They want ME to speak?!?!?!

I didn't post this before, but I guess I'll put it on here now.

Just got a mind-blowing email.
I've been asked to Skype in to talk to a group of dairy campers in IDAHO!  Even more crazy than that is the fact of the other speaker I am paired with...GREG PETERSON OF THE PETERSON BROTHERS!  You know, "I'm farming, and I grow it!"  He's been on Good Morning America and stuff!  He's spoken/performed at the NATIONAL FFA CONVENTION for goodness sakes!  He's world famous and talented!  (Fangirl moment...smiling tear)
Anyway, I can't even imagine talking to the same group as him.

Hello, Idaho!

I'm very honored to have been asked to speak to a group of Idaho 4-H Dairy Campers, but I am going to be out of town at a dairy event myself.  I will be at the Oklahoma Ayrshire and Milking Shorthorn Dairy Field Day, so since I couldn't Skype in, I offered to create an imovie.

My farm name is Godbless Dairy Enterprises.  God has given me everything and blessed me in every way.  I have gone from one heifer to eight in four years.  He blesses me every day with those animals and every other thing I have in my life.  I want people to know it and for Him to be given the glory for all successes.

There is a little bit of everything in this presentation:  baby pictures, shameless dairy promotion, adorable heifers, and a real quick fangirl moment in honor of the Peterson Brothers.

I wish I had more time to work on it.  I've been gone A LOT the past three weeks.

If you have any questions, you can comment at the bottom of this post, and I'll answer you back.

Thanks for having me.

P.S. 4-H is great, not only for showing livestock.  Personally, I am involved in:  Shooting Sports (air rifle), Food Science/Nutrition, Photography, Impressive Dress, Prepared Speeches, Extemporaneous Speaking, Web Page Design, Farmhand Olympics, Judging, Arts/Crafts, Flyers/Posters/Brochures/Working Displays, Cake/Pie Contests, Share the Fun (Talent), Food Showdown, Powerpoint/Keynote Presentation, and probably some other stuff that I'm going to feel stupid for forgetting.  Get involved!  See what 4-H has for you!    

Hello, Idaho!

OK State Fair 2012 - Part 3

OOPS!  Look what we found in the DRAFTS box!

When I go to the OK State Fair, I know that the TULSA STATE FAIR is just around the corner!

At 10 A.M. Sunday morning, we met with our show team at the Ag Farm to load up the trailers to go to the fair at OKC.

Since they don't allow COWS at the OK State Fair as of this year, we were able to get supplies in one trailer and heifers in another.

We headed to the city and pulled into the livestock gate, but when we gave them our exhibitor tickets, they wouldn't let us in.  They sent us the wrong tickets.  (Good only for Monday.)  So our poor advisor had to leave the truck and trailer holding up the line and go pick up the correct tickets to get us in.  I'm sure all the people behind us were mad.

We got unloaded.  It was my first time to see the new barn facilites.  Sometime after the fair last year, they tore down the beef and dairy barn and rebuilt.  Things are a lot different.  It used to be dark and dirty.  There were wood and pipe panels to tie your animals to.  This time we had to bring our own stock panels in order to have something to tie them to.

They tore out the milking parlor.  Even when Southwest Dairy Museum offered them $250,000 to build a new one, they would not.  So now we cannot bring cows.  We cannot even bring DRY cows.  This has become a heifer-only show.

******

Sunday night we unloaded and set up, ate, fed, and went to bed.

Monday evening was the Purdiest Cow Contest.  I brought Cleopatra with me.  (I dressed up Stopnstare.)  I was Julius Caesar.  We got first place and Grand Champion.

Then we had Showmanship.  I chose to use Stopnstare.  I kept loining her when she didn't need it because I'm so used to doing it with Posey and Juicy.  Stopnstare doesn't need it.  Ooops.  I came in second.  Probably could have come in first if I hadn't done that.

Tuesday was the morning of the show, we got up at 4:20 A.M. so we could be washing the animals by 5:00 A.M. so they could start drying and the first toplines could be started at 7:00 because the show started at 9:00 A.M.

Jr. and Open show happens at the same time.  If you were placed second behind someone in Open that is not a Jr., then you would place second in Open, and first in Jr.  So they hand you both of your placings at the same time.  This is different from Tulsa.  At the Tulsa State Fair they do Purdiest Cow and Showmanship on Friday, Open show on Saturday, and Jr. Show on Sunday.  The judge is different for every event.  It's one more day of hard work, but it makes it interesting.  Different day, animal acts differently (maybe), animal is in a little bit different condition (maybe), you perform differently (maybe), different judge, different results (maybe).  You just have to wait and see.  It's more interesting.

Prize summary:
*Best Dressed Cow Contest - (Cleopatra and Julius Caesar) Grand Champion - Rosette, blue ribbon, medallion
*Showmanship - Stopnstare - 2nd place ribbon, plaque
*Stopnstare - Spring heifer Jersey calf - 1st in Open, 1st in Jr., Reserve Breed Champion Jr., Reserve Breed Champion Open, (two blue ribbons, two rosettes, two banners, and an embroidered garment bag) $5 from Oklahoma Jersey Jr. Assoc.
*Carmelita - Spring yearling Jersey - 1st in Open, 1st in Jr. (two blue ribbons and $5 from OJJA)
*Juicy - Spring yearling Brown Swiss - 2nd in Open, 2nd in Jr. (two red ribbons)

OH . MY. GOODNESS.

Busy Busy!!!

Just because I haven't posted in awhile doesn't mean that I haven't been writing!  I just posted a whole pile of articles that have been sitting in the draft box.

Between my animals and Rainbow activities and Shooting Sports and dance classes and cleaning my room and doing my homework, I hardly have time for tv watching and blogging and Instagramming and texting!!!   I missed a Halloween dance the other night for goodness sakes!

I've still got a pile of articles that need to be finished.  I'll post photos to go along with my newly posted stuff later.  I'm just too TIRED!

Pray for me!

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! 

  

I'm on the campaign trail!

Last Friday I signed up for Student Council elections and turned in my speech.  At our school, we just run for office.  We don't pick which one.  The number of votes you get decides what office you get.  We are only allowed to post one poster, so I did...with a whole stack of flip pages with different slogans on them!   It's got balloons around the edges, and on election day, I'm going to add a half dozen battery-operated flashing stars!!!

Then my mom and I made a slideshow with music.  It took me TWO days just to pick out the song I wanted to use.  We listened to TONS of music from our iTunes library.  Mom would like one and I would give it a thumbs down.  She liked AC/DC and Queen and Gary Glitter!  Then we would pick a goofy one and laugh like crazy!  Most of them we were just joking about, like "Laffy Taffy" and "The Sabre Dance" and "My Milkshake".  We laughed A LOT.
 
FINALLY, on the way to school the other day, she asked me what my decision was, and I said, "Never Miss A Beat."  So that's what I've got!  Then mom spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to drop the music file on the show.  She ended up asking a student.  She started explaining it to me, and I had to tell her I already knew that!  She wished I would have told her that earlier.  :)  Love you, Mom!

All the pics were in my mom's iPhoto library.  We just went through and picked ones we liked.  You've probably seen them all on my blog already.   We tried to make a list of my positive qualities.  Most of them have to do with the work I do with dairy and 4-H and stuff.  The slides sat there waiting FOREVER for me to pick out the right song.  My 6th hour teacher played it over the projector for our class.  They liked it so much that they wanted to see it twice!

Today I gave my speech, and we all voted.  Say hello to the new SEVENTH GRADE CLASS SECRETARY!  Woo Hoo!  Thank you!  Thank you very much!

Wait!  There's more!  The other day, I also signed up to run for 4-H office.  I would like to be Vice-President, Reporter, or President.  Elections are at our meeting next month.

Wish me luck on the rest of my campaign trail!

"What are your future plans?"

I got my e-newsletter from Progressive Dairyman today.  They featured my latest post.

“WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS? DO YOU PLAN TO REMAIN INVOLVED IN THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY? IF SO, WHY?”

• Posted by MaddieMoo on August 6, 2012 at 6:41am
• View Blog

When I first got this question, all I could think of was “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  That freaked me out because I don’t know.  I’m still a tween-ager.  I’m only twelve and a half years old.  My mom and I talked about this question for three days. Here is my list of things I have honestly considered for my future so far:  Pre-K teacher, actress, professional ballerina, and beautician.  No joke.  We laughed about it a lot, but we were afraid that list wasn’t a good enough answer.  Then we looked at the question again and decided that maybe it wasn’t asking what we thought.  We thought that maybe it was asking about my nearer future.  Since I’m only twelve and a half, I’ve got a lot of future ahead of me.  Even high school is still a ways off.  I have several things that I’m looking forward to in my middle school and high school future.    

I plan to continue showing dairy.  I still have six more school years I can show as a 4-H or FFA member.  I want to continue to expand my dairy herd through breeding what I have and by purchasing additional animals.  I have always thought I would eventually own at least one of each of the major dairy breeds.

I would also like to continue to be a dairy princess.  I have been chosen as the Oklahoma Ayrshire Jr.

Princess for three years in a row.  When I am no longer chosen as an Ayrshire princess, I will be able to compete for a crown in another breed association where I am a member and show animals of that breed.  

We did pre-enrollment in school in May.  School starts in two days, and as a seventh grader I am going to take AG class!  I can’t be in FFA until eighth grade, but I can at least be in Ag class.  I’m so excited!  For ONE thing, she's already told me that I'm going to learn a lot more about dairy and dairy judging.  Later there will be SAEs and CDEs and convention and banquet and all kinds of new stuff.  I also plan to always be in  4-H.  My 4-H leader, who is also the FFA advisor, will help me make the right choices in my project areas so I can get the most out of both organizations without overlapping.  It’s tricky.  You can be active in both, but you have to be careful that you don’t “double-dip” as she calls it.  This year I turned in a 4-H recordbook for Gold in Dairy Livestock, Silver in Dairy Foods, Silver in Nutrition, Bronze in Shooting Sports, The Nutrition Special Award, and The Outstanding Junior Special Award.  I do a lot of work in a lot of areas.  I have been a  4-H officer for the past three years.  I will run again this fall.

I will continue to compete for Local Overall Exhibitor.  This is a competition among exhibitors of all the species.  Points are earned by your placings, showmanship, sportsmanship, herdsmanship, and your scores by judges during an interview process.  I have been showing for three years.  The first year, I was Runner-Up Overall 4-H Exhibitor.  The second year AND the third year, I WON 4-H Overall Exhibitor!  

I can’t wait until I’m fourteen.  It seems like fourteen is the magic age for lots of cool stuff.  This last year my placing qualified me to go to nationals in shooting sports, but I wasn’t old enough to be invited.  Fourteen is also the age I can start running for Oklahoma Dairy Princess.  It’s the year that I can turn in my first 4-H state level recordbooks.  I can run for 4-H office on the county level.  I can be considered for 4-H County Hall of Fame.  

I will also keep on helping with Cloverbuds and working in dairy themes wherever we can. 

I will continue to promote the dairy industry and dairy foods as a part of a healthy diet.  I will work for Dairy MAX’s Susan Allen for as long as she will have me.

   

Who knows what else I’ll get to do with agriculture?  Just recently I’ve been invited to spend a day working at Cross Country Genetics, and just the other day I was invited to come work for a day at a family dairy.  Who knows what other agricultural opportunities I will get in the future?    

Repost:  From Progressive Dairyman E-Newsletter 08-10-12

4-H Success!!!

Tuesday night was the annual county 4-H banquet.
We had BBQ catered by Klein's.  They served a HUGE dinner!  There was also a large silent auction and LOTS of door prizes.  I got some green and black 4-H vintage style sunglasses.  YEA!!!

It seems like I've been waiting FOREVER to find out what I earned this year!
My awards included:

Gold in Dairy Livestock
Silver in Dairy Foods
Champion in Individual Talent
Champion in Powerpoint
Champion in Prepared Speech
Reserve Champion in Impressive Dress
and OUTSTANDING JUNIOR!!!

The members of our 4-H chapter who turned in record books were very successful!

Sooner State Dairy Show 2012

I've been bustin' butt every day either trying to get ready for the Sooner State Dairy Show or working AT Sooner State.

The breeder said that Carmelita was already trained to lead.  That she will walk with you on a rope halter, but when I got her home, she really didn't want to do that.  So for me, I had to almost start her from the beginning.  I had to outsmart her to catch her up, then get her haltered, and then it took two of us to make her walk.  She just planted her feet and sulled up like a little donkey.  Since she's a Jersey, she's fairly small, but still, that's hard work!


Stop and Stare is itty-bitty, but she can sull up and plant those feet with the best of them.  She even did the "Jersey flop" on me once while I had her haltered.   Stop and Stare flopped down and she got so comfortable, we thought she would NEVER get up!  But she did, and we finished up our training session.


Juicy is back home from the breeder.  She doesn't need as much work as the other two, but I worked her out anyway.


We scrubbed the girls down on our own at the farm.  Then we did something we've never done...we clipped all of my animals without anyone supervising us.  I liked it.  I didn't feel rushed.


That was on a Monday.  Tuesday afternoon, we loaded up all supplies, took them to Stillwater and unloaded and set up as much as we possibly could.  We got home around 11 P.M.


Wednesday morning we met to load up animals.  Got to Stillwater in time to have a hamburger at Braum's.  Then we unloaded and washed animals, and our advisor roughed in toplines for the animals we had chosen to use for showmanship that next evening.  I chose Juicy.  

Thursday night there were fifteen in my 11-12 year old class.  I'm not making excuses.  I know where I messed up, but  it was an honest mistake and definitely a learning experience.


I was second in line.  The boy in front of me was having a hard time handling his heifer.  (He said he knew she would be trouble that morning.)  She kept freezing up.  So I kept giving her a goose to help him get started again.  So at one point, he stopped and was wrestling with her, so I stopped and waited for him to go.  Sadly, that's where the judge told him to stop.  I should have been setting up, which is what he was trying to do.  Finally I started setting my animal up when I saw that other people were behind me.  What a stupid mistake.  Anyway.  Then she dropped the bottom five and then ten to come up with the top five showmen.  Even though I hesitated (which she labeled as "lacking confidence") I still made it in the TOP FIVE, barely, but I made it, and ten other people didn't, so I am still proud of my performance.  I learned a lesson.


I am also proud of my friend April!  This was her first Sooner State, and she got FOURTH in showmanship in our age group!  Her Holstein is a little crazy like my Faith used to be, so she REALLY deserved in the top five!  Yea, April!


Friday we did dairy judging.  I had the high score in our 4-H group, but I didn't place.  


Saturday we showed. I spent a lot of time goosing the Jersey in front of me to help the girl get it going around the ring.  Carmelita got 7th out of 9.  The judge was really complimentary about her and said there were LOTS of things she liked about her, but she was currently "carrying too much condition"  which is a nice way to say that she's too fat right now.   :)  That's okay.  I haven't had her long enough to get all the weight off her that I want to.  Just give it time.  She wasn't last!

Stopnstare got 1st in Jr. and 1st in Open as a Spring Calf.  (If you wonder where she got the name Stopnstare, maybe it would make more sense if you knew that her mama's name is SEXY!) 





Juicy ended up getting 1st as a Jr. Yearling. 

After the show Saturday, we tore down everything we could and moved it to the front of the aisle.  We went to eat lunch then...at 5:30 or so.  When we finished, my mom pulled the trailer that we loaded with supplies.  Our advisor pulled the gooseneck with the cattle.  We dropped the trailer at the farm then went to unload hay at the Ag Barn.  Then we took my friend home and finally headed to the house.  Woo!  What a week.

What is GODBLESS DAIRY ENTERPRISES?

GODBLESS DAIRY ENTERPRISES is what I call my 4-H dairy project.

I have requested GODBLESS as my prefix for each of the breeds I raise.  I chose GODBLESS because God has blessed me with so much and continues to bless me.

I call it "Dairy Enterprises" because I don't have a farm.  I don't even own a trailer.  It's not a company.  It's a dairy project.  So I used a thesaurus to find a word that fit what I am or what I have.  I found out that "Enterprise" is a synonym of "project".  It was perfect!

Our little family (2011)

I guess you would call me the proprietor or the dairy boss.  I am the sole owner of my animals.  The first one was a gift.  The rest I have paid for myself.  I take care of them every day.  I do my own fitting (except for the topline.)  I do almost all of my own paperwork and check writing.  I am the only person who shows my animals in Jr. and Open Shows.

My mom is like my hired hand, except she doesn't get paid.  If I need an extra pair of hands to do something, she helps.  I can hook up a trailer, but I can't drive, so she pulls the trailer.  If I'm doing halter training on more than one animal, we each take one and play stock show and then switch in the middle. My dad is like my corporate sponsor.  He makes sure there's money in the bank for supplies, and he takes care of stuff in the city.   He has loaded/hauled things like cattle panels and a hay ring (one time, he even picked up a hoop skirt for my princess formal) and brought them to me from long distances.  He also makes sure I have a different convertible to ride in for every parade I'm in.  Mom works with me daily and goes with me to the shows.  Dad owns and operates a body shop in Norman, which is a long way from home, so he's usually at work when I'm out and about with my animals.  He helps me with things like broken trailer lights and replacing ruined tires.  He comes to every show that he can.   MawMaw and GrandDad come to most of the local and the county shows.  GrandDad helped me build a calf hutch and let me use his tools to make a mineral feeder.   He painted and put a new floor in the squeeze chute.  MawMaw takes pictures for me and is one of my biggest cheerleaders.  They are also like my sponsors.  They match all cash prizes that I win with my animals.  


That's pretty well all of the "personnel" at GODBLESS DAIRY ENTERPRISES.  Of course I have some fantastic outside experts and service providers that I can count on for information and advice, like my breeder and my 4-H leader and other dairy families that do this for a living every day.  I am truly blessed to have all these people that I can count on.  
  

Shopping...showgirl style!

May, June, July is usually the time when I would make last-minute decisions about changes in my show line-up.  This year is the same.

I got a call from my breeder that he was ready to thin out some of his heifers.  He had several breed options for me.  He said he knew I was like him and "appreciated diversification" in my herd.  So my mom took me to do some "shopping" at his farm.  We looked at lots of heifers, and we even looked at some cows that I could potentially get a calf out of this next go around.

We thought we were going there to buy one new addition to my herd...but I found THREE!!!  After a lot of conversation and a lot of thinking, I ended up with two of the three.  We thought I had better save some of my money back to use for entry fees.

I ended up with two Jerseys.  Never in a million years did we think we were going to haul home two Jerseys.  We were thinking Guernsey or Milking Shorthorn for my next purchase, but I bought Jerseys!

Carmelita is a yearling.  Stop and Stare is just a few months old.

Bessie Bingo

So you wanna win $100?  A lot of people do.
That's why they play BESSIE BINGO!

Every year at the 4th of July celebration at the park, my 4-H friends and I sell Bessie Bingo squares to raise money for our chapter.

Here's how it works:
We have 100 squares that we sell on a map.  And we have 100 squares spray painted on the ground in an empty pen.  Once all the squares are sold (for $2 each or $10 for 6), a dairy heifer ("Bessie") is released into the pen.  Whichever square she *PLOPS* on, we check the map and see whose name is on that map square, and they win $100!

We sold three full maps of squares, so we gave away three prizes of a hundred dollars each, and 4-H made about $300 profit!

If you're ever in Crescent for the 4th of July, come play BESSIE BINGO with us! 

So, how did you come to be interested in Dairy? Proud To Dairy blog post: July 6, 2012

I got an email the other day suggesting a blog post:

“I'd like to know more about how you became interested in dairy. You said you live in town and your parents and grandparents weren't involved in raising livestock through 4-H or FFA. So how did it happen? What sparked your interest in dairy?”

In my family, it’s been three generations since anyone was involved in agriculture. Most all of them sold products to creameries.  Only one still farms and he only has a few beef cattle.  I’m not a farm kid.  I’m not even a country kid, but  I am a third year 4-H member with four registered dairy show cattle, with another calf on the way, and assorted pairs of orphan calves that I tend every day.  I don’t even live in the town where my cattle are.  They live at my Godmother’s little farm, so I do chores every day on the way home from school.  On weekends, holidays, and breaks, I still make the half hour trip from my house, do chores, and make the half hour trip back home again.  Even people who know my family wonder how I ended up raising dairy cattle.

I’m guessing I was just over a year old when my mom made arrangements for me to come to the FFA Week Petting Zoo at the high school where she teaches. 

My (now) 4-H leader carried me around and showed me all of the animals.  The one animal that I pet and seemed to like the best was “Daisy”.   She was a dairy heifer that one of the students had won in an essay contest.  I attended the FFA petting zoo every year for at least eight years.  


When I was about four,  I started my Pee Wee Showmanship career.  I came to the Local show and showed every species.  I went to the County show and showed beef, dairy, and sheep. 

I went to the Sooner State Dairy Show, and  I went  to the Oklahoma State Fair to do Showmanship.  The ring was almost full, and as I got ready to walk through the gate, I looked up at my Godmother and announced that I could do it all by myself.  I led that giant Holstein around the ring with no problems.  My mom still tells the story about how I was the smallest kid in the ring with the biggest animal and the only one with no help at all!  
Another year I started doing the Purdiest Cow Contest.  The little Jersey and I were "Hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon."
It was also around that time that I learned I could be in 4-H and have my own heifer when I turned nine.  I thought my ninth birthday would NEVER come!  After I turned nine, two very special friends decided to give me one of their Ayrshire calves to raise for my own. 

Since then,  I have saved up my stock show winnings, birthday money, Christmas money, and odd job money and bought my other animals by myself. I bought a Brown Swiss calf.  I made and paid off a purchase agreement for a Holstein yearling, and I financed my Brown Swiss nurse cow and paid her off.  I sold the Holstein and kept her heifer calf.  My Ayrshire is due in less than a month.  The Brown Swiss nurse cow gets preg checked in three days, the Brown Swiss heifer is going to be in heat any day now so she can get A.I.ed., and I have bought and sold three pairs of orphan calves for my nurse cow to raise.

“Where do you think your determination comes from to raise dairy animals?”

I guess it does take a lot of determination to raise dairy cattle.  In my little corner of the world, dairy doesn’t get much respect.  Our county only allows ONE dairy heifer in the premium sale.  They do not allow dairy to compete for money in showmanship.  They do not allow any crossbreds.  They do not allow any fresh or dry cows.  Over the winter, our STATE Fairgrounds tore down the cattle barns and rebuilt them...without a milking parlor.  There will be no cows, not even dry ones, shown at the State Fair starting this fall.

Even though dairy is treated the way it is, I keep working.  Maybe it’s because I’m stubborn.  My MawMaw looked at me on the day I was born and told my parents, “That is going to be a strong-willed child!” 

The work is hard, and sometimes I get frustrated.  Not as much as I did when I was littler.  But when I do, and I get UGLY, my mom stops me and asks me, “So what do you want to do?  Quit?  Sell out? It’s fine if you do, because it will save us a lot of money.”  She says the same thing every time because she knows that those words will shake me up and get me to straighten up SUPER-FAST!  She knows I don’t want to quit.  Quitting is like being beaten, and who wants to feel the agony of defeat? 
I know I don’t.   : )
 
Written for Proud To Dairy/Progressive Dairyman 
Posted July 6, 2012

Dairy Field Days

June is National Dairy Month and we do dairy things, like go to dairy judging events for all the major breeds.

June 6th was Milking Shorthorn field day held in Cushing.  I don't really want to talk about it because we didn't do well.  But even so...
Big thanks to Cushing for hosting us all!

We all saw Susan Allen from Dairy Max, and she gave us our new dairy t-shirts!


The next day, however, was a much better day.  We went to the Brown Swiss Dairy Field Day in Agra at Bryan Reedy's dairy.  Thank you Mr. Reedy!

Eight of us represented our school at this competition, including my friend and OK Brown Swiss Jr. Princess, Diana.  We judged five classes, and we ended up having:
the 2nd place 4-H team (that was my team!!!)
the 3rd place FFA team
the 4-H 2nd high individual (my buddy Kasey)
and 3rd high individual PeeWee (my little buddy Savanna)!
Not bad for eight kids.

Then we had a one day break.  Monday morning we met at our Ag Farm and cleaned our facility to get ready for our company.  We host the Oklahoma Jersey Field Day every year. 

Not to be too proud and braggy or anything, but we serve some pretty awesome food, AND not only does Dairy Max provide bottled milk for the day, but we also provide ICE CREAM for everyone while we are awaiting the judging contest results.  They are store-bought ice cream treats, but they are GOOD!  (I've heard wild rumors that when the Chupp family hosts a field day, they have two flatbed trailers lined with freezers of all kinds of homemade ice cream.  I hope those stories are true, and that I get to see for myself.)

Tuesday we went to Perkins for the Ayrshire and Guernsey field day.  I was 5th high 4-H individual.  I was also on the FIRST PLACE 4-H TEAM!  Woo Hoo!!!  My buddy Kasey was high individual, and our new team member Breanna was 3rd high individual!

OH! And I was re-crowned Oklahoma Ayrshire Jr. Princess!!!
GOOD TIMES!

UN.BE.LIEVABLE!!!

 AAAHHHHH!!!

The most amazing thing happened!  I was invited to post to PROUD TO DAIRY on a regular basis!  They've sent me six months worth of topics to write about.  They also want me to post videos.  But wait!  There's more!

They want to feature my content through:


 AND










 








AND

AND

IN THE PROGRESSIVE DAIRYMAN PRINT MAGAZINE!!!

They also post links on their facebook pages to articles and photos they want to feature.

But I don't know.  I'm going to have to think about it...um, let me see...uh,

YOU BETCHA!  I'm IN!

I don't know who to thank first.  Really, I wouldn't even be posting stuff online if Kara Eschbach, the Tulsa State Fair Agribusiness Coordinator, hadn't chosen me to blog about my 4-H dairy project, given me info on where and how to set up a blog, and linked me to their facebook page.  So THANK YOU, KARA!
Then of course I want to thank EMILY CALDWELL,

Web Editor, East Coast Editor of Progressive Publishing, because I'm sure she had something to do with that decision AND she was the bearer of the good news!  Thank you also to ALAN LEAVITT, Publisher and WALT COOLEY, Editor of Progressive Dairyman magazine because I know that they are the BIG DECISION makers!

Hope I can come up with some good stuff for you to use.
(If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up.)

Vote For ME!!!

Check it out!  I'm featured on Progressive Dairyman's facebook page for a contest!  There are only two days left, so I need you to act fast.

Go to Progressive Dairyman's facebook page and click on the link shown below.  Visit my photo (MaddieMoo) on the Proud to Dairy site and vote for me by hitting LIKE or FAVORITE.

Can't you see how PROUD TO DAIRY 
I am?

Planning for the Unknown

We like to plan ahead, but this year is going to be difficult.  We are going to have to wait until the last minute to see about a lot of things.  I hope it doesn't cause any problems with getting my registrations in or in overpaying for registrations.  These are the kinds of things I think about and eventually ask questions about to the people who know the answers:

Ayan is a nurse cow.  She is also a show cow.  She is nursing Fara AND the bald face bull calf, Bucko.  So what do I do?  Do I take Fara and Bucko off her and show Ayan and Fara in July at Sooner State? Would I have to sell Bucko?  Or do I just have to put Fara and Bucko on a bottle for a few days? Do I take Fara to the show and feed her a bottle there and run Ayan through the milking parlor?  Will Ayan even be in good condition to show?  Can you "milk out" a cow by putting a calf on it at the show?  Is that bad?  Can that even be done evenly/correctly?

It's possible that Posey could deliver before Sooner State.  If she does, do I take her and show her as a cow?  Will she be in good condition for it?  Would we need to leave Ayan at home and nurse Posey's calf?   Will she still be in condition to nurse Posey's?  Will we just bottle feed Posey's?  I definitely know that Posey is going to the dairy.  I have those arrangements made.

If Posey hasn't calved yet, we should just leave her at home, but then someone is going to have to check her.  That makes me nervous.   What if she has problems?  All the people that know what to do will be at the show with us.

It would be more comfortable for Posey to stay home.  That way she wouldn't have to be tied up and confined.  After seeing Faith just before she calved, I feel sorry for those poor mamas-to-be.  They look so miserable.  I want whatever is best for Posey.

That leaves Juicy.  Am I only going to get to show one animal at Sooner State?

It's frustrating to own four show animals with a possible fifth one before the show and maybe only get to take one to show. 

I still have the same types of questions for County, but the cow situation is a no-brainer.  They don't let us show cows at County.

I wonder about the barn for OKC.  I wonder how done it will be.  I wonder if they are even going to accept cows.  I hear they are not rebuilding the milking parlor.  We don't have a portable milking system.  I wonder if they will bring in a milking trailer or something?  So I don't know if I can bring Posey or Ayan to OKC.  

I also wonder what my little herd will be like by ***THE TULSA STATE FAIR***!!!

To Make the Best Better!

The 4-H Motto:  "To Make the Best Better"













That's the whole point...to make the best better.  Whatever your skills, whatever your project, you can always learn more, do more, and make it better.

Premium Sale!

Okay so, county was a couple months ago, and I just now realized that I never posted anything about it!  The kicker is that I think this is the best year ever in my showing career!!! I got  reserve breed champion Holstein, breed champion Ayrshire, breed champion brown Swiss, and..... SUPREME FEMALE with the Swiss!!!!!  (and I only showed three animals!)

Our county only accepts ONE dairy heifer into the premium sale, so this was the first time I've ever made it! It was so exciting.  We were nearly last to sell that night. The auctioneer was laughing and joking with the crowd that night, so when he started off at $1000 and a bidder immediately raised it to $2000, I thought they were just fooling around and the auction would start in a few minutes when they were finished goofin'...but I was wrong.  They just kept going!  Finally he said, "SOLD!!! $4100!!!"  My eyes were as big as dinner plates!  Later I found out that amount was just an outside bidder.  It didn't include the $950 that I was getting from the Booster Club OR the add-on money that friends and businesses had contributed to the pot!

I've got plaques, ribbons, money, and a giant trophy!  WooHOO!!!