Let the Chips Fall

Let the Chips Fall

By: Denton Dowell

 We have all been at shows where we don’t agree with the judge who sorts the livestock. Am I a guilty party of being mad and talking trash about the judge? Yes, I am guilty. Nobody can prove if a show is “rigged” or not.  With that said, I feel like this is something that everybody in the livestock showing industry needs to be told. So here are my suggestions on how to go to the show and feel good about what you are doing.

First thing to do is to buy the best animal you can afford. If you can afford a thirty-thousand-dollar steer and you think he is the best, then pull the trigger. If you can only afford a five-hundred-dollar sheep, go and find the best five-hundred-dollar sheep you can find. Within this part of the livestock season, we must also remember that the most expensive isn’t always the best one.

Second thing to do is to be sure to do your homework. You will never win a show by not working at the barn. In my opinion, the banner is not won at the stock show, but it is won at home. The person who is out there working hair, walking pigs, setting up show lambs before day light during the school year and on every Saturday night in the summer is the one who has the best chance to win. Also, you must feed to the best of your ability. I don’t care if you feed HighNoon, ShowTec, or Jimmy Joe’s finisher ration from the local feed mill. Here is the trick to feeding folks: Get on a program, stay on a program, understand your program. Just because the person who wins a major stock show is feeding a different brand of feed than you are don’t run out and buy that feed thinking you will win just by feeding it.

Third, at the stock show, don’t be afraid to ask for help. I know people see the show jocks as cocky and stuck up. But here is a little secret, they are they to help kids and win at the end of the day. If you go up and ask someone for help my bet is that almost all of them will do what they can do to help you. With that said, think about when to ask.  If you go over and ask someone for help and you see they have seven head of sheep in the next class don’t be surprised if they tell you no. However, the night before the show is a good time to say, “Hey I need some help showing, can you help me for just a minute?”  I bet you nine times out of ten, you’ll get a yes from anyone you ask in that barn.

Fourth, show the animal to show off the best qualities and hide the worst. If you know your steer isn’t quite fat enough turn his head to you a little to make it feel like he is. If your pig is super wide chested and wide going away, then be sure you take that truck and drive it right at the judge. These little tricks are not cheating; they are knowing what you have and knowing how to show off your animal that you have spent countless hours with.

Lastly, be realistic.  We all get barn blind. It just happens. We have to be smart enough to look out at the animals in the class and say, “Hey we just got beat.” And you know what?  There is nothing wrong with that. Every single person will get beat. Whether you are in the show ring or in life. It is part of it. This is one thing all our youth needs to learn and lean fast.

I really feel if you do these five things, you will be ok in the show ring. Don’t get caught up about what certain judges want. Just haul a good one to them and let the chips fall. If you win be happy. If you get beat, then learn from it. And at the end of the day remember this is one person’s opinion on one day.  This industry doesn’t need nasty articles printed in agriculture publications or nasty text sent to judges.

Should we be happy when we get beat? No! In the words of General George S. Patton “I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughs.” But, what we can do is learn from it figure out what we need to do differently.  And let's remember, we're here to raise good kids, that's what really matters.

Family Farm Friday #100: The Boys on the Farm

A while back our friend D. Felger Photography came out to take photos of rams for us.  While she was there, she got some pictures of the boys being boys.  The humans and the ram, Forrest.

(And yes, if you are wondering...the ram chasing my brother is the same one loving on my kid.  He's a good judge of character, that one!)

If you're needing a photographer--whether for livestock or people--D. Felger Photography is absolutely phenomenal!

Feeding the Cows

Just about every night, BB and I go outside and see the cows.   They come right over to the fence and he talks to them and points at them and it's about my favorite part of the day.

Now that he's walking so darn well, we've strapped some shoes on him and let him go to check his cows without the stroller.  For the past couple of nights, his dad took him out into the pasture and showed him how to scatter cake (small cubes of feed for you non-cattle folk) for the cows.

BB eats it up.  Watching every move his dad makes and seemingly in awe of the cows.

Well, last night The Boy from Texas had to work late, so BB and I were on our own for chores.  I got his shoes on and we headed to the garage to get the cake.  

As soon as he saw me pour it into the bucket, he grabbed a cube for each hand and took off running out the garage towards the pasture...

He walked himself all the way to the pasture (stopping several times to inspect rocks, dirt, and a frog along the way)...

When we got to the gate, he mixed the cake around in the bucket to be sure the cows were paying attention...

And then, just like his dad taught him, he threw the cake right to the cows...

And I could not have been one dang bit prouder of my husband or my kid.  A couple days worth of lessons and he's already got feeding cows down.  We're working hard to raise a stockman over here, and based on what I saw last night, I'd say we're succeeding.

Well, almost succeeding.  After we threw all the cubes to the cows, I turned around find this.  He had hidden a few cubes to taste for himself.  

I suppose there are still lessons to learn.

Family Farm Friday #99: Raising Livestock

Raising livestock is in my blood.  The Boy from Texas' too.  For generations, our families have raised cattle, sheep, and horses.  So when BB came along, there was really no doubt that he would be raised along with the livestock.

Already, we talk a walk every night so that BB can talk to his cows.  He now says "cow" despite still refusing to utter the word "Mama."  As he grows up, he will learn to bottle feed lambs.  He'll be in charge of watering the cows.  We'll teach him about sire selection and how to know when a lamb needs pulled and what medications to use when one of them is acting sick.  He'll know the different breeds of cattle and how to tell the grade of a staple of wool and how to tell a snaffle bit from a hackamore.  My guess is that he's always going to be as excited as we were as kids about branding and jumping in the wool sacks during sheering and his life will eventually revolve around stock shows.  He'll probably ride past the house standing up in the saddle and has already developed a sincere love for green tractors (yet another word he's mastered before Mama...)

I don't know what BB will be when he grows up. If I had to guess, based on the way he always wants to touch everyone's teeth, maybe a dentist.  Or maybe he will be a train conductor as he runs to see them every time he hears the horn. Or maybe he will work in the oil and gas industry like his Dad and Granddad or be a lawyer like his mom.  

But even if he doesn't go into agriculture, he will take the lessons he learns here with him.  He'll leave here with a strong work ethic.  He'll understand responsibility and sacrifice and how to balance a checkbook.  He'll understand the circle of life.  He'll have memories of good times with his grandparents and parents and sister, many of which will happen in a barn.  He'll learn to be a fierce competitor, a gracious loser, and a humble winner.  He'll be able to identify different types of grasses, understand why the percent protein matters in a ration, and I'm sure he'll be able to tell a good steak based on the amount of marbling it has.  He'll understand that life isn't always fair.  He'll know where his food comes from and why America needs her farmers and ranchers so desperately.

And my bet is that these things will make him a better dentist or train conductor or [whatever he chooses to be] A better husband.  A better father.  A better man.

That's the point of these cows and the sheep.  Sure, we are raising meat to help feed the world.  We are hoping to make a slim profit at some point.  But more important than that, we are giving our kids a legacy and a way of life.

Photo by D. Felger Photography

They say that we are raising livestock.  But maybe it's the livestock raising us.

Family Farm Friday #98: Fourth Generation

Almost 60 years ago, my grandparents bought a farm.  They spent money.  They spent time.  They made sacrifices.  They irrigated, plowed, and fed sheep and cows.  They planted our tree row, got our lambing barn, and raised their children.

When my grandfather died at 45, leaving behind my grandmother and two teenage sons, everyone told her to sell the farm and move to town.  A single, working mother trying to raise boys simply could not manage a farm.  But they didn't know my grandmother.  She stayed put and went to work.

My dad took up the baton for the second generation.  He gave up a lot in order to keep the farm going. He never go to play sports in high school.  He did not get the chance to spend summers bouncing from basketball camp to State 4-H to Washington, DC.  He did not have the ability to go on post-college trips to Costa Rica or Italy.  He stayed home and worked his ass off to be sure that farm continued.  He was overlooked for promotions at work because he was simply not willing to leave home.

When he married my mom, she was drug right into the fun as well.  She talks about how she gave up a teaching job on the California coast to become a farmer's wife in New Mexico.  And after years of making lamb bottles and plugging holes with the pick up when we're moving cows and making sure every breathing creature on the place has clean water and (more than) enough to eat, I think she'd tell you it's been better than California.  Most days, anyway.

When my brother and I were children, we were quickly brought into the farm business.  My Gran taught us to write checks.  She taught us never to put up land as collateral for a loan.  My parents talked to us about the struggles of having jobs in town to help support the farm.  We knew what it meant when it did not rain and a crop did not make.  We understood what was lost when a ewe or a cow died.  And, maybe most importantly, we understood the importance of that farm.  The land, it's story, well...it's in our blood.

The Boy from Texas jumped right in.  Fortunately for me, he had his own farm background.  He has become quite the sheep expert in the time we have been together.  He's worked on balers and helped sort ewes and branded calves.  He happily posed for wedding pictures in a wheat field.  He understands the importance of the farm to me and over the last few years has developed similar feelings himself.

And now, the fourth generation has set foot on that same soil.  He doesn't know the history of the place yet.  He's not driven a tractor or gotten a lesson on docking lamb tails.  He doesn't realize that the dirt he plays in is the same that his great grandfather plowed, and his grandfather sowed wheat and his mom ran a swather.

But one day, if we do anything right at all, he will.  This land will be in his blood too.  And maybe one day, it will be the fifth generation sitting in the middle of a wheat field wearing baby Carhartts.

Family Farm Friday #97: What FFA Gave Me

PETA is at it again. This time it's an article declaring FFA to be lame as {curse word I do not say}. And I wish it were true that no one listens to that organization and their lies, but it's not. And people do. So I felt compelled to respond.  I started out explaining how each of PETA's arguments were wrong.  But quickly I got angry and the blog was negative and although I'll publish it next week, I thought looking at the positives of the program first was pretty important.  So that's today.

FFA (and 4-H too just to be clear) has given me so much. Sure, everyone has been  sharing the usual since the article came out (which are all true and I have shared before here and here): Work ethic. Responsibility. How to manage finances. Animal care. Scholarships.

But there is so much more these programs have given me. So I made a little list of some of the things FFA gave me that might not be obvious.

A college diploma and a law degree.  I credit FFA with both my scholastic and monetary ability to get these degrees. I went to college with about $20,000 in the bank.  The vast majority of that was from raising animals and making the sales at stock shows. Sure, I worked all through college and most of law school and had scholarships as well, but that showing income allowed me two degrees and no student loan debt.  More than that, having participated in FFA contests like public speaking, FBM, and livestock judging prepared me for law school better than anything else I could have done.  I learned to analyze, see both sides, and think on my feet.  All of which came in very handy, particularly in law school come exam times.

My husband.  No, we did not meet in the programs. We met when I was 28 at an OSU football weekend.  But we were there because of a mutual friend. I knew said mutual friend through 4-H. My husband came along that weekend because the boys were looking at show calves on the way. Bam.  Thank you 4-H and FFA for the shiny diamond ring in this finger of mine.

My best friends. The easiest one here is BFF, who I met directly because of showing when I was 10 years old.  But through a long, windey explanation, I could connect my  meeting Blonde Oklahoma Girl, who was never in 4-H or FFA because of these programs.  Her friend dated my friend who I knew from judging and because of that I met Loud Oklahoma Girl and we bonded because of showing and through her I met Blond Oklahoma Girl. College Roomie and I got to know each other through 4-H.

State 4-H circa 2002.

My love of travel.  My family is not one of travelers.  Growing up, our vacations existed of trips to the NM mountains or to fairs.  But 4-H and FFA sent me off on adventures across the country.  From touring dairies in Wisconsin to chicken farms in Indiana to judging cattle in Kentucky and road tripping across the Mississippi River, I credit my love of travel, which has now taken me to 9 countries and over half the states, to 4-H and FFA trips.

My child's middle name.  BB is named after my ag teacher, who was much like a second father to me.  I have had some great teachers in my 20 years of schooling.  Never would it have crossed my mind to name my kid after any of them except for my ag teacher.  Those relationships between students and ag teachers are just special.

My wedding photographers.  All three of my wedding photographers are my friends because of FFA. Super Mom and I met because we competed against each other in FFA contests for years.  Homewtown Friend and I became friends from going on FFA trips together in high school.  Ag Teacher Friend and I showed against each other growing up.  These girls not only saved me a ton of money and took great photos, but they are some of my absolute favorite people.

A close family.  I'd like to think that no matter whether we had shown animals or not, my family would have been close.  But I think that the reality is, we would not have been as close as we are without that.  We spend hours every single night together at the barn working with animals.  We learned together, made mistakes together, fought with each other, celebrated wins together.  And honestly, today, not much has changed.  Just about every single day, I talk on the phone with my dad and brother about sheep.  The Boy from Texas has jumped in and he is studying up on rams and preparing to fly with my brother across the country to look at sheep.  My mom and I are frequently dealing with Facebook and marketing for our show lamb sales.  We've stayed all connected and in close contact because of the show program.

Family gathered up during the pig show.

A great network when I need help.  I'm here to tell you, I know someone everywhere.  I always know if I have car trouble, particularly in New Mexico, I'm covered.  Seriously, there is someone I can call in pretty much any county in the state.  When I needed rescued from a near plane crash, I called a showing friend.  When I needed a couch to crash on and a tour of the White  House in DC, it was an FFA friend who stepped in.  To this day when I have political questions, I talk to FFA friends who work for Congress. I'm here to tell you, once you're part of the FFA family, you're in for life.

White House tour with Super Mom 2006.

My job. Probably even more than most, my job is clearly from my experiences in 4-H and FFA. What I do now is basically public speaking contests, creed contests, and extemporaneous public speaking rolled into one and given a paycheck. For real, take away the national blue and corn gold jacket and the medals for winning, and my job is basically a big ol' public speaking contest. I have zero doubt without those experiences as a kid I would not have the career I do.

This list sure doesn't look lame to me.  Perhaps had the PETA folks been involved in these programs (or if the author was, as is claimed, had they actually understood the organization), or had talked to folks who had been involved, they might have been better informed. Those of us who do know better have to tell our stories.  Share the gifts FFA and 4-H gave you.  Because, sadly, most people in America don't know if we don't tell them.

Family Farm Friday #94: Dad's Rain Dance

“From where we stand the rain seems random. If we could stand somewhere else, we would see the order in it.”  ~Tony Hillerman

You might remember this blog I wrote in the midst of a multi-year drought about having faith that the rain gauge would fill up one day.  I have always seen empty rain gauges during rough times as a sign of hope and faith that one day, the rain will come again, as improbable as it may seem at times.

I am happy to report that currently, we are having one of the wettest years that I can remember back home on the ranch.  Grass is green.  Hay is growing.  Livestock is full.  Everyone is happy.

How much rain have we gotten, you ask?  Couldn't tell you.  We don't have a rain gauge up.

Every winter, my dad turns the rain gauge upside down because when it freezes, it will break the gauge and you don't measure snowfall with the gauge anyway.  So you leave the gauge upside down until Spring when you flip it over and start counting the rain drops. Except my dad decided not to do that then. Now, three months after that first rain, he still hasn't done it.

When we call for rain reports we get one of two answers.  "There are big puddles in the driveway" or "The neighbor says he got an inch twenty."  The Boy from Texas asked me why my dad didn't just go look at the rain gauge.  I knew the answer.  It's the same reason he wore the same shirt holes and all to every pig show for 8 years after we won our first banner.  My father is incredibly superstitious.

He has convinced himself that if he walks out to the fence and flips that rain gauge, the rain might stop coming.  Logical?  No. But he comes by it naturally.  My Gran had a very strict rule that you did not look at that gauge until the rain had stopped, there was no checking mid-way through a storm to see where things were sitting, you waited until the end because you didn't ant the rain to quit.

And after you survived four years of one of the worst droughts on record, I suppose you do whatever you think will work. So you may not see my dad out there doing a rain dance, but if you come by our house, you'll see a rain gauge upside down on the fence and puddles in driveway.  Praise the Lord for that!

Family Farm Friday #92: Milo Watch 2014

My dad and his trusty iPhone camera have been helping me with a little project for the last 5 months.  Today, we have the results of this project, Milo Watch 2014.  As I've mentioned before, it had been 5 long, hot, dry, pretty miserable years on the farm.  The drought was record-setting.  We were allotted no irrigation water.  So not much farming was going on.  But this year, things turned around and we got rain and irrigation water and well, my dad went to work.  He planted milo (also called maize and/or grain sorghum) this spring.  And we've been photographing it's progress ever since.



 

This is how things looked back in June. 

 

 

And this is where we were in July.

 

 



And next up we have the first weekend in August (and some of our engagement photos helping to show off that crop!)



Here's where things stood mid-August.  Look at those colors!



 

Next up, we have September's shot.  Starting to see some red.

 

 

Then came a photo in late October.

 

 

 

And then, in early November, it was time to harvest.  The grain is cut using the combine, then it is put into the grain truck, where we take it to our storage bin.  Over the next year, we'll be grinding this grain up, mixing it with hay, and feeding it to our sheep.

 

 

Farming is hard work.  You're dependent on the weather--will it rain enough?  Will it rain too much (usually not an issue for us....)?  Will the hail or wind damage the crop?  What will go wrong with the tractor/combine/grain truck?  What is the moisture content of the grain so we know when to harvest?  Are there any issues with weeds or bugs in the field?  I could go on an on all day.  But all of the work and sweat and worries aside, my dad has put up a great crop this year.  That gives us one more thing to add to our list as we celebrate the harvest this Thanksgiving!