KT Miss Vanna Jean, “Jean,” Mare Sire: Doll Docsan, “Leroy” Dam: KT Gunz N Roses,”Ro” Date Born: 3/5/20 Click here for more pictures Color: Red Dun Price: $5,000 Jean was born on Savannah Jean’s birthday, so Savannah got to name her. Both Jeans are referred to as Mean Jean, since they have a lot of sass. Ro is by Silver Gun who was a phenomenal stallion by Playgun and out of Miss Freckles Reed. Siver Gun has 100+ AQHA Points in Heeling, Heading, Working Cow Horse, Reining, and he was an AQHA Reserve Champion Superhorse, AQHA Champion, Sr. Heeling, AQHA Top Ten Finalist, Sr. Heading (7th), PCQHA Champion, Heeling, PCQHA Champion, Working Cow Horse, PCQHA Reserve Champion, Heeding, AQHA Performance Register of Merit is many divisions. Leroy is a stallion with a performance packed pedigree along with a very good disposition. Leroy has produced 1 foal that has NRHA earnings. He also has a 3 year old competing in Western Dressage, was 3rd in Canada in July 2016 and has racked up more 1st place finishes since then. He is sired by Dolls Union Jac- ROM, NRHA earnings, and sired foals that have earnings in excess of $310,000.00 in NRHA, as well as earnings in NRCHA, Buckskin Assoc., and the AQHA world show.
We had some light rain on Monday morning. Lura had a fancy buckskin colt. Toni went and checked before going into the school to teach a horse genetics lesson to two science classes. She thought she was talking to an Ag class, which it was an FFA class, the problem is that it has been approved as a general science credit. So it was not as rewarding as she thought it would be. Toni, the boys and I worked on some more fence. Anna did the show cattle chores. Then the boys went up to help when we got done with the fence. Toni, Jaxsen and I got Jeannie’s gelding in and then went and hooked up the gooseneck.
Ellie foaled on Tuesday. Dad and Toni went to Jordans to get King and Tank. They took Jeannie’s gelding and dropped him off. King and Tank look really good, Toni took lots of pics and videos. They had to be back by noon because we had our first person out to look at foals. She selected Lilo to purchase. Or Lilo chose her, either way. When Toni got back she saw that Twist was in heat, so I messaged Holly and Toni ran Twist over to Holly’s house to breed her to Whitty. Whitty is Friday’s full brother, he is by Colonel and out of Peppy. We are so happy to have him close by. If you want to breed to him give us a shout and we will get Holly’s info for you. Toni also put Sally in with King, she was in heat. When I got home Toni, the boys and I moved Mud down by Stetson, so we have BB and Mud down to tease. We have every pen full all over the place at this point. No room anywhere, but we think we can make this work.
Wednesday started off pretty exciting. When Toni went to check, Annie had foaled but Stinger had stolen the foal. Mom, Dad, and Toni were all out getting him back. Stinger was pretty serious about keeping him, so it took all three of them. Luckily she really is a great mare and once Toni got a string around her neck, she was able to lead her to the corral where Stinger continued to pace the fence and act like an idiot the entire rest of the day. Annie had a colt, who was pre-named Ninja no matter if it was a colt or filly. Because of the morning debacle, Ninja got a tube of colostrum just to make sure. Annie and Ninja got moved over with Tulip so they could just be together with no other horses. The kids had a half day of school and then parent teacher conferences. Anna went to serve the teacher’s dinner, since she is an FFA officer. Jaxsen convinced his teacher that he did not need a conference, it was a bad time of day for his mom, blah blah blah. Kade’s conference was great. Toni took the boys to see Grandma after and they had a good visit. Then back for chores. Right now chores include all the normal feeding, with more pens because studs need to be spread out, and teasing mares as the extra chore bonus. King seems really happy to be home and mom is very happy to have him home. Tank is up at Toni’s house with Charlie and Fancy, but he also seems very happy. They both look great.
On Thursday the kids were off for parent teacher conferences, so they went with Toni to Farm Fair and taught inner city 5th graders about beef. I feel like it was an experience for everyone. I can say pretty confidently that our kids are not going to be teachers, and they have the utmost respect for the patience that teachers have. Jaxsen started to lose his patience, which are limited to begin with, by the end of the day. Toni had to tell him to be kind a couple of times. Please keep in mind that the “kids” he was teaching are the same age as he is, so he probably shouldn’t be as……. himself as he was starting to be. Toni had to pay the kids with slushies. Everyone got home and went straight to chores.
On Friday Anna and Kaine went back to farm fair with FFA and got to teach for a second day. Kade, Jaxsen, Toni and dad went to JC Grocery in Mesa and handed out beef for the WCA/2nd Harvest partnership. Jaxsen had a blast because he got to yell out how much to bring to each car. Mom and I ran around and did errands. After I went down to circle 6 and worked on Tank’s fence while the kids worked on their steers. Marlo was out for chores. Chores went fine. We had some fence to fix and put in some more posts on the project fence. Stetson is getting decent about going through a specific gate and getting into the swing of things.
Saturday dad, Ben, Kaine and Kade went to Ady to get panels we bought from Ruth and Gary. There are a lot of heavy powder River Panels. Toni, Jaxsen, Anna and I got cows in, fixed fence, chased cows, moved cows, hunted cows, paired up cows. We had planned to work on more fence, but we really needed to get the cows moved. Toni rode Pistol and Anna rode Kady. We also had people out to look at the cow we have for sale. And a bull buyer came and got his bull. We also had some acquaintances come look at the grulla filly out of Bayley, they bought her as soon as they saw her. She is a pretty cool little filly. Then we got an outside mare in and the kids from that family also mauled Bayley’s filly. Tall John showed up so we went to do chores and talk about horses.
Sunday we did more of the same, chased cows, fixed fence, hauled horses, the kids worked on their steers. I decided to west nile and deworm all of the mares in Circle 5, 2 of which we needed to get out with studs. So I did that while Toni showed a buyer around and looked at horses. She had a hard decision to make, but picked Honey Bug as the one she wanted. We moved Tank and his mares down to circle 6. Poor Tank accidentally ran through the fence then couldn’t figure out how to get back in the pen. He was not hurt and we got him back in and fixed the fence. We moved Ellie out with Tank and Lura out with Gunner. Now all of the studs have at least one mare with them. Anna started clipping her steers to get ready for the Pomeroy show. Kade moved Slick up to Toni’s house so he could practice roping in his spare time.
We were really excited this week to get Tank and King back. Both are stallions we raised that we think very highly of. We do have King for sale, but that is just because of the number of studs we have right now. And King and Tank are both related to quite a few of our mares, so selling one of them makes sense, but it isn’t something we are in any rush to accomplish.
It has been very rewarding to see the high amount of interest in the foal crop. Every day we are getting calls and emails. Many people are buying without coming out. We do have the foal contract online if anyone is interested in a foal and wants to see the contract. We love having people out to take the tour. Showing off our breeding program and ranch is one of the more fun things we get to do. Clearly as breeders we always think there is room for improvement, but we are pretty proud of the program we have put together. If you want to come out and see what KT Ranch is about, please let us know so we can get you scheduled.
We got some much needed rain Monday morning, not a lot but every little bit helped. Anna was told Monday morning that she needed to be at school early, as an FFA officer, for the drive your tractor to school day. So her and Kaine went early and Toni took Kade and Jaxsen. Kaine got to ride in a tractor to school with his friend Maxx. Toni was behind them and Kaine thought it was some random person waving at them in a Tahoe that looks like Toni’s. Mom and Dad went to Spokane and took Francis Faye out for a drive and to lunch. Francis Faye is one of dad’s cousins. Toni and the boys put the last of the poles on the fence after chores, Toni has told them they can have the rest of the week break now, she is really swell. Anna had a Zoom Nile Heifer meeting after chores.
Tuesday we had a lot of foals, Mud had a cute colt by Jackpot. BB had a fancy dun filly, possibly roan, by Sagebug and Rosie B had a stunning dun filly, looks like a possibly dunalino, by Jackpot. All foals are doing great. After chores Toni, Jaxsen and I reset a rail road tie that has a heavy gate on it. It is still pulling it so we are going to cement it. The men are still feeding some cattle, most are out, and the mares. They are also getting the circles ready to run.
Wednesday Toni and the boys cemented the rail road tie in after chores and school. Then the boys topped some of the taller posts, of course they made it a race. Kade had Toni’s reciprocating saw and Kaine had the mini chainsaw. They both kept having difficulties, Kaine may have won. They didn’t do the best job because they were in a hurry. After that they went to help Anna with chores. Toni and I went out to put some more clips on the mesh fence until we ran out of them. On Wednesday we only had one foal, Lona had a palomino colt by Leroy and mom was so mad she had not named him yet. She has been wanting a filly to keep for years. I have put in a random name until she decides to name him. Her and dad also price this colt. The price reflects lots of over-discussion about how great Lona is, how great Lona’s dam was, etc.
Thursday we decided to let the cement settle for another day, so after school, chores and work, Toni, Jaxsen and I went out to finish putting the clips on the mesh fence. We are also still working on Spunky who everyone thinks is a pet. She also thinks she is a pet. She isn’t getting out of pet mode very well. The kids all went up to do cow chores because Ben had to work late. Lots of babies on Thursday Bailey had a fancy grullo filly by Sagebug and Charlie had a chromy filly by Dude.
Friday dad took the big Hereford bull to Connell to get his horn cut, and after Toni loaded him she went out to check. Piper D had a chromy long anticipated red dun colt, yes, I am disappointed it is a colt. Tessa had a stunning grullo colt. Dad then took the bull up to his new home, so one less bull at the house. We are excited to get these bulls out to their new homes. The boys got the steers in to take the weigh in on Saturday. Toni, Marlo, and I put the gate up at the corral. We couldn’t get it to go in very well, so we had to get serious with it and bring out the sledge hammer. It is up now. We also spent some time Friday trying to organize a big weekend with way too much to do.
Saturday we had steer weigh-in in the morning , we had a full load with 12 steers. The halter broke 4 had their own compartment and barely fit. The trailer pulled like a lead sled. It was good to see people at steer weigh-in and see everyone else’s prospects. There are going to be some really tough classes at the fairs this year. Anna drove home and Kaine, Kade and I went down and got everyone coffees, chai teas or smoothies. We went home and sorted off the 8 heifers that are being sold and turned the rest out with the bulls. We went down and got circle 5 in and sorted mares and turned Gunner and Sagebug out. We got done pretty late. By the time we got done with circle 5, we went from having 37 mares in that field to 13. So lots of movement. We also had to west nile and work the mares before they got turned out. We also cleared out a couple of the open mares from mom and dads and got them out with studs.
One of our Apache Blue Boy mares, Crystal, went up to Allie’s to get Aied to NZ Scotch Time. We asked Codi (NZ Scotch Time aka Rip) to only send sexed semen since we want another filly! She didn’t make us any promises. Sunday we weaned the fall heifer and tied up the fall heifer and Jaxsen’s two Angus steers. The other three kids washed their steers and Angus heifers. Jeanie and Sonny brought out some horses and Ben’s long horn calf. He is tiny. Ben is happy. We continued to move mares and got studs out. Leroy has now been moved to mom and dad’s in Double’s old pen. We need an old stud that isn’t related to the majority of the mares, so he was it. We had to move Crossfire and Cappy over to the other side of the corral, except Crossfire, as a coming 2 year old stud, felt he should also breed mares. He went through two fences to get back where he wanted to be. Somehow he was being watched over because he got some minor surface cuts and that was it. So we got to fix some fence and talk about how we are going to make it stronger and more resistant to young studs, if that is possible.
We needed to get some videos for some people, so here some of them are.
KT Gunz for Chics, “Glo” Filly Sire: NZ Scotch Time, “Rip” Dam: KT Gun in a Million, “Mil” Date Born: 4/25/21 Click here for more Picture Color: Red Roan Price: $8,000 Glo is a red roan filly out of KT Gun in a Million, “Mil,” and by NZ Scotch Time, “Rip.” Rip is owned by and stands at CD Performance Horses in Syracuse, Kansas. Rip is a smart, versatile stallion with size, mind, and disposition to match, he is a money earner in heeling and running barrels. He is used for all aspects of ranch life, starting his heading career, and reining cowhorse events. Mil is our brindle mare that is by KT Gunpowder N Lead and out of Wright on Sugarnic, “Stinger.” Stinger won Pro division of the Cascade Cutters Futurity and is a daughter of Lenas Wright On. Her dam, Just Plain Sugari has NCHA earnings of $111.31 and is an AQHA point earner. She is a granddaughter of Smart Little Mesa, Slide Me Again and Just Plain Colonel, who are all money and pt earners. Gunner is a son of Cue Bars Laddie, a blue roan stallion that has been shown as a reiner, cowhorse and rope horse. He was the recipient of the Open AQHA All Around Trophy and is a CCHA Hall of Fame Horse. We own this filly in partnership with Tina Kocar.
Happy Martin Luther King Day. Ben and the kids checked cows and worked at the ranch. I went to work. The Tonis came back from the class reunion. Our meat was done at Bryans, so Anna and dad ran down and got it, they brought me a coffee at work, it was very nice of them. Anna helped the men do chores, the boys helped Toni. Toni called me at work that Whiskey had a puncture on her knee and it is very swollen. Whiskey is an accident waiting to happen, if something can get injured in any way she does. We do not know what she was injured on, possibly a Russian Olive Tree? Kicked? Fell down? Toni and the boys doctored her. They let Lighting Bug out of the round pen, she has been locked in for a few months, she injured her right hind and was not supposed to move around a lot. She has been in for months now, so is much improved. She didn’t get to go out with the big horses, but did get to go out with the weanlings- almost yearlings. Whiskey got put in her pen. Mom made us lemon bars, all of us, except Anna, love her lemon bars. Toni brought donuts back for us from the Cle Elum Bakery, they were SO good. Cousin Julie used to bring bear claws from the Cle Elum Bakery when she would come to visit, so it brought back some good memories. We were not light on desserts Monday.
Tuesday morning we had thick fog, but it cleared out later in the day. Jaxsen and Kade had basketball practice, Isidro ran Jaxsen in and Dad ran Kade in. Toni ran Kaine home after chores, Anna was up helping do cow chores. We had some left-over lemon bars and mom made apricot cobbler on Tuesday. We were discussing Wednesday options and I told her I would like peppermint. Toni went and got Jaxsen and Toti from practice, then Kade, and they told her the rumor was the substitute bus driver ran over a stop sign.
Good thing Toni was out early to check the cows, they had knocked the fence down around the goosepit and there were calves in the goosepit. She said she was smart and strong enough to get them out on her own, but just barely. Murtaugh checked cows with her and sat on her lap when she got done to tell her what a good job she did. To continue with a great Wednesday, Whiskey’s leg did not look as good Wednesday as it did Monday. Toni gave her another exceed shot. The axle on the little flatbed trailer broke when the men were feeding, so they had to switch everything over to the big flat bed and Red. Wednesday was not the best day of the week.
Thursday was rainy. Emerald had a cute bull calf. The swelling in Whiskey’s knee had gone down and we could see that it was broken. Whiskey has been a great filly, so it was a pretty hard day overall. Toni had been looking forward to riding her in the spring. Thursday was an emotional roller coaster, with birth and death.
Friday mom and I went in to get haircuts. The kids had a half day of school. Anna ran Eddie the cat in to get spayed, then she ran Kaine and Jaxsen down to get haircuts and her and Kade went and got Mei Lings for everyone for lunch. Friday afternoon we had a family from Prosser stop by and look at the two colts we have left for sale, they decided on Ole Son and were going to pick him up the next day. Toni had a bunch of calls so she didn’t show up until later, after chores. It was the first time I had seen Hottie’s sarcoid in a week, so I made Dad come out and look at it. I think the latest treatment is helping. Dad didn’t think so. I know Toni has been cautiously optimistic and thinks there is a bit of progress. Hottie is on an experimental feed supplement with a topical application every day. We are pretty excited to have her on a program that may have long term impacts. AND we can’t say enough great things about StableFeed- Mary has been absolutely amazing to work with on this project. Mary is great about shipping products, so don’t be afraid to check out their website- https://stablefeed.com/
Saturday first thing we checked, and then Frecked Son, aka Ol Son, went to his new home in Prosser. Ben and Kaine worked on the old valley fence, and then Anna and I went up and finished it. Next, we brought the heifers up from circle 7 to get yearling weights on and then move up to the old valley. The Meachams were at basketball all day in Tri Cities, Kade and Jaxsen both had AAU games for the Tri-Cites AAU season. I think Toni is wondering why they are doing AAU again. Both boys had a good game overall.
Sunday Toni came down and the kids, Toni and I got yearling weights and then ran them up to the old valley. It was great to get another look at these coming yearlings. We only sorted out two for the feeder pen. We can’t say enough good things about this group of heifers other than wow. It has been really hard to select what we are keeping and what we are going to market as replacement females. Every time we look at them we start to second guess ourselves. These heifers are fancy. We can’t keep them all, so we know we have to sell some, but it would be great if we could strike it rich, buy an additional ranch and just keep them! Ben made lunch for us all to celebrate my birthday, he made bacon wrapped shrimp, meat balls and Dutch oven potatoes. Mom made rolls and three different desserts. Then we hauled the heifers that had just calved up to the Old Valley and the 2 Oreos. For those of you that don’t know, I got a belted Galloway for my birthday last year that is named Oreo. We kept her at mom and dad’s last year so she wouldn’t get bred with a summer Angus, so Mom started calling them Oreo and chocolate Oreo, now they are collectively referred to as the Oreos. They are also collectively a pain in the butt. They do not like to be herded by vehicles, people, horses, basically they are terrible. And then the other heifers follow them and things go badly, there is cussing. So to save everyone drama and so I don’t have to listen to everyone tell me how I have to sell Oreo, we just hauled her and chocolate oreo up to the new pen. Way easier. And the fat buggers probably liked it better.
I had a great birthday. Thanks for everyone for the well wishes. Of course, my family treated me great, lots of fun, presents, great food. Probably too much food. Uncle Skip and Marlo came over. The best part about a birthday party is knowing you have lots of people that love you and want the best for you.
The weather has been cold, foggy, dreary, hard to anticipate spring. I am unsure why we are getting so many calls on breedings but we are. Maybe because people don’t want to be outside, so they are in front of their computers looking at studs? We will be standing King and Tank to the public. Per our normal procedure, we do limit outside breedings to approximately 10 mares. Pasture breed only. If you want to be on the 2022 list, please let us know soon. We are excited for breeding to start, but this weather needs to get better.
King and Tank are still with Jordan getting ridden.
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