It's over

...and I am SO GLAD!!!



State Fair is a fun time, but also incredibly hectic. Add to the mix, we had sold a steer calf to a girl in Medina County, and their steer show was Wednesday night.



So Todd loaded up the pig Tuesday night, got home about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, and I headed out with the kids and an incredibly packed full Durango to meet the camper rental dude by 8:15 a.m.



And then I had to feed said pig several times on Wednesday, and deal with weighing him in at the fair late Wednesday afternoon.



Todd did come down to the State Fair early Thursday a.m. where I was very happy to let him take over the feeding of "Tyler Jr." can you tell which kid named the pig??? Lol....

We started off showing Showmanship on Friday:

the "bling bling girls". What you don't see in this picture is their bling belts, which did sparkle quite a bit in the ring!

Waiting in the holding pen to enter the ring for showmanship. Not sure where she gets the intensity from...

Total seriousness....

Staring the judge down....the idea in showmanship is to keep your eye on the judge or on your pig...she has mastered that part very well.

Not sure where the chewing on her toungue came from....must be all the concentration!

She ended up 5th out of 23 kids in the 11 year old class. Which she was THRILLED with.

Then she had to show market on saturday where she didn't do so hot - 12th place. But....she had fun and enjoyed herself.

On Sunday was the Open Barrow Show. And we let Tyler show "Tyler Jr." in that class. He is going to be quite the showman I think when he is actually old enough to be in 4-h and have market animal projects.

He had fun...didn't place (they only place the top 5 in the Open class and there were 16 pigs in his class)....but he enjoyed it.

And Tyler Jr. was getting tired after 3 days of showing....so he wanted to get the heck out of that ring!

The market pigs are all terminal, so Tyler and Jessie had to say goodbye to him on Sunday afternoon. It was not easy for them but....as they both said, they have other animals at home that now they can devote their time to working with them!

And we get a break next year from showing at the State Fair!!!! It's an expensive week (when you include the cost of the pig and feeding said pig, plus your entry fees, camper rental, parking fees and gate entry fees not to mention your food and drinks), and Jessie and Tyler both said they would rather go to the Medina County Fair and show their heifers and steers in the Open Show.....so I think we are going to do that next year instead of the State Fair.

I'm sure we will go back to showing at the State Fair, but both of the kids want to wait until Tyler is actually in 4-H, and then take either their steers or their feeder calves to the State Fair. Which is a major bummer only from the standpoint that everything you haul down there (including the animals) you have to haul home at the end of the week. We shall see....

All in all? The trip was a success and we got home Sunday night in time to wash and dry her steer, wean all 7 calves, and the kids are busy halter breaking them - which they are doing a fantastic job with so far!

Summer......

It's been a busy summer here so far this year.....I don't see it changing, and I think I've finally got my rhythm and I'm cool with how hectic it seems at times:)








Tyler marched in the Memorial Day parade with his boy scout troop:








Jessie has spent countless hours bonding and working with Tank:

I'm not sure how she will deal with selling him in September, but....we'll cross that bridge in September I guess....

And she spends almost every evening walking her State Fair pigs.

This one ("Chasin") will more than likely not make it to State Fair....he is a little large right now....but he will taste good in our freezer!

And if your pig won't walk at first.....you simply get behind him and PUSH!

The first night was rather interesting, but "Tyler Jr." is learning the ropes and starting to walk pretty well for the kids.

We've since graduated to both kids out in the yard with both pigs. I haven't had a chance to take a picture of both of them out there together, but hopefully one of these nights. It's pretty comical, which is keeping things light around here.....

I do have some knitting and quilting projects finished up - hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days with some photos (if I can convince my photographer to take some decent shots!)

Have a good one!
Kris

Ashtabula County Classic

We got up Saturday morning at the unheard of hour of 5:30 a.m. so Jason and I could take Jessie, Tyler and 3 calves to a show in Ashtabula, OH. Todd couldn't get out of work (spring busy season) or he would have been getting up with us before the crack of dawn as well...

But....it was well worth it!

Jessie showed Fancy first, and won her class.

Then Tyler showed Fabulous and got 2nd in his class.

Both kids had to go back into the ring for Grand and Reserve Champion heifer overall. And Jessie ended up Reserve Champion, while the calf that won Tyler's class ended up Grand Champion.

Then Jessie took Tank into his steer class and got 3rd place. This steer is a riot. Most steers and heifers will quit eating while they are at shows....not this guy! Jessie and Tank are starting to work together really, really well. And he has enough personality to make this fun. So our plan to work some of the weight off of him by showing him is backfiring - in a major way. But we are going to plan b this week - he is getting turned out to pasture for a month to just be a calf. He will loose all the hair that we've worked so hard to grow all winter long, but......he just weighs entirely too much. And this picture? I saw a father with this jacket on, and am thinking Todd needs it for Christmas next year.....

We rolled into home about 6:00 Saturday and crashed about 8:30. There are 2 more shows we can go to, but we are on the fence about them.......although we will have to make up our minds shortly who is going to go.

Spring Spectacular Steer Show

Last weekend we went to a steer show. It was in Wooster, which is about 20 min. away, which might explain why we went a little nuts and took 4 calves of ours, and dragged along 3 other kids with 4 calves between the 3 of them. It's also a sentimental show for us - this is the first steer show that Jessie ever showed in, 2 years ago.

We started off showing with Tyler and Fabulous. Tyler got 2nd in his heifer class!

Then Jessie showed Fancy. And won her heifer class.

Both kids had to go back in for the heifer championship drive, where Jessie and Fancy got Reserve Champion Heifer (talk about knocking me over with a feather).

Then our friends' daughter, V, took Huey in to a steer class. Where she got 4th. Oringially Tyler was going to show Huey, but our friends had a mishap on the way into the fairgrounds and V ended up with no calf to show.

Then Jessie took Tank into the open show and got 1st place:

Jessie had to go back in for the Steer Championship Drive, where she didn't place. And then all the Wayne County steers turned around and went back in for the Wayne County Steer class, and Jessie got 2nd in the Wayne County class.

It was a crazy day, but a lot of fun.

It is so nice to see to Jessie and Tyler grow and improve every time they show. This past weekend we went to Ashtabula, OH for a show. The kids are enjoying this and both keep saying they want to go again (and again, and again). Me? I'm looking for a little time off now......I have flowerbeds and a garden calling my name!

Beef Expo......

This past weekend, we were in Columbus for the Ohio Beef Expo....and I am beat.

We left Friday about noon, and it was non-stop work until we got home Sunday night about 7:30. Well, the kids and I got home about that time...Todd and Jason got home about 8:30 with the calves. My lead foot must have come in handy coming up I71. That and cruise control:)

But both kids had a blast showing their animals....and did very well in the process!

Jessie showed Tank in showmanship on Saturday. We are now calling him the antsy pantsy steer. He's not bad....but he wants to know EVERYTHING that is going on around him. So she didn't place because he wasn't walking like he should.



Sunday was when the fun began...at 6:30 in the morning washing a calf. Jason brought a registered Angus heifer in the sale on Saturday, and Jessie showed her bright and early Sunday morning. She did well - 6th out of 12. Considering the fact that "Fancy" had never been shown before, it was a good experience. And when you are up against the best of the best (the class winner was recently purchased for $50,000), I'll take being in the middle of the pack any day of the week.


There is now talk about her going to some big Angus shows with this heifer....including State Fair and Louisville, KY this fall.



Then she had to show Antsy Pantsy again, and got 6th out of 13. He was better - still not good, but she handled him very well.


She is realizing just what the level of competition is down here, and is perfectly happy with how she placed.




And then it was Tyler's turn. The little turkey. He's been on the fence about showing. He likes it, but he is super competitive and it hasn't clicked in his little mind that being in the middle at this level of showing is very good.

But he showed Fabulous and got 2nd in his class out of 12, and then had to go back in for the championship drive for Crossbred heifer. Where he didn't have a chance up against some of these heifers that show at the National level but hey......

He will take 2nd and the money that he won with it:)

It was 3:30 by the time we got done showing, and at 4 as we were cleaning Fabulous up, Todd was going to get the truck and trailer. He had to wait in line until 6:00 but he finally made it up to the barn, we tossed everything in the trailer and headed for home.

And the kids? They are ready to go to a show in Wabash Indiana this weekend, but I think I need a weekend to recuperate.....

Tank....

.....is a growing boy obviously!





We went to weigh in's for the county fair January 15th....and had a mild panic attack when we realized he weighs 838 lbs. We think about it, regroup and move everyone around into new pens, kicked some outside, and figured out what we were doing. We had 8 months to county fair at that point, and obviously, Tank needed to go on a diet while Huey and the other calf needed to be pushed, seeing as they only weighed 600 lbs.




So a heifer came in to stay with Tank (to keep him company) and we sort of coasted along the last month and a half.




Beef Expo is coming up, and we thought that just for kicks we would weigh Tank last Sunday.....





....and the sucker weighs 1019 lbs. Seems he is such a feed hog - he pushes everyone out of the way and eats all the feed. We thought Smokie (the heifer we put in with him) would be more aggressive, but apparently not. So her butt got kicked outside with the rest of the heifers, and Tank is now flying solo in the barn. He wasn't very happy about it the first night, and there were even some tears on Jessie's part thinking he was lonely...but taht sucker is enjoying it now.





The new game plan? Monitor his feed intake, switch feeds and show the daylights out of him. Hopefully by showing him 6 or 7 times between next weekend and the end of May, it will slow him down a little bit. I'm not counting on it cause nothing fazes this calf but....we can always hope:)





So now I've had to buy all new feed (we didn't need shredded beet pulp for Punx, who had to put on weight, not hold him) and Tank is not a happy camper:) And I'm learning all over what feeds you feed to put on weight, and what feeds you feed to hold and fill him up! While Tank does not like shredded beet pulp in the least little bit, it has no nutritional value and will only fill him up - not put any "real" weight on him......



It's only March and it's getting interesting here with all the feed......

Creating a Monster!

After what seems like months and years of sub zero weather, weather in the teens and lots of snow, ice, sleet and general uck.....

it warmed up to 48 degrees yesterday. Which really felt like a heat wave.

Tyler has been at Jason's elbow every time he clips on these calves. Wanting to learn how to clip...wanting to know why Jason clips them the way he does.

And Sunday was the day we put a set of clippers in his hands and said "Go to town."

Jessie and I washed and dried Huey and Jason and Tyler got to work. Huey has not been clipped since the middle of October. And we've been growing lots and lots of hair since then on him. I think they took off about 3" and left 2" on him.

While they worked on Huey, we then washed and dried Tank, bedded up the steer pen (again) and started on chores. Tank and Huey are hopefully going to the Beef Expo show in Columbus the middle of March....it's been a nice little break not washing calves every day (or so) but it's time to get back to work....as long as the weather holds.





Tyler is now asking for a set of clippers for his birthday.....I think we've created a monster!

Jefferson County Fall Spectacular steer show

Last Saturday we loaded up 4 calves, 2 kids and 3 adults and went to a steer and heifer show 100 miles south east of us. If our friends' heifer hadn't died unexpectedly last week, it would have been 6 calves, 4 kids and 5 adults.

Once we got there, it was so nice out we decided to tie out to the trailer and show out of the trailer. Rather than haul everything out of the trailer into the barn and set it all up, and then when we were done showing to pack everything back up, haul it out to the trailer and load it all back onto the trailer.

And if you're 10, you can slack off for a little bit and text your boy friend/girl friends while you are waiting around:

It was beautiful out, even if it was a little cold.

But the steers and heifers stayed cool and we didn't need to turn on the fans.

The kids started off with showmanship:

Jessie got 2nd out of 23 kids with Smokie in Jr. Showmanship.

And then Tyler went right back into the ring for beginner showmanship (kids 8 & under) and got 3rd out of 6.

We took a heifer and a steer for each kid to show. Tyler got 7th with smokie (out of 13).

Jessie got 6th with Jason's heifer Fabulous (out of 14)

Tyler got 8th with Huey (out of 13)

And Jessie took her new steer Tank in and got 10th (out of 16).

Our main goal for this show was to get everyone in the ring and walking and behaving well. And for Jessie to get in there with Fabulous and Tank, whom she has never shown. If all goes as planned, we will go back to Columbus over Jessie's birthday (she again this year wants to go to a steer show for her birthday) and we want her comfortable with these calves.

And we were happy that we were in the middle of the pack. There were some big names down there - kids that skip their county fairs and show at the National level......but we held our own.

It was a very long day (we left the house at 7 a.m. and got home just after 9 p.m.). But it was a good day and we are planning on going back down there next year:)

Kris