We loaded the entire family up on Tuesday morning to take off for the sale of the century. We took two vehicles and let my close relative drive the woman hauling one, and all of us men were in the other one. We hired some highly recommended college ag students to be the ranchers for four days. The world did not end even when we drove off the place!
We have planned and talked for a year about trying to make the sale in Oklahoma to supplement the bull power we have. I am amazed that it is happening now, and we are really primed and ready for the whole shebang! The boys who wouldn't do homework in high school can spout all the numbers listed on the EPD's chart to every one of the bulls listed. They remember each one and their entire pedigree and have guessed what they might bring.
We have kept up with all the registered sales that happen fast in the winter months north of here. Instead of sitting by the fire, they make tons of money selling what they have been working on all 20 or 60 years. We have decided to try to tap in on their bloodlines! Some of the bulls bring a price that is hard to decipher; there are so many zeros! The list is about four pages long and is typed by the real boss of this outfit!
We needed to compare some of our resident bulls and the cows to all the possible matings, so we have done a considerable inventory of paperwork on the home cattle. We do not intend to introduce a new breed, just better than the neighbor's cattle! I would like to have the best to gaze upon on a summer's early morning and call them mine!
We have discussed changing breeds or mixing breeds or going to straight feeder steers instead of keeping on with the cow/calf operation. We have attended all the classes given by the bug salesmen and promised to try some stuff that I am not sure we will, but we are tutored and ready for this step in the business.
We made reservations early, and the female offspring assured us we would not get lost. I know those telephone carriers are busy looking up everything as we go mile by mile! The sale is two days, and bulls are split into groups by age and then some by pedigrees and others, the ones we probably will just admire, by outstanding EPDs.
We unloaded at the hotel, and I was greeted by some fellers that welcomed us to the sale. That scared me because they think I brought cash! We all know I am about as busted as the next guy on scrawny acres, but I have a very friendly banker! The below-fifty crowd hit the swimming pool, and I hit the bed as I was feeling pretty queasy! Spending large sums of money has always made me sick!
I am very sure we are doing the right thing. We bought some new blood for the place and helped ourselves try to reach a level of raising excellent beef because that is my entire purpose at this age and place in life. I have been blessed over and over by children who are not perfect but great in my estimation, a most perfect partner in life, and grandchildren who are so wonderful! We have always wanted better and, hopefully, this little venture will make it come true.
Yes, I learned a bunch of lessons on the trip. The steak in a restaurant is not as good as the ones at home. The boys drink soft drinks by the gallon if the waitress keeps on filling their glasses! The girls in the family get too dressy, in my opinion, to take in a sale, and I was so worn after a four-day sale that I slept most of the way back home!
The back door porch was full of sacks of turnips, and I thank whoever did that fine thing! We are having boiled turnips twice a day, and the boys are just sick of them! I love them and bacon grease -- food fit for a king!
Remember to pray for folks who don't get to hunt and the Alamo!
Bill is the pen name used by the Gravette area author of this weekly column. Opinions expressed are those of the author.