| November 08 - NAILE |
| It was a drizzly day today, 55º F ( 12.7º C) as we packed the trailer for the trip to Louisville, Kentucky and the North American International Livestock Exposition. I will be with the cattle in the barns from tomorrow till next Friday while Dad & Glenn keep the herd and farm in order back here. Stop by and say hello if you get the chance to take in the shows this year. I'd love to show you Maxine and Queenmar Rachel and visit a bit. |
| November 09th - MUD City |
The trip down to Louisville, KY was smooth and uneventful
except for some deep potholes in the interstate at I-75 in Dayton, Ohio. I met up with my
friends Jennifer & Edith Luli of Jenlyn Cattle Company from Suffield Ohio just South
of Cincinnati to  drive in caravan for the last leg of the trip. We had kept in
contact prior to that via cell phone and it worked out very well.Arriving at the
fairgrounds we saw a nasty sight in the tie out area behind the barns. MUD! and to
make it worse the heavens opened up to drop an ocean of rain on us just as we began to bed
the tie outs to unload the cattle. Gale force winds rocked the trailers and left a lake
around us. It took several hours just to maneuver around to do basic chores like feeding,
watering the girls and set-up while dragging 20 pounds of mud on your boots.. I wanted to
pack up and go home! |
| November 11th - Stalling and check in |
The day after the storm always looks brighter and two days
after is even better. The temperature really fell after the storm front with even cooler
weather in the mid 20º F ( -6.6º C) range at nights
expected by midweek. The girls settled into the routine great and I was able to get all the
check-in paper work and final touches to the display done.While I had visited the North
American nearly every year of the past two decades, the biggest shock to me was the
distances required to cover for basic things like water to the tie-outs, walking to the
tie-outs itself and just making the numerous trips from one end of the barn to the other.
I was able to drive my truck right to the stall area in the barn on the first night and
for fun zeroed my mileage counter. I was stalled next to Express Ranches from Oklahoma at
the front of the main barn and the mileage meter said it was (0.2 miles 0.32 km)
from the stalls to the outside door. It was then another ( 0.4 mile 0.64 km) from the
outside of the barn to the tie-out area that the Luli's and I used. I am not sure it was a
wise idea to know these facts.. It sure seemed far at the end of the first day. |
| November 13th - Show Day |
Show day for the Female portion of the ROV Angus show
was an early one as both  my girls were in the early classes. Glenn & Kay came down on Sunday
evening to help me and we were able to get into the wash racks by 4:30 am and were ready
to go in great time. I had been able to borrow a fitting chute from the Bradford
Family from St. Marys which made life a bit nicer than dragging yet another piece of
equipment with me The aisles are very wide and allowed for numerous chutes to be side by
side and still let people move among the cattle. All the Angus cattle were weighed in the
make-up arena to allow the information to be available to the judge. Queenmar Rachel
weighed in at 945 lb. (428.6 kg) for her January 2000 age  class while
Maxine came across the scales at 1048 lb. (475 kg) for her August 1999 age class. The Show
ring was divided in the center to allow two shows to run simultaneously. The Shorthorn
breed ran their show in the West ring while the Angus was in the East with the common
make-up arena in the North end. Both shows began at 8am with the Shorthorns not finishing
till 8pm in the evening. The Angus show was divided with females showing today and the
bulls and group classes showing tomorrow.click a photo to see a larger image |
| November 17th - Home and bulls |
I was very ready to see the final day in Louisville after 9
days away from home. The staff allowed a checkout time at 12:30pm following the completion
of the Red  Angus and Santa Gertrudis Shows and I was able to clear the
Fairgrounds within an hour of getting my release slip. Traffic was horrible the entire
trip home but the girls did not seem to mind the bumps and sudden stops once they saw the
barns and pastures. Dad, Glenn and I began sorting out yearling bulls that will be
ultrasounded at Premier Ultrasound in the morning. I am well pleased with the confirmation
of the boys, especially the 216 sons and soon we will know what is inside as well. click a photo to see a larger image |
| November 18th - Ultrasound |
Glenn and I took 8 Fall yearling bulls over to Premier
Ultrasound this morning. Bonnie Bradford and her husband Rex live only 1.5 miles West of
me and I have shown  cattle with Rex since we both were in 4-H together. Bonnie happens to be
the technician certified to scan Angus for the Association for Ohio and the surrounding
states and also was just named as the Ultrasound Technician of the Year by CUP the
Central Ultrasound Processing center. Our GDAR Dutch son,
Tag # 530 out of an N Bar
Emulation EXT cow recorded the best overall numbers.with a weight per age of 3.41
pounds; an adj. 365 day % IMF of 4.13 and adj. 365 day REA of 13.6 in on a weight of
#1,307. Our 216 LTD son, Tag #525
recorded the top %IMF with 5.01% and also lowest backfat with .27 in while several other
216 sons recorded actual IMF above 4.5% and Sq. in of REA per hundred pounds in the 1.10
to 1.21 range. click photo to see a larger image |
| November 25th - MVAA Sale |
It turned out to be a great day for the Miami Valley Angus
Assn. Annual Show & Sale  held at the Preble County Fairgrounds in Eaton Ohio. I had consigned two
N Bar Emulation EXT daughters safe in calf to Sleep Easy and to VDAR Rito 510J. There was
a great crowd again this year and the bidding was very spirited with 65 Lots averaging
$1,204. 19 heifer calves averaged $1,181; 5 bred heifers averaged $1,261. 4 cow/calf pairs
averaged $2,425; 16 bred cows averaged $1,340; 17 Angus steers averaged $890 and 4 Angus
Cross steers averaged $794. I want to give special thanks to new Angus breeders, Chris A
Peeples and family of Tipp City for purchasing both of my lots this year and wish him the
best of luck in his breeding program. click photo to see a
larger image |