Cattle.com

Blog Archive December 2013

The Three Biggest Show Cattle Events of 2013

I commonly forget to do it but I like to look at each year and see what the big changes were.  In show cattle online, frankly, not much has changed.  There have been a few changes, sure…

The anonymous Twitter accounts have matured to the point that some of them are sustainable.

If you don’t already own the cows, getting into raising show cattle is probably less feasible now than at any point in history.

Maxanet online sales are now the norm.

By and large though, it was a rather uneventful year as far as big changes to the way things are done online related to show cattle.  But the three big events of 2013, from my perspective, were…

#3 – Not Just Normal Complaining About Judges

Yes, Fort Worth again.  I wasn’t the source of it, my article just put it into words that that weren’t on Facebook and didn’t include “I’m never even setting foot in the city of Ft Worth again”.

I said it last spring that the long term impact of that show is a shock to the system that has resulted in judges going out of their way to make sure they are seen as deliberate, patient, and thorough in their evaluation of cattle.

And that’s a very good thing for everyone involved.

That doesn’t even begin to touch the fact that an article in the New Mexico Stockman became the most read article related to show cattle in just under twenty years.

#2 – Fluffy Cows

I’m not sure how many people realize just how large a group of the general public paid attention to show cattle, or even ‘real’ cattle for the first time, even if for just a few moments.  

…and that’s not a bad thing.

I said it before and I’ll say it again, they don’t care where their beef comes from as long as you raise it humanely.  They’re never going to sit and listen to you agvocate about the cuts of beef, the challenges facing the beef industry, or how hard you work with your cattle.

They just don’t care.

It's not because it's ag, it's because nobody cares about anything that doesn't directly impact them every day and your cattle don't impact them any more than the french fries and ketchup they eat alongside them.

But for a moment this summer, a moment just as brief as they care about everything else, they were paying attention.

#1 Temple Makes Soundness Less Important

This is a bit of bias on my part.  Being from Texas, prefering soundness and look cattle, ..............................and having a press release put out that indirectly accused me of hacking into some scumbag PR hack's computer because she didn't know how Facebook works...sort of makes the impact here a bit larger.

To be clear, Tyson wanted an excuse to get rid of zipaterol because the Europeans and Asians have a phobia of anything related to agricultural science and won’t accept it in imports.  When Temple Grandin gave her little speech about a load of cattle she saw that were lame, that just gave them the excuse to move forward with something they wanted to do any way.  Secondly, show cattle are less than a drop in the bucket in comparison to how widely the stuff is used in legitimate feedlots.

You haired guys may wonder why Texans have freaked out so much over losing it (technically, we haven't lost it) but removing zilpaterol from the feeding tool box of honest feeders is a gigantic middle finger to anybody showing slick calves on the up and up.

Genetically sound cattle aren't quite as important as they were before and the temptation for the dirt bags to pull out their air compressors is now higher.

Add in the fact that only the jocks know where to get it now and the cost has gone through the roof.

Congratulations Temple, you made the world a better place.

Just keep your hands off of our ractopamine.


2013 Apex Cattle Cow Power Sale - Today

 

Lot 1 - Abbey R15A 
Monopoly x Mossy Oak (G47P Donor)
Video

Lot 2 - Adele R60A 
Monopoly x Hannibal (801R Donor)
Video
Early Bidder Discounts - View Complete Listing Here  
Lot 5 - Alecia 635A
BIM x Who Made Who (FH186K Donor)
Video
Lot 39 - Stella LW479Z - Bred Heifer
 Hoover Dam x Gold Key
Video
Lot 3 - Audrey MT400A
BIM x Who Made Who (FH186K Donor)
Video
Lot 38 - Ember LN137Z - Bred Heifer
Monopoly x Jeepers Creepers
Video


Top Web Sale Lots Week of 12/23/2013

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $9,000 - Heifer sired by Irish Whiskey
  2. $7,500 - Heifer sired by Walks Alone
  3. $7,000 - Bull sired by Hired Man
  4. $6,800 - Bred Heifer sired by Wide Open
  5. $6,500 - Bull sired by Immortal
  6. $6,250 - Bull sired by Mr NLC Upgrade U8676
  7. $6,250 - Heifer sired by Bodacious
  8. $6,250 - Heifer sired by I-80
  9. $6,250 - Heifer sired by Ali
  10. $5,750 - Bull sired by Monopoly


Well Poop

Sorry about the lack of thumbnails on the right hand side.


It makes this new layout look terrible and missed one of the most important additions.  I didn't have the server setup properly.

It should be fixed now.

I thought it looked great because our firewall is setup to let me access anything from the devices I use to access it.

Did you know just how much of an amateurish hack I actually am?


Top Web Sale Lots Week of 12/16/2013

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $85,000 - Heifer sired by Irish Whiskey
  2. $70,000 - Heifer sired by LCX He's A Truck 104 ET
  3. $65,000 - Bred Cow sired by Irish Whiskey
  4. $52,000 - Bred Cow sired by Irish Whiskey
  5. $50,000 - Heifer sired by Irish Whiskey
  6. $43,000 - Heifer sired by CRR About Time 743
  7. $42,000 - Bred Cow sired by Irish Whiskey
  8. $40,000 - Bred Cow sired by Irish Whiskey
  9. $40,000 - Bred Cow sired by OCC Emblazon 854E
  10. $37,000 - Bred Heifer sired by Free Whiskey


We Won't be Doing Bull Videos This Year

I’ve never gone and shot video in Herd Bull Alley without the permission of both the National Western, the owners of the bulls, and ShowChampions (the past two years).  Forgetting any legal requirements, it would be both rude and disrespectful to do that without permission from everyone involved.

Unfortunately, after several attempts to get permission from the National Western to shoot this year, we haven’t been able to get a firm yes or no so I’m pulling the plug.
With that in mind, I haven’t been able to get a definitive yes or no from the management of the National Western this year.  With Denver actually coming up in less than a month, we’re going to go ahead and call it a wrap on the Denver videos.

I’d like to thank everyone that allowed us to shoot videos of their bulls over the past few years.  It’s been a blast starting with that insanely cold year when I pulled the hand held out of my pocket until this past year when I didn’t do much other than show up and waste people’s time because Wade was on top of things.

There are numerous shows with more cattle or significantly more modern facilities but nothing compares to the history that just oozes from every old board of the National Western yards.

Allan Browarny with ShowChampions has granted us permission to do these videos the past two years even though they had no reason to do so.

Wade Fisher with Ideal Video Productions has done a TON of work on the videos these past few years in what I know more than most is a thankless job.

I realize how much time and money you guys as bull owners put into getting your bulls there.  Thank you for letting us shoot video of them.

I’ll still try to make it to Denver just to see the sights and I will post any video of any bull you guys take here on the blog free of charge.


Helping You Understand Women

Men....

Think about how hard you have to work to get a calf ready for show from start to finish by yourself.  I mean from the beginning, starting with the weeks you spend driving around looking for a calf.

The amount of money you have to spend just to get him on your trailer once you find the right one.

The amount of time your kids spend washing, blowing, and grooming that calf all year long.

The amount of money you put into feed and supplements.

The amount of skill and time it takes you to get that calf fit for show all by yourself with the assistance of only your kids.

…and then a ringer that was fit by professionals and fed at the jock’s pen walks in the ring with your kid and absolutely blows your work out of the water.

That’s what your wives feel every time one of those ten thousand Victoria’s Secret ads come on.


A Summary of Checking Newborns in Brush

My calf is about ten yards behind me.



Go ahead.

Skin it.

Skin that ear tagger and see what happens.


OB Chain Knots

Have you ever had this happen?


I’m not sure how it does or how it gets tightened in there.  Perhaps it’s a super villain version of the gnomes that tangle Christmas lights up.  Regardless, it happens and you have to get the knot for numerous reasons not the least of which is it collects dirt like you wouldn’t believe.

How do you do it?

We’ve tried numerous methods and there’s only one that’s been proven to work…

Step 1 – Open an internet browser.  It can be FF, Chrome, or IE – it doesn’t really matter.

Step 2 – Go HERE.

Step 3 – Order a new freaking OB chain.


Top Web Sale Lots Week of 12/9/2013

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $16,500 - Heifer sired by Gambles Hot Rod
  2. $10,000 - Heifer sired by SULL Right Direction
  3. $8,751 - Heifer sired by Irish Whiskey
  4. $8,250 - Heifer sired by Sull Red Reward
  5. $8,000 - Heifer sired by Sull Red Blood
  6. $7,750 - Heifer sired by Barstow Cash
  7. $7,750 - Heifer sired by SULL Right Direction
  8. $7,250 - Heifer sired by EXAR Lutton 1831
  9. $7,250 - Heifer sired by SULL Right Direction
  10. $7,000 - Steer sired by Believe in Me


Best of the Barns Voting

The Best of the Barns voting ends this weekend.

I’ve always wanted to launch a week long smear campaign against the other blogs the week of the voting but haven’t because I’m scared of the consequences.

I'm scheduled to lose my customary two categories this year...

Best Cattle Blogger Commercial


[Pretty Voice] Vote for Jeff Schroeder of Cattle.com for best cattle blogger.[/pretty voice]

[Gob from Arrested Development voice]

He’ll never blog about turquoise.

He doesn’t even own a bull to post offspring pictures for.

That other site is about some lady remodeling her house.

[/Gob]


Best Club Calf Website

That site is still online?

Hey, he was nominated with me in the other one, why do I have to compete with him in both of my categories?

Oh yay, let’s go see how Knabe managed to make another completely non-political post into more libertarian rambling.

Not sure how all of that would go over.

Actually I do….and I’d have to try to make a career as an anonymous Twitter account.

Ooh, there's even a category for that.  How do they award the trophies? Doxing those accounts is tantamount to assassinating them.  Trust me, I did it by accident one time.

Regardless, go vote for somebody else at...



What ever happened to that Susan Stern stuff?

Nothing.

Once I realized she’s just deranged enough to make up false accusations and put out press releases with them I put my hands up, slowly backed out of the room, and ran for the exit.

You know me, I’ll start an argument with a wall if I’m bored and it’s the slightest bit misleading regarding what kind of wall it is.  However, there rules to life and one of the important ones is...

You just don’t mess with crazy women that are willing to make false accusations.

It's not like I was going to get her to defend her blatant lies.  She never did anything but hang up the phone as soon as she knew it was me calling.

The net effect of them slandering hard working 4-H kids?

They got a whopping 53 of the 100 electronic signatures they were hoping for.  I guess that’s a success for them?

It doesn’t matter, Temple Grandin’s little speech that sent shockwaves through the beef packer world did more to put an end to beta agonists than anything two grumpy old men with sticks up their butts could pay some Nebraska PR hack to do.

To be clear, beta agonists are not illegal, that has not changed even now that the commodity board won’t accept cattle fed them for delivery.  They are still FDA approved.  If the Texas major shows are planning on changing their stance on them, they better get on it.

The only effect so far is that a freezer with as many containers of Zilmax (or derivate thereof) as you could get during the great Zilmax rush of 2013 is a prerequisite for even thinking you’re a good feeder for slick shows.

Unfortunately, some day it will run out.

I just REALLY REALLY REALLY wish Temple knew how many slick steers are going to end up being blatantly abused by air pumping scum bags due to her little speech.


Cattle Breed Coloring Pages - Angus

About two months ago, quite a while before the little son of a gun called me fat, Luke got on an animal coloring page kick.  One day, when we were the only two here at the house, I was on the computer working and he kept coming to me for “three more animals” over and over.  When I finally went in the other room he had a zoo built on a bulletin board.

You can put “[any animal in the world] coloring pages” into Google and get tons of results for everything from generic elephants to spotted skunks.

But you can’t put a random cattle breed in and find coloring pages and that makes is hard for those of us who have a strong desire to brainwash channel our children’s energy in a direction that warms daddy’s heart.

Until now…


That’s the first of what will be at least a dozen different breed specific coloring pages.  I’ll post them here and setup a specific page you can download them from.

Whether that makes your eyes roll in apathy or light up with a tad bit of joy is 100% dependent upon how many children under the age of 6 you are responsible for.

No charge for them.

Just please leave our logo on it.

Some woman in Argentina is being terribly underpaid to do those so please don’t be a jerk and claim them as your own. 

2

Sometimes we are mean to our cows.

You probably saw this on Facebook at some point yesterday but if you didn't, here's an excellent blog post from a dairy person...




You have to get a cow on her feet if she is going to live. Time is of the essence. She absolutely has to get up.

When we have a down cow the first thing we do is ask her to get up like Hubs did in the video. If she doesn’t try to get up with that we know we have to try harder. As evident by their lack of talons, fangs and upper teeth, a cow is a prey animal. Prey animals operate on the fight or flight mentality, preferring flight whenever possible. A cow doesn’t want to fight with the scary thing, a cow wants to get away from the scary thing. In order to get away from the scary thing a cow has to get up!


I'm Finally Using CattleMax

Until recently, our records are sloppy at best.  At one time I took a shot at writing my own cattle management software and I did, it just wasn’t very good.  I would have used something like Cattlemax but they hadn’t launched their online version until late 2011.

I’ve finally taken the step and moved to Cattlemax for our record keeping.

Getting Started

Some background on why the guy that’s made a living off of computers for the past ten years never kept good cattle records on one…

About 10% of our cows go by names (Socks, GP, Kotzuer cow, etc.) and if we bought a cow within the past few years she still goes by her sale ear tag number.  Some cows I’m more like to be able to recognize them by their face than their poorly applied hip brand.  Those cows are all 2006 models and the ones with the worst hip brands are the lower quality ones because I ordered them by quality and the alcohol/dry ice was petering out by the time we got to them.

About half of our cows have no known birthdate.  I mentioned a few weeks ago that we got rid of some 18 year old cows.  Between that age and close to eight years old, I honestly haven’t the slightest clue how old many of the cows are.

Breeds?  We’ve got cattle that are registered Simmental, SimAngus, Angus, Brangus, Brahman, Maine Anjou, Chianina, and Red Angus.

Birthweights?  Yeah, if it's a purebred, maybe.  Sometimes, when a cow has a calf in the brush, we don't even have any idea what SEX the calf is for a week.

I needed something pretty flexible that allowed me to put in detailed records on some cows and nothing more than a number on others.

Cattlemax handles all of it.

The thing that got me to actually start using it though was the bulk entry.  That first step in the process of putting all of the cows into the system always seemed way too daunting a task for a 120 head commercial crossbred herd.  With Cattlemax I was able to enter each cow ID on one line, hit submit, and then go back and enter whatever information I could find over time.  There was no requirement to enter full details on each animal before moving on.  It’s a small thing but frankly, I wouldn’t be using it right now if that weren’t the case.

Usability

Terrell puts on regular online classes to teach people how to use Cattlemax.  I can understand why many ranchers might need to watch one of those classes just because they’re unfamiliar with computers but if you are reading this blog the system is already intuitive enough for you to jump right in.  I haven’t referred to a help section once.

It keeps track of show results for cattle you still own and cattle you’ve sold very easily.

ET work, from flushing a cow to calving out recips is a breeze.

It works with EPDs from just about any breed you can think of and interfaces with most of the breed association systems I checked.

There are numerous ways to setup breeding plans for cows from putting them into groups or adding notes to explicitly setting a desired breeding.

Moving cattle in bulk is simple.

The mobile side of it is extremely helpful.  I can give my brother the login credentials and he can check our information from out in the field just like I can.  There aren’t any apps to download (yes iPhone people, your phone has a browser too) so you don’t have to worry about what type of phone you’re on.  The mobile web interface gives you access to everything you need.

I’m not good at reviews, never have been.  The fact that there’s not much to really critique is about as solid a compliment as I can give.

The long and short of it is that I’ve held back on using herd management software at all for a very long time and now I can’t imagine going back.

1

Top Web Sale Lots Week of 12/2/2013

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $29,000 - Heifer sired by BBBN X3
  2. $28,001 - Heifer sired by PVF Windfall SCC 9005
  3. $27,000 - Heifer sired by PVF Insight 0129
  4. $24,500 - Heifer sired by Monopoly
  5. $20,000 - Heifer sired by Dameron First Class
  6. $19,000 - Heifer sired by I-80
  7. $16,501 - Heifer sired by Bleeding Purple
  8. $16,000 - Heifer sired by Naughty Pine
  9. $15,500 - Heifer sired by EXG RS First Rate S903 R3
  10. $15,250 - Heifer sired by PVF Windfall SCC 9005


Going to Herd Bull Alley as a Spectator

We’re still working on the logistics of whether we’ll be able to go to Denver or not next January.

But what if you want to go and you’ve never been?  Assuming nothing has changed…

Dates

January 17th-19th.

What days are the bulls out?

Thursday a few (very few) of the bulls will be up without being fit, partly just to get everything right before Friday.

Friday all of them will be on display.  Between Friday and Saturday, Friday is the less crowded of the two days but there’s no shortage of people.

Saturday is the crowded day.

Sunday is pretty calm.  Just about everyone is tired/hung-over and it shows.  The bull owners are required to have their bulls out on Sunday and they make sure to have them out so they don’t lose their spot in the stall assignment pecking order.  Few, if any, of the bulls are fit on Sunday and the majority of them will only be out long enough to meet their obligation to have them out.

What time are the bulls out?

They’re not out at the official ‘start time’ of herd bull alley, they tend to come out 1-2 hours after that.  The owners like to get them out for the peak of the crowds for obvious reasons.

As far as how long, it depends almost entirely upon how cold it is.  If it’s in the 30-60 range, they’ll be out for “long” periods of time, 3-4 hours each between breaks.

If the temperature gets much higher than 50, they’ll be managed more closely and taken down shortly after they start panting.

What?  You want clubby bulls with 4 inches of hair and you only like them if they’re fat.  You’re the one with the problem if you don’t realize that has an impact on how long a bull can stand out in the heat.

If it gets too sloppy, the bulls won’t be out long either.

The long and short of it is make sure you give yourself plenty of time to walk back and forth through the area.


Looking for Meyer and Irish Whiskey Semen

If you or somebody you know of has 50 units each of Meyer 734 or Irish Whiskey, I got a message from somebody looking to buy.


New Layout

I haven't figured out a table format yet but as you can tell...I've updated the layout.


I know you hate it.

Everyone hates new layouts.

On every site.

You'll get used to it, I promise.


Somewhere out there yesterday...



Daddy is Fat

Over the Thanksgiving holiday my five year old out of the blue said “Daddy is fat”.

Yup.

You know what, I’m glad his mini died, wouldn't have wanted that thing to get too fat and have its heart broken like that.

But then two days later I’m walking through Target and see Jim Gaffigan’s book “Dad is Fat” and realized he wasn’t saying I’m fat (technically, I’m about half a BMI point away from being obese) he was making a book suggestion.

It’s a funny book but this one paragraph really hit me regarding this site.  Jim is commonly accused of being anti-family because of some of his jokes and Tweets regarding parenthood and raising children... 


Anti-family? This could not be further from the truth.  I love being a parent and enjoy finding the humor in parenting.  If you complain about how you spend your Saturdays taking your kid to birthday parties, that means you are taking your kid to birthday parties.  If you complain about how hard it is to get your kid to read, it means you are trying to get your kid to read.  If you are complaining about your kid not helping around the house, that means you have a fat, lazy, kid.  You joke about it.  That’s how you deal.  If parents don’t like being a parent, they don’t talk about being a parent.  They are absent.  And probably out having a great time somewhere.  I have done extensive research and, almost universally, found that the people who view my blurbs and observations as “anti-family” are dicks.  Failing and laughing at your own shortcomings are the hallmarks of a sane parent.


Long story short, I’m going the long way around to call you guys that can’t take jokes about the preposterousness of show cattle names.

The book is hilarious and available everywhere.

Including Target.


Auburn Alpha Gamma Rho

…is supposed to have a steer show on Saturday.  I wonder if they’re going to change their plans now that they’re in the SEC Championship Game.

That’s quite a conundrum.

I’m sure a Bama fan can step in and help them come up with a solution.


...it should only take a second.


Top Web Sale Lots Week of 11/25/2013

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $50,500 - Heifer sired by Lutton
  2. $37,500 - Heifer sired by TR Mr Firewater
  3. $35,300 - Heifer sired by Duff New Edition
  4. $29,500 - Heifer sired by ZKCC Chopper
  5. $28,000 - Heifer sired by Steel Force
  6. $26,000 - Heifer sired by BHR Durango 1158
  7. $20,000 - Heifer sired by WEBR TC Card Shark 1015
  8. $20,000 - Heifer sired by WEBR TC Card Shark 1015
  9. $16,500 - Heifer sired by Yardley High Regard
  10. $16,000 - Heifer sired by MESSMER Packer S008


Past Posts