Lying down on the job

I've been pretty busy and kind of puny since before Thanksgiving.  I've only seemed to manage to get one post a month.  That's sad.  That doesn't reflect the work I've been doing.  (Maybe that's why I've only been doing one a month.)

I was sick through Thanksgiving.  I missed it all.  I was in bed.

School work has been hard to catch up on because I've been sick a few more times since then.

Math has been kicking my butt.  It takes me a long time to do it.

I get worn out really fast.  I was sick clear up until the local show.  We think I'm getting better now.

Today we are taking a friend with us to dinner and movie...after we go do chores.  She loves my "moo cows".  I can hardly wait.

So anyway, I figured I'd better dig around in my draft folder and start publishing some of these posts I never got around to before.

I am controversial

There has been an uproar in our livestock club, and I am at the center of it.

What did I do that was so outrageous?
I was Runner-Up Overall 4-H Exhibitor my first year when I was 10, and I won Overall 4-H Exhibitor the next two years when I was 11 and 12.

So in the eyes of some people, "It's fixed", "It's rigged".

My Ag teacher/4-H leader/FFA advisor's honor has been doubted.  I am glad that she is such an honest person that she has nothing to regret or be ashamed of on her part, but it is still upsetting.  I am also glad that she is such a strong person that she doesn't care if people try to "cast doubt on her integrity."

It's also insulting to me.  Apparently there's no way that I could ever be so good as to place that highly every year without something being underhanded.  How in the world could someone like me possibly earn an honor like that.  Apparently there are other people that are way more deserving than I am who have been cheated out of an award that is rightly theirs.

We have thirty some exhibitors.  Twenty or less of them sign up to compete for the overall exhibitor.  Usually is it just about half 4-H and half FFA.  So everyone is normally competing against seven to ten others.  All competitors are acknowledged at the show.  Only the top two are called out.  Only the winner receives a prize:  a trophy and an embroidered prize jacket.  (This year it is an embroidered tall chair.)

It has been demanded that the rules of the Overall Exhibitor Award selection process be changed apparently because of my continued success.


Over the last few years it has been:  33.3% - 33.3% - 33.3%  and 40% - 40% - 20%

The current system is:

45% formal interview with a panel of judges
45% score from Showmanship placing at the local show
10% score from work ethic, sportsmanship, and herdsmanship while at the local show


It has ALSO been suggested that once a person has won:
*they sit out 1 year
*they sit out 2 years
*they can never win it again
**Someone even suggested that the previous winner coach everyone else on how to improve their      interview during the years that they have to sit out of the process.

Because my leader is a very smart and fair person, she let the 4-Hers, the FFAers, and the boosters discuss it separately and vote.  That was how I found out about the problem.  My mom wasn't going to tell me yet, but after my Ag teacher broke the news in class, my mom was able to tell me about the ugly side of things.

After a month of public uproar and who knows how much gossiping before that, the results from each group were discussed and voted upon by the boosters.

Mom didn't tell me it was the night to make the decision.  When I asked her, "Where in the world have you been?!"  She said, "At the super-long overall exhibitor discussion meeting."  When she told me I was still in, I threw my head back, threw my arms up and said, "THANK GOD!"  and I really meant it.

I am thankful to God that he helped enough people to be reasonable and allow me to continue to be a part of the competition.  I am thankful that I am not going to be excluded just because I have been good competition in the past.  The process is important for everyone, even if you don't win.  The idea is to improve next year and be a stronger competitor.

There have been kids that have beat me every time in some area and I didn't like it, but my family and I didn't feel cheated.  We weren't angry, and we didn't say ugly, mean things, and blame other people because I didn't win.   I just kept working harder and trying new things and finding ways to improve, and sometimes I am able to beat them!  I couldn't do that if I didn't step up my game!

If you just pick an overall exhibitor to honor no matter how good they are, then the "honor" has no meaning.

My mom made me a new sign to hang on the Good Luck wall at the show facility.  She adapted an old anonymous poem that has been around forever.
If you can't read it, click on it to view it larger.

Some people just need to be reminded why organizations like this exist for us:  to learn, to improve, to gain confidence, to have pride in a job done well, to practice being good citizens... just to name a few.

*****

They decided not to exclude previous winners.

The percentages on the scoring did change:
*33.3% interview
*33.3% showmanship
*33.3% work ethic (50% cleanup day/25% barn work ethic/25% indoor ethics & sportsmanship)

There will now be comment areas for the interview judges, and the score sheets will be handed back to the exhibitors a week or so after the show with our prize money.  That way families can see how their exhibitor did and can try to improve performance for next year.

Even with the changes, some people are still angry.  I don't think they will be happy until their children win everything at every show.  Some kids are the same way.

They are sure welcome to compete with me.  I will continue to do the best I know how to do.  Maybe I will beat them; maybe they will beat me.  Who knows?  Every day is a new day.

I am proud of myself when I see that I've done a good job.  I am happy when I see that I've made a difference.  I enjoy watching my heifers grow and change and improve and have calves that I get to enjoy raising, too.  I can step back and look at those things and feel good because I did that.  I really hope that other kids can experience and enjoy that same sense of accomplishment for themselves.

I'm just glad I get to be part of it.  I'm glad I get to raise "my girls" and tell people about my experiences with them.

I sure would have never thought that it would lead to such controversy.

Feelin' like a boss...

I have to admit, I'm feelin' like a boss.  I've got a little swagger in my step.

Our local show was Saturday, and I feel like I really did something.

Most of the competitors for Overall Exhibitor

Me and my loot!

I took five heifers:  Fara, my bred and owned Holstein, won Jr. Champion.  Prim, my bred and owned Ayrshire, won Reserve Jr. Champion.  Stopnstare, my younger Jersey, helped me win Showmanship.  Fara won Grand Champion Dairy Heifer.  To top it all off, I won 4-H Overall Exhibitor...for the third year in a row!!!

Recently I wrote about the controversy about my top-two status for three years in a row.  A couple of families have been very loud and ugly about it.  The rules were changed, but not as drastically as a couple of people suggested.  I followed the new rules, and I won it again.  Who knows what kind of response that will bring in the next month or so.

Tiffany, one of the FFA officers, pulled me aside before the show and told me not to listen or worry about what other people were saying about me.  A mother stopped my mom in the parking lot and told her how sorry she was that my family and I were having to go through all that.  She also said that she couldn't believe how my mom could sit there and listen and not fly off the handle.  Mom explained that she wanted to teach me how people can be sometimes when they feel bad about themselves.  Her flying off the handle and saying ugly things would not make things better.  She told her that I have nothing to be sorry for.  I follow the rules.  I do my own work.  Ms. Jennings follows the rules.  Neither one of us has anything to feel guilty about.  We can both honestly hold our heads up high.

We feel sorry for people who are so angry just because their children do not win.  We wonder how bad they make their own children feel.  Talk about pressure.

I told Mom last week that I didn't care if I won or not.  She said she knew that.  She said I was the same way last year.  All she asked was that I didn't just "lay down", which means "not try".  I told her no, I would't do that.  I would do my best, but if I didn't get it, I wouldn't be upset.  I would be happy for whoever won.

I told my mom that the thing that bothers me the most is that the people that are being so ugly are the people who are supposed to support ALL of the exhibitors, not just a few, not just their own.  When they say, "It's for the kids," I don't believe them.

Oklahoma State Fair - Part 3

Well, I finally did it.
I placed high enough to deserve to stand in front of the blue curtain and get my picture taken at the OK State Fair dairy show.

I got Reserve Champion Jersey in Junior AND Reserve Champion Jersey in Open!
I got two big fat rosettes and two banners.  I couldn't hold them all, so we draped them across Stopnstare.  There almost wasn't enough animal to hold it all.  I had to overlap some stuff.  It was kinda cool.  He took two shots of us, but I'm disappointed.  Stopnstare's back legs don't look set up.  It's like he took the photo too far on the left side of her.

More about the Tulsa State Fair

I just can't seem to cover all of the Tulsa State Fair.
Unless you've been part of it, you don't know what the dairy schedule is like.

We are there for five days but only get 2-3 hours out IN the fair.  The rest of the time we are in the barn.

On Monday we start prepping by measuring out feed and gathering all of our personal supplies we will need for the Tulsa State Fair trip.  We get everything stacked by the barn door on Windy Hill where my heifers live.  That way when we load up on Wednesday, we can just load up really fast.

On Tuesday, we clip our own heifers' heads, legs, and feet.  This will cut down on the amount of time it will take to do clipping at the show.  We still have to body clip them all AND when the cows come on Thursday after their first milking, we have to TOTALLY clip each one of them, including udders.

On Wednesday, we load up our luggage and leave at 2:00 and load up all the heifers and arrange them according to size.  Once we are unloaded and set up and decorated and we have the animals washed, we have schedules for clipping animals, milking cows, feeding, and haying.  There are also neverending chores of scooping manure out of the straw beds, fluffing the straw, checking for water leaks, and sweeping the aisles.

On Thursday, we work some more.

Every day begins with early alarms ranging anywhere from 4:30 to 5:45 depending on the first chore of the morning and the day's events.  We eat, we go to the barn, we spot wash, we clean beds, and do the whole thing over and over again.

On Friday morning, we show against adults/professional dairy people/all ages in Open class.

On Saturday morning we dairy judge.
Saturday evening we have the Purdiest Cow Contest, and we have Showmanship.

On Sunday morning, we have to have all of our luggage packed and in the truck before we go to the barn.  We won't be going back to the hotel.  That morning we show in the Junior Show.  There are still mostly professional dairy family kids, but there are fewer animals.  I feel a great sense of accomplishment being able to hang in there with people who have A LOT more knowledge and A LOT more resources than I do.

Finally, that afternoon, the last award is handed out to the Supreme Dairy Female and the show is over.

Most people are breaking neck to get out of there and get home.  We are a little different.  We pack up a bunch of little stuff and haul it and stack it at the end of the aisle.  Then we jump in the trucks and head to a restaurant to get a good meal before we go back to the barn and load it all back up again for the long trip home.  We take our time eating.  Because we do, we are normally THE LAST group left in the barn.  We aren't in anyone's way, and no one is in our's.  We load out as fast as we can.

My MawMaw watched us unload at the local ag barn after Tulsa this last year, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.  She tried to take pictures of me, but we were all moving so fast, that as soon as she was ready to snap a picture, someone else was already moved in behind me to grab the next item to unload!  She just watched wide-eyed.

Just to show you how crazy the schedule is, we got home and were looking through my placings and looking at pictures, and realized that I HAVE NO POSED PHOTOS WITH MY ANIMALS!!!
EVEN WHEN POSEY GOT RESERVE CHAMPION AYRSHIRE!!!
I don't mean that I just didn't go stand in front of the blue backdrop to get a pretty picture taken, I mean I never set my animals up and stood there holding a ribbon NOT ONE TIME!!!  We are just sick to our stomachs every time we think about it.  This was Posey's first show as a cow.  She looked SO pretty, and all I have are a few snapshots, most of which are too far away or blurry.  Ugh.  I can't stand to think about it.

Tulsa State Fair 3 of 5

Day 3 - Friday
Alarm at 6:00.
Downstairs at the hotel at 6:30.
Eat breakfast.
We relieve my mom from poop duty.  She goes to the hotel, cleans up, and gets 45 minutes of sleep.
Pull out all heifers to feed and water.
Watch for poop all morning.
Change into dairy whites.
9:00 - The show begins.
Watch for poop.
Put all leather show halters on.
Pull one animal out of a free stall.
Brush off any straw.
Rat/poof the tail switch.
Spray body with Final Bloom and brush with a soft brush.
Shine the hooves.
Make sure under the tail is clean.
Mist with a little fly spray.



Dinner at Senor Tequila's

Early night back at the hotel.

Swimming for an hour before they closed up!  Yea!!!

Livestock Auction Success

I have been so busy I forgot to tell you about selling my bull...like a year ago!
I was checking the mailbox for days waiting to get my profit from selling my little bald face bull (a.k.a. Banjo/Bucko/Bully-Bully)  I got it! (of course)
I bought him for $200.
He ended up weighing 330 pounds by the time they weighed him.
He brought $511.50!  Yea, Ayan!  Hooray for Mama's milk!!!

Is that legal?

My family and I got a real shocker the other day.

We went to our first Brown Swiss Association meeting.  While we were there, they announced that I would be their new Jr. Princess for the year.  I didn't even apply.

We are finding out that each association in our state picks their princesses differently:
Ayrshire is an application and essay process; Jersey youth nominate and vote, just like you would for class officers; and the Brown Swiss officers choose the royalty themselves.

I told them that I'm all ready Ayrshire Jr. Princess, but they said, "That's okay.  You'll be going out soon, right?"  Then they crowned me and gave me my sash and flowers.

Left to Right:  Me, Jr. Princess and Reanna Reedy, Princess

So, that's how I came to be a double princess.  I guess I won't be sending in my application this year to the Ayrshire association, huh?

Is she a lung-er or not?

One of my fears is owning a lung-er:   an animal that gets a respiratory infection or pneumonia or whatever and develops a chronic, hacky cough.  It makes me feel like a bad herdsman, and it's also annoying and embarrassing.

We were really afraid that Prim would be chronic.  We doctored her a few times with different degrees of success, but never getting her over it for more than a few days.  The dry weather and blowing dust has not helped her condition one bit.

FINALLY, the first day of Christmas break, when we took all the girls in for shots and stuff, we got the vet to give her some Micotil.  We don't ever want to mess with giving Micotil ourselves because it is very dangerous to humans.  We have been told that if you accidentally inject yourself with it, you could be dead before you get to your truck.

So we had that done for Prim at the vet by a professional.

Then when we did chores for the next week, we held our breath and listened...and listened...and listened.  No cough!  Yea!  Prim's not a lung-er!

Even on "vacation"

My first day of Christmas break was very tiring.
It was one cold, windy, miserable day.  That was the day that Mom and I helped Ms. Jennings and Alan catch and load and sort close to twenty heifers to take to the vet.  Some of them did NOT want to be caught, so we got in a little cross-country running.

We caught up all five of my heifers and several others belonging to many other dairy showmen.

We took them in to get their calfhood shots and the tattoo and ear clip that goes with them.  Prim also had a special procedure to remove the one extra teat she was born with.  Last, but not least, almost all of them got dehorned.  Some had already had it done.  Some weren't done well the first time and needed the scurs taken down.  Stopnstare is naturally polled (genetically, she was bred to be born without horns.)  

If the conditions were right, we would have used dehorning paste on Prim when she was born, but she was a summer calf, so there were flies, and we didn't want her to get infection from that, PLUS we had her on a nurse cow, and she couldn't be rubbing that paste on a cow's udder and belly!  YOWCH!  That would have done some damage.    So they cut off her little horns, and of course I saved them:  hers and Fara's.

Personally, I think Juicy should have hers touched up, but nobody asked me.   

My grand total for an afternoon at the vet:   $96.60.  

We had to take their woven nylon and chain halters off of them before they got in the chute.  I had to leave them off for about ten days while they healed and the swelling went down.  This meant that they just ran loose in the pen and I didn't catch them up every day.  Boy did they get ornery in that time!  Sassy and spoiled!  So they are having to learn how to be tame again.  (Not fun for me or them.)

One cool thing about the trip to the vet was that they each got weighed!
1004   Apple Juice
832     Carmelita
502     Stopnstare
494     Fara
348     Primrose
Fat and sassy every one of them.  Now, just like some women get ready for swimsuit season, these girls need to get ready for show season!

I see you!

I see my friends Wilma and Liza Van der Laan cheesing in this photo from last year's Southern Spring National!  Maybe Fara will be good enough that I can enter her this year.

A Christmas Tradition

Every year, there is a certain number of Christmas presents that my family and I don't ever receive.  These presents go to other people in other countries.

My MawMaw has a catalog that she buys animals from.  There are things like chickens, baby chicks, ducks, pigs, you name it.  She can't afford to buy a dairy cow for someone in my name, so she buys a dairy goat in my name each year.

These animals can really help families in poor countries because they can use them for nutrition and they can raise them and breed them and use them for profit.

More losses.

Our dairy show team has had some bad luck.
One bull calf (for sale for profit) got kicked in the head and died.
One really good spring heifer calf got either histoplasmosis or cryptococcosis (I forgot)  - a disease from birds.
One ate a six-inch bone fragment that punctured its reticulum.  It was pregnant, so of course, the fetus died, too.
I feel bad for anyone who loses an animal.  I remember what it was like to lose Parsley.

PTD post - February 2013

February 2013:

Share with the Proud to Dairy network your experiences of appearing on camera with your local news station. What did you like about the experience? What did you dislike? What advice would you have for other dairy producers appearing on camera?

I’ve been on TV twice.  

The first time was an accident.  I was so excited.  I even saved the cllip from the internet!  I wrote about it in my blog back in March. 

I got my two minutes and fifty-two seconds of stardom on the seven A.M. broadcast of Fox 23-Tulsa in 2011 while at the Tulsa State Fair.

Reporter, Kristin Tallent, came through the barn early that morning.  The ten of us had just finished all the feeding and watering and cleaning bedding.  She and her coworker looked around the dairy barn a little while, and when they came back, she stopped and asked if anyone wanted to be on tv.  We all just kind of looked at each other, and then I threw my hand up in the air and said, "I do!"

She took me with her and explained what we would be doing.  I pulled back my messy hair, brushed the dirt off myself, and borrowed my mom's windbreaker.  It was the cleanest dirty shirt we had with us in the barn. 

They were doing a segment on the opening day of the fair.  They also wanted me to have a heifer in the interview, so I had to borrow one.  My heifers were arriving on a second load not too long after the interview would have been over.

It was so exciting!  She asked me questions about all the work that I put into getting ready for the fair, and of course, the heifer decided to act up.  I was scared she was going to knock us down, but she didn't.  I also wondered how I would look on tv being all dirty and yucky from my work, but you know, I looked pretty good!  Thank goodness for that cleanest dirty shirt!

When I got back from filming, apparently my mother had e-mailed the link for the re-broadcast to my homeroom teacher! Then my teacher showed it to the whole sixth grade! So when I got back from the Tulsa State Fair, everyone was calling me "Superstar".  One of my friends said, " How was your trip?" I said "Fine." He nodded and said, "I saw you on tv!"

That was one of the funnest days of my life!

The second time I was on TV, it was a real production.  The same channel, Fox 23 from Tulsa, sent morning show host Lacey Lett and a cameraman down from Tulsa clear to Crescent to interview me and film me with my animals.  It was just after lunch so I had to take out of school to do it.  They gave us a list of questions about a week ahead of time, so I was prepared.  The only problem was, the reporter would get distracted with something else and ask me a different question before I totally finished talking about what I had been asked.  When you are talking to reporters, most likely they are not going to know anything about your area of agriculture or animals or anything.  They may depend a lot on you to steer the direction of the interview.  The thing I did wrong was not keep things focused.  I think that can happen to anyone very easily.  This lady was nice and wasn’t trying to make me say anything negative, or trip me up, but some reporters might.  I think the one thing that anyone should do is to keep talking, finish what you were saying, and if you didn’t get to finish, go back and talk about it some more.  Just tell them, “I’d like to say some more about ____” and do it.  I was too shy, but next time I’ll know better.  Lacey Lett was very kind to me and was very interested.  She made the long process as painless as possible.  They made a really nice little segment about my animals.  It was okay, but if I would have been more involved, it would have been something for me to be REALLY proud of.