#BestWeekofSummer

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To put it mildly, fair tired is an all kind of different tired!

Posted on August 30, 2024 by horseshoeangusranch

The week of Aug 19^th – Aug 25^th was a fun filled week at the fair, it is known around here “The Best Week of Summer,” or by adults as the Longest Week of Summer or depending on how hot it is, the Worst Week of Summer. Anna started college classes Monday, and Ady decided to not go to the Benton Franklin Fair. We felt like we were short a few steers and kids all week. We only took 4 open heifers since last year they decided to make us clean out our beds, we used to take a whole bunch of open cattle. So it was a pretty light week for us really. Monday Kaine, Jaxsen, Toni and I hauled the steers in, Kade and Kicker took Kade’s pickup to B&W to have a gooseneck hitch put in, then Kicker brought Kade over to the fair. Ben and Kicker did all the chores all week, except the horse chores on two days when Toni and I drove home to dr Copper.

Tuesday was Market, Kaine and Kade were showing FFA this year, so they were first, they did a great job. Kade was grand champion in Market and Kaine was Reserve champion. Jaxsen, Julian and Natalie were showing 4H. Natalie and Julian both made it back to the champion round, Jaxsen was 3^rd in his class which had 2 phenomenal steers in it. The funny thing is last fall we had some friends ask us to buy them steers for their kids. We bought some super top-notch steers and Toni said- we are going to regret buying these steers. The Market championship round had 3 of the steers that we bought last fall. They are that good. And one of them beat Jaxsen. Natalie was grand champion 4H. That afternoon the kids went on rides and Toni and I went home to dr Copper and do the horse chores. We got back in time to go to the rodeo and eat dinner.

Wednesday was Fitting and Showing, the kids all did great again. Kaine was Grand Champion FFA in Fitting and Showing and Kade was Reserve champion. It was super cool because during that round the Judge said she kept waiting on one of the boys to make a mistake and they didn’t. She finally chose Kaine due to personal preference because they were both showing that good and their steers were that good. Let me tell you, we were beyond ecstatic to have the boys go back-to-back Grand Reserve/Grand Reserve in reverse. We did get asked if there were more than 2 FFA showmen and yes there were. Natalie, Julian and Jaxsen all made it back to the championship round, and Natalie was grand champion. The kids all did great showing. Jaxsen’s steer, Gunz, that we raised took such good care of Jax. Some of the steers on both days were a bit much, getting loose, running the ring and steady eddie Gunzy and Jax just stood there and did their thing. Super solid. Wednesday football practice started, so Kaine and Max went to football practice when they got done showing. We walked around the fair for a while, got a massage in the massage chair, got a bundt cake sample, shoes polished. Then did chores and went to the rodeo and dinner. We had heard rumors the big boys were wandering the fair with girls, but no first hand knowledge on that. Toni and Leslie also went to Craig Morgan and said it was an awesome concert.

On Thursday the kids went around and learned how to show all the animals for the round robin. Aram and Emmett “managed” the round robin kids. Kaine tried to fire Aram but since he didn’t hire Aram, he couldn’t fire him. Aram and Emmett are really good at managing people and it was hysterical to overhear Aram trying to boss Kaine around to get him motivated. They did a great job. Toni and I went back to do chores right after lunch so we made it back in time for the round robin. All of the beef kids did great, none of them won, and we could not hear the announcer at all from our side of the ring, it was kind like we were the red headed step child (isn’t that the saying??) Our kids all did well though, I am proud of all 4 of them. Then we went to the rodeo and had dinner.

Friday was the sale, Kade, Natalie and Kaine were at the sale of champions at the beginning. Thank you Musser Bros Trucks and Auto, Watts Construction and Wheatland Bank for buying their steers. Then we waited around until last, had lunch, etc. Finally, it was Jaxsen and Julian turn. Ray Poland Construction bought Julians and Les Schwab about Jaxsens. Thak you to all our buyers. Kaine, Max, Keegan and Andrew went to practice on Friday. We went to the rodeo and dinner. Let me tell you, by Friday we were tired. Also, as kind of a fun thing there was a really cool hat booth that had set-up at the fair that had blanks, meaning you get to pick how the hat is shaped. Kade, Kaine, Julian, and Lane all wanted a semi-custom hat and it was really a fun process. Toni bought a pre-formed hat. Super fun to all have new straw hats. Jax got a ball-cap and a sweatshirt because he didn’t pack one. The weather was very moderate this year and it was rainy and windy by Friday.

Saturday was livestock judging, and Toni and Leslie have a good time getting the steer class together and placing them. Toni probably more so than Leslie. It is one of her favorite things. Judging cattle, what is more fun? The kids all did pretty good, Aram was reserve champion in FFA and the FFA team with our kids was 1^st. Natalie, Julian and Jaxsen all placed well in 4H. Kaine was at football so did not judge. Manny reserved tables for the rodeo on Saturday night, so we had great seats and Ben, Kicker, Anna, McCall, Marlo and Lane all came. We had a great time. Saturday night is really the only night we get to relax and enjoy the fair like normal people. Other than eating. We eat fried food all week at the fair. Funnel Cake, Elephant Ears, the big Fry square, etc. Lots of crap food.

Sunday morning we got up and cleaned out the beds, packed up our stuff and came home. We all took a nap when we got home, then did chores and cleaned out the camper. To put it mildly, fair tired is an all kind of different tired!

We had a great time at the fair. Got to see good friends, help people, see people, and just let the kids enjoy their last week of summer.

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Fair Week Blog: “Best Week of Summer”

Posted on September 2, 2022 by horseshoeangusranch

Monday we hauled into the fair. It was the normal zoo. But we got in and got out and it worked out fine. Kids got set up while we went and unloaded the food and clothes at the camper. The steers were weighed in. Steer numbers were down, as were the other animals across the board. Some of that had to do with Tyson increasing the minimum weight requirement, but super lightweight steers probably shouldn’t be at the fair anyway. Our total for the 4H group was 12 steers, 8 open heifers and NO bulls this year. There were great sighs of relief when we found out that there wouldn’t be bulls. Bulls are fine. We love them, but one of them is going to put his horn into some body part at some point during the week. That is just the way it goes. We ate the taco feed 4h meeting on Monday and prepared for the week.

Tuesday was market day, they moved cattle showing back to 10, so we got to sleep in an hr, to 5:30, it was great. We found a pair of men’s boxers outside of our barn, so the partying got started early. The kids got them all the cattle washed. FFA showed first, Anna was 3^rd overall FFA steer with her home-grown steer. This is literally out of Anna’s cow and Fur Trader, so if they had a bred-and-owned steer class, Anna could have rocked it. In addition he was a twin and she bottle fed him. The rest of the kids were 3^rd and 4^th in their market classes. Kade showed Bob, his back-up steer out of his cow and a char bull. Bob was great considering we figured out a month ago he needed to get ready for the fair. Jaxsen had Rockin, also a steer out of his own cow, who we all think is extremely patient and kind considering how Jaxsen handles him. Kaine showed a steer out of Anna’s cow. So all of our steers were home-grown. Everyone did great. In the afternoon Leslie, Deb, Traci and Jolene took the kids on rides. The big kids went on their own, so I did not go, Anna also did not go and we had McCall helping Tuesday. Jaxsen was back after about 45 minutes sick, so he fell asleep on the grain bags. We washed all of the open heifers without the kids. One of Toni’s clients was in the rodeo grand entry in the stagecoach and invited Toni to ride along. So Toni took Natalie, Ady, and Delilah in the stagecoach which was super cool.

Wednesday we had fitting and showing, showing was still at 10, so we still got to sleep in to 5:30. Anna was reserve champion in FFA, FFA was first. In intermediates, Kade, Kaine and Ady all made it back to the champion round. In Jrs Natalie was grand champion, Julian and Jaxsen did make it back. Jaxsen once again wasn’t the kindest to his steer, but old Rockin persevered and got through it. We showed PeeWee and then open after that. Kade’s fall heifer was supreme champion overall heifer and Kaine’s bred heifer was reserve champion Angus heifer. Anna’s baby heifer won her division. Kaine had to leave to football practice and did not get to show his heifer, but Anna and Savannah showed her well. Toni made a rookie mistake and took “cute” shoes that caused blisters on both of her feet on Wednesday. No sympathy from any of us. We all know the rules. We are sponsors this year so got VIP food every night under the VIP tent and got to watch the rodeo if you could find a seat. Wednesday night was taco night from Fiesta restaurant and it was great. The kids were able to sit with our friends the Moores in their reserved area so got to watch the rodeo. We are a rodeo loving family so it was hard to pull the kids away each night before the end of the rodeo, but we had to. We get up way too early to sit up watching rodeo all night. Julian and Jaxsen are huge JJ Harrison fans so seeing him nightly was a huge highlight.

Thursday there was not any showing going on. Toni and I took a nap in the afternoon after we got everything washed. Kaine went with Mrs Shattuck to football practice. Our good friend Maria made a target run, remember Toni and I don’t leave the fairgrounds, it is an island and we aren’t getting off until the fair is over, and got Jaxsen a reading light that hooks to his book so he can read at night and not disturb the other kids. Thursday was also the round-robin and our steer kids did great. ALL of the steer kids were from Connell. I am not to the round robin pictures on my camera, but Julian took them and took almost 400.

Friday was the livestock sale, the steers were last. We would like to thank our 2022 Benton Franklin Fair Steer Buyers, Northwest Farm Credit Services, Irrigation Specialists, Watts Construction and Brashear Electric. Thank you for all of your support. The sale was great and prices were good. The steer barn average was $4.00 per lb or close to it. Having support like that is very gratifying

Friday we had livestock judging. All of our kids are required to participate in livestock judging if they are there, Kaine as a football practice so he was not there. Kaine is actually good at livestock judging, as are our other kids, but him being good screwed Anna and Kade’s FFA judging team, since they were left with a kid that has never livestock judged before. But, I think the kids actually like it, they compete with Toni. Kade had a 247/250 so won the FFA and Intermediate division. Natalie and Julian also place in the Jr division. The kids all did a great job. Also on Saturday the men came down and we went rodeo and loaded out steers like normal. Except Whitney and I went to bed and did not help load out steers. And except a car hit one of the semis so they loaded out way later than normal. I hear it was pretty uneventful considering many of the participants had been drinking. The big boys and their amazing friends, so Kade, Kaine, Aram, and Keegan all stayed up and helped load. We also had Kelton and Flako, so there were some really great kids helping load steers. Manny waiting in line for 3 hrs to get us good seats at the rodeo. They were really good, thanks Manny.

Sunday we woke up, packed up and headed home. Toni and Anna headed home with the cattle first, so got the steers caught and the morning chores done. Once everyone was home, we all agreed that a rest was in order. We got up later and went out and checked everything. We had a partially down gate, a pole down, and the Hereford cattle at mom and dad’s had gotten out. BUT everything was alive and well. So straight back to work for us! Now we get to send the kids to school and get ready for the next fair.