Merry Christmas ya'll!
I wrote this in the Goat Gossip and I guess it ain't plagiarizing if you wrote it yourself. I pray that ya'll have a Merry Christmas or whichever holiday ya'll celebrate this time of year, even that silly Festivus! God Bless!
Some unity and determination to improve the Caprine business’ lot in the Agricultural world would be a really special gift. Prices and demand for meat, dairy, and even hair goat products are at an all time high and we as a business continue sit on our hands and practically ignore the opportunity that is smacking us in the face! Caprine products have the chance to become as important to our society as the bovine, porcine, and ovine (I forgot what the word is for poultry!) industries if we just take the initiative to unite and improve our marketing and production. This has been a long time Christmas wish for me and I hope that God allows Santa to deliver this gift before I die.
Lastly, I hope that ya’ll give each other the tremendous gift of Faith. We lament the loss of family values and ethics in today’s world. This loss can be attributed to a certain amount of callousness and inhumanity that has permeated our society here lately. Instant information and gratification is at hand so folks start to develop the “me” syndrome where they begin to think that their needs are the most important. I’m asking that ya’ll resist these urges and turn to your faith in a higher power to satisfy you soul’s needs. Pray. Pray for others and pray for you own understanding, compassion, and empathy for your fellow man. Search for the true meaning of your own religion’s holy days and help others to renew their faith. Give instead of take. Love instead of hate. That will be the most important gift that you can give. It’s the reason for the Season!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Whew! That's a relief!
Kidding is pretty rough some times. It's funny, but the only time the nannies scheme to have fun is when I'm not here. Once the Tyoater heads down the driveway it's Katy bar the door! They all want to kid at the same time and have troubles or abandon their kids because they want to go and hold their Sister's hoof while she has hers at nearly the same time (Alice and Chewy) or decide to kid in a howling rain storm! Gwen becomes a blabbering crazy woman when all of this happens. I don't blame her one iota! But she champions through and either gets them alive or manages to keep them alive during the critical moments. It was a big relief when Stripe had two percentage Bucklings on the day before I came back to work!
I am truly thankful to and for her for all of her efforts. She is the glue that holds this house of cards we call a goat operation together. She has expressed a desire to stop kidding in the Fall because of the cold weather. I don't blame her, but I don't really share her sentiments. Our county fair is in June and the optimal time to have kids is October to December. She says she will relent if I build her a barn/shed for the kids to get birthed in with heat and out of the weather. Well that would be fine if we had the money to do it or I could scrounge the materials. Looks like I'll have to work on it if we want to continue to have Fall kids.
We are going to have to work on marketing too. We had too many leftovers this last Spring. We are now producing a better product and need to work on getting that product out into the show ring and winning. We have already had a good start in the winners circle with the breeding Does that we raise and now we need to get some Youngsters to show our wethers into the winners circle. We will Get er' Done!
I am truly thankful to and for her for all of her efforts. She is the glue that holds this house of cards we call a goat operation together. She has expressed a desire to stop kidding in the Fall because of the cold weather. I don't blame her, but I don't really share her sentiments. Our county fair is in June and the optimal time to have kids is October to December. She says she will relent if I build her a barn/shed for the kids to get birthed in with heat and out of the weather. Well that would be fine if we had the money to do it or I could scrounge the materials. Looks like I'll have to work on it if we want to continue to have Fall kids.
We are going to have to work on marketing too. We had too many leftovers this last Spring. We are now producing a better product and need to work on getting that product out into the show ring and winning. We have already had a good start in the winners circle with the breeding Does that we raise and now we need to get some Youngsters to show our wethers into the winners circle. We will Get er' Done!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Horses! The definitive explaination! (Rochelle ain't gonna like this!)
I promised Rochelle that I would keep this blog about goats and non-political. What's she gonna do, fire me?
OK, a lot has been said about horse slaughter from Pros and the My little Pony side of the fence.
Let me try to explain it as best I can!
Let's just substitute Cars for horses in this explanation. I mean practically everybody owns one so it will make it easier to explain if we use an everyday item that most folks own.
You are all excited because you are getting a new car! It's just the one you wanted. Sleek and beautiful and it runs real fast! OK, you have owned your car for numerous years feeding and nurturing it. You change the oil and put gas into it and do all of that maintenancy stuff to it to keep it running good. All of a sudden it starts to leak oil and parts break and all of that stuff and you have to either take it to the mechanic (Veterinarian) OR call roadside assistance (Farrier) to keep it on the road.
So you decide you have had enough of this old car or you can't afford to keep it running so the decision is made to trade it in. What's that? You can't trade your car in because nobody wants it? It's a beautiful car with a lot of good years left on it!
"Well! If that's the case then I'll just SELL it!" you say. So you fill up the gas tank and change the oil and warsh it and wax it and pretty it all up and take it to the sale. You get up to the gate to check in and find out you have to pay a bunch of fees! What's that? An on-board computer test? A vehicle inspection by a mechanic (Vet)? Commissions? Oh well, you feel it's worth it because your car is in great shape and it's still beautiful and runs great. So you enter it into the sale and go and buy yourself a frosty beverage and a hot dog and decide to sit down and wait thru all of the other car sales.
So the sale starts.... and you're all happy that you are going to get to sell your car and get a NEW one. Oh look! There must be something wrong with that car! those poor folks only got $5 for it! Boy! That's a beautiful, big car that has fancy schmancy papers! What! $20!? That won't even pay for the tests and check-ups and commissions! You sit thru half of the sale and start to realize that the churning in the pit of your stomach isn't the rancid hot dog you ate but the realization that you ain't gonna get nothing for your car. At least not what you think it's worth! Shoot! That ain't even gonna pay for the fees so you decide to pull your car from the sale. And lose all of those non-refundable fees!
You are all dejected because you can't trade or sell your car so you take it home. You continue to buy gas and pay for maintenance (Vet) and it continues to break down on the road (Farrier) so you figure you can try to GIVE IT AWAY! You have heard of folks that will take your old car in and park it out in a giant lot and continue to gas it up and take care of it. So you make the call. What's that? The lot is completely full? They are starting to get stacked on one another! Ya'll are out of money to keep fuel and have maintenance done so you aren't taking any more in? What am I supposed to do with this old clunker?
What to do? You can't just drive your car out into the woods or the desert and abandon it. It's got a license plate! It's costing more and more to fuel and maintain and your spouse just lost their job and you continue to have children and the cost of living gets higher and higher..... so you decide that feeding and taking care of your family comes first. The car is just gonna have to be a secondary thing. Pretty soon the car doesn't go as far. It's starting to lose its luster and begins to run ragged. The seats get torn. It won't pass the smog or safety inspection. You still have to keep going with it even though you know you really shouldn't.....
You're driving along in the same old tired car and you see flashing lights behind you and hear a siren. It's the police! "Why yes Officer I did notice that everything is expired on my car." "Why don't I take better care of it? Because I have to feed my family and can't afford the stuff to keep the car going!" "I have to have it put in the shop (Veterinary Hospital) and get things fixed before I can drive it again?!" "How am I going to afford that?" You ask as you are paying the mechanics (Vet) bill and all of the hefty fines for not taking care of your car properly.
So you break out your bicycle and park your car in the garage and ignore it until you finally have to call a tow truck to haul it off. The tow truck driver can't hook up to it until a mechanic (Vet) comes to pull the battery. It costs you a small fortune because mechanics charge a lot to make garage calls and pulling the battery is a specialized procedure. So you figure that it's worth it because your outgo is exceeding the usefulness of the car. Then the tow truck driver wants a boatload of money to tow the car off because THAT is a specialized procedure. Then the junk yard wants a wad of cash because the old cars are not being recycled anymore because a bunch of car lovers got a law passed banning car crushing and they are stacked sky high and it's getting harder to find a place to put it.
Do you want a new car? Hell no! It was a bad enough experience with the last one! I'll just use public transportation!
But that Supergofast 2012 looks awful nice........
OK, a lot has been said about horse slaughter from Pros and the My little Pony side of the fence.
Let me try to explain it as best I can!
Let's just substitute Cars for horses in this explanation. I mean practically everybody owns one so it will make it easier to explain if we use an everyday item that most folks own.
You are all excited because you are getting a new car! It's just the one you wanted. Sleek and beautiful and it runs real fast! OK, you have owned your car for numerous years feeding and nurturing it. You change the oil and put gas into it and do all of that maintenancy stuff to it to keep it running good. All of a sudden it starts to leak oil and parts break and all of that stuff and you have to either take it to the mechanic (Veterinarian) OR call roadside assistance (Farrier) to keep it on the road.
So you decide you have had enough of this old car or you can't afford to keep it running so the decision is made to trade it in. What's that? You can't trade your car in because nobody wants it? It's a beautiful car with a lot of good years left on it!
"Well! If that's the case then I'll just SELL it!" you say. So you fill up the gas tank and change the oil and warsh it and wax it and pretty it all up and take it to the sale. You get up to the gate to check in and find out you have to pay a bunch of fees! What's that? An on-board computer test? A vehicle inspection by a mechanic (Vet)? Commissions? Oh well, you feel it's worth it because your car is in great shape and it's still beautiful and runs great. So you enter it into the sale and go and buy yourself a frosty beverage and a hot dog and decide to sit down and wait thru all of the other car sales.
So the sale starts.... and you're all happy that you are going to get to sell your car and get a NEW one. Oh look! There must be something wrong with that car! those poor folks only got $5 for it! Boy! That's a beautiful, big car that has fancy schmancy papers! What! $20!? That won't even pay for the tests and check-ups and commissions! You sit thru half of the sale and start to realize that the churning in the pit of your stomach isn't the rancid hot dog you ate but the realization that you ain't gonna get nothing for your car. At least not what you think it's worth! Shoot! That ain't even gonna pay for the fees so you decide to pull your car from the sale. And lose all of those non-refundable fees!
You are all dejected because you can't trade or sell your car so you take it home. You continue to buy gas and pay for maintenance (Vet) and it continues to break down on the road (Farrier) so you figure you can try to GIVE IT AWAY! You have heard of folks that will take your old car in and park it out in a giant lot and continue to gas it up and take care of it. So you make the call. What's that? The lot is completely full? They are starting to get stacked on one another! Ya'll are out of money to keep fuel and have maintenance done so you aren't taking any more in? What am I supposed to do with this old clunker?
What to do? You can't just drive your car out into the woods or the desert and abandon it. It's got a license plate! It's costing more and more to fuel and maintain and your spouse just lost their job and you continue to have children and the cost of living gets higher and higher..... so you decide that feeding and taking care of your family comes first. The car is just gonna have to be a secondary thing. Pretty soon the car doesn't go as far. It's starting to lose its luster and begins to run ragged. The seats get torn. It won't pass the smog or safety inspection. You still have to keep going with it even though you know you really shouldn't.....
You're driving along in the same old tired car and you see flashing lights behind you and hear a siren. It's the police! "Why yes Officer I did notice that everything is expired on my car." "Why don't I take better care of it? Because I have to feed my family and can't afford the stuff to keep the car going!" "I have to have it put in the shop (Veterinary Hospital) and get things fixed before I can drive it again?!" "How am I going to afford that?" You ask as you are paying the mechanics (Vet) bill and all of the hefty fines for not taking care of your car properly.
So you break out your bicycle and park your car in the garage and ignore it until you finally have to call a tow truck to haul it off. The tow truck driver can't hook up to it until a mechanic (Vet) comes to pull the battery. It costs you a small fortune because mechanics charge a lot to make garage calls and pulling the battery is a specialized procedure. So you figure that it's worth it because your outgo is exceeding the usefulness of the car. Then the tow truck driver wants a boatload of money to tow the car off because THAT is a specialized procedure. Then the junk yard wants a wad of cash because the old cars are not being recycled anymore because a bunch of car lovers got a law passed banning car crushing and they are stacked sky high and it's getting harder to find a place to put it.
Do you want a new car? Hell no! It was a bad enough experience with the last one! I'll just use public transportation!
But that Supergofast 2012 looks awful nice........
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