This is what I wrote on the plane from British Columbia to North Carolina.  I am not sure you will find it interesting but there are some thoughts on livestock and people so it might be worth the time.  I feel real fortunate to get to “see the world and get paid” and like to share it with you if it is helpful and interesting.

BC

I’ve had a busy 10 days. I flew to Vancouver and Gord Collier, Mr Zoetis of British Columbia, picked me up and we got to Williams lake at about 10 pm after a 5 hour drive, and we spent the next day at the livestock auction in Williams Lake for BC Livestock. They had three of their five auction markets represented and most everyone was very engaged in discussing and improving handling skills and safety. I really enjoy sharing ideas with people that work in the business of marketing livestock and I believe they have the most challenging livestock handling situations of any part of the industry. I try to let them do much of the talking to get them sharing ideas and frustrations. We have to provide solutions that replace what we take away from them, and we can’t expect them to keep the speed of commerce unless the facilities and livestock allow them to do it. A lame cow can only walk so fast.

This company gets it and are just trying to get better. I enjoyed the day very much.

We got back in the truck and headed South for another long drive to do a dairy program in Armstrong BC. My dairy and sushi expert, Melodie Chan gave a great presentation on health and care of dairy cows. We set up a neat pen in a barn at the fairgrounds. They brought in some yearling Holstein heifers and they were great to work with. Then they were supposed to have two dry cows that were halter broke but they weren’t. So I had my reata with me and caught one and showed how with pressure and release you can get an animal halter broke and we were able to demonstrate how to inject “Excede”, an antibiotic Zoetis provides, properly in the base of the ear. It was fun for me, the dairy farmers got to see and hear about good products Zoetis has to offer, and the veterinary company’s that sponsored it got to give their customers some real value. A win win for all. The only negative on the day was that We didn’t get to have sushi with Melodie. We had to get back to Kamloops BC to set up for the BC cattleman’s convention.

I’ve know Gord Collier for a long time. At first I thought he was a bad driver, but now I think he must be a good driver to have survived this long. He claims to be A.D.D., but I just think he’s an very opinionated, egomaniacal guy that has a nack for really make some woman mad. We were taking a back road and had to turn around because the road was washed out. Gord was rambling on about what he calls “Libtards” (he may not always be politically correct in the pickup) winning an election. We were driving along as he was on the rant and there was a pretty girl shooting baskets in shorts and a bathing top and without taking a breath, as he sees her he says , I need a new straw hat. I still don’t know how you go from politics to a straw hat by seeing a girl playing basketball, but now you understand my three weeks I just spent in the last 9 days.

We set up in the trade show that evening and had lots of good visits with cattleman.
British Columbia has a real good mix of beef producers and it’s fun to see and hear what they have to say.

Gord was at the Trade show in the morning and then we went and set up the arena for our demo the next day. Great arena and nice people to work with. Good set up. We went back and had steak supper and Gord was ringman at scholarship auction. A young man that I have know for a few years, Mathew McGillivray received a scholarship and I got to visit with him and his folks. Good people.

The next day they bussed folks out to the arena and Gord and I worked together for the demo. Nice heifers but they were real sticky and it was hard to get them to move to the crowd and in the pen. It was a good demonstration and I think people were happy with it. The folks that organized the convention did a great job and there was a nice mix of people in attendance.

Megan Clifton has gone to work for Zoetis in Alberta. She grew up in B.C. She came and helped Gord with the booth. What a great young lady. I really enjoyed watching how good she was with people. She was at the dairy program with us and was really intent on learning. She was very effective communicating with all different types of people and has a great sense of humor and a good work ethic. I’ve said it lots before, but the young lady’s of our industry are very important to the future of beef.

When we finished up we loaded the horses and headed back North to Williams lake and then to the Chilcotin to do a two day ranch clinic at the “Chilco Ranch”.

We had a good group of folks the first day and we worked on what I call horsemanship for stockmanship, then we went and worked with some replacement heifers in the afternoon. Real good day on a beautiful ranch, with good solid Canadian ranch folks. It doesn’t get any better.

Well I was wrong, it does get better. They had about 150 calves left to brand. We decided to include it as part of the learning experience. We gathered off a big meadow, sorted yearlings that had go mixed, and everyone worked together to get the pairs in the corrals, in kind of a tricky spot. Good horsemanship and stockmanship was the theme.

I have not got to brand calves for a couple of years so it was a great day for me. It is so great to see everyone working together and getting a tough job done and enjoy doing it. It is really what Ranching is about. Working together to get a job done to provide high quality beef at a profit and doing it right. This job really shows and compares the skills of the stockman and cowboys and buckaroos involved, and those who have dedicated themselves to improving the skills required really show. Roping, working the ground, proper BQA or Verified Beef practices, and working as a team are so important.

Wife Tammy was doing a clinic at the Gang Ranch, and they were about an hour away and border the Chilco, so they loaded up and came and watched for the day. Great bunch of lady’s from all over the US, and they got to see the real deal. It was real nice to have them, and they were very respectful and were never in the way. Larry and Bev Ramstad run the ” Gang ” and they are two of the best we have met in our travels. Dean Miller of the Chilco and Larry are two of the great stockman of BC and it made me a little nervous to work in front of them.

Finished up a good day and said our goodbyes. Great hospitality from Jordon and Crystal Grier and the rest of the Family of The Chilco Ranch.

Head south again much later than we wanted and Gord drove until 1:45 in the morning.
We were on the road again at 7:00 am and got to an arena in Abbotsford about 8:00.

If Gord was reading this I’m sure he’s not gotten this far, so I will tell you what I think.
He is the one of the most dedicated men to the beef industry and the products he represents for Zoetis that I know. He would do anything for anyone that needed help and gives lots away in his life. He’s a guy I’m real proud to call my friend.

We did a horse/cattle clinic for the next couple days with Herman Geertsema. We had a great group and it was fun to do. I was reminded how much people enjoy the things that horses bring to their lives. Great people, just like all the folks I had encountered in British Columbia. Herman and his family are very busy, very good people that benefited from and helped horses and people.

It was a jam packed time seeing people from lots of different parts of the horse and cattle world. “Animals Make Us Human” is the title of a book by Temple Grandin.
Cattle and horses in BC got me to see lots of good Canadian folks, and by golly I think she’s right. Speaking of Temple, I’m headed to North Carolina to do a program with her and we will visit about it next

The decision to make a change is the easiest part. It might not be easy but it’s the easiest part. Implementing the change and staying with it, even if is uncomfortable and takes some skill changes or draws opinions from people that are not familiar with the change. If what you are doing goes against the status quo others will have an opinion and make judgements. This will create some pressure, so you need confidence in what you are doing, and have a strong desire and belief in the change you are making.

For me, the real pleasures in life come from relationships with people and care and handling of animals. Enjoying and improving what nature offers us creates real satisfaction for me.

I’m not a real materialistic person, but I do have some things that I really enjoy and have had for a while that I like. I had the same sunglasses since 1997, and very seldom wear them. I have a Bolin steer head buckle that I got the same year, and have worn it every day since. I bought a real nice leather and canvas suitcase that was pretty expensive about 10 years ago, had it rebuilt once and it’s getting wore out again, but I really like it and with all my travel it is nice to have luggage. I have a leather brief case I traded Chas Weldon for riding a horse for a month about 25 years ago and have it with me today. Good trade!

I like good quality for the things I use and enjoy all the time. Once you have a certain quality and enjoy it it’s hard to go back to lesser quality so I try to stay within my means. For my self, I don’t like debt on material things. So we have not borrowed money to buy vehicles and other things that depreciate in value. When you save money and buy a vehicle, or a saddle or something that is expensive, you make sacrifices before you purchase, and it makes you appreciate what you save to buy even more. But if you borrow to buy, you made no sacrifice, and every time you make a payment you wonder if it’s worth it, especially if you can’t afford it. I think this is a big problem society today. We aren’t satisfied with what we’ve got so we just keep getting more and more and get less and less satisfaction. I hope you are not in that situation. This is why enjoying the simple things in life is so important.

One material thing I really enjoy is a good hat.

I’ve been wearing the same style hat for quite a while. Greeley Hat Works have been building me great hats for a good while. I have had four exactly the same shape and brown color, and the last one was lighter colored but the same shape. (Wife Tammy’s request, or it would have been brown too.)

I’ve been thinking about trying a different style. I deal with lots of different parts of the livestock industry, and I spend lots of time in an airplane. A big brimmed felt hat doesn’t always fit these situations. It hard to find a place to put it on an airplane, and I believe you should have your hat off in the house and in a airplane.

Some dairy and cattle farmers look at a wearer of a cowboy hat with a little suspicion. This is because the one that wears it is usually a cowboy. I don’t look at myself as a cowboy, but a stockman, but lots of people make assumptions by looks and I don’t have time to explain the difference some times.

I talked to Trent Johnson with Greeley Hat Works about this and he said he had the solution. He and I were thinking the same thing. He made me a real nice small brimmed hat. I call it the “stockman” hat. I would not doubt that your grandfather or great grandfather wore one like it.

I couldn’t wait for it to come. When it did come it was even better than I imagined.
I put it on and it fit like all my Greeleys do, like I’ve been wearing it for a long time. Then I looked in the mirror. I shouldn’t have done that. It looked very different and the change made me uncomfortable even though the fit was comfortable. It was a big change in the way I looked. I thought I made a mistake. What would people say and think? It felt great but I liked the shape and style of my other hats. This made me feel like a dork.

Wife Tammy said she liked it and thought it looked great. That support helped me through the first doubts of change. I was going to Canada and then to North Carolina and thought it work fit in those situations so I put it on and headed for the airport. No turning back now.

I was so self conscious about my hat as I got into the hustle and bustle of travel. It made me real uncomfortable. Then people started complimenting it. I have always gotten compliments on my hats from flight attendants and people I meet up with in my travels. I feel it’s part of my job to promote the livestock industry and the western way of life, and dressing western and acting western is the best way to do that. I got way more compliments than normal.

I’m feeling better, but I still haven’t had to deal with the people in the business. Gord Collier, Zoetis rep and long time friend was the first contact. He made a real smart comment about my new hat, and that was perfect because if he wouldn’t have I would have known something was wrong. It opened up the competition of us trying to one up each other for the next nine days. With his comment it allowed me not to hold back in embarrassing and judging every move he made and telling his very health conscious significant other we had a Dairy Queen blizzard and watching him squirm as he got “the look”. This hat was better than I thought. All the time I was in Canada people seemed to really appreciate it. The ones that didn’t kept their comments to themselves. As the week went on I got more and more comfortable with the change. Young people seem to like it as it’s kind of the style I see worn by some of them and older folks are reminded of the days when everyone wore a dress hat.

We were doing a horse clinic and the fellow that owned the arena said he had been looking for what he called “The Dalles” hat for thirty years. Chuck had grown up in the windy area of the Dalles Oregon and that was the style worn because of the wind.
I told him where I got it and he was going to get one I hope.

So the change I made was not easy. I would have given up if I could have and went back to my comfort zone a few times. I am writing this setting on a plane, and my hat is not in my lap, but in the closet, and the flight attendant is watching it and keeps on telling me he likes it. I am headed to North Carolina to do a presentation with Temple Grandin, and it will be fun to see if she has any comments about it as she says what she thinks.

I really like the change I made. It fits my head and what I do. It’s not that there was anything wrong with my other hats, and I will sure keep wearing them, but this change fits too. As for those that make judgements on my hats and how I wear them and think less of me because I am not doing what they do, thats their decision and I can’t change that. I’ll try not to let that effect the way I do the things that improve my quality of life.

So all this discussion about my new Greeley Hat is really not about the hat, but about change. If you make a change in the way you work livestock, it may be the same as my hat story. Don’t give up. Keep trying. The longer you wear the stockmans hat (now we are talking about your hat or cap) the easier and more comfortable it will get. The style is not as important as the results. What other people think is important, positive or negative. We can influence and change people by our actions, and sometimes we need to go through the uncomfortable periods of change to get the results and rewards of change.

Staytuff Fence

I have spent the last few days at home really having fun. I learned how to build fence.
I’ve been building fence all my life, felt like I was pretty competent at it. Like many things, fence building has evolved with technology and people wanting to improve.  I had and have lots to learn.

Several years ago I was doing a colt starting demo in North Carolina, and and Lewis Sapp was in attendance. He was a Gallagher rep, and we hit it off and He and I did some work together and he taught me much about power fence. I have used it for years and really believe in its benefits.

The first place I was around power fence was the “Houlihan Ranch” and Buck sold me on it. He said you could put a stud on one side of the fence and a mare in heat on the other side of the fence and not have problems. That was a pretty good picture to understand how good it was. I put it up on a place we had in Helena, MT and it was great but I was always worried about the power being off or a short, and it required a lot of maintenance to keep it working, and not everyone wanted to do that when I was on the road.

I got interested in Staytuff fence after Lewis told me about its benefits. It makes a lot of sense for me to have a real effective, low maintenance perimeter fence that is safe and will last a long time. The deal is it is a special fixed knot on hi tensile wire that will stretch if pressured and come back to its normal shape when the pressure comes off.
I’ve been putting it up on the perimeter of our little place. It is not easy to put up. It takes a lot of skill to get it up right and you really need good braces because of the amount of pull to get it up right. This is where Lewis really taught me, and it is funny to watch a guy that is so good, get frustrated at people that are slow and having a hard time figuring it out. When you have passion and do something for a long time it is hard to understand how people don’t get it. I see the same thing with horse and livestock handlers.

The first place I put it was along the highway. When the fence was built it wasn’t real good and it had not had much maintenance, and I was always worried about something getting out on the highway and getting hit. As soon as we got the Staytuff fence up I could sleep better and quit worrying about not being a responsible stockman and landowner.

I still use single strand power fence for my grazing management on our little place. As I get time I will keep adding to my fencing ability and my perimeter fence. I am also going to use it for some pens.

I’m not the handiest guy with a tool, but I can get by with a chainsaw and a hammer. All the cool stuff I am learning to use building this fence, and the challenge of doing it right makes this a nice experience, and I think building fence is real rewarding because it goes up pretty quick and you can step back and see what you have done, and everyone else that sees it for the next thirty or forty years can see how much pride you had in your work.

Lewis Sapp has a lot of Pride.