On the road to the TULSA STATE FAIR!!!

As soon as the bell rings today, we will be heading out to load supplies, hay, straw, and of course, animals!  Then we will roll on down the highway to Tulsa!  See you there!

Oklahoma State Fair - part 1

So. Tired.
Must. Rest.
Post. More. Later.

Tattoos

When I was really little, sometimes my Great Grandpa Charlie kept a few cattle at MawMaw and GrandDad's place to graze.  I used to call them his "girls".  I also used to call the bull Charlie.  One day we were talking about his brand on his cattle.  I thought they were tattoos and I got mad.  I couldn't understand why he would do that to his girls.

Later, when I was about ten, my family teased me when I had to take Posey in to get her ear tattooed.  They just couldn't believe that I would do that to Posey!

Hay ring

You might think I'm silly, but I don't care.  I'm excited that I'm going to get a new hay ring!  Two of the high school boys are in charge of welding me a new hay ring for Stopnstare's pen.  They were glad to hear that the order was for me because they want to paint it HOT PINK WITH SPARKLES!!!  I am all over that!  They know me so well!  You've gotta love being in a small school system.

Expanding the facility...AGAIN!

I am trying to keep up with my growing girls.  I started out  with a good sized pen with a full-sized shed back in 2010.  Then we got permission to expand the end of it to fit a hay ring in 2011.

In the summer of 2011 we got permission to build a tiny bottle calf pen.  I spent two days in JULY that summer with my mom and my granddad out in front of the machine shop building a calf hutch in the 107 degree heat.  (Then when my calf arrived, it was bigger and older than I had planned on, so she didn't live in there long.)

Then this July, we got permission to build a medium sized heifer pen in the place of the tiny bottle calf pen.  Now, we are getting ready to pull the calf hutch out and put another full sized shed in its place.

We just put my creeper in the big pen.  It is the first time that I've needed to use it since my great grandpa gave it to me from his old pasture.  A second hay ring is in the works, custom built by a couple of the high school Ag boys for the heifer pen.

I think I had better hold off on expanding my herd with any more purchases for awhile.  I think I'd better just wait on some more babies to be born and their dams to go to the dairy!  I'm running out of options and space!

The "Jersey Flop"

Aw, come on!

Something REALLY freaks me out...the Jersey Flop.  That's what we call it, anyway.

I hate it when they do that!  My mom explained it to me like this.  It's kind of like when a little kid is cranky and doesn't want to do something and they just go limp like a wet noodle and sink to the floor so hopefully the parent will give up and stop trying to make them do what they aren't in the mood to do right at that moment.  (I did that a couple of times when I was little.)

Carmelita has never done that to me, but that darned old Stopnstare did it to me TWICE!   I tried to get her up.  My mom tried to get her up.  We thought she was going to lay there all day!   That was during the first week I had her.  She's smarter now, and so am I.  I've learned how to avoid the flop.  I've noticed that if she looks like she's going to do it, I just get her attention by jiggling the halter a different direction, and she perks right up.  Actually, now that I think about it, she hasn't even ACTED like she was going to do it for a very long time. :)

2012 Logan County Fair HIGHLIGHTS!

Tuesday evening the Logan County Fair was scheduled to kick off with the livestock judging contest.  Around 11:00 our school got word that the contest was postponed due to the stress of the heat on the animals and on us.  (It was 106 degrees.)

On Thursday from 3-7 the indoor entries were accepted.  I got:
first place on my cactus terrarium
first place on my potted plants arrangement
third place on my star ornament
third place on my painted plate
fourth place on my decoupage
first place on my painted t-shirt
first place on my watercolor
I think that's everything.

Friday afternoon we moved into the dairy barn.  We set up everything and scrubbed all the girls.  We don't clip at county.  There's too much risk of them getting sunburned before OK State Fair.  We have to be really careful between OKC and Tulsa.

Then Friday night at 6 I entered the homemade cake and pie contest.  I entered my great grandpa's favorite cake I make for him:  Mexican Wedding Cake.  It's been Grand Champion before, but I had a little trouble this time.  I didn't get it frosted while it was still hot.  Oh well, it got second, but my "Christy's World Famous Frozen Lemonade Pie" got 1st.  Then they took the 1st place cake and the 1st place pie and had a final taste test for Grand Champion.  Guess who won?  Check out the awesome rosette and ten bucks!

After the contest, all cakes and pies are cut.  For a dollar, you can get a plate and try as many desserts as you want.  My pie sold out.

Homemade Cake and Pie GRAND CHAMPION Jr. Division

Friday was also an awesome night because it POURED DOWN RAIN!!!  Yea!  Too bad we had several hundred pounds of feed in the back of the truck.  I'm hoping it didn't draw too much moisture.

Saturday morning we got to the barn at 8.  We forked out the manure from overnight, fluffed straw, fed,  and watered.  At 11 we spot washed.

After lunch we continued to clean up after the girls and keep them fed full of hay.   We sorted through the halter box and found halters to fit each one.  We changed into our dairy whites.  We brushed straw off  the girls.  We put on the show halters and gave everyone a last minute drink before we took them in.

A few really awesome people  :)

My mom is the county dairy superintendent.  She got my friend Kristy to be a ribbon girl for her during our show.

I only took three heifers to the county fair. My June and August heifers (Fara and Prim) are too little. I couldn't take Posey, my Ayrshire cow, or Ayan, my Brown Swiss cow, because our county doesn't have a milking parlor. But I got: 
Juicy - Brown Swiss - 2nd place; 
Stopnstare - Jersey - 1st place; 
Carmelita - Jersey - 1st place; 
Stopnstare Champion Jersey; 
Carmelita Reserve Champion Jersey; 
Juicy Reserve Champion Brown Swiss. 
In the grand drive, the judge said that I would have been first alternate with Stopnstare if he had been placing everyone else after he awarded Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion.  That was nice to know. :) 

My friend Kasey got Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion.  Go, Kasey!  

So we got to go home after the beef show.  Before we left, I got a photo taken with each of my girls.  They're all shaggy looking, but at least it's a current photo.  I'm waiting for them to be posted on the photographer's web site so I can order some.  MawMaw took some pics of me while I was posing.  They are kind of fuzzy, and I'm goofing off a lot, but I like them.

Stopnstare 

Carmelita

Juicy

We loaded up supplies, picked up our cash, picked up our indoor entries, then loaded up the girls, headed to Crescent, and did chores for the night.  What a weekend!

Just 17 days and 21 hours until we are on the road to the TULSA STATE FAIR!

"Magic 8 Ball, will I be on TV?"

Magic 8 Ball says:  "Signs point to yes."















 






Mom told me awhile back that I have been recommended for an interview on a Tulsa television station
by the good people with Tulsa State Fair Livestock!  They also gave the TV people a link to this blog, and I guess they liked it.  They are supposed to contact me, so I have just been waiting to see if it really happens.

I accidentally got on Fox 23 last year at the Tulsa State Fair.  They interviewed me about showing dairy and the work that we do with our animals.  I was on air for over two minutes!

I'm REALLY excited and kind of nervous about this opportunity.  I want to do a good job and answer their questions well, but writing a blog is sure a lot easier than talking to people!  If you write an answer, you can think about it for a LONG time.  You can also re-write it or edit it or even delete it if you think you sound stupid.

*******

Mom got another email the other day from the media coordinator for the Tulsa State Fair.  She confirmed that Fox 23's Great Day Green Country will be contacting us to set up a shoot about me and Posey!  The segment would be prerecorded and aired on Prime time, 6 P. M. - 7 P. M. on October 2nd and re-aired at 10 A. M. on October  3rd!  OH MY GOODNESS!!! 

We have SO many questions!
Will this be at the fair?  Will it be in a studio?
What do I wear?  I want to look good.  Last year I was grungy from doing morning chores at the fair.
Do they want Posey there, or do they just want to talk about her?
Will this be at the fair or before the fair?
What kinds of questions will they ask me?
...and lots more.

*******

Mom said that the Great Day Green Country producer contacted her and we have an appointment for September 11!  Mom got to ask her a lot of questions to see what the shoot will be like.
Yea!!! I'm so excited!!!

Mom said that they told her the show is focusing on the Tulsa State Fair and how state fairs got started to begin with...(showing off) and competing with your best livestock, farm products, and baked goods and stuff.  (I looked that up on the internet.)  

The producer said that they would come from Tulsa to visit me and my animals.  The filming will take about an hour and a half.  Then they will edit it and air it in October.
Wow!  

We can hardly believe it!