Rain drops

Well, I got up early and I have rinsed ALL of the calves. I am Wonder Woman! Actually, it's been raining like a monsoon here all day. I can't believe this is August! The funniest part is that I am sitting here inside the bunk house watching somebody actually walk through the calves!

It smells great in here today. I lit a few candles and, mixed with the rain, it is very refreshing. Actually the bunk house even has a hint of homemade brownies...burnt! I baked a pan of brownies after lunch and and ran down here to get something...that was a mistake. One thing led to another and I didn't get back to the house in time. I could tell something was not good even before I opened my front door. I think the smell of burnt brownies sticks to everything. Oh well, I guess I will give it another try. It will be something to keep me from pacing around the porch on a day like today.

I sent Ryan home for a day off and Jade has been cleaning the shop, working on the show cattle and guarding the sale cattle. I think they were both ready for a little down time. We'll be going full throttle tomorrow!

Juli is back!

Sorry to anyone... if there is anyone...who has been following my blog. I have been terrible about keeping up to date. Between Hayley leaving, going to the Iowa State Fair and getting ready for the sale it's been a little crazy around here.

Well, state fair was great. We brought home several banners and awards. Nelson 26T2 was the Grand Champion bull and the Grand Champion Iowa Bred bull. "Stella", a.k.a. Cowpower 418u, was the Champion Junior Yearling Heifer. The Iowa State Fair also presented me with the award for herdsmanship for all of the work that we do with the Iowa Maine display as well as the design and look of our Nelson Cattle Company display. It was a great fair!

Life at Club Calf Paradise is going well. The calves have all arrived and we spent the weekend finishing up the video on the last of the calves. That should all be up along with pictures by thursday or friday of this week. The calves look great and I am confident the we have something for everyone. We even have several Iowa State Fair winners including the Maine-Tainer Champion Junior Heifer, the Champion Maine-Anjou Junior Heifer, the Champion Feeder Calf heifer which was champion over all of the feeder calves...including the steers. We have NUMEROUS winners from area jackpots as well.

We kicked off our sale sunday night with a consignor appreciation BBQ at the bunkhouse. A very good friend of ours put together the entire dinner with smoked pork loin and smoked bacon wrapped eye of round, prosciutto wrapped shrimp, rosemary potatoes, home-grown tomatoes topped with mozzerella and drizzled with seasonings, balsalmic vinegar and garnished with fresh mint leaves, cooked carrots and chilled beverages! YUM YUM!!! We had a great time, the weather could not have been better and now we are ready to get the sale rolling.

It's a bit warm and humid today and it is supposed to rain most of the afternoon. Imagine that! The calves are resting comfortably and with the exception of doing some re-clipping, we will just stay busy rinsing and blowing from now on.

Jayde Hunt has joined our ranks to help with the sale cattle. He and Ryan Kunze are a great team and I am very happy to have such great help. Mostly I like that they appreciate my cooking but I am guessing that they are just buttering me up!

Darby had a near death experience yesterday when he somehow got a pretty nasty gash on his side. It actually looked like a shot from a pellet gun or something so he and I went to the vet. An x-ray didn't reveal any lead poisoning so we gave him lots of jerky treats, some antibiotics and he is resting comfortably on the sofa in the bunkhouse today. I did manage to slip him a piece of left-over smoked pork. He loves me.

Well, stay tuned. I will PROMISE to keep up better on my blog. I know how much you all enjoy my stories that reveal my own "blondeness" ...just kidding. I suppose that if I am boring you to death that you wouldn't be reading this right now. So keeping checking back! We hope to see all of you during the sale!!

The Slap!

I wish I could explain how good it feels to hear some of the stories our customers share with us. Sometimes it is hard not to get teary eyed. I would really like to share a story about a young man named Avery Bates that bought a steer on our sale last year. He and his family drove all the way from Montana to our farm and picked out several calves. Avery had his eye on a steer we all referred to as "Tank" and when the trailer left our place...Tank was on it. This young man was determined and he obviously put a lot of hard work into his calf. Here is a letter I recently received from his mother.
Good morning Juli --Well the end of the run is here...much to our dismay. I don't know why it's so stinking hard to see the good ones go, but it sure is tough. Many tears have been shed the last week seeing that the end was here. County Fair was quite eventful. We had a couple different families that we didn't even know travel down to the fair just to see "Tank". He got a little bit famous there in the last few weeks of Jackpost season. (Because he was winning all of them!)..... .. Avery and Tank were Grand again for ther final hoorah!! So lo and behold Tank had to come back home because of an injury and had a withdrawel period which was a nice treat until yesterday...Dan loaded him up and it was off to the processor!!! Oh what a tough day...but many good memories. Oh, I must brag a little more...Trista had Grand heifer and Avery had Reserve...we definately can't complain! The kids have one more show the 2nd week of August where they will shoe three of the other steers we got from you. Trista's little steer will hopefully do well there....but we have to wait and see.....
----Amber Bates

Yeah, that's what it's all about!

Smokin' at the bunkhouse.

Sorry I haven't been around for a while. It's been a mad rush here trying to get things ready. We have all worked our tails off trying to get the calves that are already here down to the front pasture. My brother, Erik, was back for a few days and he helped out a lot at the bunk house. Well, mostly he helped us fire up the smoker (by the truck) and smoke a ribeye loin. It was incredible but I suppose most of the credit goes to my beloved.

We spent the weekend installing two new shade canopies for two of the paddocks that were lacking shaded areas. Thanks to my ENTIRE family we were able to get them all put together and nobody was injured...but it was close! As you can see Brad was truly into the spirit of the task! It was especially nice to have my father overseeing the job.

Now that the shades are in place all of the calves that are here thus far have been moved, are clipped and are being rinsed every day for the sale. They are looking fabulous but I don't think that they are liking the warmer weather we are getting right now. It's still the coolest summer in history!

The big move

Nick was so excited today that we were finally able to get some of the calves down to the front pasture. The cool weather has been a HUGE asset in getting these calves ready and in good condition. I have to say that this is one of the quietest sets of calves that we have every had and that helps matters a lot. I think that we may have broke 90 degrees for the first time this month but Nick has been working his tail off all day down in the new "wash house" rinsing calves and doing a little clipping. The calves look great thanks to Nick's hard work and I would guess thanks to our consignors who brought us such a powerful set of calves.

I don't think that I have told you all about Nick yet. Nick Andreson is heading into his third year at ISU this fall and is planning on being a vet. I hurt my back this spring so I posted a job opening at ISU just before finals week. We had several great applicants and we are thrilled to have Nick with us. He is incredibly talented with the cattle and has a great way with them. It takes a special person to do this work...or maybe just to work for me. I am a little particular about how my cattle are handled and Nick has greatly lived up to my standards. He thinks outside of the box and recognizes a problem...he just has some mechanical issues. We try not to tease him too much about that as I am not sure that he has my sense of humor. He is very athletic however and has been able to put his fire pit jumping skills to work. I would have to say that his pole vaulting skills need a bit more tuning. I don't think the pole is supposed to go through your foot! Ohhhh, the stories I could tell! LOL

We will miss him when he goes back to college but we are really looking forward to having him along with us during the Iowa State Fair. Nick is planning on coming back on weekends until our sale if over so I hope all of you get a chance to meet him.

Interesting weekend

Have you ever had that feeling that somebody is watching you? You know, the one where you look around and think that someone is hiding behind a tree waiting to jump out and scare you? I had that feeling yesterday. Darby went behind the bunkhouse and I saw him looking at something. When I investigated I saw a skunk crouched on the ground and I shrieked at Darby to try and get him away. Luckily SOME of our training sessions paid off because as soon as I called to "leave it" he backed away and jumped in the Kubota. I promptly stuck him in the house and headed for my son's gun.

I couldn't find the pin-striped little bugger and was kind of happy since I didn't really want to be part of his demise if he was just out wandering around. I really didn't think much more about it until the hair stood up on the back of my neck after I had been fixing fence for a while. When I turned around he was staggering towards me. He stopped for a minute, smelled the air and then continued to try rip me to shreds...or so I imagined. At that point I did what any normal woman would do...I RAN AWAY!!!! I called Brad and encouraged him to get his tush down the hill with the gun and save me from certain death!!!

The skunk decided to take another break in the shade of Brad's new smoker. BIG MISTAKE!!! Apparently it's ok to mess with me but DO NOT MESS WITH BRAD'S SMOKER!!!!! Needless to say the place looked like a crime scene. I don't know much about guns...or ammo...but apparently deer slugs will pretty much take care of a sick skunk. That's all I have to say about that.

As for the picture of my shop foreman...well, let me just say that Brad is NOT just a desk jockey. He has multiple talents and I am especially happy that running a welder and plasma cutter are part of them. Of course, you "might be a redneck if..." your honey-do list includes adding three feet to the length of your working chute. I do love that man...really!!!

Money is an issue!

Well, with another beautiful weekend I took advantage and worked my tail off setting things up at the pasture for the sale. The wash building is officially finished and we are currently working on finishing the upgrades on the chute and getting it moved in. We are supposed to get more storms today so we are waiting to move calves until tomorrow.

I wanted to take a moment to comment on something that I heard the other day that has me a bit concerned. The comment was that many people aren't coming over to Western Iowa for the sales this fall because they feel that they just can't afford a high dollar steer to use at their county fairs. That really upsets be because I think that there are calves here that will appeal to all; there will probably be some high dollar fancy steers that will certainly be competitive on a national level but I like to think that I have calves that will also appeal to the county-level projects as well.

Every one of our consignors has to place a floor bid on their calf. That bid is not allowed to change and they have to agree to sell that calf at that price if there is only one bid on that calf. Many of the steers will be floored in the $900 to $1100 range. Granted, that price is above the salebarn market price but it is not unreasonable. You have to understand that these are AI sired, they have been worked with and are ready to go into your kids hands. You know what you are paying for and a lot of the risk has been eliminated. When it comes to your kids that little bit extra is worth it in my book. We will sell a lot of calves in that price range. We are not just here for the big time showmen and we want to work with all of you. Everyone gets equal treatment at Club Calf Paradise no matter how much you spend!

I really hope that some of you that are hesitant to head this direction take time to read this. I would really be disappointed if you missed out on a nice steer that you could afford. At the very least take a day and come see us. Looking is half the experience!