EAST
Stockmanship and Stewardship went east of the Mississippi for the first time.

Danville Indiana and the Hendricks County expo was the place, and Purdue university was the host.  Boy did they put forth the effort to make for a very informative, comfortable, and jam packed program.  You should have listened to me when I said to come join us.  

They covered some of the very real topics in the industry today such as consumer perceptions, sustainability, market trends, animal Identification, a very thorough BQA training with hands on and live cattle, as well as a great presentation on capturing more value through programs and implants.

Michaela Clowser and Jolee Fitzsimons of the NCBA were very organized and fit right in with the producers in attendance, and the Folks from Merc Animal Health did a great job of presenting information.  I don’t remember one of them mentioning the products they represent, they just gave good practical science based info.

We have only one S and S event left.  Oregon was canceled due to COVID, and I’m real disappointed as I feel they had a great program set up as well and some good stockman that we could have learned from.  Maybe next year.

Next and last stop on the tour for 2021 is Bowling Green, Kentucky October 22 and 23.  It looks to be a very cattlehandling intensive two days.  Check out the schedule and info at “www.stockmanship and stewardship.org” .  Hope to see you there.

WEST

My partner Ron Gill hauled me to the airport when we were done and I climbed on a plane headed for Dickinson, North Dakota.  I had felt a little funny all day and could feel my immune system working and I had a bit of a sore throat.  Of coarse when your not feeling good is when you will have trouble on a flight and mine were delayed due to weather and we got into Dickinson late.

I woke up in the middle of the night and was sick.  I didn’t think it was COVID as I have had it once and also am full vaccinated.  I called Sean Weinert and told him the deal.  We decided to cancel in case it was COVID.  Now I’m in a pickle!

I’m in Dickinson, North Dakota, no car, a Sunday, I’m worried I gave Ron Gill the COVID, and I am feeling like I might die.  If I did have COVID it was going to be a problem getting home as I couldn’t fly.

I found a walk in clinic and got a “Lyft” ride to it and got a COVID test.  I go back to my room and got a call from the clinic.  NEGATIVE.  There are some things that will make you feel a little better even when you are puking your guts out.

I really wanted to go do the demo in Hettinger.  I have been there before and really enjoy the people of that area.  I hope we reschedule it.  People put a lot of effort and work into getting the event ready and I wish I could have finished the song. (We watched Lonesome Dove last week)

Lisa Pederson, North Dakota BQA coordinator extraordinaire picked me up Monday morning and we headed north to Kildeer for another event.  I love Kildeer, North Dakota!  As I was climbing on the plane this morning I took one last look around and to me it is the most beautiful country I get to go to.  It is an ocean of grass and I don’t know if it is the native in me that makes me feel so at home on the plains, or the cowboy heritage that ties me to the great Ranching history, but something is calling me.

Back to the real world.  The event was at the Kildeer Saddle Club arena.  What a facility.  I had spoken with my friend Gene Harris about where to do the demo earlier and he had me all taken care of.  There are some people you meet in this world and you feel like you have been friends for a long time, well Gene is that person to me.  He just gets it.  A traditionalist that understands the Ranching business of today.

They are having the 100 year anniversary of the Kildeer Mountain Rodeo in two years and I’m going.  I might go next year just to warm up for it.

Lisa presented A great Beef Quality Assurance overview and then took some videos and pictures that you see below

I like doing demos in rodeo arenas and using the back pens as well.  This was especially good as they load the bucking chutes with “bud boxes”.  I worked the real nice Gelvieh heifers out in the big arena for a bit and then put them in the center gate and worked in the back pens.

Everything went good except for I didn’t check the end of the alley and some of the heifers escaped and were in the outside world.  It was great as the attendees got to get involved in putting them back in. Remember, a good stockman always checks gates!

After we got everything back in, the owner of the cattle, Lisa put some through the box and did a great job.  Then we all gathered them out of the arena and put them through the center gate out of the arena. It was interesting to see how different the cattle reacted to a group of people pressuring them through the gate versus just one person.  

We had discussed earlier about how to use good stockmanship when the neighbors all come to help.  That’s the reason I wanted everyone to get in on putting them in.  We all had the mindset of using the right pressure and the cattle still had a hard time understanding and reacting to that many people.

I believe we need to work on that one and I will write more about in the future.

There is usually something that happens on these trips that gets me to thinking and analyzing things.  Last time it was Temple and her thoughts on improving my demonstration presentation.

When they were introducing Ron in Danville I added to all the nice things they said about him is that he really liked and enjoyed people.  He laughed and then said that I didn’t really like people.  Now I think he was kidding, but I don’t know, but it’s good because I don’t know how I come across and it got me to thinking.

People.  It’s the favorite part of my job. Not only the ones that are involved with the agricultural programs, but also all the great people in the service industry that I am so thankful for.  The people I interact with getting too and from events are amazing.  They make my life so much fun.

Peoplemanship and stockmanship are very similar.  You must have basic skills first, and then add your own “feel, timing and balance”  to create the people person you are or aren’t.

I have a lot of confidence in my ability to work livestock.  I’m not sure that it might not be perceived as arrogance.  Confidence and arrogance might kind of go together, but that is not what I want.  

There have been some people that I have studied and they were very good at pressuring animals, but not very good at pressuring people.

There have been some people I have observed that were very good at fooling people into thinking they were very good at pressuring animals and were better at people pressure (a fooling pressure)than animal pressure.

I have been around a very few people that could get a lot done by properly pressuring animals and humans, and seemed to me to be the most content of all the people I have observed, and the most effective at making real change for the better. They didn’t need a lot of “things” in their lives as they were already content with what they had.

So I’m going to work on my pressure. I like people and animals and I really want to add quality to their lives, which will add quality to my life.  Then when I’m old I’ll have that twinkle in my eye like Tom and Sally did.