PART 4 By special request: FINAL FITTING/PREP FOR THE SHOW RING

So we've washed our animals.

Did I ever tell you how the ones with white markings are done special?  Since that white hair gets stained yellow (from mud and manure), it may need some special treatment.  Just like little old ladies with white hair use a blue or purple rinse on it to brighten it up, and just like people back in the day used to use bluing in their white loads of laundry, we use blue or purple shampoo on our animals.  What few stains don't wash out, get clipped off.  So it works out. 

Okay, so we've clipped our animals.  Our advisor has clipped the topline.  Our advisor has also used a brush to style the topline with adhesive.  (It's like heavy duty hair product.)  There is a sticky powder that she brushes in.  It's a rosin.  We've already scrubbed their ears out.  Once while we washed them and once just a few minutes before or after we've changed into our white dairy show clothes. 

Put a leather and chain show halter on your animal.  Black leather for Holsteins and Brown Swiss.  Brown for Ayrshire and Milking Shorthorn.  I can't remember about Jerseys.

Before you take your animal out of your aisle and walk them to go in the ring, you brush off any stray pieces of hair or straw.  If anything is stuck in the topline, carefully pick it out without damaging the topline.  We also use a spray that gives their hair shine.  It smells good, too.

By show day, the fly population has grown.  Use a light aerosol fly spray on your animal.  You don't want them agitated by flies while you are trying to show them.

You also give their hooves a shine.

It's best if you have one person holding the halter and one person doing these final steps to make her all shiny before you go show her.

PART 3 By Special Request...Clipping

Some people don't clip their own animals.  They hire professional fitters to do that for them.  These people have a LOT more money than we have.  (Their cattle are a lot more expensive, too, I'm sure.)  We do our own clipping.  As a dairy team, we have done it different ways.  We have clipped our own animals all by ourselves.  We have broken into teams and two or three or four people worked on each animal with each person having a specific job in a specific area until everyone's animals were done.  We've done the same thing with washing.

Dairy cattle are washed carefully and let dry before they are clipped.  You take a heifer or cow and halter it with a rope halter.  Then you lead it into the clipping chute. 

I've added a picture of my dream chute so you can see what I mean.
The left side of this picture is the front.  The open end on the right side of this picture is the back.
  

The floor of the chute is plywood.  There is an optional black floor pad that you can install for the comfort of your animal.

Sullivan's Cadillac Chute

The two black bars at the front spread apart to put the head through.  Then you close them back together so she can't back her head out.  You tie the end of her rope halter on the end of that triangular piece that sticks out the front.  This will help keep her head a little more still.

The two black bars leaning at angles on the sides of the chute keep her from stepping out the sides.  The bars can be stood straight up and down or angled toward the back, too.  You can move them while you are clipping.

Some dairy cattle are calm and just let you do your job.  Some flinch and jerk.  Some stamp their feet because you're annoying like flies are.  Some kick because they want to chase you off.  Some are crazy and will flip the chute over.  Some are beyond crazy and will not only flip the chute over, but will then take off through the barn dragging the chute around them.  Be on your guard.  Be aware of everything around you.  You can get hurt really easily.

*******


You can mess up the looks of a really nice animal with a bad clip job.  I've ended up with some doozies, some from my own doing and some from the help of others.

Teaching my mom how to clip

Number one rule:  Don't cut the topline hair off.  The topline is the hair down the base of the neck and all the way down the spine to the tail.  Stay away from it.  Leave a wide margin around that whole area.  The topline clipping is to be left to people who REALLY know what they are doing.  That person is our 4-H/FFA advisor.  The top line should stand up kind of like a faux-hawk and be straight as a board all down her back.  It is supposed to enhance the straightness of the backbone. 

Work in a well-lit area.  If you can't see, you're going to leave stray hairs or take off some where you should not.

Large clippers are to be used on the body:  Sides, rear end, chest, brisket, and from the knee up on front legs and from the hock up on rear legs.

Small clippers are to be used on the entire head, bottom half of legs, tail (minus the switch).  While you are clipping the head, you take off the rope halter so you don't have to work around it.  If the animal is crazy, you'll probably have to use the nose tongs on it.  These tongs kind of look like vice grips with fat balls on their pinchers.  You put these inside the nose and have one person hold the head still with nose tongs and one person clip the head.  You can do the same thing with your fingers in the nose, but the tongs keep you from tiring out as easy.  Try it on yourself with your fingers, then try to turn your head and see how far you get.  Now you know what they mean by getting "led around by the nose."  

Belly hair is left on heifers.  Cows' bellies and udders are clipped clean.  Clip everything down so you can see every vein on the belly.


When you're working way down low, you can get smacked around by the tail switch.  You can take the long hair of the switch and braid it around the back post of the frame if you're working alone.  If you have one, let your partner hold it out of your way.



Take long smooth strokes with the clippers.  Lay the clippers down as level with the body as possible.  Don't leave stray clumps of hair.

Brush out the hair clippings from the clippers often.  Oil the clippers often or you will burn up the motor.  Spray them with anti-fungal disinfectant before you use them on a new animal.  Do not lay the clippers in the dirt.  Do not let the clipper blades hit anything. One broken tooth will mess up everything.

After the girls are all pretty, you have to keep an eagle eye on them to make sure they stay that way.  Another animal can swing its rear against yours and poop.  Your animal can lie down in poop.  Your animal or one next to it can paw at the straw and throw it up over their backs.  You get the idea.  So you have to watch your girls and their neighbors, too.  Ideally, you watch for their tails to start to raise and get a scoop shovel under them and catch the poop before it hits the ground.  Sadly, some of them will actually poop while they are still lying down.  You have to get it out of there fast.
This watch goes on for hours and hours.  Some shows you have showmanship one day and stock show the next.  That means you have to keep them clean overnight, too.  It's a crazy schedule.  It's not for the weak.  Dairy kids are probably the only showmen that can go to the Tulsa State Fair for five days and get a grand total of two hours out in the fair going through the carnival rides and exhibit buildings.

"Proud to Dairy"

Guess which blog was just added to PROGRESSIVE DAIRYMAN'S
Proud to Dairy "Blogs We Love" list?
Yep, you guessed it:  GodBlessDairy.blogspot.com!!! 
Woo Hoo!!!
(They also sent me two awesome hats!)  I feel special!

4-H Record book

My 4-H record book is turned in!  Today was the deadline at the county extension office, and I made it!
Wish me luck.  I am applying 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
It was over 80 pages.

Woo Hoo! A THREE-PEAT!

I am very thankful and very blessed to have been allowed to represent Oklahoma Ayrshires for a third term as Jr. Princess.  I will do my best to be a good representative and promote the breed and the dairy industry.

Another Loss

Heard some sad news on the way to our first Dairy Field Day yesterday.  A dairy teammate asked if we'd heard about her Milking Shorthorn heifer.  She said she had died.  The nearest anyone can figure, she got struck by lightning during the big storm.  They said she was post legged and had blue teats.  Of course it was one of her good show heifers.  I feel bad for her.  We all do.

Herd Expansion

I'm trying to decide my next move.  I think I want to purchase another breed.  I have Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, and Holstein.  My ultimate goal has always been to own at least one of each breed.  I'm thinking the time is just about right.  I just have to decide between a Guernsey and a Milking Shorthorn.

The reign of a Jr. Dairy Princess

Loading up for the 89er Parade 2012.

June 1st is the postmark deadline for the Oklahoma Ayrshire Breeders Association Dairy Princess applications.  With things being as crazy as they have been with animals and 4-H recordbook work, I was worried I might not make it, but I did.  Whew!

The application requires a series of answers to questions about your work with Ayrshires and your work in dairy/breed promotion.  Most of the application is a hand written essay about your experiences with Ayrshires and your plans for the future.

I have been selected as the Oklahoma Ayrshire Jr. Princess for the past two terms 2010-11 and 2011-12.  I think I have a really good strong application again this year, but I am not counting on anything.  No matter how good you are, there is always someone that's better.  So either I will be re-crowned or I will give up my crown to a new Jr. Princess.  I won't find out until they announce the winners.

The winners (Princess and Jr. Princess) will not be announced until the Ayrshire Dairy Field Day on June 12.  Wish me luck!

Dairy Field Days

A promotional poster I made a few years ago.

Since June is National Dairy Month we have dairy field days in June.

We do some basic things at all dairy field days:
we judge a specific breed of dairy cattle; Dairy Max gives away t-shirts and other cool promotional items; Dairy Max gives away bottled milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream; we have a cookout; and we give awards to the top three 4-H judging teams and individuals, top three FFA judging teams and individuals, and top three adults and peewees.

This year's field day schedule is:
June 6th Milking Shorthorn in Cushing
June 7th Brown Swiss in Agra
June 12th Ayrshire and Guernsey in Perkins
June 13th Jerseys in Crescent
June 18th all breeds at OSU

Now what?

So baby Fara is finally here!  Since I don't live on a dairy farm, I have to do things a little differently than a lot of people.

                                        

                                                  Loading up to go to the dairy

Fara's dam, Faith, has served her purpose for me.  I was able to show her for a couple of years, but not with much success.  I learned a lot from her, but the best thing about her is getting Fara out of her.

Faith's first milking

Aaahh, three gallons lighter

I made a deal with a dairy to sell Faith.  She is now a full production milk cow.  The owner of the dairy was kind enough to milk her out for us the afternoon after Fara was born.  We got about three gallons of milk to take home to Fara.





I made a funnel out of an upside-down two liter pop bottle with the bottom cut out.  I used it to fill a bottle for Fara with her own mother's milk.





I hand fed her with Faith's milk and kept her in a separate little calf hutch pen for about a day.

Then I hauled my Brown Swiss bull calf (Pretty Boy Floyd) to the sale to make room on the nurse cow, Ayan, for Farrah.  Pretty Boy, which I bought for $150 and put on the nurse cow for a month or so, brought $300.

When I got home from the sale, I brought Fara into the pen and she ran straight to Ayan and started nursing.  Ayan didn't mind at all.  My friend Christy says that Ayan gets the "Mother of the Year Award".  She is the best nurse cow ever.  Farrah is her sixth "orphan" calf since October.  She just takes on whatever comes into the pen.  So we didn't have to wrangle Ayan to get Fara to nurse.  The only thing we had to do was keep Fara in the right place.  She was so excited to be there that she would spaz out and wriggle to her belly or even clear up to her brisket.  She headed to the brisket looking for milk a lot.  It's funny to watch.  So I swing her butt around and get her headed in the right direction again and she's good to go.

Ayan doesn't have to be caught up to let the calves nurse.  She doesn't even have to be at the feed trough to stand still for them.  Like I said, she's the best.

Fara

 

Fara - not even 24 hours old

Woo Hoo!  It happened!  It finally happened!  One of my heifers calved!  I now officially have my first "Bred and Owned" heifer!  That means that I owned the dam (mother) and I bred her and got a heifer calf out of her.  Some stock shows have a class in which they compete.


I'm bummed because she calved while I wasn't there, but at least everything went okay.  We've checked her all through the night for days.  The last time we checked her was at 4:00 p.m.  She was acting weirder than usual.  Mom had a feeling we should stay through the afternoon, but we had so much to do because we've been gone so much...  We were also worried because she has been wallowing out a little nest in one spot in the pen for days.  We've only seen her out of it once.

Faith - "nesting"

She stands and shifts her weight back and forth on each of her back legs, kind of doing a little dance.  The other thing we see is her lying down in that spot.  At 4:00 her vulva was about six inches away from the fence.  I was afraid that with her being so dead set on that spot and that position that she wouldn't give the calf enough room to come out. Thank goodness she moved.  From the looks of things, she moved out of her nest to calve.  My landlord found baby "Fara" around 10:00.

Fara - a couple hours old and still a little damp

They figure that she was born between 8:00 and 9:00.  Ooooh.  That baby was huge.  She's really tall.  Love her markings!  She has bigger black markings than her mother.  Beautiful!!!

One day old

Thank you, Lord for an easy delivery of this big ol' heifer calf!

St. Christy's Calving Center

I'm about plumb worn out.  My Holstein, Faith, is just about ready to pop.  We've spent several nights checking her every two hours.  The other night we watched Lonesome Dove all the way through AND worked on my 4-H record book.

Here she is in November.

This was just the other day.

She has a LOT of edema (swelling) just like a lot of pregnant ladies get.

I wish she would just hurry up and push out my little heifer!  I can't wait to meet her!  I've seen her wiggling on the ultrasound, and I saw her kicking my heifer's side, but she needs to get out here.  We need to get busy training!

I'm afraid she's going to calve when I'm not there.  This is my first heifer to calve.  I want to get it on film.  I've participated in a live birth before, but this one is special.

By Special Request: HEAT DETECTION FOR BREEDING

I don't want to be confusing, so I looked up an uncomplicated way to say this.  According to the internet, "Heat (estrus) is simply the period of time when a cow or heifer is sexually receptive, and it signals that an egg, ready to be fertilized, is about to be released."



Since breeding is so important in having a successful project or program or business, heat detection is not taken lightly.


I use Estrotect heat detection stickers.  

You place one of these stickers across the spine of the female just above the tail head.  Mine look silver when you stick them on, and when they are rubbed, they reveal hot pink underneath.  The way the sticker gets rubbed is when that female gets mounted.


Since we use artificial insemination and rarely use an on site bull, the mounting comes from other females in the same pasture or pen.  It seems strange, but the other females sense heat and try to mount each other.  (They even show it on the logo of the Estrotect website above.  You can see that both of them have udders.)  If a female is truly in heat, she will not walk (or run) out from under the other one.  She will stand still and allow herself to be mounted by a female.  This is what is known as "standing in heat".  So when she is standing in heat, the contact of the other female as she jumps up on her rump causes the sticker to be rubbed and expose the hot pink.  When we see hot pink, we mark it on the calendar.  This helps us track her heat cycle.  We like to track it for several months leading up to time for breeding.  This helps us know when to arrange a visit from the professional so she can be A.I.ed (artificially inseminated).


Heat occurs every 18 to 24 days in sexually mature, open females.  "Open" means not currently pregnant.


Even though young heifers start showing signs of heat much earlier, we haven't bred any of mine until they were over 14 months old.  Once a cow has calved (given birth) she can be bred again in as few as 45 days.

Breeding is a science, but it is not exact.  Just because you do it by the book doesn't mean your animal is going to get pregnant right off.  This can become expensive.  Each time you A.I. you are paying for semen and you are paying for the A.I. process unless you have earned your own A.I. certification.  Sometimes you have to just send the heifer to visit a bull to get the job done.  This costs money, too.

Many things will keep your animal from conceiving.  She might have cysts in her uterus.  One of mine had a simple infection.  At another time, the weather was just too hot for her body to work properly and conceive.    Those are just a few of the reasons I know of. 


I put two heat detection stickers on yesterday.  I've got a cow that needs bred this month, and a heifer that needs bred next month.  So I'm keeping my eyes peeled for HOT PINK!

Dairy Promotion

Dairy promotion is another of the things I do.  I promote the breeds, and I promote lowfat dairy as a part of a healthy diet.

My booth toward the end of the day.  (This table started out PILED FULL of stuff!)

I am blessed to be supplied by Susan Allen from Dairy Max!  She makes sure I have all sorts of pamphlets, cookbooks, and other hand-outs for my booth where I promote dairy.




Friday, May 4th was the most recent event for me.  It was the Living Healthy Fair.  My friend Betty Thompson was there. (You might know her as Miss Oklahoma and First Runner-Up to Miss America!)   I think it's cool that her  campaign platform was "Milk:  It Really Does a Body Good."

The event started at 8:30 A.M. and lasted until about 2:00.  During that time, approximately 770 people came through and stopped at my booth.  I visited with ages ranging from Pre-K to adult.

Overall, I would say this year's fair was better than the last.  I talked to people about lowfat milk as part of a healthy diet.  I gave away refrigerator magnets reminding people to Fuel Up with lowfat milk and get physical exercise for 60 minutes each day.  I also gave away coloring books and posters and zipper-pulls and buttons and bracelets and pencils and stickers and pens and stress balls and cookbooks and
milk mustaches!  Whew!  What a day!

By Special Request: DAIRY SHOWMANSHIP

Local 2011

Local 2012

As a third-year dairy exhibitor, I've won showmanship at Local the last two years.  I also won Overall 4-H Exhibitor at Local the last two years.
 

OKC 2011

I won showmanship in my age division the last two years at OKC, and  I won Jr. Showmanship this year at Tulsa.

Tulsa 2011

You would think that after all that, I would know exactly what to say about showmanship.  I'm a little unsure, but I'll give it a shot...since this post was another special request from my friends at the Tulsa State Fair office.  = )


DRESS
You can spot a dairy showman a mile away.  Dairy showmen wear white:  white shirt with 4-H or FFA patch and white jeans with black belt and black boots.  I'm not sure why we wear white other than maybe because white clothing is traditionally what milk men wore.  Showmen used to have to wear a black bow tie and a little white paper hat.  I'm glad we don't have to do that now.  I've seen pictures on the internet that at some shows, the showman has to wear a body harness of their own with a number on it.  I've never had to do that either.  Appearance is important.  I was watching a show one day when the judge got on the microphone and told everyone about appearance.  I was embarrassed for the kids in the ring he was teaching the lesson, but they should have known better. 

HALTERS
Dairy cattle wear a leather show halter with a sliding chain under the jaw attached to a leather lead.  The lead comes from the factory measuring about four feet long I'm guessing.



Problem is, you don't want to be that far away from your animal.  You also don't want the lead to drag the ground.  For one thing it is bad on the leather.  (You have to take care of your equipment.) For another thing, you don't want to step on the lead or worse, you don't want your animal to step on the lead or get it wrapped around them and do a somersault and take you down, too.  (Been there.  Done that.  Praise the Lord, neither of us was hurt.)  To fix this, you can do one of two things:  either cut the lead down so that even if it is hanging straight down from the halter, it will not touch the ground, or you can do what I do...I slip the lead through its own hardware ring and fold it in half.  This gives me more bulk on the lead so I can get a better grip if I need to use some muscle, and it does not affect the original condition of the lead.

The normal color of a dairy animal's show halter is black leather, with the exception of Ayrshire and Milking Shorthorn, I believe.  They wear brown leather.  I would like to have those fancy halters that have rhinestones on them, but I've been told that certain important people in my life would be embarrassed if I tried that... along with bedazzling my show pants!

A leather halter is used on the animal during shows and during training/practice.




A rope halter is used at all other times to lead them around, load them, etc.



A leather halter allows for better control of the animal.  It also lets the animal know when it's time to work the ring!  The idea is to work with the animal to a degree that the animal will "set-up" in show position with a gentle touch without the need to use a great deal of muscle on them.  Older cows that have been worked well and shown for a long time will many times just walk into a set-up position and stay on their own.

SHOWING
An animal must learn to set-up and stay in show position for an extended period of time.  The judge has to evaluate all the animals in the ring, and that takes awhile.  Hold her head.

A showman must always keep his/her eye on the judge.  You must also not turn your back on the judge.  You must always know where the judge is at all times.
You also re-set your animal in a slightly different position depending on where the judge is standing.  The showman must also move and stand in different places according to the position of the judge.

When showing a heifer, the exhibitor should position the heifer's front legs straight underneath her, evenly.  The rear legs should always be positioned so that whichever side the judge is seeing, THAT rear leg closest to the judge should be farther back than the other rear leg...but not too stretched out looking.  If the judge walks around to the other side, then you make your animal "switch legs" so the same effect is created.  Heifers don't have a visible, "bloomed" udder for the judge to look at.  If she's nervous, she might arch her back.  Give her back a quick touch to make it relax and be straight again.  Straight backs are a must.

When showing a cow, the exhibitor does just the opposite.  The rear leg closest to the judge should be forward.  This allows the full udder to be viewed.  The judge wants a clear view of all four quarters of the udder, the placement of the teats, their length, and the degree of levelness of the udder floor.  When the judge walks behind a cow, the rear legs should be made even with one another.

I haven't had any experience yet with showing a dry cow, so I'm not sure what the rules are for setting them up.

The dairy showman walks and stands on the left side of the animal.  Depending where the judge is, the showman will walk forward, backward, or sometimes a little sideways always keeping face forward to the judge.  When the animal is set-up and the judge comes near you, you step away a little farther to the left side of the animal so the judge can see from nose to tail and down both sides.

EXTRAS
The judge will also ask questions.  He/she will want to know the animal's birth date.  The judge may ask you the sire's name (the animal's father) and the full registered name of your animal.  You may be asked any number of trivia questions about dairy:  anatomy, processes, anything.

Some judges make you switch animals with another showman toward the end of the competition.  He/she wants to see how you handle an unfamiliar animal.  I've always wondered if it looks good on the showman if their animal is easily lead by a stranger.  You know, like they have trained it very well.  I'm thinking it has to look bad if a stranger can show your animal BETTER than you can.  Maybe I can ask a judge that one day.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
You can work your animal very well throughout the year, but you don't know how it will behave in the ring until you get there.  Many animals don't like to be with a new mix of animals.  Some don't like it when another exhibitor pulls their animal too close behind them in the circle.  Some don't like strangers.  My Ayrshire never has cause to kick until we get to a show.  Several shows in a row, she somehow managed to kick me right before we went into the ring.  Last year, she kicked my FINGER just three minutes before we walked into the ring at County.  It was my halter hand.  It was like it was on fire.  Yes, I cried, but I sucked it up and did my job.  Since she's an Ayrshire, we were the ones to actually start the show.  No time to recuperate.  Another time she kicked the dairy superintendent in the leg as he walked past her entering the ring at OKC.  She's multi-talented.  She can kick forward, backward, and to the side.  She never has that problem except at shows.  Lucky me (sarcasm).  Other animals can be the same way, so you should always leave one animal length between your animal's nose and the rear end of the animal in front of her.  You can't control the person behind you, but you can control the space in front of you.  Animals sometimes get squirrely when the judge has you line them up side by side.  You also never know which animals might end up being in heat during a show.  They will try to mount each other.  One of my friends (age 10)  was standing next to me when her yearling tried to mount her three or four different times in the ring!  Yes, you read it right.  Her own animal tried to mount her.  She got pretty beat up.  Each time it landed, her animal slammed into mine (Posey) and it just about knocked both Posey and me over the fence onto the ribbon table.  People went scattering.  You have to be super aware of EVERYTHING going on around you:  your animal AND every other living thing in the ring.


From the time you enter the show ring until the time you are dismissed from it, you are constantly working.  You don't just set-up your animal and stand there; you're not done. 

You should have worked with her enough that the two of you have a relationship by now.  You are the boss, but you are gentle, and she does what she's "told".

I should probably stop here.  I have super-secret training techniques and showing strategies that I'm afraid I would reveal to the world if I keep going.  I have to keep my competitive edge, you know!

The one thing I just can't ever seem to remember when I'm in the moment is to shake hands with the judge when I leave.  I'm so mentally worn out, I can never remember to do that consistently!  Maybe this coming show season I can add that to my list of things I do in the ring.

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.

Don't laugh. Parades are hard work.

2011 - 89'er Parade

Before...it's just a little cool.  I've got a light wrap in case I get too cold.  I'm crisp and shiny and ready to throw some candy!

and After...the gloves are gone, the hair is windblown, my crown is crooked, I'm sunburned, it is 250 degrees Fahrenheit under the floor length ball gown...
WATER!  Someone give me some WATER!

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!!!

Countdown to CALVING!

The first calf to be born to one of my heifers is due on June 2nd.  Recently, one of my friends was surprised by her calf being born two weeks early (which is a normal, healthy thing, just like for humans).

I don't want to miss this event if I can help it.  So I'm plotting on the calendar, and I'm going to start looking for signs EARLY!!!

She looks BIG.  I can't imagine what she'll look like when her time comes!

Stay tuned.  I'm not afraid of all the blood and slime.  I'll be sure to give all the gory details!  Shoot, I'll probably post the VIDEO!

If you're the praying kind (and I hope you are) please pray that everything goes right and that my Holstein has a perfect, healthy, thriving heifer calf!

I FINALLY have a SPORT!!!

Because I live about half an hour from my school, and because of all the other stuff I do, I've never been able to be in sports.

I'm an active kid.  I've been in dance for the past ten years:  ballet and tap, and now I'm on POINTE!  For several years I did Irish dance.  I had to quit because the state competition was always in the middle of the OKC Fair's Dairy Show.

No basketball.  No softball, but all that has changed now!  I have TRACK!!!

I look kind of funny doing my chores after a meet.  I'm still in my team jersey while I run water and throw feed, but I don't care.  I'm in a SPORT!!!

I'm a geek...and I have the t-shirt to prove it!

I advanced to the TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS in Language Arts a couple of weeks ago.  I placed 15th in the state.  I'm good with that!

The Lord gives, and sometimes He takes away.

When you deal with livestock, you can't help but learn about the "birds and the bees", because if you don't get animals bred, then you can't make any advancements in herd size or profit or anything.

It's hard to say which is more exciting:  winning a purple ribbon or having a new calf born.  That's a tough one.

It's spring again and that is the ideal time for calving.  If you've got a March heifer, you can get more showing time out of her in the heifer classes before she is bred, has a calf of her own (hopefully a heifer) and has to move up into a cow class.

As exciting as calving is, it is also nerve-wracking.  What if it comes early?  What if the calf gets stuck and has to be pulled, and no one is there to help it?  The list of "what if"s goes on and on.

My friend's Guernsey aborted a fetus last year.  It was only about the size of a cat and it was missing part of its leg.  It just never developed those bones.

She bred her again and this time had to have a c-section.  It was a bull.  She decided to bottle feed it for awhile.  It died within the week.

Another friend had a Milking Shorthorn calve last night.  It was full term and perfectly formed, but in miniature.  It was too weak to stand or hold its head up.  They fed it and stayed up with it all night, but it just wasn't right, and it died.

The death of an animal can make you feel like a failure.  It can make you feel ashamed, like you did something wrong.  It isn't anyone's fault.  This thing happens in nature all the time.  I also lost my first heifer at six months due to digestive malformation.

The other kick in the pants is all the time and money invested in the lost animal.  You buy semen.  You pay for someone to artificially inseminate (A.I.) your animal.  You pay to have it fetal sexed.  You watch over it and care for it.  You fret through the weeks before calving.  You lose hours of sleep checking on her...and to wind up with nothing for your efforts...it's a very defeating feeling.

My family has been praying for months about my heifers and their calves-to-be.  We know how terribly wrong things can go.  We just pray that God protects them all and makes them perfect and healthy and strong.  I do what I'm supposed to, but the rest is in God's hands.

BIG THANKS to sponsors!

The donations of sponsors make it possible for exhibitors to win money and prizes at many shows.

For Local, I sent out twenty-two thank you letters.   For the county show/premium sale, I sent out twenty-six thank you letters.  I didn't have to send out that many, but there were some people that I wanted to thank for their donations of hay and straw for the whole group.  Every thing that every person does for the show teams is important.  We should ALL show our appreciation.

I don't actually send thank you cards.  I send thank you LETTERS.  I include a collage of photos of the work and the awards from the year.  I also write at least a one page (usually two page) letter telling who I am and what I do and thanking the donor for their money or trophy or prize donation.  I want them to know how much their sacrifice means to me.  Money is tight for everyone.  I want them to know that what they do is appreciated.  It's the least I can do in return for all that they give me.