other weanlings. Mom did not want Wild in with Molly. Wild isn’t wild, but she is big and can be pretty active. The old white trailer was brought down for Molly to spend nights in. Mom and Toni took a blanket for Molly so she did not get too cold on the way home. Molly was pretty lethargic acting up at WSU. They said she had not been super active, but was pretty resistant to getting her bandage changed. When Toni took her off the trailer at home, Molly was back to herself. Prancing, bucking in place, acting like she was pretty happy to be home. And of course mom was really happy she was home. We all were, but Mom especially. Because the trailer was at the house from bringing Molly home, we practiced loading Naughty, Duke, Dual, and Lilo. Since the weather had gotten cold we also put Double’s blanket on him. Kaine washed his heifers after school and Kade and Jaxsen did chores.

Wednesday Coco got sick, so Toni watched baby Shea from 6:30 am to about 10:30. Kendel watched Shea while Toni had court. Anna went and got her when she got home from school from Kendel. They all had lots of fun watching her, but we are still sad Coco was sick. Coco ended up going to the doctor to try to get some meds and get better. Toni and the kids did chores. Naughty, Dual, and Duke were all progressing really well. Toni was getting ready to go to a convention, so she had Kade and Kaine help her with the colts as they would be working on them on Thursday. We forget how much stranger danger the foals have until you go to introduce someone new to them. But the boys did really well with the colts. Dual is very chill. Duke, who is still really young, just needed more time to get used to the boys. We call them boys, but they are both about 6 feet tall and probably look pretty big to the weanling colts.

Thursday Coco was still sick, Toni had court so Kendel watched Shea and took Coco some chicken noodle soup. Toni and Leslie left for WCA conference at noon in Wenatchee. The kids did most of chores. I did some when I got home, not a lot, what they left for me. The boys worked on the colts themselves. They said they did fine. Someone also has to help mom lead Molly who is feeling her oats now that she is home. We still have to give her meds, change her bandages, but she is much improved. We just hope we can keep her moving in the right direction with her healing.

Happy Veterans Day. On Friday Ben the kids and I left for SE Idaho to see the Geddes family. We stay with Ben’s sister Candice, her husband James and the 4 girls. Kaydance is the only one of the 4 that does not do dance, she is in to animals, so we are trying to convince Candice and James to let her stay with us for a while in the summer. Toni got home late in the day and the Meachams did chores while we were gone. McCall came and house sat.

We had a great time in Idaho, for the few days we were there, and visited as many people as we could. We took Nugget the mini down with us for Andee.

Toni and the boys did a lot while we were gone. On Saturday, Kade went shooting. Jaxsen and Toni went and loaded out Duke, Dual, and Naughty. It was a cold but sunny day. After the three colts left, Toni and Kade got Lilo, Groot, and Rich in. Groot and Rich were the two options for Jeshua for the AQHA youth program. The Meacham men put out straw for all of the horses. They did chores.

Jeshua ended up selecting Groot on Sunday. Groot is quite a bit bigger than Rich at this point and he is bay. Jeshua likes bays. Really who doesn’t? Toni and Kade got the next halterbreaking victims in, they ended up being Judge, Gunnie, and one last sold filly that is staying awhile. Then Toni and Kade pulled Shadie and Cammie in, weaned those 2 foals, put a blanket on Shadie. Then went and caught Blue and Lendy, weaned those 2 foals. So the only foal left to wean is Summer. She is just too tiny to wean. They were supposed to haul a load of mares out after that, but ended up riding out to check the heifers instead. Kade is really wanting to ride his horse Minnie quite a bit before he has to quit because she is ready to foal. We bought her bred, so probably won’t breed her back unless Kade has moved to something else to ride, but he likes her a lot. Then they cleaned out the red trailer before winter. After that it was time for chores.

Seven foals left to sell. We are still debating keeping as many as we have selected to keep. So we may have some others for sale at some point. Toni tried to buy a few at the Millionaire’s sale but wouldn’t bid high enough. We had the Shining Spark 2022 colt for all of 5 minutes before we got outbid. I think he sold for $51,000.00. Yeah, we were an early bid! A person might wonder why we would bid on another horse. There is nothing that makes a person happier than buying livestock. And if we have to be addicted to something, livestock addiction is better than a drug addiction.

For a little donkey that didn’t love people when she got here, she has become a great asset as well as a pet.

On Monday we finally got the Conley heifer Kade bought back in the middle of September. We were happy with how she looked and we got to meet a new shipper. Dean Libheart lives in Centralia and goes all over if anyone needs a shipper. Really nice guy. He had some longhorns in the trailer, so Toni tried to buy a heifer for Ben. Kaine’s football games were postponed to Tuesday, so just practice for everyone after school. Anna, McCall and Ben packed their last few items before they were leaving early on Tuesday for the Nile. They are going to have a good time. I am sad I am not going with them. Anna has her Nile heifer, “Lacy,” 7, 166 and a char heifer. McCall is taking Mayhem, Kaine’s heifer. We are also getting ready for the Western Showcase the beginning of November. Toni and I continued to work on the two colt and two fillies.

Tuesday was a cluster of a day, but did not end up too bad. Ben, McCall and Anna headed out at 12:30 Am to the NILE show in Billings, MT. The got there at around 11:30 MT. They got the char heifer checked in, beds made, and went to the club calf sale with Morgan, who met them there. Toni and mom took Cappy and Absolute to the vet. Absolute had the lavage removed from her eye. She kept her eye and hopefully has some vision in it. Cappy was getting travel papers, he might move to Oregon. Absolute was tired of going to see Sheena, so was not the best to load. Kaine and Kade both had football games, so all of adults left at home divided and conquered. And we hustled to get it done. Mom, Jaxsen and I went to Kaine’s game, the rest went to Kade’s game. Both boys played like the super stars they are. Jaxsen, mom and I ran down and got pizza, per dad’s request, for dinner and then picked Kaine up and went home. During the night Dude got out at Toni’s and ran around the house.

On Wednesday Anna showed the char heifer and her and McCall fit her. She did a great job, the heifer looked awesome, and she showed really well. I would say she was the best behaving heifer in the ring. We were all able to watch on the livefeed. I thought she should have won hands down, however, the judge liked them a little bit more moderate framed. Mini Tank left on Wednesday and took his time loading. However, Kendra said he hauled like a rockstar, exited the trailer gracefully and started grazing. Toni and I worked on the foals, Toni went up and got the trailer and we practiced loading them, they all did great. Boys got home and did chores, the man and boys did the cattle chores.

Thursday early morning Dude started getting out again. So Dude and Leroy got to switch pens. When studs start going through hotwire, you just have to do something different with them. Dude is really easy to get in and seemed to be more interested in the grain he found than anything else. At the Nile, the Jr show started at one, so Anna, McCall and Ben got up and got them ready. Anna and her team did great, Gamora was a division champion, Lacey won her class and 7 was 4^th in her class. Anna and Lacey showed well in showmanship. Anna had her Nile interview in between showing. I think they got done around 6 Montana time, then still had to wash and feed. McKenna flew in on Thursday. At home, Jaxsen had a BBQ for grid kids. We all pitched in and got chores done. We got a new mare on Thursday, Gracie. Gracie is a great mare and we are excited to get her. We have known Gracie for a few years now and she is one of the sweetest kindest mares out there. She also has a very nice pedigree out of a money earning cutting stud, Cats Stormin Oak.

Happy Birthday Jaxsen! Last year before you are a teenager, the big 1 2. Friday Anna and McCall showed open in the morning. They did not do as well with the open judge as with the Jr judge, however, they both did a great job showing and the heifers looked great. The Nile Merit heifer competition started at 1 with the progeny parade. We also shipped out Dun Bug to a long time buyer, Janice. He loaded amazing and they were loaded and gone quickly. Kaine had a varsity game at Ki Be, I forgot my camera, Kaine was supposed to take it down to moms with him, and he forgot it. So when Jade came out to get the camera we found it missing, so Toni ran to my house and got it. The Nile Merit Heifer show started, Anna and Lacey won the black Angus class. They were 3rd overall in breeding. The other WA girl, Alyssa Williams, with a Hangin A heifer from Alan Alexander, was Grand champion. We are proud of both of the WA girls. Anna made it back for the final round in showmanship as well. We are so proud of how well Anna and Lacey did. Thank you 3C on your generous donation. Jaxsen was student of the month, so Toni went to that assembly and picked-up Jax and Kade. Meachams did chores. It rained Friday, Diane and I went to Ki Be to watch Kaine. The weather has been so nice for the football games. It was a great game besides the rain and seasonal temps. Diane, Kaine and I went to Bob’s Burgers after the game. Toni made finger steaks for Jax’s bday so Marlo had dinner with the Meachams.

Jaxsen’s last Grid Kids game was Saturday. They had a good game and he rocked it like normal. After the game, Jaxsen’s two best friends came out for a small bday party. Because boys are boys they mostly ran around and fought each other with sticks. Kaine and I went and picked up Jessie, Truffles and Nugget at Cecil and Debbies house, all of the minis are back home now. We had someone out looking at bulls on Saturday, so Kaine and I got the bulls in and sorted out the Herefords and older bulls, since they wanted a yearling Angus bull. They picked 204. Toni was then back from football and I took Kaine down to his second homecoming, to Camas’ school. Ben, Anna and McCall were on their way home from the Nile, they picked the Seldom Rest heifers up at Midland Bull Test. The also ran into some snow on the way home. But they made pretty good time.