August 2007

August 1-2 What is more hotter than August weather? We packed up early and gladly got into the airconditioned silver truck with our friends Bob and Karen Yarbrough to attend the Open show at the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield MO. We got to see and visit with all our Braunvieh friends and support our Show Family the Blakley's! They exhibited yesterday in the Junior show and they took home Grand and Reserve Grand Champion Female in the Beef Builder Show with Lulu and Isabella. The open show Juna came to the top and was Grand Champion Beef Builder with Isabella as Reserve Grand. Different judges and different days! If you don't want to get beat don't take them out because every animal has it's special day that they perform or look better than others.. Just like people unfortunately! We are all susceptible to bad days! ha TLC Turk performed great and was Grand Champion Percentage Bull. Little Hot Rod was Reserve Champion and Vasa and he were Grand Champion Percentage Cow Calf Pair. Vasa is ready to get rid of that little tank. He literally picks her up to nurse sometimes. The judge, a Gert breeder from Georgia, said that Turk was the freest moving animal to enter the ring that day. He really does glide over the good earth even thought the show ring was full of Missouri rocks!! If they weren't careful you could sprain your ankles out there on all the rock! I don't remember them all there last year! ha Turk acted very well and everyone was impressed with him. We stayed for the Fullblood and Purebred show and then went over to the Auditorium to watch the Shorthorn show where we thought that our friends the Blakley's had it all sewed up with the quality of cattle they presented but not to be done that day! Ranger was Reserve Champion Shorthorn bull. We went to Bass Pro Shop for lunch and we had a great time touring the outdoors inside air conditioning! ha We made it home just before Mark and his crew came driving in with two trailers full of hot tired cattle. They did well and Zach showed the Grand Champion Purebred Heifer. Mark visited family in Pryor and we took the crew to Cowboy Junction only to see that they had just closed! So we went to the old stand by, the Big Cabin Truck stop! Then we sat up and talked cows and viewed my photo gallery of calves for a good part of the evening! ha Harrison Faust that came along with the Ivey Crew is the grandson of Lawrence Turner from Valentine NE. His grandfather sold cattle at Bassett Livestock while I was Office Manger there. So he knew a lot about the Sand Hills where I call home! ha Nice young man that attends Texas A&M. Small world again!

This morning I stirred up pancakes, eggs and bacon for the hungry crew. We visited the south pasture again to find a couple I am sure they won't live without! ha I actually had Roger on his knees begging for one heifer.. Now any woman that can do that has a claim to fame of some type! Right Tabitha? ha All in good fun though and he won't live that down for a long long time! We are doing some things to get ready for haying in the next few days! Semen to ship to North Carolina and we will be sending three straws from 25 different Braunvieh sires to another gentleman that is doing a research project. We are enjoying the quiet time for just a awhile and then it's out to the hot non climate control hay field!

Thanks for the great visit Mark and Crew! We sure did enjoy the visit! It is true when breeders work together they can "Reach beyond the STAR'S" After all the cattle shows and competitions in life are done on this earth and the final straw has been broken, it all means one thing. We pray we did it with honesty, integrity and high ethical standards.

TLC Turk Grand Champion Percentage Bull Ozark Empire Fair 2007

TLC Hot Rod Reserve Champion Percentage Bull Ozark Empire Fair

TLC Vasa and TLC Hot Rod Grand Champion Cow Calf Pair

Flying I Ranch Crew

Zach Ivey, Patrick Paul, Roger McDowall, Mark Ivey and Harrison Faust

Karen and Bob Yarbrough watch for their web site Key Farms.

TLC Juna Grand Percentage Heifer Ozark Empire Fair

TLC Isabella Reserve Grand Percentage Heifer

TLC Linda's Lulu Grand Champion Percentage Heifer Junior Show

Corgi Puppies

For Sale Call

918-443-2523

Made in America

Tierney Land & Cattle Co. Broken Bow NE

August 4-6 Where did that weekend go? While everyone was preparing for the PGA in Tulsa we were trying to hay! Pasture golf at our ranch was kicking around cow manure! ha The mayor of Tulsa even got into cleaning up the streets for the event. I am impressed Kathy Taylor! ha We finished up another web site for Tierney Land and Cattle out of Broken Bow NE today! Finally got it loaded on Sunday afternoon. It is looking pretty good. Will need lots more pictures but at least we finally got it uploaded! Their old site www.tierneyquarterhorses.com was stole by some one and they parked several web address' to the site. It was going to take an act of congress to find the administrator and the authorization code to get it transferred so we opted to buy a new domain named www.tierneyhorses.com A shorter version and probably an easier one to remember too. Too many folks put too many letter is their domains! Use the KISS method! Keep it Short Stupid! Sure like that method in most everything I do! ha Sure beats beating your head up!

What about the bridge accident in Minnesota? I hold my breath every time I cross our rickety little old bridge west of us. It was put there during the 1920-30's and I am sure some horse and buggies used it. At least a model A or T! The flood water went over that bridge four times this year already. I expect someday it will all go floating down the creek. One man said if you went under it and looked at the bottom of the bridge you wouldn't drive your bike across it! Just say a prayer before you cross! So many of our bridges are decaying that we probably will have more major accidents in the future! They have taxed us to death on everything else so look for toll bridges to come back in style or floating barges! The Hills from Arkansas came in Sunday afternoon. We had just got done baling some of the east pasture and was sorting heifers when they drove in a cloud of dust! Mr. Hill a Fish Farmer by trade came to buy cattle! The fish market has gone stale or I should I say internationally. The cost of producing a pound of fish is 75 Cents a pound and they can't get much more than that at the fish market. So much fish, chicken and beef is being imported into this country that our own farmers and ranchers are being pushed out of business by cheap unregulated imports. I might add unsafe too! USDA doesn't care about their chemicals used to grow their goods! What ever happened to equal trade? We import more from China and over seas daily and the empty steel boxes that are left here after we unload them are stacking up. They are not filling them back up with American good to send back to China or over seas so they are stock piling them! Doesn't anyone care about one sided trading? I swear if you pick up about any merchandise it will say Made in China. Does anything say "Made in America" still? We have bought ourselves into a hole folks. Try and find just one thing tomorrow that says "Made in America" and buy all you can afford! Yep we are still producing cattle and guess what? They are all Made in America! Come see us and if your interested in a web site check out the Web Design Page newly created in America!

Thanks Bryce for helping out the past couple of days! It's nice to have some good help for a change! Thanks for your visit Jayne! Your are a precious friend! Come back and "Don't bring Colonel Hill" next time so we can go antique shopping and spend all his money that he didn't spend on TLC Cattle! ha

TLCC Wiley goes to New Jersey

August 7-11 Well I let those days slip through my mind! Like water off a ducks back! In between mowing hay and running for parts we made it through the week unscathed! We had a great day off the internet on Wednesday. Sold the Gun smoke angus bull to some nice folks from Nowata, Ted and Kathy Bowser. They found us on the web! Then we sold a Bud heifer that is almost six months old to Carl Taylor south of OK City. The biggest thrill was selling Wiley one of the show steers to Patrick in New Jersey! The Lord does provide even if it came off the internet!. We ran over to Oologah to pick up semen and deliver semen and had lunch with Vinnie at Darlene's on Wednesday. Then we just had to look at all the calves of course! Guess who got to open all the gates? I know that is why they took me along! ha It's been pretty much the same around here. Trailers in and trailers out! Brook and Debbie came yesterday to pick up their cows and calves. Allison came this morning to pick up her cows and calves too! So we are getting down on a few numbers. The weather has been hot! This morning we pulled in pasture 12 to doctor foot rot and pink eye! We also pulled Wiley off his momma so that we can get him weaned and prepared for a trip to New Jersey! One of our Show steers is going to be a Jersey Boy now and he is all Maine and Angus! ha We got everyone back to their pastures and then I proceeded to clean and put out new cidar shavings for the show cattle. They were anxious for me to get done so they could get to their designated spots. Bobby came with his tractor and mower and is going to assist us over at the Smith place haying. Thank heavens for help! It seems like you are getting nothing done when you have to mow it and then rake and bale it. This way maybe we can have hay to rake and bale each day! That is if we can hold that wired up equipment together for another day! I got the Tierney Horse site almost finished up late last night! Check it out with all their new pictures that I got loaded! Beautiful horses!

August 12-15 We tried baling up hay over north. We thought we were set to move to the lease place after we finished that when the hydraulic pump went out of the bale tractor. So Monday morning they came and picked up the John Deere from Lamar MO and brought us a loaner tractor. This one has air conditioning! We got the 40 acres done finally over north and Abbie wouldn't even look at me as he went by in climate control! So we think we have it all figured out right? Wrong! Our friends Bob and Karen showed up to help with their baler to help us bale the 80 acres we laid down on Saturday. The air conditioner on the loaner tractor went north so he was eating dirt again! We had just gotten started nicely when Abbie's baler had major problems. We thought we only needed a new hydraulic line. Wrong again! We did need that and then the hydraulic cylinder on the baler bent in a dog leg. Abbie and Karen were both sprayed with hydraulic oil! So then we needed a new $450 cylinder! The hydraulic hose we got fixed yesterday afternoon for $91.00 was plugged and it wouldn't let oil through either, so today I took the flat front tractor tire in off my rake to get it fixed and also got a new hydraulic hose to replace the one they messed up when they crimped it! Did you get all that? We did have some nice folks drop by on Monday, the Fredrickson's from Harrah OK to check out their steer and heifer they picked out this Spring for Jordan. It was nice to have them stop by to take our minds off the HAYFIELD from HELL! Today I spent until 11:30 this morning feeding and washing the nine head of show cattle. I also mucked out a little part of the barn. Abbie and Bobby went to Welch to pick up the cylinder. The cattle all loved their baths and I looked like I needed a bath after I got done! I even gave Wiley, Vicente and Hot Rod baths! It was Wiley's first bath and he loved it! Patrick is going to enjoy this steer in New Jersey if we ever get everything worked out to get him there! ha Vicente is a weaned bull calf out of Veronica and Ali. He is quite the character and like the male species he loves his back scratched. Little bulls are so easy to break! I fed everything and kicked them out at 6:30 to fresh hay and they were like kids in a candy store. I am so looking forward to the end of hay season already and we are just getting started! Still have 240 acres to cut at the lease place. From all indications we will be breaking about 25 little weaned calves here soon too! That is just the one's that are sold or will be showed or displayed at Tulsa State Fair. I think we are now at 24 head for Tulsa? Do we need our heads examined? Yep I think so! ha I have been recruiting stickers for the show already! You say what is a sticker? A Show person with a show stick! ha It helps if they know how to use one too! Brian is having his annual showmanship clinic on Saturday. We will take a couple of the heifers for some kids to practice with and help with the clinic! I get to spend a whole day with my friend Sheila! Yippee I am going to get out of the hayfield for a day too! They are talking possible showers! We sure do hope so! We need to cool things down it's been way too hot. Not fit for man nor beast!

August 16-18 Thursday we actually got the rest of the 80 acres up at the Smith place. The whole problem went back to the hydraulic hoses. They created all kinds of problems. We lost two days of haying, a hydraulic cylinder and Abbie's patience. But we finally prevailed with the help of Bob and Karen again! We are going to owe them some help someday! Friday was catch up around here day and I actually got most of the washing done up. I clipped out two heifers that we will take for Ashley and Jordan to work with at the showmanship clinic. It's like taking the kids to school for their first day. They have to have new hair cuts and look their best. Abbie mowed down the north lot and we will have hay to put up if it doesn't rain this weekend! Karen brought Ashley over in the evening and she worked with Heart. We got to the house and guess what was on TV? Football! Last week it was PGA on Tulsa TV and now it's football! We really are a sports minded society aren't we? We heard that it cost $100 to watch Tiger Woods and his buddies play for the Championship at Southern Hills. If some of those folks had to work that hard they would really have a fit. But sitting and sweating in over 100 degrees was somehow justified entertainment? Not this cookie! We sweat that much everyday around here it seems! I would rather watch it in climate control, thank you!

We had a good day at Brian's showmanship clinic! Kids and cattle did great and they all went home with a new perspective on showing cattle I am sure! Brock and Madison came home with me afterwards and we had several events to do when we got home! Unload the cattle and muck out the barn. We were surprised to find an Apple pie from our friends the Westfall Family at our back door! So we all had a great apple pie and ice cream! Thank you Sam, Anita and boys! We really appreciate you all! We went to the south pasture to put out some fly control and took pictures of the heifers. Brock was having a good time driving me around the pasture taking pictures of heifers. Here is Jordan with a big smile on his face too! He was in his element all day long! Loving every minute!

August 19-21 We spent a restful Sunday with rain showers all around us! We got some rain but not near as much as they received along I-40! They got 10 and 8 inches of rain and they flooded. Sure glad we didn't get that down pour with 80 miles an hour winds! Monday, I made a fast trip to Welch to pick up mower parts and then we mowed down about 70 acres at the lease place. I even got to use the air conditioned tractor this time! It sure does make the day more enjoyable! Our tractor still isn't fixed so guess we will use this one as long as we can! It won't hurt my feelings. Tuesday we weaned some of the calves today from 16 north. Tied them up and started their breaking training. So now we have 13 head tied under the barn with fans and misters. I need a full time poop scooper! That wheel barrow gets heavier every day the bigger they get!

August 22-23 We got the 70 acres rolled up and now we are mowing more lands down! Funny thing how different folks talk about the hayfield. Some folks call it cutting and some folks call it mowing. I will have to say that the north says mowing and the south folks say cutting first off. A baler is a baler in both worlds. ha We were mowing the other day and two little spotted fawns jumped up about the time we were done. That about scared me out of my wits! Sure glad they didn't just lie down and wait it out! I would have been sick if I had cut into those cuties! One night as I was walking to the truck I could hear some groaning or snorting and saw a doe and buck in the brush. I couldn't figure out what I was hearing but soon saw them bounding away. Knock on wood we are gaining momentum on the hay project. I stopped about six to come and feed and rinse cattle in the barn. They are really liking their evening bath before turnout. The four new recruits led to the pen great tonight. All it takes is some patience and TLC. They are enjoying the cool fans and misters immensely. Abbie is still mowing tonight and I am ready for a shower and a clean bed. I can't wait for summer to get here and then we work so hard all summer that it's kind of nice to have Fall headed our way. Shorter days and cooler nights! The Fall cows are all getting heavy and we will be calving soon, so then we will be weaning the Spring calves. The feed truck came yesterday to fill creep feeders and they are really hitting them hard now. So next time we need to fill we will probably go ahead and wean. Their life of milk and honey is going to come to an end. ha It is to the real world then. Visited with Megan LaRue and her Mossy Oak steer was Reserve in the A O B at the Coffeyville show. Glad old Junior did well. They had about 50 steers and he was 18th overall! Neighbor Tommy came by today looking for a couple of stray cows. He lives next to the creek so they could have floated away a few times this past Spring. I sent him home some pear tomatoes and a rose for his wife who is ill. I registered about 30 head of calves today, both with the Maine Association and the Braunvieh association. I am sure I missed someone.

Here is a picture of a hay stack in Holt County Nebraska. This is how I grew up putting up hay! Big stacks of hay that weighed around 8-9-10 ton's. Sure glad we don't have to mow, straight rake, and sweep it to the stack anymore! When I talk about scatter raking that is a whole new agenda. ha Scatter raking is going back to clean up after the sweep that pushes the load of hay from a windrow to the stacker. The best sweepers are scatter rakers first.

This used to be done with teams of horses that pulled or pushed the equipment. That is where the word FLY nets came in! All the horses wore big nets that moved to keep the flies and insects off them.

Katie, Matt and Abbie

Dimple and Dirt - Granddaughter Dalya Rae digging for gophers in the back yard in Nebraska. Aren't little girls suppose to be pretty, pink and clean?

August 24-25 We got rain and it soaked up things pretty good on Friday! So in other words the hay is still laying waiting for sunshine so we can bale 40 more acres up! They brought back our John Deere tractor and picked up the loaner tractor yesterday too. So now hopefully it will work well when we ask it to mow and bale hay! They supposedly fixed the air conditioner and now we may need a heater if we don't get this darn hay put up soon! ha I have had to wear a winter coat and gloves in the past one year to finish up haying at the lease place. Not my fondest memories with snow balls almost hitting you in the back of the head! ha

We had customers Matt and Katie Wilson from Holliday, MO. early this morning. They had purchased a couple of bulls from us a few years ago and were ready for a couple more! So they picked out a couple of nice bull calves that were still on their momma's. They were weighing around 600 plus pounds so we weaned them today, put their tattoo's in their ears and hooked them up to the breaking halters to have them started for them on the way home. They live close to Columbia MO. so they had five to six hour drive. We all had lunch at the Big Cabin truck stop and the bulls were laying down chewing their cuds after we had lunch. One was half Angus and Braunvieh and the other was half Maine and half Braunvieh. Both were out of Black Icon daughters. Thanks, Matt and Katie for selecting more TLC cattle we appreciate your business and friendship! We put the windows back in and that heavy door in the tractor and I washed all the windows inside and out! Like that will do a lot of good after we start in baling hay! Oh well it is nice and clean to start out with! Maybe I will get to use it to mow hay with! We fed all the show cattle and I rinsed them while Abbie fed the crew around the place! I thought we were going to get to call it a day when I saw him driving cattle up the lane from the south pasture. Sylva was limping her way up to the barn too. Don't know what is wrong but something is definitely hurting her left front leg. So me and the three mutts went to help drive the cows with heifers calves to the barn. We sorted off 16 head that are semi ready to wean and also picked out the show heifers that will go to Tulsa and be readied for the next show season. Some are too young to wean so they will go back to the pasture for awhile. Most will stay with their momma's at night and in the show barn during the day now. So guess what that means? More recruits for breaking! The four we started on Monday are leading really well and they have settled into the routine very well! They think they have the life of riley under those fans and misters. Washed and pampered when we can find the time between running back and forth to the field! What a way to make a living! We must love it? HUH? Or else we are too dumb to do anything else, or too old to learn something else. ha Come see us we could use a good scooper and calf dragger! I updated Carol's web site with a new look for their Smith Angus production sale September 16, at their ranch by Claremore OK. Check out their sale catalog on line now.

By the way John Johnson from Williamsburg Kansas, did you get your breaking halters? We mailed them on Friday. If you can't figure out how to put them on give us a call! ha The ring goes on top of their noses and hook that to the lead rope! ha I can't believe we are helping the competition break their cattle now! ha Just kidding you know!! Hope to see you and Sharon in Tulsa with your cattle all nice and broke! ha

Glad to hear you are on the mend Roger and Peyton McDowell. We hope you both will be doing better real soon! Running races and kicking cans! Glad your Mom and Pop are their to hold down the new fort! You only thought you were all grown up and completely independent! Us old people are still worth a pinch of salt once in awhile! ha

August 25-27 Sunday was pretty normal around here for the day of rest. By the time we got the barn cleaned and cattle tied. We had done a days work before noon. We had one of our first ET babies born. We sorted all the heavies off on Friday just in time evidently. So 26 head went into the calving pasture full of tall grass we have not had time to clip yet. I checked them last night and you could miss one real easily in the tall grass. We are trying to hay again! We tied everyone back up this morning and so far so good. The six new recruits are coming along! I finished up the entries for Tulsa State Fair today. Beef Builders and Maine cattle. It's clear and hot so guess I'd best get to the hayfield and rake hay!

August 28-29-30-31 Abbie mowed most of the day and I worked with cattle and did some necessary things around here! I got 10 head of the little calves washed and they were all ready to lead back to their pen at night fall. We got rained out of the hay field on Wednesday just in time for the Fredrickson's to show up to pick up their calves. They led to their trailer and it sounded like Jordan and his Dad David didn't get to bed very early for making sure the calves were comfortable when they got home!

We had a call from Jaden Jones today from Socorro New Mexico! Her TLC steer named Harry Potter was Grand Champion Steer at their Socorro County show. There were 18 steers in the show. She was so excited and I am sure her Dad, Chad was jumping up and down too! Congratulations Jones Family on the Grand Champion Hog too!! We hope this other steer you picked out early this spring will do you proud too!

We are home today doing various projects. Fixing the mower, putting out some hay in the traps preparing for weaning. We are still calving and had another baby this morning! They are early so they are really small so far!! We took the red truck in to get new tires on it and get it lined up. So we had lunch in town at noon. I tried to mow some of the yard but the mower kept dieing on me so hopefully the new fuel filter I got in town will fix that menace! Happy Birthday brother Tom, Daughter Delynn and Grandson Logan! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you!